14. Banshees Were Omens Of Death
There are two origins of the creature today known as the Banshee, one of which is distinctly Irish and another of which is common to both Ireland and Scotland, particularly the Scottish Highlands. In the Irish version, the Bean Si, or Banshee is a beautiful woman, usually dressed all in white or all in red and wearing a veil, whose eyes are perpetually red from crying for the deceased. She warns families of imminent death by singing a beautiful yet mournful song. Despite the expression “wailing like a banshee,” banshees did not wail.
In the other version, the banshee is known as Bean-Nighe or Little-Washer-By-The-Stream. She is a hideous woman, with a sizeable front tooth, one nostril, webbed toes, and giant breasts, and is dressed all in green. Usually dressed in green, she sits by a stream and washes clothes, believed to be the blood-stained grave clothes of someone who is about to die a violent death.
Stories about the banshee made their way across the Atlantic when Irish and Scottish immigrants brought their folk tales with them. Some Revolutionary War ghost stories have banshees as their objects, and JK Rowling took the creature as inspiration for some of her creations in the Harry Potter series.
