The Family Banshee

Every ancient Irish family has to possess the banshee to warn them of the impending death of various family members. In the author’s case it was his grandmother who possess the banshee, and a whole bunch of other supernatural manifestations. They could range from a big black dog who only came out at night with shining red eyes , or a baby that could be heard crying in the distance. This was a particularly bad omen is foretold the imminent death of one of the family members. My grandmother also had the ability to read tea leaves fortunes and foretell the future. Not only that she also had all other kinds of supernatural entities that followed her through life, that she could probably tell the best ghost stories that you have ever heard.

When my aunt Louise was dying my grandmother claimed that she could see the whole family that had already passed on marking up the stairs to Louise’s bedroom where she lay dying. To make things even more interesting she can also see various apparitions of members of the family through the windows,or coming in through the back door. She can also hear the baby wailing for several days before Aunt Louise finally died. This Irish haunting Went out for each and every member of her family and she was the final member of the family to die.

According to Irish folklore the banshee is an old woman of the fairy mounds. In many places in Ireland they are believed to be members of the older race before Christianity was established there. The banshee was looked upon as a traditional harbinger of death whose wails signaled the death of a family member. Whatever her origins are she is really capable of being seen in three different guises one is a young woman, too is a stately matron and three as an old hag. This represents the three guises of the Celtic goddess of war and death. Another guise she takes is as a washerwoman washing the blood of the clothes of those about to die. In other stories she wears a gray, hooded cloak and another times she appears in the grave shrouds of the unshrive n dead. Her wail is often considered to be a screech so powerful that it can shatter a wine glass.

A similar spirit of mountains and glens of Scotland often appearing in human form. In 1437 one appeared before King James I foretelling his assassination by the Duke of Atholl. In this case she appeared as a seerous and is an example of a banshee in human form.

Throughout the history of the Celtic race there has been one form or another of these names she liked spirits appearing before members of specific families as a harbinger of death. In certain parts of Germany there is also a strong Celtic background particularly in Bavaria. As a child the author quite often heard his grandmother speak of the glouckmutter that appeared before a member of the family died she perfectly matches the description of the banshee.

References:

Banshee, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banshee

Personal recollections of the author.