Phantom funerals in Man

Waldron, in his Description of the Isle of Man, wrote that the islanders believed a funeral was acted out by unseen beings before anyone died. People swore that such a phantom funeral had come up behind them on the road and laid the bier on their shoulders, and one man showed a shoulder bruised black for weeks. The phantoms sang psalms like real mourners, and vanished with their coffin at the church door. The same friendly spirits gave notice of a guest’s coming by the sound of horses at the gate.