Death Coach
There 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.
