Banshees

OF all Irishghosts, fairies, or bogles, the Banshee (sometimes called
locally the "Boheentha" or "Bankeen-tha") isthe best known to the general
public: indeed, cross-Channel visitors would class her with pigs,potatoes,
and other fauna and flora of Ireland, and would expect her tomake manifest
her presence to them as being one of the sights of the country.She is a
spirit with a lengthy pedigree--how lengthy no man can say, asits roots go
back into the dim, mysterious past. The most famous Banshee ofancient times
was that attached to the kingly house of O'Brien, Aibhill, whohaunted the
rock of Craglea above Killaloe, near the old palace of Kincora.In A.D. 1014
was fought the battle of Clontarf, from which the aged king,Brian Boru, knew
that he would never come away alive, for the previous nightAibhill had
appeared to him to tell him of his impending fate. The Banshee'smethod of
foretelling death in olden times differed from that adopted byher at the
present day: now she wails and wrings her hands, as a generalrule, but in
the old Irish tales she is to be found washing human heads andlimbs, or
blood-stained clothes, till the water is all dyed with humanblood--this
would take place before a battle. So it would seem that in thecourse of
centuries her attributes and characteristics have changedsomewhat.

Very different descriptions are given of her personal appearance.Sometimes
she is young and beautiful, sometimes old and of a fearsomeappearance. One
writer describes her as "a tall, thin woman with uncoveredhead, and long
hair that floated round her shoulders, attired in something whichseemed
either a loose white cloak, or a sheet thrown hastily around her,uttering
piercing cries."

Another person, a coachman, saw her one evening sitting on astile in the
yard; she seemed to be a very small woman, with blue eyes, longlight hair,
and wearing a red cloak. Other descriptions will be found in thischapter. By
the way, it does not seem to be true that the Banshee exclusivelyfollows
families of Irish descent, for the last incident had reference tothe death
of a member of a Co. Galway family English by name and origin.

One of the oldest and best-known Banshee stories is that relatedin the
Memoirs of Lady Fanshaw.* In 1642 her husband, Sir Richard, andshe chanced
to visit a friend, the head of an Irish sept, who resided in hisancient
baronial castle, surrounded with a moat. At midnight she wasawakened by a
ghastly and supernatural scream, and looking out of bed, beheldin the
moonlight a female face and part of the form hovering at thewindow. The
distance from the ground, as well as the circumstance of themoat, excluded
the possibility that what she beheld was of this world. The facewas that of
a young and rather handsome woman, but pale, and the hair, whichwas reddish
was loose and disheveled. The dress, which Lady Fanshaw's terrordid not
prevent her remarking accurately, was that of the ancient Irish.This
apparition continued to exhibit itself for some time, and thenvanished with
two shrieks similar to that which had first excited LadyFanshaw's attention.
In the morning, with infinite terror, she communicated to herhost what she
had witnessed, and found him prepared not only to credit, but toaccount for
the superstition. "A near relation of my family," saidhe, "expired last
night in this castle. We disguised our certain expectation of theevent from
you, lest it should throw a cloud over the cheerful receptionwhich was your
due. Now, before such an event happens in this family or castle,the female
specter whom you have seen is always visible. She is believed tobe the
spirit of a woman of inferior rank, whom one of my ancestorsdegraded himself
by marrying, and whom afterwards, to expiate the dishonor done tohis family,
he caused to be drowned in the moat." In strictness thiswoman could hardly
be termed a Banshee. The motive for the haunting is akin to thatin the tale
of the Scotch "Drummer of Cortachy "where the spirit ofthe murdered man
haunts the family out of revenge, and appears before a death.

* Scott's Lady of the Lake, notes to Canto III (edition of 1811).

Mr. T. J. Westropp, M. A., has furnished the following story:"My maternal
grandmother heard the following tradition from her mother, one ofthe Miss
Ross-Lewins, who witnessed the occurrence. Their father, Mr.Harrison
Ross-Lewin, was away in Dublin on law business, and in hisabsence the young
people went off to spend the evening with a friend who lived somemiles away.
The night was fine and lightsome as they were returning, save atone point
where the road ran between trees or high hedges not far to thewest of the
old church of Kilchrist. The latter, like many similar ruins, wasa simple
oblong building, with long side-walls and high gables, and atthat time it
and its graveyard were unenclosed, and lay in the open fields. Asthe party
passed down the long dark lane they suddenly heard in thedistance loud
keening and clapping of bands, as the country-people wereaccustomed to do
when lamenting the dead. The Ross-Lewins hurried on, and came insight of the
church, on the side wall of which a little gray-haired old woman,clad in a
dark cloak, was running to and fro, chanting and wailing, andthrowing up her
arms. The girls were very frightened, but the young men ranforward and
surrounded the ruin, and two of them went into the church, theapparition
vanishing from the wall as they did so. They searched every nook,and found
no one, nor did any one pass out. All were now well scared, andgot home as
fast as possible. On reaching their home their mother opened thedoor, and at
once told them that she was in terror about their father, for, asshe sat
looking out the window in the moonlight, a huge raven with fieryeyes lit on
the sill, and tapped three times on the glass. They told hertheir story,
which only added to their anxiety, and as they stood talking,taps came to
the nearest window, and they saw the bird again. A few days laternews
reached them that Mr. Ross-Lewin had died suddenly in Dublin.This occurred
about 1776."

Mr. Westropp also writes that the sister of a former RomanCatholic Bishop
told his sisters that when she was a little girl she went out oneevening
with some other children for a walk. Going down the road, theypassed the
gate of the principal demesne near the town. There was a rock, orlarge
stone, beside the road, on which they saw something. Goingnearer, they
perceived it to be a little dark, old woman, who began crying andclapping
her hands. Some of them attempted to speak to her, but gotfrightened, and
all finally ran home as quickly as they could. Next day the newscame that
the gentleman near whose gate the Banshee had cried, was dead,and it was
found on inquiry that he had died at the very hour at which thechildren had
seen the specter.

A lady who is a relation of one of the compilers, and a member ofa Co.
Cork family of English descent, sends the two followingexperiences of a
Banshee in her family. "My mother, when a young girl, wasstanding looking
out of the window in their house at Blackrock, near Cork. Shesuddenly saw a
white figure standing on a bridge which was easily visible fromthe house.
The figure waved her arms towards the house, and my mother heardthe bitter
wailing of the Banshee. It lasted some seconds, and then thefigure
disappeared. Next morning my grandfather was walking as usualinto the city
of Cork. He accidentally fell, hit his head against thecurbstone, and never
recovered consciousness.

"In March, 1900, my mother was very ill, and one evening thenurse and I
were with her arranging her bed. We suddenly heard the mostextraordinary
wailing, which seemed to come in waves round and under her bed.We naturally
looked everywhere to try and find the cause, but in vain. Thenurse and I
looked at one another, but made no remark, as my mother did notseem to hear
it. My sister was downstairs sitting with my father. She heardit, and
thought some terrib!e thing had happened to her little boy, whowas in bed
upstairs. She rushed up, and found him sleeping quietly. Myfather did not
hear it. In the house next door they heard it, and randownstairs, thinking
something had happened to the servant; but the latter at oncesaid to them,
'Did you hear the Banshee? Mrs. P---- must be dying.'"

A few years ago (i.e. before 1894) a curious incident occurred ina public
school in connection with the belief in the Banshee. One of theboys,
happening to become ill, was at once placed in a room by himself,where he
used to sit all day. On one occasion, as he was being visited bythe doctor,
he suddenly started up from his seat, and affirmed that he heardsomebody
crying. The doctor, of course, who could hear or see nothing,came to the
conclusion that the illness had slightly affected his brain.However, the
boy, who appeared quite sensible, still persisted that he heardsome one
crying, and furthermore said, "It is the Banshee, as I haveheard it before."
The following morning the head-master received a telegram sayingthat the
boy's brother had been accidentally shot dead.*

* A. G. Bradley, Notes on some Irish Superstitions, p. 9.

That the Banshee is not confined within the geographical limitsof Ireland,
but that she can follow the fortunes of a family abroad, andthere foretell
their death, is clearly shown by the following story. A party ofvisitors
were gathered together on the deck of a private yacht on one ofthe Italian
lakes, and during a lull in the conversation one of them, aColonel, said to
the owner, "Count, who's that queer-looking woman you haveon board?" The
Count replied that there was nobody except the ladies present,and the
stewardess, but the speaker protested that he was correct, andsuddenly, with
a scream of horror, he placed his hands before his eyes, andexclaimed, "Oh,
my God, what a face!" For some time he was overcome withterror, and at
length reluctantly looked up, and cried:

"Thank Heavens, it's gone!"

"What was it?" asked the Count.

"Nothing human," replied the Colonel--"nothingbelonging to this world. It
was a woman of no earthly type, with a queer-shaped, gleamingface, a mass of
red hair, and eyes that would have been beautiful but for theirexpression,
which was hellish. She had on a green hood, after the fashion ofan Irish
peasant."

An American lady present suggested that the description talliedwith that
of the Banshee, upon which the Count said:

"I am an O'Neill--at least I am descended from one. Myfamily name is, as
you know, Neilsini, which, little more than a century ago, wasO'Neill. My
great-grandfather served in the Irish Brigade, and on itsdissolution at the
time of the French Revolution had the good fortune to escape thegeneral
massacre of officers, and in company with an O'Brien and aMaguire fled
across the frontier and settled in Italy. On his death his son,who had been
born in Italy, and was far more Italian than Irish, changed hisname to
Neilsini, by which name the family has been known ever since. Butfor all
that we are Irish "

"The Banshee was yours, then!" ejaculated the Colonel"What exactly does it
mean?"

"It means," the Count replied solemnly, "the deathof some one very nearly
associated with me. Pray Heaven it is not my wife or daughter."

On that score, however, his anxiety was speedily removed, forwithin two
hours he was seized with a violent attack of angina pectoris, anddied before
morning.*

* Occult Review for September, 1913.

Mr. Elliott O'Donnell, to whose article on "Banshees"we are indebted for
the above, adds: "The Banshee never manifests itself to theperson whose
death it is prognosticating. Other people may see or hear it, butthe fated
one never, so that when every one present is aware of it but one,the fate of
that one may be regarded as pretty well certain."