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PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:23 am 
Spider Lady
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Location: Staffordshire
The Preston Guardian
Saturday October 2 1847

Death From Fright
On Wednesday evening week, about 8 o'clock, a youth named George Thompson, residing at Win Hill, about sixteen years of age, was amusing himself along with some companions, near the archway, under the East Lancashire Railway, leading to Whittle Field, near the Barracks, Burnley. During the conversation among the boys, one of them said "Billy, give me some haws to take home for my mother," and just at the time some person near them called out "Aye, Billy, I want thee." The boys knowing that persons were forbidden to trespass on the line, immediately ran off, and Thompson fell after he had gone about twenty yards. Finding no one pursuing they returned, and on coming to where Thompson fallen found him quite dead. An inquest was held on the body at the Plane Tree Inn yesterday week. Verdict, "Died by the visitation of God." On Saturday last, Stephen White, Esq., surgeon, Burnley, made a post mortem examination of the body, and found that considerable debility existed about the heart, which no doubt rendered it unable to sustain any sudden emotion of fear.

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PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:20 pm 
Librarian
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Spooky!


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:12 am 
Natural Geek

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Not quite "death from fright", but still...

a second hand story from an Irish cousin of mine.

Said cousin's brother Patrick was working in the forest with his friend, sometime in the 1990s, I guess (can't confirm the data as I'm at work). They saw the local priest walking past and both knelt to receive a blessing. The priest, who they were well known to, duly did this and walked on.

As he left, Patrick said to his colleague, "You would have thought he would have had the decency to give me the last rites."

Patrick's colleague turned to Patrick to ask what on Earth he meant, only to find that Patrick was dead.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:25 am 
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:shock: Crikey!

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:09 am 
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Oooh err!! :shock:


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 12:38 pm 
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Well, if you liked that one, then there’s always the story of my family’s run-in with the Banshee. Now, if you’re up on your Irish mythology, you’ll know who the Banshee is – but if not, then the story is that, a banshee (generally a female ghost/fairy/waif creature) wails around a house if someone in the house is about to die. It only occurs in the houses of Irish Catholics, the surname of which would be denoted with an “O” prefix.

Now, at some point around 1950, when my Grandmother had at least one child of toddling age, they had just the one close neighbour, for they really did live out in the middle of nowhere - North Tipperary to be precise, and her name was Onnie O’Rourke. She must have been a very old lady, for she was my Grandfather’s godmother. She also – excitingly – had a hook for a hand! Anyway, one morning she made a point of asking my Grandmother whether her eldest child, Mike, had been playing out late the night before, for she’d heard what had sounded like a child making a wailing noise. Gran assured Onnie that Mike hadn’t been out, but it evidently played on her mind for she remembered what Onnie had said.

Onnie died the next night.

Now, this story had always fascinated the family but my Mum only said that she’d believe it if the banshee came for my grandfather – Michael O’Donoghue. When it became Grandad’s turn to leave this place, my Mum had been called down to the house as my Gran knew that his time was up. Anyway, not a sight or sound of the banshee was heard, thus my mother stopped believing in it.

It was only a few years later that I dug out my grandfather’s birth certificate to discover that the spelling of the surname therein was “Donohoe”, and he had married as “Donoghue”, not taking the ‘O’-prefix until he had come to England in the early 1960s.

So there you go – the Banshee is thus real, and she’s also a right pedant when it comes to spelling surnames!!


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:51 pm 
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:shock:
Think this might have a touch of the blarney about it :wink: :lol:


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