Irish folklore is rich in amazing and interesting images. One of the brightest can confidently be called a banshee. Who are banshees and why do they appear? How do people's encounters with these creatures end? Read on!

Banshee: the meaning of the word and its origin

In order to understand the meaning of this word, you should look in the dictionary. It comes from the English banshee, which, in turn, is the closest relative of the Irish bean sidhe, which can be translated as “woman from the other world.”

Different names for the same character

An interesting fact is that the banshee has different names in different parts of Ireland. Of course, the most common is bean sidhe. But, along with the generally accepted designation, there are also local names. For example, in counties such as Tipperary, Mayo and Limerick, it is customary to call this character bean chaointe - “crying woman”. By the way, sometimes in Tipperary (and at the same time in counties Laish and Kilkenny) a banshee is called a bochenta. Residents of the southeastern part of the country call the banshee badhdh. This definition of banshee means a woman who is scary, aggressive and very dangerous. It is worth noting that in the Middle Ages the Irish called the goddesses of war with the same word. In the south of counties Wicklow and Kildare, Carlow and Wexford, the name bow is common. But in Waterford, banshees are usually called bibe.

Origin of the image

So who is a banshee? This is a character from Irish folklore who appears near the home of a man whose days are numbered. In fact, the woman messenger notifies the man himself and his loved ones about this. She does this with the help of moans, sobs and screams. Most likely, the researchers say, the myth of the banshee arose on the basis of an old tradition: once upon a time a woman had to be present at a funeral, singing a special funeral song. At the same time, the woman sobbed and wailed loudly. Another version says: the concept of a banshee is inextricably linked with the legend of the ghost of a murdered woman. According to the third version, this is the mother who died during childbirth.

This hero of Irish folklore has no direct analogues in the culture and beliefs of other peoples. Researchers suggest that the roots of this image go back to Celtic mythology. Patricia Lysaft, a professor at Dublin University, devoted more than 20 years to studying the image of the banshee. In her works, she notes that the Irish themselves practically do not think about the origin of this character, they simply take it for granted. However, Patricia managed to systematize the data about him.

1. Fairies are one of the opinions about who banshees are, widespread in the literature of the 19th-20th centuries. Today this identification has lost its relevance. The fact is that fairies are social creatures. They live in groups, and their lifestyle is similar to that of humans. Banshees are solitary creatures, and their entire connection with people is solely a warning of death.
2. Ghosts are a much more common opinion. Some Irish people say that the banshee is the ghost of the mourning woman. There is a belief that if during life the mourner did not fulfill her duties, then after death she will certainly become a messenger spirit.
3. The patroness of the clan is the main version. According to her, the banshee is the progenitor of the family, a kind of patron spirit. Only truly Irish families can boast of having such a spirit.

Appearance

Now that you know who banshees are, let's talk about what they look like. The appearance of these loud-voiced creatures causes serious controversy even today. Someone says that a banshee is a beautiful girl in a long light cloak. There is a hood on her head. Some people like the version according to which the spirit appears in the form of a wrinkled, decrepit old woman. The only thing about which there is no doubt is the hair - it is generally accepted that it is very long and light, possibly gray. It is very rare to find a description with dark or red hair, wearing colored clothes. According to the descriptions, the banshee's cloak is very long. Shoes are rarely mentioned in legends; it is generally believed that the spirit appears barefoot before people.

Irish legends

To date, three main stories related to the banshee are known. According to the first, a man accidentally meets a ghost at night, mistakes him for an ordinary woman and tries to offend her. The creature pushes the man away, leaving marks of fingers and palms on his body.

The second plot of Irish legends says that a man meets a banshee while doing laundry. He laughs at her and offers to wash his shirt too. There are two main versions further development events: the spirit can actually wash a shirt, quietly removing it from a man, or it can simply strangle someone laughing at her with the collar of his own clothes. The third legend tells of a traveler returning home and accidentally encountering a banshee combing her hair. Having obtained the bone comb of the spirit, the traveler returns home, but soon the owner comes for her thing, threatens and demands it back.

Evil spirits or simple messengers?

Contrary to popular belief, researchers of Irish legends assure: banshees are not evil ghosts, but just messengers of approaching death. Usually the howls of the spirit are heard only by those who are about to die. But there are also cases when eerie screams are heard by other people. In this case must die great person or the most respected relative.

Image in culture

The meaning of the banshee and its image have often been used in world culture. This is how Ray Bradbury wrote the story “Banshee”. The same creature was also mentioned in the novels of Clifford Simak. Charles de Lint compared the cry of the heroine of his book “Taste the Moonlight” with the cry of this spirit. Strange creatures also appeared on the big screen. In 1970, a film called “The Cry of the Banshee” was released. In 2006, another film was shot with this creation - “Music of Death”. Another film appeared in 2008 and was released in our country under the name “Night Watch”.

Computer games

The character of Irish folklore also appears in computer games:

• ghostly creatures fly and deafen everyone with their screams in the game World of Warcraft;
• Banshee is one of the most powerful fighting machines in the BattleTech universe;
• in the GTA world, banshees are the fastest cars;
• Those who have at least once played the game “Cursed Lands” are also familiar with banshees - here they call ghosts in long black robes;
• A banshee also appears in the game Mortal Kombat - here it is Sindel.

It is difficult to imagine that there is a more strange, remote, mystical place in the world than cool, often cloudy, full of castles and stone megaliths, Ireland. All the strangest evil spirits popular in popular culture, wandering from song to song, from one Gothic novel to another, is one way or another connected with this country.

Probably, the Irish themselves cannot imagine why so many different evil spirits settled in their green fields and hills. It is also worth noting that Irish mystical images are so original that finding more or less suitable prototypes in the mythology of other peoples is always very problematic.

The image is probably one of the most mystical in Irish folklore. Few aliens from a parallel world receive so many film adaptations and reflections in poetry and prose. Peculiarity is that she, like most of those strange spirits that live in foggy Ireland, has Celtic roots, and the Celts were very original people.

Celtic folklore takes into account the slightest change in nature, a change in a person’s mood, penetrates into the very depths of the human soul and finds there secluded, shady nooks and crannies through which strange images move.

If we remember that the Celts were primarily considered priests, then we can understand why the Banshee can be called one of the most mystical images created by them. After all, the priests, with the help of their spells, probably knew how to penetrate into those depths, where they could find an image, which later became embodied in the image of the mysterious Banshee - “woman from the hills” translated from Irish Gaelic.

Banshee appearance

Who is Banshee? The average Irishman, familiar with his folklore, will describe her something like this: she is a woman, and her obligatory attribute is long gray hair. True, folklore speakers give different names for this woman’s age. For some, this is a beautiful young girl, and for others, she is an old woman who is not very attractive in appearance.

There are also different opinions about the clothes of Women from the Fields. The banshee may wear a cloak, but its color varies depending on what the narrator remembers about his folklore. For example, a cloak can be green, because green is the traditional color of evil spirits, especially Irish ones. But more often it is white, because it is the color of death and emptiness. Banshee is, to some extent, the embodiment, or rather, its inexorable harbinger.

The Celts were especially sensitive to the nature that surrounded them, and therefore it was from them that the perception of the Banshee as a part of nature came. It is believed that no one prevents her from appearing in this world in the form of trees, rivers and fogs. In general, Banshee is Nature in person, its integral part.

Why does Banshee come?

Irish mythology figuratively talks about the Banshee, but has no clear idea of ​​what exactly the function of the sinister lady is. The fact that this is not Bones herself is quite clear, but why the Banshee actually “works” for Death is not clear from the folklore that has come down to us.

Some legends claim that the Banshee is the spirit of a woman who in the past was a mourner at someone's funeral. Apparently, she got so used to the role that even after her death she had to come back from the other world and disturb the Irish with her inhuman scream.

And if you can still sort out the hair and the color of the cloak, then with the Banshee’s voice everything has long been determined. The Harbinger of Death comes at night under the windows of houses and wakes people up with a prolonged howl. Probably, only the Celts with their eternal desire to create something out of the ordinary could have come up with such sophisticated mysticism.

The scream of a Banshee under the window does not bode well. It is believed that with her cry she warns of the impending death of someone living in the house. Legends describe this cry in the night as unbearable, heartbreaking, piercing through and through.

Some Irish legends say that the Banshee can not only scream, but also appear to travelers on lonely roads or near bodies of water. In an old or young guise, this messenger can answer any questions, but in return she will demand that you honestly tell her everything she wants. And you can't lie to her.

The Irish, not without pride, note the “nationality” of the Banshee. This means that neither the Russian nor the Chinese will see her, either in the form of an old woman or as a cry in the night. The banshee appears only to the Irish and Scots, that is, to the descendants of the Celts. There is also a version that the Banshee is the ancestral spirit of one or another Irish family. She comes to tell those she protects about the impending danger.

One way or another, the Banshee is one of the most striking and extraordinary images in Irish folklore. It is not just scary, but also in a special, Irish way, gloomy and full of all the most otherworldly things. This is probably precisely because in cool, cloudy Ireland it is difficult to come up with something less terrifying.

Favorite type of undead (except vampires). The sexiest image of a kind of emo-ghost ^__^. Although she does not belong to ghosts, rather to fairy creatures.(opinions differ here). By the way, in games I always play for the undead)))

Banshee.

Aka: Washer of the Shrouds (more on her below), Washer at the Banks, Washer at the Ford, Cointeach, Cyhiraeth, Cyoerraeth, Gwrach y Rhibyn, Eur-Cunnere Noe, Bean sidhe, Bean Chaointe, the Bean-nighe, Kannerez- Noz

Banshee Form

Regarding the description appearance banshee, then the opinions here are diametrically opposed. One thing remains unchanged - the female image. There is a certain romantic image of a banshee, mainly in children's stories, that this is a young a beautiful woman with long blond or golden hair wearing a long white cloak with a hood. The banshee is also described as a small old woman, but again with long hair, white or gray. In general, long hair is the same distinguishing feature banshee, like her scream. Less common is the description of black or dark hair of a banshee, as well as dark or colored clothes, since it is quite obvious that at dusk or darkness, the time when a banshee appears, it is easier to see her in a white cloak and with white, often gray, hair, which also confirms the legend of the old banshee. As for the headdress, it is mentioned extremely rarely, since it would be inappropriate given the long, developing hair. Since the banshee's cloak mostly extends to her toes, footwear is also rarely mentioned. Some bearers of the tradition believe that she walks barefoot.

Patroness of the clan

One of the central aspects of the legends and traditions about the banshee is the idea that the banshee is the patron spirit of the family that she notifies of death, that is, there is a hereditary connection between them, it can also be the ancestor of the family.

According to legend, not all Irish have banshees. In oral and literary sources families in which death is heralded by a banshee are designated as families with "O" and "Mac", that is, it is believed that the banshee accompanies truly Irish families. However, the list of surnames of such families is much wider, as it also includes families descended from the Vikings and Anglos -Normans, that is, families who settled in Ireland before the 17th century.

The banshee has long flowing hair, gray cloaks over green dresses, and eyes red from crying. Banshees take care of ancient human families, emitting heartbreaking screams when mourning the death of one of the family members. When several banshees gather together, it foretells the death of one of the great people. Seeing a banshee means imminent death. The banshee cries in a language no one understands; her cries seem to merge together the cries of wild geese, the sobs of an abandoned child and the howl of a wolf. (Here opinions are again divided: someone claims that her crying is like “low pleasant singing”, or “the sound of two shields hitting each other”, or "a thin screech, somewhere between the moaning of a woman and the moaning of an owl"). Her screams can be so strong that glass breaks (!). Sometimes the banshee takes the form of an ugly old woman with matted black hair, one single nostril and protruding front teeth. Sometimes she becomes a pale-skinned beauty in a gray cloak or shroud. And sometimes she appears in the form of an innocent maiden from among the members of the clan who died early (she is also sometimes represented with huge breasts, which she throws back). She either sneaks among the trees, or flies around the house, filling the air with piercing screams.

There is a story about how a certain woman saw a banshee in her window. She was sitting outside, on a stone ledge; she had red hair that seemed on fire against the background of her white dress and deathly pale skin. She hummed something monotonously, and then suddenly disappeared, as if she had melted into thin air. The next morning it turned out that the woman’s brother died that night.

There is also a story about how a certain farmer met a banshee at a bridge. He saw an old woman sitting on the railing, said hello and only then noticed that the old woman had very long hair, red with a purple tint. The old woman sat with her head downcast, as if saddened by something. When she turned to face the farmer, everything inside him froze: the skin was pale, like a corpse, the face was spotted like a turkey egg... The old woman straightened up in full height, and it turned out that she was three times taller than himself tall man. The farmer mentally said goodbye to life, but then the old woman stepped off the bridge straight into the water and disappeared. The next morning, the farmer learned that his old neighbor, the last in an ancient family, had died during the night.

Banshees, bensies, bansii ("heavenly women"), in Irish mythology, fairies into which gods from the Tribes of the goddess Danu turned after the territory modern Ireland the sons of Mil, the ancestors of the Irish, appeared. These gods and goddesses were forced to go deep into the earth and live under the hills in the thickets, hide among the swamps in enchanted forests, and among the clouds in magical skies. According to legends, banshees can take on any form - a cloud, a shadow, a bush, a girl, etc. Until now, many believe that their mournful cry, called Kiening and heard at night, certainly foreshadows a close human death. The author of Demonology and Witchcraft, Sir Walter Scott, believed that the banshee was not so much a creature with an appearance as an ominous death howl that filled the nights of Ireland and the highlands of Scotland with terror. People imagine the banshee as a woman with long flowing black hair, in loose robes, with eyes swollen from tears, or in the guise of a vile and ugly old woman with matted gray hair. The banshee fairy can be a pale-skinned beauty in a long shroud, and sometimes it can appear in the form of an innocent maiden who died early - a relative of the family. The enchanted forest from Arthurian legend was inhabited by lovely fairies. One of them, the Hard-Hearted Dame, a sorceress-temptress described by the poet J. Keats, was a banshee who lured mortal knights-errant, instilling in them reckless passion, and then left them, devoid of the will to live, to wander the hills "in sullen solitude and without meaning".

Banshees move with a sound similar to the sound of a bird flying. Therefore, some mistakenly identify them with a crow.

Benny or the washerwoman at the creek

In the folklore of the Scottish Highlands, the banshee is a close relative. She is called the washerwoman by the stream because benny can be found near forest streams, in which she washes the bloody clothes of those who are destined to die. She is usually dressed in a green dress. If a person spots the benny before she sees him and stands between her and the water, she will be granted three wishes. Benny will answer three questions, but she will also ask the same number, and in no case should you be disingenuous with her. She can recognize the one who plucks up the courage and puts his mouth on her saggy breasts as her stepson and will help him. However, if Benny gets angry, she begins to whip the man with underwear, and the unfortunate man’s arms and legs begin to fall off. According to some sources, bennies are the spirits of mortal women who died during childbirth, and will find peace only when the time comes to leave this world (that is, on the day on which they would have died of old age).

Is this you, inside? ©

According to legend, a banshee glides like a ghost through the forests of Ireland in the dead of night, crying and wailing...

/Masa has been wanting to do this for a long time and finally took up the legends again. Somewhere I already have a set of material on the Headless Horseman and Wild Hunt. It's your turn Banshee- what kind of creature this is, where it came from, what it is like and what it is capable of. If possible, I collected and sifted through as much information as possible.
Murmurmur:3/

Ireland is very rich in myths and legends about fairies, ghosts, leprechauns and other strange creatures. But none of these creatures evokes such awe and fear in us as a banshee, as soon as this word leaves someone’s lips. We immediately imagine a supernatural howl coming from the direction of the forest, where under the cover dark night The banshee herself is hiding.

“A banshee is a woman who, according to legend, appears near the house of a person doomed to death and, with her characteristic moans and sobs, notifies that the hour of his death is about to strike!”

The Banshee has many names and nicknames - Banshee, Bensi, Bansia, bean shi ("heavenly women"), fairy, Lady Death, Angel of Death, White Lady of Sorrow, air nymph, spirit of the air.
No matter what you call it, it is still the same creature. A banshee is an incorporeal creature, a ghost, in other words.

The banshee did not immediately gain a bad reputation. Initially, if we turn to Irish mythology, banshees are fairies into which gods from the Tribes of the goddess Danu turned after the sons of Mil, the ancestors of the Irish, appeared on the territory of modern Ireland. These gods and goddesses were forced to go deep into the earth and live under the hills in the thickets, hide among the swamps in enchanted forests, and among the clouds in magical skies.

Then it was believed that banshees could take on any form - clouds, shadows, bushes, girls, etc.

Every decent Irish family should, of course, enjoy the protection of a woman from over the Hill (or from under the Hill, which is essentially the same thing). Because if a family is deprived of this protection, then how decent is it, really?
This is where the belief comes from that banshees are protected only by ancient families, whose roots go deep into the history of modern Ireland. (but more on that later)

The banshees watched over many things: the birth of babies and the upbringing of young men, the hearth and to ensure that the horse did not catch fire and the spear did not break. She is either a wise mother or an older sister. If an Irishman dies, the women of his family gather to mourn him. And among them are banshees. In the last minutes, she appears in mourning white clothes to comb the dying man’s hair with her silver comb and wet his face with tears, and then steps aside and sings the funeral song with the other women.
She scratches me with a silver comb

And sheds streams of tears.

(English folk ballad "Alison Gross")

This silver comb, with which she combed the hair of the dying, is often mentioned in legends and stories about her, although the real meaning of this comb has long begun to be forgotten.

She has many guises. Some people see her as an ugly old woman with a mane of gray hair, others as a beautiful young girl with white skin. In some cases, as they say, she may appear in the form of a washerwoman on the banks of a river or lake. Only the clothes she washes are usually bloody.
The myth of bloody clothes and washing them in a lake or river has given the Banshee a lot of bad reputation. Although initially this idea most likely came from the famous Irish myth of Cuchulainn. So, the ominous Morrigan met the famous hero Cuchulainn before the last battle - she washed his bloody armor in the stream and sang kaoinead. Cuchulainn realized that this battle was his last, and it became so. But Morrigan was a goddess, not a banshee.

Sometimes she is seen as a beautiful fairy with long blond hair, which she combs with a special silver comb. According to superstition, finding and picking up such a comb means great bad luck, since the banshee leaves this thing in certain places to lure unsuspecting people and lead them to death. (here is the comb)

The enchanted forest from Arthurian legend was inhabited by lovely fairies. One of them, the Hard Lady, a sorceress-temptress described by the poet J. Keats, was a banshee who lured mortal knights-errant, instilling in them reckless passion, and then left them, devoid of the will to live, to wander the hills "in sullen solitude and without meaning".

But the most characteristic and well-known feature of a banshee, no matter what form it appears in, is its crying. The banshee cries in a language that no one understands: her cries combine the cries of wild geese, the sobs of an abandoned child and the howl of a wolf. The voice of a banshee is similar at the same time to the howl of a dog and the plaintive cries of birds. The howl of the banshee is full of sorrow, it has a melancholic echo of the wind, but there is also something of the human voice. Howling and crying can be clearly heard from a great distance.
The author of Demonology and Witchcraft, Sir Walter Scott, believed that the banshee was not so much a creature with an appearance as an ominous death howl that filled the nights of Ireland and the highlands of Scotland with terror.

Her terrible, frightening cry warns human creatures about imminent inevitable death... Hearing her sad voice is a sign that soon someone will be on the other side of life.

It is also often said that the banshee is very shy to show itself to mortals. The slightest sound - and she is instantly lost from sight, disappearing like fog.

It is believed that the myth of the banshee came from the widespread tradition in Ireland of mourning for their dead: women cried during funerals, so for many in the village this cry, spreading through the air, was the first signal that someone had died. These people who cried at funerals were known as "mourners" and their services were highly valued. It was from this tradition of honoring the dead that the legend of the Banshee was born.
Traditionally, if a person dies, it is customary to mourn him - at his funeral, women mourners do this. Many large Gaulish clans have a fey woman associated with them. When a family member dies, she appears to mourn him. Stories describe how a banshee appears when a family member dies far from home, or the cry of a banshee may be the first indication of death. However, most often in legends they are encountered by a person who does not yet know that one of his relatives has died.

When were these Irish oral traditions first translated into English language, there was a difference in the interpretation of the image of the banshee between the original version and the translated one. Thus, the funeral lament for the deceased turned into howling and lamentation, foreshadowing death. In these stories, the howl of a banshee foreshadowed the imminent death of a family member, and the one who saw the banshee was soon to die himself.

If the Irish still retained a good memory of the banshee, then the Scots (they called the mourners bean nigh or bean sheath) came to the conclusion that the mourner comes directly from the world of the dead to prophesy death to those who would still live and live. At the same time, again, washing bloody clothes or Mythical creatures- Banshisavana (“bean nigh” means “erasing woman”), which makes one suspect the machinations of Morrigan... From a beautiful girl, bean shith gradually turns into a monster: they will discover webbing between her fingers, fangs, and saggy breasts. Of course, white no longer suits such a “beauty”; Scottish mourners wear green. Some dispute the afterlife essence of bean nigh - they say that it is “only” akin to a hag monster.

There is another hypothesis: they say that a banshee is an elf, a fairy, or maybe a human woman who died in childbirth as a result of some fantastic neglect on the part of her husband. This, on the one hand, explains the shrillness of her voice, and on the other, her actions; It is believed that the banshee is a hundred times more willing to cause death to men than to women. In this case, she will calm down if she personally puts an end to ex-husband; and if he manages to die his own death - that’s it, she will chase men forever.

According to the third version, this is a sorceress (or, again, an elf), whose grave was destroyed and placed in its place... here opinions differ - either a tavern, or even a brothel. The banshee cannot fly up to the tavern and give its regulars a concert at the request of the banshee, and the premises must be razed to the ground alive.

Whatever version you accept, it follows that the usual, so to speak, physical elimination of the banshee will not last long (if it succeeds at all). In a maximum of a year, and most likely - on the next full moon, the spirit will again flutter out of the ground, and it will not show itself to anyone. Moreover, even for a couple of days, only a true saint can put her to rest, who quite by chance happened to be close to the banshee’s victim - or, perhaps, a sorcerer, but in the latter case, the recipes are carefully guarded.

“...The night air was cut through by a low howl, turning into a piercing screech. Rod's eyes shot open. Siren? In this culture? The sound came from the left, he looked up and saw a castle on top of the hill. And there, at the base of the tower, something was burning and screeching shrilly, like a “black crow” mourning the death of several patrol cars. The patrons ran out of the inn in disarray and crowded into the courtyard, staring and pointing.

That's a banshee!

No, everything will be fine. Hasn't he appeared three times already? But the queen is still alive!...” (K. Stasheff “The Reluctant Sorcerer”).

When several banshees gather together, it foretells the death of one of the great people.
This is interesting: in one version of the story about Macbeth, instead of three witches, three banshees appear - they do not address Macbeth directly, but simply mourn first the Thane of Cawdor, then the Scottish king, and then Macbeth himself. It’s quite logical: for such noble people, one bean shea, of course, is not enough. They did not predict Banquo to become the “ancestor of kings”, because this character was already invented by Shakespeare - wanting to create a “great ancestor” of the then reigning King James I.

There is a story about how a certain woman saw a banshee in her window. She was sitting outside, on a stone ledge; she had red hair that seemed to be on fire against the background of her white dress and deathly pale skin. She hummed something monotonously, and then suddenly disappeared, as if she had melted into thin air. The next morning it turned out that the woman’s brother died that night.

There is also a story: a certain farmer met a banshee at the bridge. He saw an old woman sitting on the railing, said hello and only then noticed that the old woman had very long hair, red, with a purple tint. The old woman sat slumped, as if saddened by something. When she turned to face the farmer, everything inside him froze: the skin was pale, like a corpse, the face was spotted, like a turkey egg... The old woman straightened up to her full height, and it turned out that she was three times taller than the tallest man. The farmer mentally said goodbye to life, but the old woman stepped off the bridge straight into the water and disappeared. The next morning the farmer learned that his neighbor Starkey, the last in an ancient family, had died during the night.

Since there is a lot of controversy about the very essence of the banshee, we can turn to another theory of the appearance of these creatures.

Some Irish believe that the souls of the dead do not leave the earth, but are here, attached to this world. They either enjoy the happiness that they received for a life well lived, or (if they lived in sins and succumbed to passions all their lives) they are punished for the years they lived. Spirits who pay with eternal suffering are usually tied to a specific place - they are forced to pay for their sins in those places near which these sins or crimes were committed.
Banshees are spirits that are attached to the earth. They say they only care about ancient families. It is believed that banshees follow the family (with both bad and good intentions), watching over it until the very last descendant dies and is buried (although it is said that banshees, for example, do not follow the family in other regions, if she decides to move further away).
Regarding their connection with a certain family, there are two options: either these creatures had very close and strong ties with the family during life, that the desire to watch and be with them did not disappear even after death, or during their lifetime they had reasons to hate this family.
This gives us two completely different types of banshees.

Capernia (Friendly Banshee)

The friendly banshee is not the disgusting and ugly creature we usually imagine. Banshees are very rarely seen by anyone, but from time to time they remind you of themselves. They are said to appear as young, beautiful girls, with pale faces, black or golden hair, and wearing flowing white robes.
The singing of such banshees is full of sadness and longing. The songs are filled with love and care for those they love. For them, this singing is a warning.
It is believed that the singing of a banshee foretells the death of one of the family members within a few days. Screams and singing are most often heard at night. In addition, they are most often heard by those to whom the warning is addressed.

At the other end of the spectrum are banshees that are much more familiar and recognizable to us.

During their lifetime, evil banshees had reasons to hate their family, which is why even after death they are terrible visions for those family members towards whom they felt anger or hatred. She looks scary, warped, with distorted features and hatred literally oozing from every line on her face. The screams and howls of an evil banshee are enough to make your blood run cold. Imagine the scariest witch from the scariest horror movie you've ever seen. Now make her even scarier and uglier, making terrible screams and howls in the dark night.
Rather than warning of the impending death of a family member, evil banshees would rather scream and howl as a kind of snide, sarcastic, and hateful celebration when one of the family members finally meets their end. This may, of course, be a warning, but a very terrible and frightening warning.

No one knows where Banshee has such prophetic abilities, but there are a number of theories on this matter. Some believe that each family member has a specific silent servant, an observer, who watches over them and then sends information directly to the banshee. But such an idea is not very widespread, and belief in the Banshee is gradually disappearing.
At one time, belief in Banshee was very strong. If someone did not believe in this prophetic creation, people considered such an attitude to be a real blasphemy.
In Ireland, it is believed that those people who have musical talent (who can sing or play a musical instrument) are guarded and protected by spirits; The Spirit of Life, personifying prophecies, is said to grant such people the gift of clairvoyance, while another - the Spirit of Fate - reveals the secrets of misfortune and death, and the name of this terrible messenger is precisely the banshee.

An old Irish poem tells of the appearance of a banshee in the morning:
"Hast thou heard the Banshee at morn,
Passing by the silent lake,
Or walking the fields by the orchard?
Alas! that I do not rather be held
White garlands in the hall of my fathers."»

Although it is stated that the banshee was heard at noon, this creature is very rarely seen or heard in daylight. Usually this creature chooses night to visit mortals:
"The Banshee mournful wails
In the midst of the silent, lonely, lonely night,
Plaining, she sings the song of death"

The legends about meetings between people and banshees are very diverse in their presentation, but are united by a single motive: a meeting with the otherworldly is dangerous. Among all the legends, three plots clearly stand out: - A man met a banshee at night, mistook her for an ordinary woman, tried to pester her and inadvertently offended her. The banshee pushes him away out of resentment and, as punishment, leaves an indestructible mark of her palm or fingers on his body. - The man who met the banshee while doing laundry laughed at her and told her to wash his shirt too. As a result, the banshee can either unnoticed take off his shirt and actually wash it, or strangle the man with his own collar. - A traveler returning home encounters a banshee combing her hair with a silver comb. He gets the comb and takes it home, but then the banshee comes for his thing and, threatening, demands it back. In the end, she gets the comb, demonstrating that things could very well have ended much worse.

It is believed that the banshee only follows the ancient Irish families - descendants of the noble Gaelic race - families whose surnames include Mac or O:
"By Mac and O
You"ll always know
True Irishmen they say."
But if they lack
The O and Mac
No Irishmen are they."

A large room that hangs just above the wild waves of the Atlantic Ocean in the old ruined castle of Dunluce, which sits on a cliff above the green waters of the Anstream coast - said to be the home of the O'Donell family banshee.
Here, on winter nights, through the dilapidated remains of tiles, through the roar of gigantic storms that come from the distant north, you can hear the strange cry of a banshee, lamenting the sad fate of the great house, the bitter loss and fall of the ancient family of Gali leaders.
Along the shore of Loch Ness, next to Edenduff Carrick Castle, there is a pile of stones, similar to a chain of small rocks - the destroyed walls of the O'Neill castle still stand above the dark surface of the water, where they once stood in pride from the awareness of their power, power and property, lived one of the most powerful Gaul leaders, the great O'Neill.
Here, from time immemorial, when many misfortunes threatened the representative of one of the most ancient and great families, the cry of the banshee of the O'Neill family echoed throughout the forest of Coil Ultach and over the gray waters of Lough Neagh, rushing along the walls of the old castle, echoing from the high vaults, weeping over the graves of the great O'Neil.
Maewyn was the name of the O'Neill family banshee. She has been seen and heard many times, and the form she usually takes is that of an old woman with long white hair falling over her thin shoulders.

One of the strangest stories about the Banshee began in Dublin - at 2:30 on August 6, 1801, when Lord Rossmore, commander in chief of the British forces located in Ireland, died at home.
The day before, he attended a reception with the king's deputy at Dublin Castle. To the people he met there (including Sir Jonah and Lady Berrington), he seemed completely healthy. He remained at the reception almost until midnight. Before he left, he invited the Berringtons to a reception he was hosting at his home in Mount Kennedy. In truth, for a man of his background and position, it can be said that he spent a very ordinary evening - one that does not seem to have even a hint of strangeness or unusualness.
At about two o'clock in the morning, Ser Ion Berrington awoke and heard what was described as "plaintive sounds coming from the lawn outside the window." He would never forget the banshee's cry. Lady Berrington also heard the sound, as did their maid. Finally, at 2:30 a.m., Berrington heard a voice calling, “Rossmore! Rossmore! Rossmore! Then there was silence. The next day the Buringtons learned that Lord Rossmore had died. His servant heard a strange sound coming from his room and rushed there and found him dead. He died at 2:30.
“Lord Rossmore was dying the moment I heard his name spoken,” Sir Ion later wrote.
It was the most frightening and terrifying experience of his life.
Although this was not a secret for the Irish, they knew that at that moment Ion heard the cry of a banshee.

In modern computer games, the image of a banshee has acquired an extremely negative connotation; in general, banshees are characterized there as rather ugly ghostly entities possessing a number of skills that (according to mythology) were generally unusual for them, in particular, the ability to bring death only with a cry (keening). The original purpose of the banshee is not to bring death to the hearer, but to ascertain the imminent death of a member of the hearer’s family (clan).

Over time, many noble and noble Irish families and surnames disappeared - some of them died out, some moved to other lands - and the Banshees became just a myth, an ordinary superstition.
If you ever happen to be on the Emerald Isle and you find yourself under a dark night starry sky- listen. You may hear a haunting song or the frightening howl of a banshee. But be careful - only death is hidden in her songs.

In legends, the banshee is described in different ways; only the characteristic sign of her presence is preserved - mournful crying. If a person heard the sobs of this spirit, there would be a dead person in the family. There is a version that supposedly this spirit drives people to suicide and preys on the sick, but most researchers believe that this creature is a guardian of ancient families.

Banshee - who is it?

The banshee is a creature from Irish legends, described as a lady who appears near the house of a person who is about to die. Her presence is indicated by characteristic sobs. This name translated means “woman from the Seeds” - another world, although in some lands of Ireland this spirit is called differently: bochenta, bayb and bau. There are several versions about the essence of the banshee:

1. Fairy. This description appears in the literature of 19th century Ireland.
2. Ghost. The spirit of a mourner who performed her duties poorly during her life.
3. Patroness of the clan.
4. The washerwoman who always washes the bloody clothes of the dead.
5. Demon from the afterlife.

Descriptions of the banshee in the legends differ, the only common feature All that remains is screaming and crying, which supposedly can even break glass. This spirit is found in the image:

• a beautiful woman with long, golden curls, in a light cloak or dress;
• old women with gray or purple hair, dressed in a gray cloak or shroud;
• hare, weasel or crow.

Banshee is a legend

The story of the banshee tells: her ancestors were the tribes of the goddess Danu. When she lost the battle of the gods, these people settled in the hills, they began to be called Sids. And some decided to find a home at the top and began to join the houses of ancient families. Several legends have been preserved about daredevils who were able to survive after such a meeting:

1. A man in the dark saw a banshee in the form of an old woman and decided to mock the beggar woman. In retaliation, she left a trace of her fingers on his hand.
2. The Irishman found the spirit washerwoman at work and ordered him to wash his shirt, for which she almost strangled the insolent man with her collar.
3. A poor farmer met a banshee late at night and took her comb. Then she came for what had been taken and ordered it to be returned.

Banshee Abilities

Banshee - mystical creature with unusual abilities:

1. Scream. Hearable only by those to whom the banshee came, this scream is so terrible that the person’s ears and nose begin to bleed. According to one of the legends, a banshee is a spirit that leads to suicide; the victim begins to bang his head against the wall to stop the painful scream, and breaks his own head. Other legends mention that the lamentation is reminiscent of both the howling of a dog or wolf and the crying of a child, and indicates the imminent death of family members.
2. The ability to hide. Spirits have the gift of being invisible, thanks to black clothing or fog.
3. Invulnerability. Only knives or gold bullets can destroy a banshee; a spell can only stop the spirit for a while.
4. The ability to fly and hover above the ground.
5. Ability to move things.

How did the banshee die?

There are 2 legends about what the banshee looked like before death:

1. A young Banshee girl from a noble family who ventured into a secret witch passage and lost her mind. After that, she disfigured her face with a knife and asked heaven for a curse on her own soul. Higher powers fulfilled her request and turned her into an eternal dead man, a spirit who announces death with tears.
2. A little girl who was left by her parents in the forest to die. The baby turned into a spirit crying for her family. In revenge, she destroyed the souls of not only her relatives, but also her fellow villagers. And then she began to wander around the world.

How to summon a banshee?

There are no rituals on how to summon a banshee, since it is believed that this spirit is not subject to any forces and appears on its own, of its own choice and desire. The only sound that, according to the legends of the Irish, can attract this creature is the music of the funeral rites of this country. Residents believe that it came from the voice of this ghost. No one would want to summon such a spirit, since meeting him foreshadows the death of a living person.

Banshee Facts

The image of this spirit in Lately Often used by directors and authors, the film “Curse of the Banshee” has gained great popularity. Although the whole truth about the banshee is still not known, history has preserved several cases where eyewitnesses confirmed contact with this spirit:

1. Memoirs dating back to the 17th century. While visiting Lady Honor O'Brien, Lady Fenshave saw a lady in white at the window at night, who was quietly saying something. Then the stranger disappeared, and in the morning the guest learned about the death of the owner of the house.
2. In 1979, Englishwoman Irene heard a terrible howl in her bedroom at night. And in the morning she was informed about the death of her mother.
3. American businessman James O'Barry, originally from Ireland, heard the cry of a banshee twice. The first time was as a boy, when my grandfather died. Secondly, as a young man, when he served in the army, then his father passed away.
4. Irishman O'Neill heard the cry of this spirit when his sister died. Later, when his mother passed away, he again heard the same howl and even managed to record the sound on a tape recorder.