Thirteen at a Table.
Should thirteen sit at a table it was believed that the first to leave would be buried within the year.
Heather.
Should any person bring heather into a house, he brought death to one or other of the family by so doing.
Death Watch.
This is a sound, like the ticking of a watch, made by a small insect. It is considered a sign of death, and hence its name, Death Watch.
A working man’s wife, whose uncle was ill in bed, told the writer, that she had no hopes of his recovery, because death ticks were heard night and day in his room. The man, who was upwards of eighty years old, died.
Music and Bird Singing heard before Death.
The writer, both in Denbighshire and Carnarvonshire, was told that the dying have stated that they heard sweet voices singing in the air, and they called the attention of the watchers to the angelic sounds, and requested perfect stillness, so as not to lose a single note of the heavenly music.
A young lad, whom the writer knew—an intelligent and promising boy—whilst lying on his death-bed, told his mother that he heard a bird warbling beautifully outside the house, and in rapture he listened to the bird’s notes.