Ireland's “Banshee”: She Cries Outside the Window When Someone in an Old Family Is About to Die

Ireland has a very old legend about a character called the “Banshee,” which in Irish means “woman of the fairy mound.”

She is a death-omening female spirit who does no harm; she simply appears outside the house of someone who is about to die and cries. Traditionally, only the oldest few families in Ireland had a Banshee: those families bore the surnames O'Neill, O'Brien, O'Connor, O'Grady, and Cavanagh—the old names beginning with “O” or “Mac.” When someone in the household was near death, a high, thin wail would come from outside the window at night, like singing yet like a lament, drawn out and long.

People say her appearance varies: some say she is a young beauty, others say she is an old crone with a face full of wrinkles; some say she has long silver-white hair, sits on a stone outside the window, and brushes it stroke by stroke; others say she wears a grey cloak with eyes red from crying. In some places there is a rule: if you find a comb on the road, do not pick it up—it belongs to the Banshee.

Scotland has a similar legend called the “Washerwoman,” about a woman washing clothes by the river, washing the clothes of those who are about to die; if anyone sees her, they know someone in their house is going to die.

These stories are connected to Irish funeral traditions. In the past, Irish funerals had a custom of “keening,” where women were hired to sing and cry beside the coffin, their voices drawn out long. People say the Banshee's wailing comes from this.

Into the twentieth century, people still wrote to newspapers or radio stations saying that before an elder in their family died, someone truly cried outside their window at night. Some researchers say that foxes calling at night sound like a woman's scream, and owls' calls have this tone too; in remote countryside, those who hear them easily think of the Banshee.

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