Banshee

Originally in Irish literature, banshee actually means "woman of fairy mound" or just simply as "fairy woman". Ban or bean meaning "woman". The various spellings or pronunciations of the word for fairy mound referred to the Otherworldly realm, which the Irish referred to as shee, sid, sidh or sidhe.

The word banshee may have originated from East Munster, and there are many ways it can be spelt. In Irish Gaelic it could be spelt as banshie, bean sidhe and ben side. The Scottish words are ban-sith, bean-shith and bean sith. The Manx form is ben shee.

It was only in later Irish and Scottish Gaelic folklore traditions that banshee came to mean a female wraith or spirit, whose keening presages the death of a person in the household. This banshee was tied to a person or family, sort of like an attendant fairy.

She only foretells the pending death of a person. Unlike the Breton fairy woman korrigan, the banshee doesn't cause a person's death with her power or curse. Related to the banshee is the Washer or Washer-woman at the Ford, known in Scottish folklore as bean nighe.

According to the Irish poet Yeats, a banshee was sometimes accompanied by a Dullahan, a headless fairy coachman. It is also sometimes believed that on these occasions, the banshee would also be headless. It was reported in 1807 that one headless banshee frightened to death two sentries stationed at James' Park.

The banshee was sometimes seen as a young, fair woman, especially in Irish texts, while other sources from Scottish tradition described her as an old hag. Her description varied. What is common in both traditions was that a banshee had long, unbound hair and dressed in white, though sometimes she was seen dressed in a grey cloak over a green dress. Another common tradition was that she could be heard weeping or wailing, sounding like the keening of mourners. And because of continuous weeping, her eyes were red in colour.

In 1987, Patrica Lysaght claimed that the closest anticipation of the banshee found in Old Irish mythology was the Fedelm, the seeress in the Táin Bó Cuailnge (Ulster Cycle). There is a wonderful description of her looks, how she dressed and her gifts in divination. However, I am dubious of Lysaght's claim; a Fedelm she wasn't a wraith like the banshee, but trained in Alba (name for Scotland in Gaelic).