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In folklore a death omen is a sign of an impending death. Every culture has its own unique death omens.

Death is frequently foretold by the appearance or behaviour of certain animals, insects or birds associated with the afterlife. Black birds – crows, owls, ravens, rooks – are often thought to be death omens when they appear in a village or cluster around a house. The howling of a dog or a black cat crossing the path are also thought to be signs that portend the death of someone nearby. Spiders are often associated with death, and according to American, British and European lore the deathwatch beetle, which makes a ticking or tapping sound during the summer months as it bores into wood, is considered the harbinger of a death in the family.

Death omens can be natural occurrences, for example the way wax drips from a candle, or accidents, such as a chair falling over backwards as a person gets up, or signs of nature, such as cloud shapes or star formations. They can also be supernatural occurrences, such as candles and lights that flicker in the night – see corpse candles and corpse lights – or the appearance of an apparition, such as the banshee, or a phantom coach with a headless coachman, or spectral black dogs, or other animals.