The Wildcard · Sydney Morning Wire

They nailed down ghosts in Rome 1,800 years ago. Can you believe it?

Those old Romans were some strange, eh?

Good morning from the Cape — the fiddle's tuned, the stories are ready, and Cape Breton's still here. Let's go, b'y.

Now listen here, you won't believe what I just read. They found these 1,800-year-old burials in Rome, and get this: three skeletons had iron nails *on their chests*. Not in a coffin, not around the grave, but right on top of their ribs, they figure. And the archaeologists, they're thinkin' it was to "protect" everyone — the living *and* the dead — from restless spirits. Can you imagine that, now? Trying to pin down a ghost with a nail, like you're fixin' a loose shingle on a roof. It gives me the shivers, it does, thinking of spirits roam’n.

It makes you wonder, doesn't it? We got some old traditions ourselves, especially 'round Halloween, but I can't say I've ever heard tell of anyone tryin' to nail down a phantom in Glace Bay, not even with a good Cape Breton hammer. We'd sooner light a candle and play a mournful tune on the fiddle to soothe any unsettled souls, or just tell 'em to come in for a cup of tea and a story. Trying to trap 'em with iron, that's some cold, that is. Maybe they never heard of a good cèilidh to cheer up the departed in Rome, eh?

That’s a yarn for the ages, I tell you.

Me darlin' Ashley and the crew talk about wild stuff like this every morning, you should hear 'em live at mornings.live.

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