Another curious term is the “dede-nip,” whose origin is a little more puzzling. It is described as a blue mark which appears on the body of a person about to die and without the physical explanation of a blow. It is also associated with the “blew-spot” of witchcraft already described.[30]
The following selected verses from “The Death of Dear-meal Johnny,” by the Bard of Corrie (Dumfriesshire), are quoted on account of their reference to several of these old-world superstitious terms:—
“Oft his wraith had been seen gliding
’Mang the meal sacks i’ the spence,
Till the house, folks scarce could bide in,
Terrified maist out o’ sense.
’Neath his head the death-watch tinkled,
Constant as the lapse of time;
Frae his bed the dead licht twinkled,
Wi’ its blue and sulphurous flame.
’Neath the bed auld Bawty[31] scrapit,
A’ day, thrang as thrang could be;
Made a hole, sae grave-like shapit,
Folk glowered quaking in to see.
On the dreary kirkyaird road, aye
By night he raised sic eldritch howls;
Weel he kenned his maister’s body
Soon must mix amang the mools.
Frae the wattles dead-draps spatter’d;
At the can’les dead-speals hang;
Pyets rave the thack, and chatter’d;
In folk’s lugs the dead-bell rang.”
The last class of warnings to be noticed are special appearances and portents occurring before death in well-known local families.
In the family of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn the tradition was, that when a death was about to take place in the family a swan invariably made its appearance on the loch that surrounded the castle. “The last omen of this nature on record saddened the nuptials of Sir Thomas, the first baronet, when marrying for the third time. On the wedding-day his son, Roger, went out of the castle, and, happening to turn his eyes towards the loch, descried the fatal bird. Returning, overwhelmed with melancholy, his father rallied him on his desponding appearance, alleging a stepmother to be the cause of his sadness, when the young man only answered ‘Perhaps ere long you may also be sorrowful,’ expiring suddenly that very night.”[(71)]
The death of a member of the family of Craigdarroch is believed to be heralded by a sudden and simultaneous peal of household bells.
In Western Galloway there lingers a tradition concerning the old church of Kirkmaiden (in Fernes), the ancient burying-place of the M‘Cullochs of Myrton, whose lands, in 1682, passed to the Maxwells of Monreith. When the parish ceased to exist as a separate parish and was joined to that of Glasserton, the pulpit and bell were removed to be taken across Luce Bay, there to be placed in the new church of the same name of Kirkmaiden. Although the day was fine and the wind fair, a storm sprang up, and down went boat and bell to the bottom, for, as true believers knew, the bell had been consecrated, and on no account could it ring ’neath the rafters of a Presbyterian building. Yet, ring it did not cease to do, for on the approaching death of any of the representatives of the old family of Myrton a solemn knell comes up from the watery depths to record the passing of the soul to the vast unknown.
“An’ certes, there are nane, I trow,
That by Kirkmaiden bide,
Will, when they hear the wraith-bell jow,
Gae oot at Lammastide.”
