People have long viewed various supernatural phenomena as bad omens. For example, it was traditionally believed that the appearance of ghosts promises death or great misfortune for those who observe them.
Some ancient castles and mansions even have “family” phantoms, which supposedly see on the eve of the death of one of the inhabitants …
The lady is black and white …
Over the years, the ghost of the Black Lady has appeared in the royal palaces of Germany and Austria. Once, in 1854, the Bavarian king Ludwig I, his wife Queen Teresa and two of their entourage were sitting at tea, when a female figure in a black robe suddenly appeared behind the queen's chair. Then she disappeared into the next room. Soon the queen died of cholera, but none of her household fell ill.
In early March 1864, an officer on duty met a woman dressed in black in a Munich palace. He tried to detain the stranger, but she disappeared, as if she had disappeared into thin air … On March 9, King Maximilian II fell seriously ill, and the next day his death was announced.
The death of members of the royal family and representatives of the highest nobility was foreshadowed by the ghost of the White Lady. It first appeared in 1619 at the residence of the Hohenzollerns. King Johann Sigismund died a day later. On August 4, 1786, the Prussian king Frederick the Great and his servant watched the phantom of a woman dressed in white at the fireplace. Gradually, the vision faded. The king died the next day.
In 1806, the appearance of the Lady in White foreshadowed the death of the Prussian prince Ludwig in the battle with the French. In 1867 she was seen at Schönbrunn Castle, the residence of the Habsburgs, before the tragic death of Archduke Maximilian. The same thing happened shortly before the assassination of the Austrian Empress Elizabeth in the fall of 1898.
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And in June 1914 the White Lady reappeared in Berlin, in the Imperial Palace. Very soon, the whole world learned about the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, which was the reason for the outbreak of the First World War.
Yellow Boy
Family messengers of misfortune can appear in very different guises. And not only in women. So, the head of a Scottish family, who went to town on business, was late for dinner. There were guests in the house at that time. And one of the ladies, going out on the porch, saw a desperate whimpering child's figure circling around the lawn, clearly visible in the light of the moon. The guest returned to the house and told the hostess everything. She turned pale - she was well aware of the family omen … In the evening, her husband was found unconscious on the road - the horses carried, and the rider was thrown out of the carriage …
Sometimes the family phantom predicts the death not only of the offspring of this family, but also of strangers … The famous English writer Bulwer-Lytton was visited by his friend Lord Castlerie. At night, he woke up with the sensation of someone's presence and saw the ghostly figure of a boy with long yellow hair sitting by the fireplace. The ghost walked over to the lord's bed, drew back the screen, and ran his fingers over his throat several times. Lord Castllery really died as the "yellow boy" prophesied - as it turned out, a repeated guest of this castle: his throat was cut.
Ghost mourners
In Northern England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland and some other countries, there is a widespread belief about banshees - ghostly "mourners" who prophesy death.
"Banshee" - in Gaelic means "horsewoman". She is represented either as a crying rider on a horse, or as a fairy. But, unlike the active fairies of traditional folklore, these ghosts are very uncommunicative, they never help people or harm them, they only fulfill their function of mourners. According to Christian beliefs, the souls of unbaptized children, as well as women who have committed the sin of pride, turn into banshees …
Most often, ghostly mourners are described as tiny women with long blonde or auburn hair. They are usually dressed in the local fashion - usually in white, but sometimes in gray, brown or red. Sometimes it seems like they are combing their hair. Banshees appear in the evening or at night, just before dawn. Their appearance can be accompanied by a sound similar to the flapping of wings - hence the myth that mourners are able to take the guise of crows - birds that have long been associated with the afterlife among people. You can see them near the house where the one who is destined to die lives. It happens that ghosts look into the windows of a dwelling several hours or even days before death.
According to legend, the banshee's cry was heard on the eve of the death of the Irish national hero Brian Boru in 1014, and also shortly before the assassination of General Michael Collins in 1922.
Once the Irish children saw on a rock near the castle, which belonged to a noble lord, a little old woman dressed in black. She cried and clapped her hands. Then the children were told that the owner of the castle had died at the hour when they met the strange old woman.
In most cases, banshees have been observed to stalk members of the same family.
Lady Fanshaw describes in her book of memoirs an incident that happened during her trip to Ireland with her husband. The couple stayed at Lady Honore O'Brien's house. On the first night, Lady Fanshaw was awakened by a voice. The face of a woman in white, with red hair and green eyes peered out the window. It was unnaturally pale. The stranger muttered something and disappeared, turning into a thick cloud. In the morning the guests learned that Lady O'Brian's sick cousin had died at two in the morning.
The hostess of the house was not at all surprised to hear about the ghost. According to her, it belonged to a commoner who had once become pregnant by one of the O'Brians. The lover killed her in the garden, and drowned her corpse in the river that flowed under the windows. Since then, on the eve of the death of one of the scions of the family, the face of the murdered woman appears in the window.
Why do these entities warn of danger? Probably, in the subtle world, they receive information about future events and try to warn people in their own way, to prepare them for future trials.