| Banshee is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic word | | | | that if you see a comb you should not pick it up |
| bean si (meaning woman of the side or woman of | | | | as it may be a lure used to spirit humans away. |
| the fairy mounds), it is a female ancestral spirit | | | | The sound of the banshee, a peculiarly mournful |
| who forewarns members of certain families about | | | | sound like the wind possessing a human tone |
| impending death. According to legend, the banshee | | | | terrifies people, there have been many instances |
| will wail around the house the night before | | | | where everybody in a house was in great health |
| somebody inside is about to die. | | | | though once the wail was heard somebody would |
| There are only certain families that are believed | | | | be drowned, or killed suddenly within a week. |
| to have a banshee attached to them - O'Grady, | | | | There are some locations in Ireland where it is |
| O'Brien, O'Connor, O'Donnell, O'Neill and Kavanagh, | | | | said that the banshee resides and does not leave. |
| although intermarriage has extended this select | | | | One of these is Dunluce Castle on the north Co. |
| list. | | | | Antrim coast, which was the great home of the |
| She generally appears in two different guises, | | | | ruling O'Donnell clan before they were forced to |
| either as a beautiful young woman with long, fair | | | | the four corners of the world during the |
| hair or as a hideous hag. They dress in a white or | | | | tumultuous Flight of the Earls. According to legend, |
| grey cloak and brush their long hair with a silver | | | | the banshee remains to lament the scattered clan. |
| comb, there is an existing superstition in Ireland | | | | |