Edgar Bailiff

He saw the hearse coming for him

I recall my grandfather telling about his dad having a younger brother. His name was Edgar Bailiff. He was about thirteen years old in the year 1900.

He had a few friends there in Possum Hollow who were going to go to Dry Creek to swim. Edgar couldn't go as he had chores to finish. But when the chores were done, his parents told him that he could go and be with his friends.

It was a hot day and Edgar ran most of the way from the holler down to Dry Creek to be with his friends swimming. The water in the creek was cold and Edgar became chilled.

Over the next few days, Edgar became sick with pneumonia. He ran a high fever. He would talk out of his head about a bay horse and a white horse. Over and over he could be heard mumbling about a bay horse and a white horse.

Edgar eventually died. The family laid him out there at the house and when the time came to take him to the cemetery at the end of the hollow they sent for the hearse.

Edgar's mother (my grandfather's grandmother) was the first to see it coming down the road approaching the house. It was pulled by two horses... a bay horse and a white horse! She let out a scream and fainted, falling to the floor.

My grandfather told that his grandmother lived another 28 years. And she told many, many times that her baby had seen that hearse coming for him before he died and that the knowledge of him knowing that tormented her.

written by Kevin Bandy

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