The Scarborough watcher who saw herself

24 April · Scarborough, North Riding, Yorkshire

Lore and belief

About eighty years before Henderson wrote, an old woman kept the St Mark’s Eve watch in the porch of St Mary’s, Scarborough, to see who would die that year. The figures turned to her as they passed into the church, and she knew their faces. At last one turned and she saw it was herself; she screamed and fainted, was found there in the morning, and did not live long after.

At last a figure turned and gazed at her; she knew herself, screamed, and fell senseless to the ground.

From Henderson's Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties, p. 51. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Riddling chaff at Malton Lore and belief YorkshireIn Yorkshire people riddled chaff at midnight in a barn with its doors thrown open, to learn whether they would die within the year.
Riddling the ashes Lore and belief EnglandCottage families on St Mark's Eve sifted the ashes over the hearth-stone at night, hoping not to find in the morning the footprint of anyone who would die that year.
The dumb cake Lore and belief NorthamptonshireA correspondent near Peterborough told Hone that girls in his district still made the dumb cake on St Mark's Eve.
Joe Brown the church watcher Lore and belief YorkshireIn Yorkshire a watcher at the church door at midnight on St Mark's Eve, Old Style, was said to see the souls of all who would be buried there within the year go into the church in the order they would die, those to drown coming in splashing and struggling.
The church-porch watchers of Burton Lore and belief LincolnshireIn the north of England it was believed that anyone who watched in the church porch from eleven till one on St Mark's Eve would see the ghosts of all who would be buried there in the coming year.

The Scarborough watcher who saw herself

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