Chime Hour Children

Hello ATS'ers!

I am not sure if this post is the right thread to be in, But i have came across this subject on these Chime Hour Children.

I will copy and paste it from the site i am reading as i find it very interesting and i hope most of you will lik it.

The topic of “chime children” is not one that receives much attention today, but at one time in Great Britain, the lore of the chime child was well-known, although details often differed between locations.

The chime hours were commonly accepted to be three, six, nine, or twelve o’clock. In the old monastic tradition these were the hours of required prayer and were frequently marked by church bells chiming the hour. In some locales, however, particularly in Somerset and East Anglia, the hours were recognized as eight o’clock in the evening, midnight, and four o’clock in the morning. A chime child is anyone who was born exactly on one of the accepted chime hours, although there was quite a bit of variance in that as well; some locales recognized those born within that hour and some recognized only the nighttime hours of nine o’clock, midnight, and three and six o’clock in the morning. Some other traditions even limited the hours to specifically those who were born between midnight and dawn, Friday to Saturday.

Chime children were believed to have an ability to see other things that were hidden from ordinary people, such as ghosts, spirits and demons. They were also thought to possess extraordinary skill at herbal medicine/magic and healing, the power to control both wild and domestic animals, and to be naturally immune from witchcraft and curses. Another belief was that chime children were the only ones able to hear the “Gabriel Hounds,” a pack of spectral hounds that accompanied the legendary Wild Hunt. To see or hear them was a harbinger of death.

In parts of Ireland and parts of Scotland, particularly the Highlands, chime children were believed to possess the “second sight,” a form of extrasensory perception that included precognition and an ability to see the dead. It was always noted what children were born in the chime hours and they were closely watched as they grew to see how the gift would manifest itself in them. Tales were told of chime children who foresaw peoples’ deaths before they occurred, or who saw the spirits of the deceased before even family realized they were dead. Many of those who possess this ability consider it a curse as opposed to a gift, and would be glad to be rid of it.

It is interesting to note that, while many religious people today would scorn these beliefs as sinful, or at least as foolish, the Celtic people of Britain accepted this as very normal, and believed that these gifts were God-given. Oftentimes the use of these gifts would be accompanied by prayers to aid the seer to “see true.”

Today as the chiming of church bells becomes less frequent, the use of the phrase “chime child” has fallen into disuse. But there are many who still follow the old ways and who know that, no matter the times, the chime children still exist.

Here isChime Children are a couple links for the websites if you are interested more on this subject.

Chime Hours

Thank you for reading

Fascinating!!!

I come from a long line of women that have very strong physic powers & that have in the past been burned at the stake as witches but it has only ever been the women in the family but my son has these powers as well. We could never work out why until now. He is a 'chime hour baby', I shouldn't call him a baby anymore he will turn 5 on Halloween. He hears things at weird times of the day & tells us that it hurts his ears. He's daycare has learnt that Thomas starts saying a storm is coming they get the kids indoors as a storm will hit within the hour even if it's a very sunny day with no clouds in the sky.

Now I need to investigate this more, thank you.

reply to post by BloodSister


I love this info! I've never heard of this folklore before, and I'm a big fan of Irish folktales. Thanks for sharing!

reply to post by Galadriel

Your Welcome Galadriel

reply to post by Oneggod


Wow, yes! sounds like you do need to do some more research on this topic!! Goodluck

reply to post by BloodSister


Thanks for posting, I love stuff like this and I've never heard of this before.
I was born at 2am in March, right when the clocks change forwards. Does that make me a chime child or just an awkward git?

Good story though and much kudos for you for keeping it alive. Have 50 flags! (You'll know you have them, even if they don't show up!)

Thank you for posting this, I had never heard of it before. Apparently I'm a Chime Child. It would explain my precognitive dreams and my gift for healing.

S&F

Never hear of this but wouldn't surprise me at all.

I have an Irish friend and they told me that their Uncle had been dressed as a girl till he was two-to prvent him being swapped for a fairy child. This was in the late 1940s early 1950s in the rural west of Ireland

This is really fascinating. Thank you for sharing! I read quite a lot about Urban Legends but I've never before come across this particular one. I'm going to look into it some more myself. Perhaps there is something to the theory that people have certain extra-sensory perception or psychic gift because of the time of their birth. It almost mirrors the idea of horoscopes/months of birth influencing us and our personality.