 A banshee is a mythical Irish spirit or fairy whose eerie scream is believed to be a warning of imminent death. The high-pitched wailing of a banshee is so piercing it sends a shiver down your spine. A sound like nothing you've ever heard before but once you do you'll never forget it. The banshee is one of Ireland's most famous myths and one of my favourites with fairy forts coming a close second. The banshee is depicted as a female spirit with long flowing hair and clothing. She floats through the rolling hills of Ireland watching, waiting. Some see the banshee as a villain using her wailing and screaming as a torture while others view her wailing as a grief mourning with the family before the death of a loved one. The banshee goes by many names such as the weeping woman, the lady in white, the lady of sorrow. Other cultures have similar spirits. For instance, La Llorona in Mexico who's depicted in a very similar way. However, the banshee serves a very different purpose in Ireland. Some say the banshee is an angel of death. It is said that if a person lived a life of cruelty their soul would remain close to earth suffering in penance. The banshee would be the one to hold them. This gives the idea that the banshee is something to be feared but one thing to note if you live a life of kindness then your soul will dwell in peace. The banshee would care for souls of the good and the bad dealing out a fair treatment to both. There are other stories of the banshee. If you comb your hair at midnight on Halloween the banshee will appear and reach for your comb. In other cultures looking into the mirror at midnight on Halloween will show you your future. There's also a superstition that finding a comb on the ground and picking it up would bring you bad luck or is a bad omen especially if the teeth of the comb are broken. It is believed that the banshee placed it there to lure people away or if you took it that she would come and find you to get it back. I recently shared my own banshee story in a comment section of Stephanie Harlow's video on the horrors of Leap Castle, a castle in Ireland that's soaked in history but I wanted to share it with you in a little bit more detail. Firstly it's important to know that the banshee is connected to certain old Irish families, one of which I am part of. This makes this story all the more real for me. When I was younger I went to visit my grandmother. I knocked on the door and she didn't answer but I could hear her talking on the phone to somebody. I was just going to wait for her to open the door after her phone call but I noticed that the dog was in the garden which meant that the back door was open. As I walked down the side of the house I was suddenly hit with the most awful sound and it stopped me in my tracks. It was like a siren. It sounded both far away like a gust of howling wind but also so close as if somebody was screaming in my ear. I remember covering my ears and turning around expecting to see someone. No one was there. I wondered if it was an animal, perhaps a fox or a cat but my grandmother's dog was just lying, sunbathing, unbothered by the sound as if there was no sound at all and I held my hands over my ears until the sound stopped. A little shaken I continued to the back door of the house entering the kitchen. My mother was sitting at the kitchen table. I told her that I had knocked on the front door and I was about to tell her what I had heard when my grandmother entered the room. She apologized for not answering the door to me. She was on the phone because a relative was gravely ill. It was a relative that I didn't know but upon hearing their last name I started to make some connections. Maybe the sound that I had heard had meant more than I had thought. My mother asked if I was all right because I must have gone white. I decided not to tell her or my grandmother what I had heard. It felt inappropriate though this family member was very old it didn't feel right to share what I had heard. I think I lied and said I was just a bit tired. Then the phone rang again. The relative had passed away. I didn't tell anybody about this for many years but I still remember that awful sound. Many times after that I would walk to the side of my grandmother's house trying to find an explanation for that sound. Wondering if anybody else might have heard it I found no explanation. If I did hear the banshee I will never forget it and I hope I don't hear it ever again. Though I do believe if the banshee is real she's nothing to fear. She mourns with you, for you and prepares you for what is to come. The origins of the banshee is said to be connected to the Irish tradition of Keening, a vocal lament done at funerals where women would sing a sad and lonely song that would carry through the air a way to carry the message of mourning while honoring the dead allowing their soul to be freed. We also have a snack called Banshee Bones here in Ireland which is a salt and vinegar flavored crisps and is actually one of my favorite snacks of all time. Great to hand out a Halloween and Halloween or All Hallows Eve comes from an ancient Celtic festival which predates Christianity. Legend says that the spiritual world becomes visible to humans at this time and that the spirits of the dead mingle with the living. If you have any traditions or stories to share I would love to read them but as always my friends be kind to yourself, be kind to others and may the banshee protect your soul and I will see you in the next one.