Mythological Creatures

Banshee (2)

"The Wailing Woman of the Mist" 

A banshee is mostly described as a faery woman or a ghostly woman who is best known for her high-pitched scream or wail. Apparently, if you heard this sound, it meant that someone close to you or even yourself , is about to die. These ghostly screams are almost always heard at night and are said to sound like a blend between a woman's scream and a night creature's wail.

Lydia's killer scream below:

The banshee is also known as 'the wailing woman' and can predict when someone is close to death. 

Those who have seen a banshee usually describe them as a thin, old woman wearing a traditional burial robe (typically given to those people with no family or religious identification) which is often torn and tattered. They have wild, uncombed hair and wrinkled skin. 

 There is an old Irish legend that states that if you find a comb, particularly a silver one, never to pick it up, for it is probably the property of a banshee. 

If you watch Teen Wolf, you will know more about banshees thanks to one of the main characters being a banshee. (Thanks to Lydia).

Banshees on Teen Wolf can hear voices in their heads. Often this leads them, subconsciously, to 'murder scenes'. They sometimes write or draw messages from the voices subconsciously.While they get early indications that someone is going to die, their ability lacks precision and the banshees seen on show to date don't seem to be in complete control of their abilities. 

Banshees on Teen Wolf do not appear to be supernatural,  in that banshees have a connection to the supernatural but are not controlled by it. For example, Lydia can cross Mountain Ash barriers which no supernatural creature on the show can cross, and she remains unaffected by kanima venom and the bite of an Alpha werewolf.

From what we know so far, Lydia has a few traits common to the Banshee of legend.

Piercing Scream

We first saw just how far Lydia's scream carries in the Season 2 opener Omega. When she screamed after her hallucination at the hospital, Scott heard the sound at Allison's house and it seemed to reach far into the Beacon Hills Preserve as well.

Harbinger of Death

Also in Omega, Lydia's wanderings in the woods ended up at a scene of death.

This connection was made clear in Season 3. As the rate of killings increased, Lydia increasingly found herself subconsciously drawn to the scenes and the dead bodies.

Peter says that the scream is not what gives her power but drowns out all other sounds so that she can focus on the voices only she can hear. It appears that she is connected to some supernatural network that broadcasts messages about death and dying.

In Season 5, Meredith says they can use their scream as an offensive weapon as well. The scream is seen as a strong sound wave, capable of throwing people and objects short distances. According to Dr Valack , in The Last Chimera , she could shatter a human skull with her voice as well. This is evidenced in as Valack, himself, meets this fate.