Death Knell

The Bellcows ring the Freebirds bell

BLACK CREEK - A "death knell" is the ringing of a church bell immediately after a death to announce that a death has taken place. When a large bell tolls, it is called a knell. I always thought it was "death nail" like the last nail in a coffin type deal, but that's what we are here to correct, these type misconceptions that we may have all developed over time. Historically, there were three traditional church bells rung when someone was dying; the passing bell, the death knell and the lych bell, or corpse bell. The passing bell warned of impending death. The death knell was rung immediately after someone had died and the lych bell was the final bell and it still survives today as the ol' proverbial funeral toll which is rung at the funeral. The death knell is recognizable by its muffled sound. The bell ringer would place a leather muffle over half of the bell’s clapper. The sound goes back and forth between a harder chime and a muffled chime. Ringing of the death bells is done slowly and reverently. It usually involves one bell with a significant gap between strikes. Therefore, the death knell doesn’t sound like a regular church bell. The bell will produce a softer chime due to the muffler and since only half of the clapper is muffled, you hear a different sounding tone with each strike. One time will be a loud strike, and the next time a muffled strike. The muffled bell has a very mournful and echoing effect. The ringing of the funeral toll bells goes back to 16th century England when King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I introduced it into Canon Law. The church used the ringing bells to alert the local communities of someone dying, or of a recent death. Scotland can trace using death bells back to the 1400s. The church had condoned the practice of ringing bells to frighten away evil spirits. To deter evil spirits from entering the body, the dead bell would be rung. The ringing of the dead bell had two reasons: First, it announced the death and secondly, to drive away the evil spirits that waited at the foot of the dead person’s bed. Practically, funeral bells have always served as a reminder that death is never far away. When the townspeople would hear the bell, they would stop what they were doing, take notice and pray. They would ask for blessings upon the poor soul that would soon be passing. The exercise of ringing a death knell was popular until the 19th century. With urbanization and many other factors, the practice has faded from regularity to only certain churches and special occasions. In Week 9 of the BDFL, the "death knell" tolled for the death of the Freebirds as the Bellcows rung their proverbial bell with a classic 35-30 come-from-behind vict'ry at Black Creek Ball Park to keep bragging rights going for the Bellcows in North Jefferson County for another year.

The Bells Ring by The Swimming Pool Q's (1984)

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