~*~Fairy
Lore~*~
The Banshee
One of the most popular of the Irish myths to escape our fair
shores, along with the Leprechaun, has been the banshee. The word
is a corruption of the Irish Bean Sidhe, which simply means "fairy
woman". As told in legend, the banshee takes a few different forms.
She can appear as a beautiful young woman dressed in rags or a hag.
Her hair may be white or green, and her eyes are sometimes blazing
red. Often, she is seen to keen (lament) at a stream while washing
or fulling clothes, and this gives us some alternative names for
her; the Scots Gaels call her the Bean Nighe, or washer woman, and
this version of the name is also popular in the east of Ulster. She
can also be referred to as the "little washer by the ford" or just
the "fairy washer".
If, on close inspection, the clothes turn out to belong to you,
then my sincere condolences, and may you rest in peace. The banshee
is a harbinger; a messenger that death is coming. Depending on
where you are in the country, there are different rules governing
exactly how. In some parts, the Banshee's wail is heard by members
of the family of the soon-to-be deceased, but not by the
unfortunate one themselves. In other parts of the land the doomed
person is the one who hears the cry, and there are even some
Banshee's who are thought to kill the first person they lay eyes on
while on the prowl. They're usually the red-eyed screaming skeletal
hag variety, so unless you're looking for trouble try and avoid
ladies matching that description. But the appearance of a Banshee,
or the sound of her voice, always means just one thing...doom! (Dan
dan DAAANNNNNN!!!!!!)
Usually, Banshees attach themselves to certain families, and are
regarded as the guardians of the souls of that family. Often,
they're thought to be the restless spirits of family women who died
in childbirth, and have stayed on to try to look after the clan as
best they can. Some of these families include the O' Briens, the
MacCarthy More's, the Rossmores, and the O' Driscolls.
One of the most famous banshees is resident near Stradbally, in Co.
Laois, also famous for its flower festival. Laois, as a matter of
fact, has more than its fair share of ghouls and goblins and
long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, but the
Stradbally Banshee is the most active. She was last heard by the
villagers (all of them) 70 years ago, and the noise was reportedly
like a hare being killed by a hound. It's interesting to note that
nobody looked to see if, by any chance, a hare had fallen foul of a
hound, but there you go. That's Irish logic for you. "That sounds
like a hare being killed by a hound!" "It must be the Banshee so!"
"Oh good Lord! Indoors quick! Rex, put that thing down and come to
heel boy, there's a good dog." (are you suggesting a link between
banshees and coursing? - ed.)
Near to Stradbally stands the Rock of Dunamase, surmounted by a
ruined castle that was known to the ancient Greeks and included by
Ptolemy in his famous world map of 140 A.D. As befits its age and
spooky nature, there's a Banshee here too, as well as one of the
more terrifying but lesser known Irish ghouls, a hell-hound (watch
out for hellhound.com, coming soon - ed.). The hound is a huge
mastiff called Bandog, jet black in and with flaming breath. (Makes
sense. Have you ever smelled a dogs breath?! Listerine, please...)
He is there to guard the treasure buried at the heart of the hill
and so far he's been successful. Nobody's ever found it.
A cave at Clopook is home to a spirit type known as a "boneless"; a
cloudy malevolent being who slithers around sucking the life out of
men's bones. The caves at Luggacurren are host to musical spirits,
whose tunes can be heard from time to time. So's the holidayhound
office, actually, but we try not to boast about
it
