Reminds me of the "haint tales," as the hillbillies in east Tennessee call them, my grandmother used to tell us kids.
Her young life was spent in the days when people in the community would come and sit with the dying. One woman grandma said had been a very evil person. Granny swore her and other children were playing in the yard as the woman passed, and a half man/half dog like animal jumped up on the white picket fence at the very moment of the evil woman's death. Scared them something awful.
The Scotch Irish folks up in these mountains have a lot of tales, many gleaned from real life experiences.
Also, before Granny died she had been in the hospital for surgery. I went to visit her and asked her how she liked her roomate (in the other hospital bed).
Granny said, "That woman has been very mean." How do you know Granny," I asked.
He reply: "She moans and cries and begs for forgiveness all day and night." This lady was in the process of dying.
"The Scotch Irish folks up in these mountains have a lot of tales, many gleaned from real life experiences."
Yes indeed girlangler,
I think the experience's that had the most impact on folks back then is when the dying person relayed information about a friend or relative being dead, yet it would be days to come before family members received the news by mail that "yes" that person had died & had died before Aunt Jane died.