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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2011-10-12 10:05 pm

Ghost Lore

The in-laws have had their dog put to sleep. We went to see them this morning and it seemed to me they were cheerier than they've been in ages. The dog, who was blind, diabetic, confused and scrofulous, had become a huge burden. My mother-in-law said she was still seeing him out of the corner of her eye (well you do, don't you?) And then she added that she'd been told the dead are allowed to hang around the living for a fixed time (was it two weeks, she said, or three?) before they go to their own place- a belief  I haven't come across since I read it as a child in Lord Halifax's Ghost Book- where it's attributed to a 19th century Irish groom. Ailz says her mother probably got it from "old Mrs Brennan of Magharafelt" with whom she lived in the 1930s.

[identity profile] faunhaert.livejournal.com 2011-10-12 09:54 pm (UTC)(link)
that's the 3rd dog! what a full moon.
think i'll watch mine and make sure they .
don't start another trio of death...
by being stupid and runninginto the street
and getting run over or something.
a hungry moon this hunters moon is.

when its a hard death they say they sleep 60 years
before doing some thing else...

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2011-10-13 09:07 am (UTC)(link)
There are times when sleeping for 60 years seems like a lovely idea.

[identity profile] faunhaert.livejournal.com 2011-10-13 07:41 pm (UTC)(link)
my night mare is not waking up
when i want to!

[identity profile] veronica-milvus.livejournal.com 2011-10-13 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
We have a ghost cat who has haunted our house for years. Maybe after putting our cat down yesterday we will have one more.

[identity profile] faunhaert.livejournal.com 2011-10-13 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)
ooo its never good to have to do that,
I'm so sorry. for you and your cat.
it takes a lot to love you cat enough to help them
not be sick anymore.

I've a few ghost kittys and one invisible cat that i created
when i could not have one-its gotten big over the years.

pookie my oldest one I have now I think it the same cat spirit
of a cat that died 20 years the same day some one gave him to me.
i think we have friends that just keep coming back in many forms.

head buts and a nip on the nose.... >^@x@^<
and i friend you if you don't mind?

[identity profile] athenais.livejournal.com 2011-10-12 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
My animals always come see me in my dreams within the first two weeks. I've never heard anyone say that's folk myth, it's merely something that always seems to happen.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2011-10-13 09:08 am (UTC)(link)
I suppose folk myth generally has its roots in observation.

[identity profile] lblanchard.livejournal.com 2011-10-13 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
Our Mr. Darcy has been gone for more than two years and I'm still careful to "step over him" when I enter our bedroom after lights-out.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2011-10-13 09:09 am (UTC)(link)
But of course.

We have a cat who is still around after four of five years.

[identity profile] michaleen.livejournal.com 2011-10-13 09:57 am (UTC)(link)
"'Old Mrs Brennan of Magharafelt' with whom she lived in the 1930s" -- what a delightfully pregnant phrase.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2011-10-13 10:14 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not fond of my ma-in-law- but all this stuff about ghosts and Magharafelt makes me warm to her. To have been alive in the 1930s is, in itself, worthy of respect.

[identity profile] michaleen.livejournal.com 2011-10-14 10:22 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, indeed.

[identity profile] karenkay.livejournal.com 2011-10-13 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I bet that's a huge relief for you! No more phone calls for help with the dog.

Fluences

[identity profile] methodius.livejournal.com 2011-10-14 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
You also hyave to watch out for the fluences coming down the light cord.