SPIRITS SEEN BEFORE DEATH.
Shortly before death greenish bright lights were seen moving from one place to another, when no other light was in the room. These were said to be spirits awaiting the soul of the dying person. When the body lay stretched out, previous to being coffined, these lights were seen hovering near, and perhaps seven or eight butterflies (dealan-dé) fluttered through the room. They moved about the chest, in which were the bannocks to be used at the funeral, or the winding-sheet (blà-lìn), and about the cupboard in which the glasses were. The belief in these appearances was not commonly entertained.
A belief in the occurrence of something supernatural at the moment of death seems to have been not altogether uncommon. On an occasion already mentioned of a sudden death at Port Appin, Argyleshire, which was preceded by the noise of bottles rattling, a girl opened the door of a side room at the moment of the sick man’s dissolution. She returned in a state bordering on hysteria, cursing and swearing, that she would not take the world and go in. She said every article in the room seemed to meet her at the door.