Urban Legends, Haunted Places, ETC .

Banshee

A Banshee is said to be a fairy in Irish legend and her scream is believed to be an omen of death. The scream is also called 'caoine' which means 'keening' and is a warning that there will be an imminent death in the family and as the Irish families blended over time, it is said that each family has its own Banshee!

A banshee (/ˈbænʃiː/ BAN-shee; Modern Irish bean sí, baintsí, from Old Irish: ben síde, baintsíde, pronounced [bʲen ˈʃiːðʲe, banti:ðe], "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish mythology who heralds the death of a family member, usually by wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name is connected to the mythologically important tumuli or "mounds" that dot the Irish countryside, which are known as síde (singular síd) in Old Irish

There are many varying descriptions of the banshee. Sometimes she has long streaming hair and wears a grey cloak over a green dress, and her eyes are red from continual weeping. She may be dressed in white with red hair and a ghastly complexion, according to a firsthand account by Ann, Lady Fanshawe in her Memoirs. Lady Wilde in Ancient Legends of Ireland provides another:

Sometimes the banshee assumes the form of some sweet singing virgin of the family who died young, and has been given the mission by the invisible powers to become the harbinger of coming doom to her mortal kindred. Or she may be seen at night as a shrouded woman, crouched beneath the trees, lamenting with veiled face, or flying past in the moonlight, crying bitterly. And the cry of this spirit is mournful beyond all other sounds on earth, and betokens certain death to some member of the family whenever it is heard in the silence of the night.

Banshee:

From Irish and Scottish folklore, the bean-sidhe (literally, "woman of the fairy folk") is the spirit of a woman who acts as a messenger of death.

She appears outside of the houses of the five oldest Gaelic families (O'Connor, O'Grady, O'Neill, O'Brian, Kavanagh), sobbing and crying through the night to warn the family that death is near for one of them. The wailing of many banshees signifies that death is near for someone of great importance.

The bean-nighe ("washerwoman"), her Scottish counterpart, can be seen by a lake or river, washing the bloodstained clothes of the one who will soon die.

There seems to be a strong misconception in the United States about the banshee; she's usually of a more evil nature, she actively seeks to bring death, and her bawling wail has been replaced by a stridently sharp scream.

The banshee of Gaelic lore is not an evil spirit at all; she's grieving for the one who is about to die and she's trying to warn the family. She is usually heard rather than seen, but she appears as a woman in a silver-grey cloak (she appears as a girl or young woman, a mature woman, or an old woman), her eyes are red from centuries of weeping, and she often tears at her hair as she bawls all night long.

"I heard a woman crying across the fields that night, and death took my grandmother. I knew then that I heard the banshee."