_Pennsylvania; somewhat general in the United States._
1159. To open an umbrella in the house is a sign of ill luck. An action of this sort seriously disturbed a friend of the informant, an American girl of good family. "I would never dare to do that," she said.
_Niagara Falls, Ont._
1160. If a hoe be carried through a house, some one will die before the year is out.
_Mansfield, O._
1161. Carrying through the house a hoe, spade, or axe indicates a death in the family.
_Virginia._
1162. Carry an axe or any iron implement through the house, and some one will soon die.
_Southwestern Michigan._
1163. Death is foretold by the ringing of a bell that cannot otherwise be accounted for.
_Southern Ohio._
1164. When bread, in baking, cracks across the top, it means death.
_New Jersey and Ohio._
1165. Cracks on the top of a loaf of bread indicate the death of a friend.
_Several localities._
1166. When bright red specks resembling spattered blood appear on linen, it is held to be a token of misfortune, probably of death.
_Northern Ohio._
1167. If the candle burns blue, it is token of a death.
1168. To see a coffin in the candle is a token of death.
_Boston, Ma.s.s._
1169. To see a "winding-sheet" in the candle has the same significance.
_Virginia._
1170. Three lamps or candles burned close together mean death.
_Virginia._
1171. If a sudden and unaccountable light is seen in a carpenter"s shop, it indicates that the carpenter will soon have to make a coffin.
_Cape Breton._
1172. If a coffin creaks in a carpenter"s shop, another order soon follows.
_Newark, N.J., and Virginia._
1173. If the coffin does not settle down smoothly into place in the grave, but has to be raised and lowered again, another in the family will die inside a year.
_Stevens Point, Wis._
1174. Change a sick person from one room to another, and he will die.
_New Jersey._
1175. If a clock, long motionless, suddenly begins to tick or strike, it is a sign of approaching death or misfortune.
_Newark, N.J., Virginia, and North Carolina._
1176. If a corpse remains soft and supple after death, another death in the family will follow.
_Trinity Bay, N.F., and Prince Edward Island._
1177. A cow mooing after midnight means death.
1178. To dance on the ground indicates disaster, or death within a year.
_Boxford, Ma.s.s._
1179. The hearing, in the wall, of the "death-watch," or "death-tick,"
betokens a death in the house.
_General in the United States._
1180. A dish-cloth hung on a door-k.n.o.b is a sign of death in a family.
_Deerfield, Ma.s.s._
1181. To knock on a door and receive no answer is a sign of death.
_Virginia and Englewood, Ill._
1182. The last name a dying person calls is that of the next to follow.
_New Hampshire._
1183. Sometimes the dying call for an absent one, as if in trouble. This is a sign that that person will have some great trouble in after life.
_New York._
1184. Death takes place at ebb tide.
_New England Coast._
1185. The person on whom the eyes of a dying person last rest will be the first to die.
_Boston, Ma.s.s._
1186. It is a sign of death to see a flower blossoming out of season, as, for example, a rose in the fall. This has proved a true omen in several cases, according to the experience of a lady who believes in these signs.
In consequence of this belief, when she has such a a flower, she will pick it off the stem and throw it away, without mentioning the incident to any one.
_Niagara Falls, Ont._
1187. It is a sign of death to see a tree blossoming in the fall.
_Orange Co., Va._
1188. If a garment is cut out on Friday, the person for whom it is made will not live unless it is finished on the same day.
_Southern Indiana._
1189. If you begin a quilt on Friday, you will never live to finish it.
_Maine._
An act of this sort gave great distress to a domestic servant, who, until after the completion of the quilt, daily expected disaster. This woman came from French Canada.
1190. If a doctor is called on Friday, the patient will surely die.
_Cambridge, Ma.s.s._