The bashee

 The Banshee

‘An aged desolation,

She sits by old Shannon’s flowing,

A mother of many children,

Of children exiled and dead,

In her home, with bent head, homeless,

Clasping her knees she sits,

Keening, keening!’

- John Todhunter

The ‘aged desolation’ John Todhunter was talking about in this rather grim poem is the banshee; a female spirit in Irish folklore. First accounts of the banshee date from as far back as 1380, and her name is derived from the Irish bean sí. In Irish, bean means woman, and the word sí comes from the mythologically important mounds which can be found in the Irish countryside, known as side in Old Irish. So, taken literally, the banshee’s name means “woman of the fairy mound”. This may initially make the banshee sound quite nice and sweet, but that’s not really the case.

Descriptions of the banshee vary, with some people reporting seeing a beautiful, young woman with long, flowing hair, and others seeing an old woman in rags with dirty hair, long fingernails, and sharp-pointed rotten teeth. The banshee has also been sighted washing the blood-stained clothes of those who are about to die. But everyone is agreed on one detail, the banshee’s eyes are red from crying too much as she is in a constant state of mourning.

Really though, the banshee’s appearance is not that important, as she is usually heard before she is seen, and hearing her is enough to terrify most people before they even see her. In fact, when the banshee screams, or keens, the shrieks are loud and high-pitched enough that they can shatter glass. Having said that, if you hear a banshee scream outside your house the glass would be the least of your worries, as her keening is an omen of death. 

According to legend, some banshees relish in taking a life and will stalk their victim wailing and screaming at them to the point that the victim goes insane or dies. However, by most accounts, although her keening is terrifying, the ghost does not actually bring or cause death herself; rather the keening is a warning to a family to make preparations for the imminent death of a loved one. Some people also say that the banshee then acts as an escort to ensure that family members pass safely to the other side.

Originally the banshee only cried for the five major Irish families the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, the O'Gradys and the Kavanaghs, but that intermarriage has since extended this select list, and now it is said that each Irish family has their own banshee. Alternatively, if several banshees appear at once this is an indicator of an imminent death of a religious or holy person. 

As for whether this is fact or fiction? I know some people who swear they have heard the banshee before the death of family member, but I also remember Alice one time describing the shrieking of a badger and thinking it sounded similar to descriptions of a banshee keening, so the jury is still out.