Corpse Overboard

transcribed at

The Corpse Overboard  [duchas:4594526]

Long ago the corpse was kept in the house for two or three days before burial and each night there was a wake. If the person was old there was very little sorrow on the relatives and the wake was a very jolly one - singing and playing tricks. The corpse was usually hidden away under boards.
This custom was then changed and I often heard my father tell the reason why the corpse was put over board when laid out.
There were two middle aged women in Beleek and as they lived next door to each other they had a row every day over ducks or hens or scats or some other silly cause. It happened

The Corpse Overboard  [duchas:4594527]

that one of them died anyhow and the other woman's husband went to the wake the first night. While he was there at about midnight the dead woman appeared to the other and attacked her in a fierce way. She scraped and kicked and plucked the hair off her head but at last the living woman caught her hand with her teeth and nearly bit off three fingers.
After this the dead woman disappeared. The man came home in the morning and his wife was half dead.
"You are a nice man away all night at the wake mar deadh and your poor wife nearly at that other barge of a woman that you thought was dead."
"Indeed then she is dead and all the friends were there crying for her." said he.
"Oh you careless man, look at the state of me now all scraped and torn at that woman, but

The Corpse Overboard  [duchas:4594528]

she hadn't it all her own way.
Wherever she is now she has the track of my teeth in her fingers. I nearly bit the hand off her, so I did, and then she left. Go and see now if the corpse is marked."
The husband went out and asked the people to examine the corpse. Sure enough the three fingers were nearly bitten off.
The priest heard the story and soon an order was given to have the corpse laid over board so that such a thing could not happen again.