death coach (dead coach) Irish folkloric object. On foggy nights in Ireland, a black coach could sometimes be seen drawing up to a home. Black HORSES drew the coach, which had no coachman nor occupants. Or perhaps there was a driver, but he had no head; the horses too might be headless. This coach was sent from the land of the dead to fetch someone from this life. It would never leave this earth empty; if someone not scheduled to die were to stand in the coach’s way, he would become the victim, so it was best to avoid such a coach and, certainly, never to attempt to stop it from picking up its intended passenger. Sightings of the death coach foretold death, just as did the cry of the BANSHEE.
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CELTIC MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE
Patricia Monaghan
