A Legend of Montrose Page 29
Note II.--WRAITHS.
A species of apparition, similar to what the Germans call aDouble-Ganger, was believed in by the Celtic tribes, and is stillconsidered as an emblem of misfortune or death. Mr. Kirke (See Note toROB ROY,), the minister of Aberfoil, who will no doubt be able to tellus more of the matter should he ever come back from Fairy-land, gives usthe following:--
"Some men of that exalted sight, either by art or nature, have told methey have seen at these meetings a double man, or the shape of some manin two places, that is, a superterranean and a subterraneaninhabitant perfectly resembling one another in all points, whom he,notwithstanding, could easily distinguish one fro another by some secrettokens and operations, and so go speak to the man his neighbour andfamiliar, passing by the apparition or resemblance of him. They avouchthat every element and different state of being have animals resemblingthose of another element, as there be fishes at sea resembling Monks oflate order in all their hoods and dresses, so as the Roman inventionof good and bad daemons and guardian angels particularly assigned, iscalled by them ane ignorant mistake, springing only from this originall.They call this reflex man a Co-Walker, every way like the man, as atwin-brother and companion haunting him as his shadow, as is that seenand known among men resembling the originall, both before and after theoriginall is dead, and was also often seen of old to enter a hous, bywhich the people knew that the person of that liknes was to visit themwithin a few days. This copy, echo, or living picture, goes at last tohis own herd. It accompanied that person so long and frequently for endsbest known to its selve, whether to guard him from the secret assaultsof some of its own folks, or only as an sportfull ape to counterfeit allhis actions."--KIRKE'S SECRET COMMOMWEALTH, p. 3.
The two following apparitions, resembling the vision of Allan M'Aulay inthe text, occur in Theophilus Insulanus (Rev. Mr. Fraser's Treatise onthe Second Sight, Relations x. and xvii.):--
"Barbara Macpherson, relict of the deceased Mr. Alexander MacLeod, lateminister of St. Kilda, informed me the natives of that island had aparticular kind of second sight, which is always a forerunner of theirapproaching end. Some months before they sicken, they are haunted withan apparition, resembling themselves in all respects as to their person,features, or clothing. This image, seemingly animated, walks with themin the field in broad daylight; and if they are employed in delving,harrowing, seed-sowing, or any other occupation, they are at the sametime mimicked by this ghostly visitant. My informer added further thathaving visited a sick person of the inhabitants, she had the curiosityto enquire of him, if at any time he had seen any resemblance of himselfas above described; he answered in the affirmative, and told her, thatto make farther trial, as he was going out of his house of a morning, heput on straw-rope garters instead of those he formerly used, andhaving gone to the fields, his other self appeared in such garters. Theconclusion was, the sick man died of that ailment, and she no longerquestioned the truth of those remarkable presages."
"Margaret MacLeod, an honest woman advanced in years, informed me, thatwhen she was a young woman in the family of Grishornish, a dairy-maid,who daily used to herd the calves in a park close to the house,observed, at different times, a woman resembling herself in shape andattire, walking solitarily at no great distance from her, and beingsurprised at the apparition, to make further trial, she put the backpart of her upper garment foremost, and anon the phantom was dressedin the same manner, which made her uneasy, believing it portended somefatal consequence to herself. In a short time thereafter she was seizedwith a fever, which brought her to her end, and before her sickness andon her deathbed, declared the second sight to several."