Saturday, 23 August 2008

Banshee


The Banshee is most commonly visualised as a female spirit who wails in the night to foretell disaster, either to an individual family or more generally. The tradition is the strongest in Ireland but many places with Celtic survivals have a variant of the Banshee. From most descriptions, the Banshee appears dressed in green, perhaps wearing a grey cloak over her wizened body, with long streaming hair and eyes red from weeping. She is depicted both as a young woman and as a hag. Although often described as above, her most common characteristic is mournful wailing during which she heard but not seen.

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