484 REPORT — 1897. 



a common place where the bodies of suicides were buried. (Told in 

 Corsock.) 



558. Kirkpatrick- Durham. — A woman in this parish, not very many 

 yeai-s ago, committed suicide. Her body was buried in the churchyard. 

 During the night after the funeral, the coffin was dug up and placed ' 

 outside, against the door of the house in which she had lived. The sheriff 

 made his appearance to settle the matter. The coffin was interred outside 

 the churchyard wall, near the gate, just off the public road. 



559. Kirkmaiden. — The body of a suicide was buried close under the 

 wall of the churchyard, outside. Sometimes the wall was taken down to 

 allow the coffin to be placed below the wall. When the grave was filled, 

 the wall was rebuilt. 



560. Mochrum. — If there was a tree in the churchyard, the body of a 

 suicide was buried under it. 



561. Dairy. — A suicide at Knockman was being carried to the grave- 

 yard at Dairy. After the procession had gone about a mile, a crow 

 alighted on the coffin. Those that were cari-ying the coffin set out to run 

 as fast as they could. They could neither stop nor let go their hold of the 

 bier and give it to others. The race continued as long as the crow sat on 

 the coffin. At the village of Dairy the crow flew off, and the procession 

 went on at leisure to the churchyard. This took place about a hundred 

 years ago. 



562. Kirkmaiden. — In one case the mother of a suicide went to 

 America. The body of her son had been, according to custom, buried 

 outside the wall of the churchyard. The churchyard was afterwards 

 enlarged, and the suicide's grave came within the walls. The mother 

 came to know the fact, and in writing home to a friend said how thankful 

 she was that her son's grave was now within the walls of the churchyard. 



The Drowned. 



563. Balmaghie. — It is accounted unlucky for the one that is the first 

 to touch the body of one that has been drowned or has perished. 



564. Dairy. — After a time a light appears over the spot where the 

 body of one that has been drowned lies. 



565. Balmaghie. — A blue light appears over the spot where the body 

 of one that has been drowned lies on the ninth day after death, when the 

 gall-bladder breaks. 



566. Kirkmaiden. — The one that saves another from drowning runs 

 the risk of being drowned. 



567. Newton Steivart. — My informant, an ex-policeman, in his investi- 

 gation into a case of drowning in the river Cree, heard old people say, 

 ' She has not got her complement yet.' 



568. My informant, an ex-policeman, saw in 1889 a loaf hollowed out 

 and a little mercury put into the hole. The loaf was then laid into the 

 river Cree, at the point where the young man that had been drowned fell 

 into the water, and allowed to float down. 



Other Superstitions relating to Death. 



569. Kirkmaiden. — A grave is not opened till seven yeai's after the 

 last interment. 



570. Rerrick. — It is believed that if the windows of the room in which 

 a dead body lies are opened, the decay of the body is hastened. 



