Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Why the terrifying death of Perth spaewife Black Jean has struck terror into hearts for centuries

Meal Vennel in Perth where Black Jean lived and died.
Meal Vennel in Perth where Black Jean lived and died.

On the night of Black Jean’s hideous death, dark forces intruded into the human realm in a grotesque tribute to this acolyte of demons. Perth’s natural order was overthrown and weather systems were interrupted as the veil between the living and the dead was briefly parted.

We have been delving into the store of archive stories written by Courier journalist Chris Ferguson.

The memory of her howling exit from this world struck terror into people in the town for decades and was quoted by the press well into the mid-1800s.

Black Jean was an interpreter of dreams. It is thought she came to Perth from Glen Coe. In the 1700s, the social connections between Argyllshire and Rannoch in Perthshire were stronger.

She lived in Meal Vennel, now the site of the St John’s Centre, close to where the old Central District School stood.

While her power may have had a dark origin, Jean took care to affirm the positive in her readings and sent no one away with a heavy heart. She followed the belief that morning dreams were signposts to fate.

As she advanced in years, some in the town began to doubt her power. One was a matron who scorned Black Jean for refusing to predict the date of her death.

It seems Jean had good reason for staying quiet. The matron was to die within a week.

However, the one event Black Jean did not predict was her own untimely death.

Despite her age she enjoyed rude health and seemed destined to push human existence to its limit.

A minor illness confined the spaewife to bed, but she refused medical help.

Her withdrawal coincided with a series of sinister events which many interpreted as portents of her death.

It began when a stray dog found its way to Jean’s door after dark and howled piteously for hours. Then an old visitor to Jean saw images of the dead in a bedside candle.

A little girl who sat by the dead was disturbed by the rustling and tapping of a strange bird at the garret window.

That same night a woman returned home in terror declaring she had seen the wraith of Black Jean at the gate of Greyfriars burial ground.

Perth people experienced a ringing in their ears. They took it to be death bells.

Black Jean at last consented to medical attention but the doctor could do nothing. A minister was called but his word of faith disturbed Jean who began chanting spells.

On her final night a furious storm of wind and rain broke. Between gusts, Jean emitted guttural roars. The window was opened to allow her soul to flee and a calm came over Jean.

Her attendants were huddled round a table when between gusts, a growl of distant thunder was heard. Then the near-lifeless Jean sat upright in her bed, eyeballs distended and waving her arms. She broke into a grotesque song predicting a rising from the grave.

As she breathed her last the house was shaken by an earthquake. Few in Perth forgot Black Jean’s passing.