Death Coach

Variations: Cóiste Bodhar

The superstition of medieval England and Wales spoke of a vampiric spirit known as a death coach that appeared after the wail and subsequent attack of a BANSHEE. The death coach would then descend from the sky, looking rather like a funeral coach drawn by a black horse. It gathers up the soul of the BANSHEE's victim, traveling without a sound. The death coach may be the transmuted concept of Charon, the Ferryman from Greek mythology, and is similar to the vampiric species called DULLAHAN.

Source: Keegan, Legends and Poems, 131; Leach, Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, 300; Rad-ford, Encyclopedia of Superstitions, 70­71, 101­2; Wentz, The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, 71