|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
death coach
death coach. Spectral vehicle in Irish folklore whose stopping at the door announced the death of a resident the next day. As the driver is headless and the horses are either black or headless, the death coach is sometimes called the headless coach. If it is seen passing it should not be stopped, as someone will die near the spot where it comes to rest. Sometimes the banshee rides the coach or may fly in the air near it. At other times the headless phanton dullahan drives. Fallen bridges offer no obstacle to the death coach. Although the death coach seems uniquely Irish, it is a variant on international tale type 335; see also the ANGOU of Wales; ANKOU of Brittany; FAR DOROCHA. While the death coach is found in Irish oral tradition, it is probably best known today from its recreation in the Disney film Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1958), based on the popular fiction of H. T. Kavanagh (1932).
|
|
|
Cite this article
JAMES MacKILLOP. "death coach." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAMES MacKILLOP. "death coach." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-deathcoach.html JAMES MacKILLOP. "death coach." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-deathcoach.html |
|
Death Coach
Death CoachThere is a widespread superstitious belief that Death goes around in a coach picking up souls. The form of the belief varies, of course, with the locality. In some parts of England and Wales, for example, the death coach passes silently at midnight, without sound of hoof or wheels. Both coach and horse are black, and a black hound runs in front. In some localities the horses and coachman are headless, which doubtless adds to the effectiveness of the apparition. In Ireland, when the coach with headless driver stops at the door of a house, this means someone in the house will die the following day. The Breton peasant hears the approach at midnight of a cart with a creaking axle. It is the Ankou (Death), and when the cart stops before a dwelling someone within must die. |
|
|
Cite this article
"Death Coach." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Death Coach." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403801304.html "Death Coach." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403801304.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
