Legends 30: Death Omens (ad-free)

Few things are as terrifying as the mystery of our own deaths. Thankfully, folklore has stepped in with legends that hint at early answers, giving hope and chills in equal measure.

Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Harry Marks and research by Cassandra de Alba.

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Sources:

• “Belled Buzzard Heard.” Bevier Appeal. July 10, 1908. https://www.newspapers.com/image/79259676

• Bird, Donald R. “Woman Finds Rare Feather Crown In Home.” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. September 11, 1938. https://www.newspapers.com/image/135834935

• “Bird Of Evil Omen.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat. March 6, 1884. https://www.newspapers.com/image/571096657

• “The Bodach - Ancient God, Folk Myth, or Malevolent Ghost?” Spooky Scotland. September 21, 2021. https://spookyscotland.net/the-bodach

• “Bodach Glas.” Encyclopedia Mythica. August 21, 2001. https://pantheon.org/articles/b/bodach_glas.html

• Brooks, Libby. “‘There is power in them’: mysterious stone figures to be moved in Gaelic winter ritual.” The Guardian. October 30, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/oct/30/there-is-power-in-them-mysterious-stone-figures-gaelic-winter-ritual-cailleach?

• Carden, Gary, and Nina Anderson. Belled Buzzards, Hucksters, and Grieving Specters: Appalachian Tales: Strange, True & Legendary (Down Home Press, 1994).

• Carroll, Cynthia McRoy. Missouri Ozarks Legends & Lore (History Press, 2021).

• “Child prodigy’s story includes feather cross.” Clinch Valley News and Richlands Press. February 24, 1988. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1008956821

• Clark, Jerome. Unexplained!: Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena, third edition (Visible Ink, 2013).

• “A Correspondent.” Semi-Weekly Wisconsin. July 10, 1869. https://www.newspapers.com/image/7792276

• “Crown.” Dictionary of American Regional English. Spring 2023. https://dare.wisc.edu/words/quarterly-updates/quarterly-update-32-spring-2023/crown

• Daimler, Morgan. A New Dictionary of Fairies A 21st Century Exploration of Celtic and Related Western European Fairies (Collective Ink, 2020).

• Dunphy, John. “The Tale of Feather Crowns.” Almanac. November 12, 2021. https://www.almanac.com/extra/tale-feather-crowns

• Flood, Evelyn. “The Belled Buzzard.” Arkansas Times. March 12, 1998. https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~rkinfolks/genealogy/stories/belledbuzzard.html

• Haslam, Garth. “1861, October 4: Lord Eglinton sees the Bodach-Glas.” Anomalies. Accessed February 16, 2024. http://anomalyinfo.com/Stories/1861-october-4-lord-eglinton-sees-bodach-glas

• Henderson, William. Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (Longmans, Green, and Co., 1866).

• Holland, Richard. “Phantom funerals.” Uncanny UK. May 4, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20130615045302/http://www.uncannyuk.com/65/phantom-funerals

• Mayes, Michael. “The Legend of the Belled Buzzard.” Texas Cryptid Hunter. November 7, 2021. http://texascryptidhunter.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-legend-of-belled-buzzard.html

• “Omens of Death Around the World.” Talk Death. September 18, 2017. https://www.talkdeath.com/omens-death-around-world

• “An Ominous Incident.” Public Ledger [Memphis]. November 16, 1878. https://www.newspapers.com/image/586738587

• Randolph, Vance. Ozark Superstitions (Dover Publications, 1964).

• Roark, Eldon. “Strolling.” The Memphis Press-Scimitar. May 14, 1975. https://www.newspapers.com/image/800256957

• Rose, Tammy. “Death Crowns: A Creepy Piece of Appalachia’s Folklore.” Got Mountain Life. September 29, 2018. https://gotmountainlife.com/death-crowns-a-creepy-piece-of-appalachias-folklore

• Savile, Bourchier Wrey. Apparitions (Longmans and Company, 1874).

• Stauffer, Frank H. The Queer, the Quaint and the Quizzical (Outlook Verlag, 1882).

• Taylor, Howard. “Talk of the Town.” Bristol Herald Courier. November 19, 1972. https://www.newspapers.com/image/963012540

• Tennis, Joe. Haunts of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Highlands (Arcadia Publishing, 2010).

• “That Belled Buzzard.” The News and Advance [Lynchburg]. November 26, 1878. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1014869620

• “Tolaeth.” Encyclopedia Mythica. November 2, 2002. https://pantheon.org/articles/t/tolaeth.html

• Trevelyan, Marie. Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (Elliott Stock, 1909).

• Walsh, William S. Heroes and Heroines of Fiction (J.B. Lippincott Company, 1914).

• West, Harry C. “The Belled Buzzard.” North Carolina Folklore Journal XXIII(1), February 1975: pp. 118-120.

• Westwood, Jennifer, and Sophia Kingshill. The Lore of Scotland: A Guide to Scottish Legends (Random House, 2009).

• Woodyard, Chris. “Death on the Links: 1861.” The Victorian Book of the Dead. July 14, 2021. https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com/2021/07/14/death-on-the-links-1861

• Woodyard, Chris. “The Phantom Coffin-Maker—A Death Omen.” Haunted Ohio. April 27, 2013. http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/the-phantom-coffin-maker-a-death-omen

• Woodyard, Chris. “Phantom Funerals.” Haunted Ohio. March 21, 2013. http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/phantom-funerals

• Woodyard, Chris. “Tokens of Death: Owls, Cats, and Phantom Funerals.” Haunted Ohio. November 27, 2012. http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/strange-deaths-news/tokens-of-death-owls-cats-and-phantom-funerals