Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-05-29
OTHER WORLD OMENS.
How Old Families I'm Europe are
Warned TO Prepare for the /" UndIs-
covered Country


A mysterious knocking, never heard
at any other time, tells the Lords of
hampton thatone Of theirrace is bound
forthe silent land. A stamping by unseen
feet on the palace floor predicts a death
In the family of the ducal house of Mo-
dena. A sturgeon forcing its way up
the Trent toward Clifton Hall is a sign
that the Chftons of Nottingbamshire
viii have to put on mourning. For some
days before the death of the heir
of the Breretons the trunk of
tree Is to be seen floating on the lake
near the family mansion. Two giant
owls perch upon the battlements of
Wardour Castle when an Arundel's
last hour has come. If Devonshire
Oxenham is about to die, a white
breasted bird hutters over the doomed
ones head.
A local ballad relates how on the bu-
rial eve of Margaret, heiress of the
brave and generous Sir James Oxen
ham, a silver-breasted bird flew over
the wedding guests Just as Sir James
rose to acknowledge their congratula-
tons. The next day the bride fell dead
at the altar, stabbed by a discarded
lover. Howell saw a tombstone in a
stOnecutter's shop in Fleet street, in
1862, inscribed with the names Of sun.
dry persons, who thereby attested the
fact that John Oxenham, Mary, his SIS
ter; james, his son. and Elizabeth, his
mother, had each and all died with a
white breasted bird huttering above
their beds. A family of Loeb RAMA,
Arran, know when one of their kin is
about to die by an invisible piper play.
ing lament ON the hill side. When
death purposes visiting c Mclean of
Tochbury, the unwelcome caller is her
aided by the spirit Of battle-slain
ancestor ringing the bells on his fairy
bride, as he gallops twice round the
old homestead. AS a rule, death-an-
nouncing phantoms are of the feminine
gender. No Lady Holland expects to
shuttle off this mortal coil until she has
seen ashadowy counterfeit pFesentment
of herself. The Middletons of York
shire, as becomes an ancient Catholic |
house, havea Benedietine nun to apprise |
them of a reduction in the number of |
Middletons. 4 weeping, mourning,
earthly spirite warns the Stanleys of |
the death of a distinguished member |
of the family.
A hairy-armed girl called May Moul-
ZACH brings the ike sad news to the |
Grants of Grant; the Bodach-am-dun
otherwise the ghost of the hill, performs
the Office for the Grants of Rothiemur- |
Gus, and most old Highland families |
boast their own familiar banshee, whose |
wailing, screaming, and weeping tells |
them the head of the house must make |
room for his heir. Lady Fanshaw, WIS.,
ting the head of an Irish sept In his
moated baronial grange, was made /
aware that banshees are not peculiar to
Scotland. Awakened at midnight by
an awful, unearthly scream, she beheld /
by the light of the moon female form
at the window of her room, which was
too far from the ground for any woman
of mortal mould to reach. The creature
owned a pretty, pale face, and red
disheveled hair, and was clad in the
garb of old-very old-Ireland. After
exhibiting herself some time, the inter-
estiRg spectre shrieked twice and van
ished. When Lady Fanshaw told her
host what she had seen he was not all
surprised. ga near relation" said he,
"died last night inthis castle. We kept
our expectation of the event from you
lest it should throw a cloud over the
cheerful reception which was your due. /
Now, before such an event happens in
family and castle, the female spectre
you saw always becomes visible. She
is believed to be the spirit of a woman
Of inferior rank, whom one of my an
cestors married, and whom he afteward
caused to be drowned in the moat, 10
expiate the dishonor done to our race.