Banshee Cry with Rissa Miller

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In this episode, we take a haunting journey through Irish folklore to uncover the myth of the Banshee—a mysterious figure who announces death with her eerie wail. With rich ties to Gaelic heritage, the Banshee represents more than just a ghostly apparition; she embodies the complexities of grief and the cultural significance of mourning.

We explore how the Banshee has evolved from an ancient myth into a powerful symbol within the Irish and, later, American context. Our conversation dives into the Banshee's origins, absurd variations, and remarkable sightings that tell profound stories tying families across generations. We reflect on the intertwining practices of keening and the legacy of female mourners, while unraveling the legends of Banshees linked to specific bloodlines and notable families.

Through insightful storytelling, listeners gain a deeper appreciation of the Banshee’s role as a harbinger of death—inviting space for preparation and reflection on loss. We also discuss how these old-world legends have infused themselves into modern culture, from literature to films.

As we navigate the mythos surrounding the Banshee, we ponder: What happens if you hear her cry? Join us in this captivating exploration of the supernatural, and remember to share your thoughts on this chilling legend. Don't forget to subscribe, share, and drop us a review as we continue to delve into the unexplained mysteries that inspire curiosity and wonder.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, this is probably one of the most
chilling and enduring myths ofIrish folklore.
Specifically, you know we'regoing to think tonight like who
is she, what makes her screamand how has she evolved through
history?
So the Banshee is very wellknown throughout the
supernatural world, but there'sa lot of mystery about her.

(00:23):
Is she a fairy?
Is she a ghost?
Is she something else entirely?
And what makes her wailing sohaunting?
Is it deadly?
Thank, you.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Well, everybody welcome back.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Hey everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
I'm Logan and I'm Nicole and we are Generation X
Paranormal.
So we have a resident historianyes, she's back we have Rissa
back and we're going to betalking about something that I'm
just not that familiar about.
So what can you tell us?
What you know we're going totalk about?

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, I'm familiar with it, but I don't want to
spoil her talk.
So, since we have a holidaycoming up here in the States,
we've got St Patrick's Day.
So happy St Patrick's Day,everybody.
Wear your green.
Yep, yep, we're going to betalking about Banshees, that's
right, and if you're notfamiliar with Banshees, you're

(01:56):
about to learn all about them,and it's something I've always
loved growing up, because I loveanything with the Celtic lore.
So I do know a little bit aboutwhat she's going to speak about
, but I'm sure she's going toschool me on some things.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
She's going to school , the heck out of me.
Let's get her on.
Let's talk about being cheese.
Well, hey, rissa, welcome back.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Well, thank you so much for having me back.
I'm delighted to be here and tobe talking about one of
Nicole's favorite topics.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yes, I'm so excited.
She can't wait.
She's been dancing across thehalls today knowing that she's
going to get to talk about whatwe're going to talk about.
So, yes, yeah, and it'sdefinitely something I got to
admit.
I am not that knowledgeable of,for sure, and I know a little
bit about folklore and stuff,but for some reason this
particular subject, I guess, hasescaped me.
But but, yeah, we're going totalk about Banshees.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Yes, we are.
I can't wait to hear more aboutthem, cause I know a little bit
, but probably not to the extentof what you've done your
research on.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
So yeah it's on.
So yeah it's.
It should be a fun show.
I you know it never fails everytime you're on you.
We always do something thateither hits at the right time or
just kind of connects with alot of people, because it's like
, first of all, my mom's alwaysasking me when's the next time
rissa's gonna be on I am.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
She loves rissa.
I'm like she's so excited whenyou're on I feel.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
I feel like she's not gonna watch, unless rissa's on
or something.
We're sitting back.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
All the time.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well, it's good you never have a fan.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Oh you do.
My mom loves you.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
This episode will be coming out right before St
Patrick's Day.
You kind of timed it for theperfect.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
American holiday.
It's just serendipitous.
Yes, it could be.
So, rissa, tell us about theBanshee.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Well, this is probably one of the most
chilling and enduring myths ofIrish folklore.
Specifically, you know we'regoing to think tonight like who
is she, what makes her screamand how has she evolved through
history?
So the Banshee is very wellknown throughout the
supernatural world, but there'sa lot of mystery about her.

(04:11):
Is she a fairy?
Is she a ghost?
Is she something else entirely?
And what makes her wailing sohaunting?
Is it deadly?
So?
Over the course of our timetogether, I want to talk about
her origins, her variations,some famous sightings and her
ongoing significance.
Um the banshee, so the legendof the banshee.

(04:34):
Should I just jump right in thehit.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
All right, let's go right through there all right.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
So the legend of the banshee can be traced back to
the 8th century in Ireland.
Banshee I cannot speak oldIrish language, let's just be
clear about that.
Right now None of us can, soyou're in good company.
So it looks like the Irish wordwas B-E-A-N-S-I, but it's

(05:02):
pronounced banshee and it meanswoman of the fairy mound or
fairy woman.
So Banshees are supernaturalbeings believed to be harbingers
of death.
Now maybe they connect tocertain bloodlines or certain
people who have Gaelic lineage.

(05:22):
Some say they are very specificfamilies, like they have to
begin with the surnames Mac or O, like MacDonald or O'Brien.
Other people say that they'recompletely unbiased with their
warnings.
Some people think a banshee inyour family is an honor.
Other people think it's a badomen.
So to immediately clear the air, banshees don't cause death.

(05:45):
They are a warning of death inyour family.
And um, her wail, which is alike a lament, slash, scream, um
is probably going to be nearthe home of someone who's about
to lose a loved one.
The sound is compared to thecry of a dying animal and wind
howling through the trees.

(06:06):
Apparently it's like anunbearable noise that like
rattles your soul.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
That sounds like it, yeah yeah, I mean, first of all,
a scream in any direction isstill going to get my attention,
but you make it sound like thatit's probably going to.
Well, it's definitely going toget my attention.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Well, it's always the sound, I imagine, like reading
the book weathering heights.
You know they talk about thewind, of the moors and I think
that's kind of what they meantin that book.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Sure, it's like that, that cry, that howling yeah,
and unfortunately I, I, I knowabout one banshee and I hate the
fact that it's the only onethat I typically know about is
from the Marvel Universe,because there's an actual yeah,
there's a Banshee and she yeah,I'm a nerd, I get it, I

(06:56):
understand, but that is the onethat I typically always kind of,
I guess, relate to when itcomes to Banshees, but hers is
more one of their superpowersand she just kicks butt with it.
But that's interesting.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
Oh, you played your man card for this episode.
Let's get back to you.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
I kind of burnt it early.
I guess.
All right, fair enough.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
So some people call this the Banshee's song, even
though I can't find very manyaccounts where it sounds like
she's singing and more likeshe's screaming.
It generally is heard a day toa few days before the death of a
family member or the person forwhom it is intended.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Hmm, yeah, that would be the way.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
There's some wiggle room in the story, so I want to
go back to the irish traditionof keening k-e-e-n.
This kind of mirrors the roleof a banshee.
Uh, so this was when there wereprofessional female mourners,
known as keeners, who would wailand lament at funerals to

(08:05):
express grief, and these womenwere usually paid in alcohol and
they would sing these sorrowfuldirges, they would cry and tear
at their hair and they were anessential part of a traditional
Irish funeral.
Now some people said thatbecause they were paid in

(08:26):
alcohol, that they were sinnersand that they would become
banshees eventually.
But I mean, if that's whatthey've been doing their whole
life, I guess just keep at itafter death.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
Right, why not Professional?
At that point it's the shoefits yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
I mean, you know if you're going to get things going
, keep going Right, Exactly yeah.
And we talked a little bitabout before we got started.
That's not too unsimilar tolike native cultures, that there
seems to be some correlationbetween the two, and I don't
think it was.
It was spawned by like alcohol,but it was.
I can't remember how that kindof worked out, but but yeah, I,
I know about that particularpractice, at least from like a
native standpoint.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
Right.
Well, there were structuredelements to um keening.
I mean, it wasn't just like alot of screaming.
Um, there were verses, therewere wailing cries, there were
some symbolic gestures of likebeating your chest, pulling on
your hair, and most keeners wereactually women with really,
really strong voices and theycould like create an effect

(09:33):
where it was like everybody wasmoved to tears.
But then the Catholic churchlands in Ireland and they decide
they really aren't wild aboutthis.
They begin to frown uponKeening in the 18th century as
early as the 18th century andthey say it's just too pagan and
that the Irish have to cut itout.

(09:54):
But the Keening keeps going fora while.
Families are used to it likeit's part of their system.
You know that these Keenerswould be hired, they would stand
guard over the body, sometimesfor more than one day, and um,
it didn't matter if the keenershad ever met the person or not.
That was completely irrelevant.
This was like their profession,right?

(10:15):
Um, keening was pretty muchover, though by 1950.
There were a lot of factors inthis.
The church was one of them.
The fact that the keening wasdone by women was also not like
smiled at by the church, andthere started to be this feeling
that keening was kind of likebackwards or part of like old

(10:36):
thinking culture.
So you know they were lookingfor something more modern, a
more modern way of mourningtheir families as we get into
the 20th century.
But you can still find keeningonline.
I found a lot of examples of iton YouTube if people are
interested.
And the keen itself had thesalutation, which was the

(10:58):
introduction, the dirge, whichwas a verse, and then the goal,
which was a cry.
So those were like the threemain parts, just like if you
were writing any other kind ofsong or poem.
It had particular parts.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
Right.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
So it is fascinating and it is a.
If you go on and listen to it,it's something you'll remember.
It is definitely a veryhaunting kind of song.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
It sounds like it would be.
Yeah, yeah, you know you thinkabout dirge in general.
You know, having somewhat of amusical background, those are
typically very, very dark, very,um, kind of an ominous sound
when, when they're played and Ithink dirge is for the most part
like the one I always think ofis like for sailors, there's a.

(11:44):
There's a really famous sailorsdirge that you know, when they
think that they're going to topass away on on the land or on
the water, that's one of thesongs that they play, um, and I
think it's the one using Titanic.
Actually, um, I can't remember,the name escapes me.
The peril on the sea one.
Oh yeah, yeah, that's a verypopular dirge, so it's

(12:06):
interesting.
You know part of that structure.
So, yeah, that makes perfectsense.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
So I do want to take a moment to also note that
during this time a lot of Irishfunerals were held in people's
homes, but even more were heldat local pubs.
It used to be a legalrequirement in Ireland that
bodies were taken forsafekeeping to the nearest pub
before funerals, and so thisfurther made these ladies
scandalous.
Right.
This was called the Coroner'sAct of 1846, and it happened

(12:40):
because of the Great Hunger.
About something like a millionpeople died from starvation and
related diseases and mortuariesdoctor's offices.
They couldn't this is going tosound terrible they couldn't
keep track of all the deadbodies, so they had to be stored
somewhere to keep them frombeing consumed by wild animals,
and so pub became the place, andsometimes funerals were held at

(13:03):
the pub and that's where thekeening would take place.
So that law actually remainedon the books in Ireland until
1962.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
No kidding, wow, that's insane.
Well, that's cool, though.
I mean.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Yeah, but wow, I would never have thought that
late into history I mean youimagine they'd have to advertise
something like that?

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Because if you're coming, you know.
If you're just wanderingthrough and you happen upon a
pub and you walk in and there's,you know, a casket or something
there.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
You know, you always hear about, like the most
haunted places, oh yeah, otherthan the castles are always the
pub.
So now that would make a lot ofsense.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
That does.
That makes a lot of sense, forsure.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
Yeah, that's interesting.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
But let's get back to the banshees now.
Yeah, so there's the theorythat the banshees are the
spirits of keeners doomed tolament for eternity.
But then there are other peoplewho say that banshees were once
noble women who died tragicallyand became bound to their
family lineage.
And then there's also thebelief that it is the spirit of

(14:06):
someone who died violently orvery young.
Now, all of this might lead youto think that a banshee is a
ghost.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
But no, in no telling is a banshee a ghost?
It's interesting because I evenwent to a in Salem.
There's a monster museum andthey have a whole exhibit of
ghosts and banshees are lumpedin with the ghosts.
They are not in in the separatecategory.
They are.
They're lumped in with ghosts,um, and I think the the sign
just said irish screaming ghostor something like that.

(14:36):
But um, that's, that's a prettyserious simplification of what a
banshee is.
But um, a banshee is consideredum fey or a fairy.
Um, now, if you think aboutwhat a ghost is is kind of the
spirit of a dead person.
Um, banshees are not a deadperson according to irish lore,

(14:58):
even though there's all thesedead humans that can become a
banshee.
Somehow they become part of thefey world in their death.
So this is not like a restlessor lost soul and this is not
someone who interacts directlywith the living in the way that
a ghost does.
Their only job.
Their only thing they do is toforewarn of impending death.

(15:19):
They don't bring it.
They're not inherently evil,they just like the uh canary in
the coal mine, that's it that'sinteresting.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yeah, like a like the fey elemental type.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah, right, having never actually had human form.
But yeah, that's um, and I'veheard a lot of different
versions of that with fey um,but and that whole world in the
celtic tradition is veryintricate, oh for sure, like
when you get into the fairy andthe elemental.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
I mean there's so many like branches that go off
from that.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
So absolutely fascinating really yes, it is
and we do have a lot of irishlisteners so I'm sure they could
probably school is pretty goodon that.

Speaker 3 (16:04):
Oh yeah, it is very intricate.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
Absolutely so.
To be clear, banshees are heardmore than they're seen, but
they do make an appearance fromtime to time and I couldn't find
any one note about how theylook.
So I'm going to go through allof the notes I found about what
they can look like, about howthey can appear.
So it is always a female inIrish lore, always a woman,

(16:29):
actually an American too.
I'm going to come to Americanbanshees at the end.
She always is a female, usuallywears a cloak over a dress,
very old-fashioned, normally haslong hair and usually has
either pink or red eyes.
From continuous weeping andcrying, Okay.
So the most famous look for abanshee is sort of an ethereal

(16:51):
young woman with flowing hair.
Now it can be silver, blonde orred, and often she is seen with
a comb, like a very beautifulcomb, and she's combing her long
hair while she's making thesemournful cries.
This symbolizes impending deathbecause it's kind of a

(17:12):
representation of the hairtearing gesture in the mourning
tradition.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
Okay, okay, that makes sense yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
And some people even say that you can hear her comb
running through her hair.
And, like, I have really longhair, as you both know.
I mean it's up tonight but whenyou run a comb through somebody
with hair, with long hair,there is a sound and if there's
any tearing in there, it's areally loud, weird,
uncomfortable sound.
Yes, it is so a model nails onthe chalkboard, yeah, that like

(17:44):
ripping hair sound.
And so, as I was reading thisand thinking about it, I was
like that can be a verytroubling sound, especially if
it was like magnified to somesupernatural level.
So I was like, yeah, I couldsee how that would be an
uncomfortable thing to runacross, you know.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, and when you hear that tearing, you're right,
it's such a.
It's a very unnerving sound andsince I don't have hair anymore
, um, I once had hair, but neverquite that long, but I know
that when you do that itprobably creates a sound for the
person getting their hair kindof pulled on too, because you
know, your skull kind of worksas like a little magnifier, like

(18:28):
a megaphone inside your headyeah, that's crazy yeah, now, I
did say that banshees are notmalevolent, but there is one
thing that will make them veryangry, and that is if you take
their comb.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
You must never steal or take the comb of a banshee.
So if you are walking along theroad and you find a spare comb,
especially if it's very nice,don't pick it up.
If a banshee has left her comb,she's probably coming back for
it and she knows where it is.
If you are unlucky enough tosteal a banshee's comb, expect
her to show up at your house.

(19:00):
She will bang on your doors,walls and windows until you
reach through the window to giveit back to her.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yes, there is a specific system, by the way the
Irish have you must use irontongs.
If you use just your hand,expect an injury.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
Iron tongs.
Where do you find iron tongs?

Speaker 1 (19:24):
I guess if you're a blacksmith?
You keep the rule one of thoseback in the garage, you know
iron is an age old thing thatprotects you from the fae, so
that's why they're iron in thistale.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
It's interesting, though.
The other thing that cracked meup a little bit is like who the
heck picks up random freakingcombs from the ground.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
Well, you never know.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Yeah, I'm sure somebody does it.
It's a beautiful comb, I guess,but it's very intricate.
Yeah, there's some beautifulsilver combs.
My grandmother had a beautifulcomb.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
But from the ground.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
No, I don't think so.
The old Victorian, yeah, theold Victorian combs and stuff
they had.
They were Well, I don't thinkso.
Yeah, the old Victorian combsand stuff they had.
They were very detailed andbeautiful.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
This, of course, coming from a man who has no
hair.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
So please continue.
So yes, well, that was the endof that description.
Next, the size of a bansheewill differ.
Sometimes they're only like oneor two, three feet, like tiny I
I'm.
I'm exactly five feet tall, so,um, I I'm pretty petite, so I,
I would be tall next to some ofthese itty bitty banshees.

(20:34):
But others are huge, likeunnaturally tall, like seven or
eight feet.
Um, I could not find any noteson why some banshees are small
and why some Banshees areenormous, but I mean, either way
, their voices are big, so Iguess that's what really counts.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
Yeah, that's interesting.
I never heard about the smallones.
I always thought it was ataller.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
I always picture her being tall.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah, yes, I do.
I guess probably because it's abig, booming voice you kind of
expect.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Well, I guess all the portrayals of one and all the
pictures and art that's doneabout Banshees.
They're always very tall orthey're floating or something.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Well, the very next one I'm going to say.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
He's frequently dressed in either gray or white
and she glides like she doesn'thave feet and she never touches
the ground.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
Okay, yeah, that I'm more familiar with, or at least
what you see the most of.
Yep, um, so next, the washerwoman tradition of the banshee.
This is more of a scottishthing, but, uh, it did filter
into ireland and wales and someother places.
Um, you see a woman who, anethereal woman washing clothing
in a body of water a stream, ariver, a river, a lake.
The washerwoman was in chargeof preparing the body for burial

(21:49):
.
So basically, she is gettingthings ready for the funeral by
washing the clothing and she'llbe doing this while she's doing
the wailing.
Okay, so, yes, we can also havethe banshee who is an old crone
with rotten teeth, nastyfingernails and ragged clothing,

(22:09):
kind of in this description Ithought of, like the traditional
, like you know, you have themaiden mother and crone.
I feel like there are the rangeof Banshees that are maiden
mothers and crones as well.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
Yeah, yeah, it sounds like it.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
It's weird.
For some reason in my mind youtalk about something that small
and then to have that particularlook I think of like a golem
type figure.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
you know being short with kind of that look to it
Well you know, they've got thefairies and they've got the
leprechauns, so everything iskind of smaller yeah.
Oh yeah, so maybe that's whereit kind of started and then grew
over time.
Whatever, you never know.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
I mean you're five foot, rissa's five foot.
I get it.
I know you guys are the samesize, so I'm not much taller.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
So so the last two descriptions that I found were
more rare, but they'redefinitely out there.
So some legends describe her asa headless adult woman carrying
a bowl of blood and who walksup to your door that way.
Ooh, this sounds mortifying tome.

(23:17):
Yes, like absolutely terrifying.
I much prefer any of the otherbanshees I've just described to
show up carrying a bowl of bloodno head not carrying in the
head.
That's the doula hands job, Iguess.
But uh, yes, the adult headlesswoman carrying a bowl of blood.

(23:38):
I'm like where's the sound comefrom if she doesn't right
exactly?

Speaker 2 (23:43):
oh, it probably comes from like the neck hole Gross.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
Let's not linger here too long.
I did not look for art on thatfor you.
Thank you for saving it fromthat.
But she can also take an animalform, which is either the crow
or the cat, and both of thoseanimals can already make a
pretty loud sound.
But if a banshee takes the formof a crow or a cat, look for

(24:10):
the creature to have red eyes,just like the regular banshee
does, and to make an abnormallyloud, screeching sound.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
Wow, well, I could see where the cat would be
involved with that.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
Well, yeah, and a crow's.
I mean, when you hear thatscreech, you know when it.
I don't know what the yeah, acall, yeah, the call that is.
If you're close enough to thatthing, that is blood curdling,
it is freaky.
Yeah, I don't think I've everheard it.
A crow's I definitely have, andit's one of those when you hear
it you're like you'll nevermistake it, ever again you know

(24:44):
exactly what it sounds like.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
Absolutely, you do so .
The one other thing about abanshee's appearance is that, in
any form, if you are indeedlooking at a banshee, she will
disappear.
They vanish into a cloud of,like mist or smoke, and this
action creates a sound thedisappearance that sounds like a
bird flapping its wings.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Action creates a sound the disappearance.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
That sounds like a bird flapping its wings.
So I thought that was a uniqueway to disappear and kind of
dramatic and cool.
Yeah, but yeah, I was just likeall right, I like that.
That's very dramatic.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
That's like I keep thinking of, like Batman, you
know, when he does a smoke.
Okay, I'm a nerd, I know.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
I'm sorry that's too superhero, isn't it?

Speaker 2 (25:30):
I'm gonna go back to my corner.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
So Banshees can come in good and bad flavor.
Good Banshees are theenchanting women that sing their
sorrowful song and they'reconcerned with their families.
So in Irish culture death isconsidered sort of like a
passage to the next realm, notso much like a final end, and
the banshee is kind of like aguide into that transition.
But on the other side of thecoin we can have an angry and

(25:57):
scary banshee that hated theirfamily that they're with and
they can be very frightening atpersons and they're kind of like
celebrating the demise ofsomeone they loathe.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
Geez.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
Wow, and yeah, the eventual angry Bannon is just
kind of not someone I want torun across.
So there's a Gaelic word forthe bad Banshee and I don't know
how to say it.
I'm going to spell itB-A-O-B-H-A-N-S-I, so it's like
babosai.
I put in somehow I don't know,I probably just hacked that.

(26:33):
I do not speak Gaelic.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
Neither do we.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
So this dark banshee is considered a fae, and she can
actually become somethingthat's not the same as a banshee
.
She apparently uses herdelicate hands and her sharp
fingernails to put cuts intovictims and then to drink their
blood in a vampiric way.

Speaker 3 (26:55):
Ooh.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Apparently, hunters are especially vulnerable to
this dark banshee because shecan smell blood on their
clothing and she will kind ofsing and lure him in to his
demise.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Not like a siren.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
Right, yeah, that's what I was thinking, like the
mermaids, yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Well, I would imagine that if you're hearing
something like that when you'rea hunter, you're probably
curious as to what the heck'sgoing on out there in the first
place.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
Well, it's interesting, there's so many
versions.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
But no one is actually sure where Banshees get
their knowledge of a person'sdeath.
So that was something I reallywanted to know, like what brings
them forward, like why do theyshow up, how do they know it's
time?
But I couldn't find, I think itadds to the mythos it does.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
It does.
Yeah, just kind of like theGrim Reaper, the same concept
they're just sent to bring themcross them over.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
Even if we agree that they're fey.
Sometimes even flesh and bloodcan smell decay.
Impossible death like dogs.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yes, like dogs.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yes, dogs, definitely Right.
It almost makes you wonder ifyou know, because they're fey if
they can, if they have thatextra bit of sense that they can
actually maybe either sniff itor see it, or but then again
they don't have, they weren'thuman form.
So that's really that'sinteresting.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
Maybe they just know, we don't know how it works.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
No, yeah, I am trying to be technical about something
I know.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
There's no way you can know.
It's difficult to apply logic.
Sometimes I like to do the same.
That's why I ask thesequestions Like how did they know
Right?
That's why I go out looking toanswer certain questions when I
do these talks for you.
I want to know the answers tothis, this and this.

(28:52):
And sometimes that's just not athing all right, but I can't, it
just adds to it.
Yeah, like banshees aresolitary creatures, um, they
tend to be linked to a, usuallya family or an area, and they
are usually appear by themselves.
There were a few stories ofmultiple banshees showing up
before royalty died, um, so Ithought that was interesting,
like to to give you, like, theheads up about the death of a

(29:14):
king or queen okay, a veryimportant role yes, some
somebody who was bigger deal,and then as little, you get more
than one man.
she is your important, yep, butum, those stories were few and
far between.
Much more common was the singlebanshee.
Now where do they show up?
Most often near the home of theperson whose death she is

(29:36):
foretelling, and they say thatthe sound might sound very close
, or it sounds like it's echoingfrom incredibly far away, and I
thought that was interestingtoo.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah, that is interesting.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
Sometimes she will be at the closest body of water.
Again, she could be seenwashing clothes.
This would include streams,rivers, lakes.
I don't think the family poolcounts.
I didn't see anything like that.
Well, you know, I was curious.
It was like how do thesestories modernize?
Because there are definitelyfolklore stories that can be
modernized for pools and thingslike that.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Well, and I'm thinking and I know we'll
probably get to it later, so Idon't want to step on it, but
I'm thinking of a very popularAmerican sighting of something
that kind of comes similar tothis, and I'm not going to get
ahead of it, but when we getthere maybe we'll talk about it
for a second.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
Banshees can also be found whaling at the nearest
crossroad.
So crossroads go back deep intofolklore.
We have a different Americanfolklore about crossroads too,
but crossroads are generallythought of as spiritually
significant because they'reliminal space, like the space
between two things.
Bridges are also consideredliminal space.
I don't know if you remember wetalked about that a little bit
when we talked about the brideon two things.
Bridges are also consideredliminal space.

(30:52):
I don't know if you remember wetalked about that a little bit
when we talked about the brideon the bridge.
Yes, how, there's these likegaps that are kind of like in
between Crossroads, bridges, thecrossing of two rivers.
They're all liminal spaces andthere are places where you do
find Fae, and so it makes sensethat Banshees would show up at
the closest of these things toyou and her voice would echo to

(31:14):
your home.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
That's interesting Between two worlds, between two
planes of existence.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
That's interesting.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
Well, and that is yeah, that that kind of lends
more to that theory of beingable to spot.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
You know, if they know that somebody is going to
you know, shed the mortal coil,as they say.
You know, if you're're livingin between two different
dimensions, I would imagineyou'd be able to see that a lot
better.
Yeah, yeah, so they also showup near fairy mounds, which are
allegedly um burial grounds forthe fey.
So, um, that's another placethey can be.
And that leads me into talkingabout them as fae.
So the fae is pronounced inGaelic.
I looked this up.
Hopefully it's right East sheetand that's A-O-S-S-I.

(32:02):
And this is the supernaturalworld, the parallel universe of
the fae.
Now, this encompasses a lot ofcreatures, not just banshees and
not even just bears, um, so, asI'm sure you know, but um, in
irish folklore, the fae are bothrevered and feared.
They can be extremelyunpredictable, they can be

(32:24):
tricksters.
Some of them are definitelybenevolent and they are like
protectors of nature or certainlocations, but others are
capricious, mischievous,downright malevolent, like dark
fey yes um, they are known to behidden in parts of the
landscape um forests, lakes,fairy mounds, of course, like we

(32:45):
talked about um and that thisis where allegedly the the story
of the banshee lives.
This is not a ghost story.
This is a story about amystical race who serves as a
harbinger of death, and I thinkthat is probably one of the
biggest takeaways from thisstory is that she's not a ghost,
right?
Yeah, she's like a supernaturalmessenger, basically Mm-hmm.

(33:09):
There is a legend, like aregular story, that goes around
Ireland about a farmer workingnear a ferry mount who hears the
cry of a banshee and he findsher and she's a tiny thing and
she's weeping and wringing herhands, and then later he goes
home and finds out that someonein his town had just died Not
his family but his town.
And again, there's lots ofdifferent kinds of fae.

(33:32):
You guys did the story alreadyon the Dullahan, which falls
into the fae category, like thePooka falls into the fae
category.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
That's exactly the one I was thinking of.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Yeah, I actually love the Pooka story, but Banshee is
one in the pantheon of the faeworld, so I'd like to get into
some of the historic and modernsightings of banshees in ireland
.
Um, there were so many storiesabout banshees and um, a lot of
them have to do with veryspecific families, and so the

(34:03):
first one is the o'brien banshee.
This was a noble family andtheir banshee appeared as a
beautiful young woman who wouldcry outside of their home.
Usually she would start cryingbefore the person even got sick.
Like she was super early.
She was like the early bansheeand, yes, like it's like oh shit

(34:25):
, there she is again.
You know who's going to getsick.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Who is it?
Which one is it?
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Did you see that I picture like Conan?
O' is it?
Yeah, I could just see that Ipicture like Conan.

Speaker 3 (34:39):
O'Brien sitting at a table going well, shit, anyway,
conan, yeah, pork bones.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
Right.
So next we have the McCarthyBanshee and she was one of the
banshees that carried a comb andshe had a silver comb, one of
those very fancy ornate silvercombs.
And apparently they carried acomb and she had a silver comb,
one of those very fancy ornatesilver combs, and apparently she

(35:03):
left it lay around like a lot.
Um, so they would know she wasthere and know not to touch it
because she would show up attheir door asking for it back.
Um.
In one story a curious familymember goes to investigate the
banshee and finds her sitting inthe reeds combing her hair, and
apparently then she just sankand disappeared into the water
like missed into the water.
I thought that was kind of anice visual.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
Yeah, it is very much so I wonder if they ever find
her hair strands.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
I keep thinking like brushing your hair.
Yeah, I know that I show themevery hair.
Yeah, leave them all over, Ileft mine every hair too.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
That'd be an interesting angle to look into.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
You know, I didn't see any notes like that, but
that would be even interestingin storytelling.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Yeah, imagine trying to take that into a DNA test.
Hey, can you run this for mereal quick?

Speaker 1 (35:56):
so the o'neill banshee would show up by the
river boyne in ireland and um,she was another haircomber.
She would stand next to theriver combing her hair and
crying, and whenever somebodyapproached her she would
disappear into a cloud of mistand then a death would occur in
the family within days.

(36:16):
One of the most famous storiesin ireland is the bunworth
banshee.
Um, this story is probably theone I found the most so.
Charles bunworth was aclergyman in the 1700s in
Ireland and his family andservants reported hearing an
eerie wailing cry near theirhome.
And then, as you might expect,charles falls very ill and

(36:42):
despite everybody's efforts tosave him because he was like a
beloved member of the communityhe passes away, like basically
fulfilling the warning of thebanshee, and then on the night
of his passing she returns andwails all night long, and he was
a harp player.
So in this inhaling there'sharp music accompanying her as

(37:04):
he, as he, passes over.
In 1995, some Irish folksplaced a harp-shaped plaque
outside of the Bunworth formerhome to sort of memorialize this
story.

Speaker 3 (37:19):
Oh, that's nice.
I like that one.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:22):
Something nice.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
Yes, yeah, I mean, these stories aren't all
horrible.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
Yeah, it's like you throw something nice in and
everybody's like, oh, that's anice little breath of fresh air.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
Has to give you a break sometimes.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
Right, she had to make up for the headless bucket
of oh, that's just yeah.
If I don't find something onmore than two sources, I don't
share it, but that one was outthere.
That's definitely a thingthat's out in the world.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
There's always got to be a grotesque version of a
thing.
Sure yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
Yeah, so the Keening Woman of Kerry, k-e-r-r-y was an
Irish rural village and she waslike the village banshee and
basically when somebody died shewould start wailing and
basically let the village knowthat somebody had passed hmm,
that's kind of nice like thetown bell yeah yeah, so then

(38:22):
there's the the story of terryglass castle on the river
shannon.
It was once a fortress, uh likea stronghold really, of a
chieftain named oak harrell, andhe set out to you know, go do
chieftain stuff.
And that night the castle'swatchman heard this unearthly
wailing from the water and underthe moonlight, everybody who

(38:43):
looked out saw this spectralwoman gliding over the lake like
doing her lament.
Um, it was the oak harrell'sbanshee and she was uh letting
them know there was about to bea tragedy.
And the next morning, um, wheno'carroll was supposed to return
home, instead they received hisbody.
Um, he was uh slain in a duelwith a man named o'brien, and,

(39:07):
um, his remains were broughtback instead of him returning to
his castle.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
That's interesting.
It's not a way you want to comeback home.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
No, it's not the best way to go home.
No, so Kate James allegedlyheard a banshee before his own
death.
There are records of severalpeople saying that an irish

(39:38):
woman, uh, came and sang for him, didn't wail, but an unknown
irish woman sang to, came jamesthe first right before his death
.
Um, and it turned out that shewas a banshee interesting I
thought that was a fascinatingstory.
I really wanted to find moreabout it, but I I was grabbing
and grabbing and grabbing for itand I couldn't quite get it.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
I've never heard that Me either.
That's cool.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
I like that story too .
My final Banshee story comesfrom a friend of mine named
Casey, who actually went toIreland recently and visited
Dungar Castle.
It was built in the 1500s andher tour guide who she described
as a wonderful Irishman whocould tell a story was telling

(40:18):
the story about a ghostlywasherwoman who would wash
bloody clothes in the stream aweek before somebody died.
Basically, they would see thiswoman appear in this spectral
form and she would be crying andscreaming and she would be
washing somebody's specificclothes, and they were the

(40:38):
clothes of the person who wasgoing to die jeez, wow, wow that
sucks yeah, no, I mean like,like, if I recognize my clothes,
I'm going to be like hey, dan'sgot an Iron Maiden shirt.
You're like.
Well, I better take care ofsome things.
I may only have a day or twoleft to live here.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
That's wild.

Speaker 3 (41:03):
It's hard to know if this is a blessing or a curse.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
Exactly, I think it's both.
Yeah, I agree, Logan.
I think it's both.

Speaker 3 (41:13):
Certain situations depending.
I've always loved it, though.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Yeah, there are similar beings in other cultures
.
Like you were talking about thenative cultures, I found some
others.
So Scotland has a banshee andshe is more of the washerwoman,
and Wales has one I'm not evengoing to attempt to say the word
in Welsh Welsh but she is sortof a spectral hag with bat wings
who announces death.
Bat wings, bat wings, yep.

(41:38):
So in North mythology there arethe Norns.
They foretell death and guidesouls back to the other world.
And then in Japanese culturethere's a yokai called the I
might say this wrong Yonaki Baba, and she is a crying old woman
who remains outside of the houseweeping all night before

(41:58):
someone dies.
So this is definitely a thingwe see all over the world, this
phenomenon, this entity.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
Yeah, I can't place why, but I kind of think I know
the Japanese one.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
Yeah, it sounds familiar, I feel like the baba.
Oh, yeah, sounds familiar, Ifeel like we either.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
We watch something, anyway it's.
It's sprung one of those littleyou know things in my head
called brain cells and uh anywayjust scratching your brain yeah
, it's like.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
So the Banshee immigrated to America
Surprisingly yeah, okay, withIrish immigration, especially
during that period of time wetalked about the Great Hunger.
Banshee lore traveled withpeople.
Irish Americans brought theirfamily Banshee stories with them
and possibly their familyBanshees I mean, there are Fae
stories that came withimmigration too.

(42:51):
There are so many that come tomind.
So it makes perfect sense.
It doesn't seem at all strangeto me that the Banshee story
came along and that theseBanshees, they pop up in lore
all over America now as well.
So there are cases in Boston,new Orleans, new York and

(43:13):
apparently Greenwich Village hasa fairly famous Banshee and I
ordered a book with a story init.
I thought I ordered it well inadvance and I still don't have
it.
Every time I get a noticethey're like your book will ship
soon.
I'm like, can you mail it?
Like yeah, I know when they getthose.
I was like can you send my book?
It's from some random bookshopin New York and I've called.

(43:36):
I'm like I need you to sendthis book, I need this Banshee
story.
And they're like oh yeah, theGreenwich Village Banshee.
I'm like can you read it to me?
Can you help me out here?
So I know there's a GreenwichVillage Banshee story.
I, I lived in Greenwich Village.
I went to NYU, like I, I didn'tknow the story when I was there

(43:56):
.
Um, it's, it's so frustratingthat I can't tell you this story
tonight, but I tried, yeah, andI'm telling you it's there.
So, um, for those who arelistening and they are still
interested, if you're in NewYork, go get the local ghost
story books from the 1980s.
It's in there.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
That's so cool, man.
I can't believe that a New Yorkstore is having a hard time
shipping something.
I mean it's like back in theold days of like the 80s, or
allows 80 weeks of shipping,yeah right.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
Right, I remember those days.
But you know, sometimes whenyou're dealing with like a
little bookseller, it's like oneor two people.
But you know, sometimes whenyou're dealing with like a
little bookseller, it's like oneor two people and you know it's
an obscure book that I dugaround to find and you know
it'll probably arrive tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (44:40):
Yeah, probably so.
Yeah, just after the nick oftime.
Exactly Okay, there's alwaysnext time.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
Yeah.
So yes, there is a famousGreenwich Village banshee and I
cannot tell her story because Idon't know it, but there is
another in North Carolina, whichis another place that a lot of
Irish folks settled, and thisone goes back to 1781 along the
Tar River in Edgecombe County.
So this was around the time ofthe Revolution, I guess just

(45:08):
after the time of the Revolution, and Dave Warner had a sawmill
on the Tar River and there weresome British soldiers still
hanging around there thatallegedly chained him up, threw
him into the river and took hisproperty.
But they say that just beforeWarner died he put a curse on

(45:28):
the soldiers and so his bansheearrived to fulfill it.
And they say that she came forthe men who had hurt her person
and led them one night into theriver where they drowned
interesting yeah hmm, a vengefulyeah yes, well, she is part of

(45:51):
this.
Goes back to the banshee beingpart of a family, right, all
right.
Yeah, warner doesn't sound likea super irish name to me, but
who knows where marriage camefrom there right, yeah, I mean
that's, that's pretty freakythat's pretty awesome.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
Oh, yeah, I mean it is awesome like a banshee at
your disposal.
Yeah, like six out people iskind of like wrong.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Speaking of jewel on it makes me think of, like you
know, uh sleepy hollow.
When she's got the head of theyeah, it's like oh yeah, go
ahead, do my bidding, please.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
Yeah right, right, right, exactly.
Yeah, it's exactly what it is.
That's an interesting story.
I like that one.
Well, they say that thatbanshee still appears from time
to time on the Right, right,right, exactly.
Yeah, it's exactly what it is.
That's an interesting story, Ilike that one.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
Well, they say that that banshee still appears from
time to time on the Tar Riverand that you can hear her crying
.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Hmm, that would be weird to hear.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
Yeah, I would be terrified if I heard a banshee
cry.
It would be.
I'd be like uh-oh.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
And we're kayakers, so I can't imagine us being up
like kayaks.
Yeah, let's turn around.
You know we're happening upthere.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
Like I didn't hear anything, did you?
No, no.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
I wonder if it's similar to like a mountain lion
cry because they say it soundslike a woman screaming.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
That's true.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
But this is more of a whale, so maybe it's like a
version of that, but I mean,that's terrifying if you've ever
heard it.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
I am not Just a fox, by itself can terrify me.
Yeah, a fox is terrifying.
That is a strange sound.

Speaker 3 (47:17):
I've heard it before when I was a child and it was
scary.
I thought some woman wasgetting hurt in the woods and it
was really scary.
Yeah, I couldn't imaginehearing that.
So I wonder if that part ofthat could come from that.
I don't know.
Potentially, yeah, to be northcarolina anyway, I mean yeah, oh
, for sure, for sure.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
so the next one, we're going to go to south
dakota, surprisingly, which wasnot a place.
There were a lot of irishimmigrants, but this is a native
story.
That is a banshee.
So, um, allegedly there, Icouldn't find any.
I couldn't nail down anyhistory on this, but I did find
this story in several books.
There's a native woman who waskilled by white men, which is

(47:58):
very believable, and that shebecame a banshee in the desert
and that people who, a lot ofthe folks who use this desert
right, this is the badlands ofSouth Dakota Mostly cowboys or
people who are just passingthrough.
They're not afraid of muchthat's going to be out there.
But apparently the fan she isterrifying.

(48:18):
She only appears at night.
She'll appear first on the hill, called watchdog, as a beaut
B-U-T-T-E.
Beaut, yeah, beaut.
And called Watchdog is it Butte?
B-u-t-t-e.
Butte, yeah, butte.
And her dark hair will beblowing.
So this is a change in thestory.
And then, if you keep going andyou don't turn back, apparently

(48:39):
there are some rocks there thatare sort of phosphorescent and
they start to flash and thebanshee will sweep up and stand
right beside you.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
If you speak to her, she will start screaming oh, oh,
some nightmare fuel there.

Speaker 3 (48:56):
If you've ever been in the desert at night?
Yeah, I mean people, it is darkyeah, yes, people don't really,
and that wind blows, I meanit's it can be pretty creepy,
yeah.
Yeah, that's a, that's a scaryone.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
Yeah, it does feel.
It feels like unearthly in thedesert.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
Yes, yes, Hmm, got it .

Speaker 1 (49:15):
So the idea is if you see her, you don't talk.
Keep your mouth shut, that's ahigh-class.

Speaker 3 (49:20):
I don't think I could talk either.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
Primarily, I'd probably soil myself first and
then.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
Unless it was, I'd probably be frozen and tattered.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Yes, it would make any kind of sound for sure.
Wow, so she will eventuallydisappear.
Um, you might still see herwringing her hands and weeping
on the hilltop.
Um, but they say that where shelikes to hang out, cattle don't
want to graze and local cowboysdon't go there because they
know better.
Now, one of the most peculiarthings about this banshee is

(49:52):
there's another haunting there.
It's a thing, a creature thatappears as a skeleton, and it
will like walk through campswhere cowboys are camped out,
and if it hears any kinds ofmusic, it'll sit down and start
to hang out with you.
If you leave a fiddle out, itwill play it, but no matter what

(50:12):
, you must never follow theplayer away from the campfire,
because he will definitely leadyou to your death.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (50:22):
Wow, and apparently this haunt happens in the same
place, the same mountain passarea as the Banshee.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
Hmm.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
That's odd.
Yeah, so it's a skeleton.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
That's what the story says.
Appears as a skeleton.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
And people are not, there's like a little skeleton.
Walk up and sit down at theircampfire.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
Here's a fiddle, enjoy yourself.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I'd hearthat.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
What a story that would be.
Yeah, no, kidding, right.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
I mean, can you take a selfie with it?

Speaker 3 (50:56):
I don't hear these stories, though, you just always
wonder, where they come from.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Yeah, like, what is the origin of the fiddle-playing
skeleton that once you followit to certain death, I'm like,
honestly, I'm not going tofollow a skeleton away from the
campfire anyway, that's probablynot going to happen, you know.

Speaker 3 (51:13):
No.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
What makes me think is that guaranteed this has
something to do back in the olddays with alcohol.
I'm sure they were completelyripped out of their head.
The cowboys told stories aroundthe fire, so I'm sure it was
some kind of yeah, and then oneof the cowboys got ripped and
then walked off and probablyfell off of a cliff, yeah, and

(51:36):
they were like, oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:37):
Very easily up there.
Yeah, that's interesting.

Speaker 1 (51:41):
This could be like Stay Close to the Camp, Stay
Close to the Fire kind of story,like a cautionary tale.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
Now camp stay close to the fire kind of story, like
a cautionary tale.
Yeah, yeah, now the bad fee inthe past, though I don't know
what she would.
She doesn't feel like acautionary tale.
She feels a bit more vengefulthan the other banshees.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
Yes, for sure.
Yeah, there's so many like theyalways talk about, like native
curses on the land and and stufflike that in the west from all
the the tragedy and the deaths,and, yeah, deaths, yeah,
especially in those canyons.
Oh yeah.
There's always stories aboutthe canyons where the wind whips
through, so that kind ofmatches up with that.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
There is definitely.
I mean, I'm only half and I cantell you that, even being half
going through some of thatdesert you know being raised
pretty much in Arizona, goingthrough some of that desert you
know being raised pretty much inArizona there is so much lore
and so much that is pulled fromthat area that there is so much
cultural attachment to this typeof thing.

(52:39):
Yeah.
So that doesn't surprise me, andespecially, you know, not in
the least.
Not in the least, no, and givenwhat's happened with you know
the Native women, and what'shappened you know, especially
now, historically, over time, Isure hope there's a Banshee
woman out there doing that,because there's some really not
so good stuff happening.

Speaker 3 (52:57):
Good warning yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
Well, you have one more American Banshee story.
This one is going to bring usto West Virginia.
And Thomas and Mary Mar wereimmigrants from Scotland, and
Thomas kept noticing a womanriding a horse and she was
obscured by a cloak.
And in February of 1878 thehorse and rider approached the

(53:25):
house where Mary was waiting forThomas to come home.
He had mentioned to her that hehad seen this horse and rider
approached the house where Marywas waiting for Thomas to come
home.
He had mentioned to her that hehad seen this horse and rider,
this woman riding.
I mean, they lived kind of outin the middle of nowhere, so
it's not like there would be alot of ladies in cloaks riding
around, you know.
And the rider came close andshe saw the face of a veiled,
pale woman who said I am here totell you, mary Marr, that

(53:46):
Thomas Marr has just died.
Woman who said I am here totell you, mary Marr, that Thomas
Marr has just died.
Say your prayers, lady, and Ibid you well.
And disappeared.
Years later the banshee madeone more appearance when Mary
died, and at her funeral theysay that there was the keening
of an unseen woman from thehills Wow I like that one.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
That's really cool.
Yeah, no wailing, but sheactually talked to them.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
that's a new one yeah , in west virginia, that's
another place that if you'venever been there, it's not like
um, it's not like a bunch of bigcities, it.
There's so much rural opennessout there that you know you get
lost out there and I wouldimagine a bench out there
because it's and there issomething with West Virginia,

(54:34):
because I was in Franklin, westVirginia, and I I got lost in
the mountains when you got lostIn the Appalachians, yeah, in
the Appalachians, trying to getback home.
That was not good In the middleof the night, in the middle of
the night, and uh, there issomething about driving through
that range that it gives you allthe feels, I mean, it's
something happening out there.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
It is an interesting country and it definitely has a
lot of its own sort of lore.
And how do I want to say this?
It has its own culture and lore.
It's very different from otherplaces, absolutely so.
That's my last american bansheestory and um, I thought I would

(55:16):
be able to find tons ofbanshees in popular culture, but
um, as I said before we getstarted, there weren't that many
.
Um, there are some, there are afew.
And just thought honestly, thiscreature could use way more
representation in modernstorytelling.
For sure, it's definitely a gap.
I mean, what an interestingcharacter too.

(55:38):
Now they've had Banshees onsome shows, like Charmed had a
Banshee that didn't justannounce death but sensed
people's pain and then killedthem over it.
And, of course, supernaturalhad an evil banshee who forced
people to shatter their skullswith her voice.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
Yeah, I remember that one.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
Yeah, that's not at all what a banshee does, right
and more in the classic literary.
William Butler Yeats was anIrish poet and folklorist and he
was absolutely fascinated byfairy stories.
He wrote a lot about bansheesand other fae figures and he was
really fascinated with the ideaof like the otherworldly realm.

(56:21):
So you could find him writingabout fae in his fairy and folk
tales of the Irish peasantrycollection.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
You have to check that one out.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:32):
Sounds like a good read.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Of course everybody remembers in Harry Potter when
the Banshee shows up.
But it's actually not really aBanshee, it is a Boggart.
So Okay.
It was just somebody's fear ofa Banshee that was represented
by the Boggart, yeah, and the.
I think they were in the darkarts classroom.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Yeah, I remember that yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
But yeah, very, very little.
So, Logan, you had a famousbanshee you wanted to talk about
it was a native, and now I'mtrying to remember it was the
one with the waterfall.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
Um, oh gosh, one with the water.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
Yeah, it was a lady who was by a waterfall yet again
water and if I remember right,it had something to do with her
father.
Anyway, I don't want to getinto it because I probably will
completely butcher it and I'llhave to come back and update you
later, but that was the one Iwas thinking of.
Right now, my, my littlesprockets aren't, aren't working
so it was like wailing by thewaterfall.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
What did how?
There's lots of those stories,though, of like oh, usually it's
over like a failed romance orsomething.
Well, it wasn't a filledromance.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
I think it basically boils down to this, and I'm
probably destroying it but, um,she was washing, I think she was
bathing by the water and therewas a obviously like a an
opposing uh nation that cameupon her and they slayed her and
then she ended up becoming abanshee.

(58:02):
So anytime you would go to thatbody of water, you could hear
the scream, and that typicallymeant that an impending death
was coming oh, okay uh, and Ijust and the reason I I'm
butchering it is because I I hadit in my head.
Then it went but uh, but yeah,that was the one that I was
thinking of, and I'm sure ouraudience probably knows exactly

(58:25):
the one I'm talking about and belike, yeah, idiot, it's this,
but I don't remember well, Idon't know that story, but you
know I did want to draw aparallel between the Banshee
story and the Lady in Whitestory.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
So the Lady in White story is a classic ghost story.
It's not a fae story.
To be very clear, there is adifference.
But the Lady in White oftenappears where there has been
some injustice done to someone,usually a woman or a child, and
she is also a very ethereal palewoman.
She's often seen at crossroads,at bridges, at bodies of water,

(58:59):
um, you could also even equatethis to, uh, la llorona, um,
same same vein of story.
When I was doing all thisBanshee research, I kept
thinking of Lady and Whitestories and I did think of La
Llorona as well, because I waslike they're adjacent.
They're not the same butthey're definitely adjacent.
And a lot of the Lady and Whitestories will come up, not

(59:22):
necessarily to announce a death,but to announce that somebody
did die here and it was anunjust death, that like there
was some tragedy.
To announce a death, but toannounce that somebody did die
here and it was an unjust death,um, that like there was some
tragedy that happened in a placeor that, um, there was
something horrible that happenedto her that she had to take her
own life or take her children'slife or something like that.
But there was there wasdefinitely some overlapping

(59:46):
feeling between the story of theBanshee and the Lady in White,
so I did want to mention that aswell.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
Yeah, and I know that there was some talk about.
Obviously it's not necessarilya Banshee per se, but some
people have even said, like theJersey Devil potentially could
have been one, or even, I meanhonestly, even Mothman at some
point.
I know that some people hadtalked about that potentially
being adjacent to the Banshee.

Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
Right, I have, I don't the Harbinger.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I just feel like they're
not close enough.
Okay, well, that's fine, I tryto keep them separated.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
Well, the Mothman for sure, because it's so much.
But I can definitely see wherethere's some adjacency to it,
because it does it is aharbinger of upcoming danger or
mortality or something like that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
Well, it is interesting, the Welsh one you
mentioned with the bat wings, sothat is interesting.
It's the first time I've everheard about the wings and with
mothman having the wings, thatis very red eyes yeah you know,
I mean, yeah, it's see I'd neverheard that stuff before so
that's, yeah, a little bit morecredence to it it's interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
I mean again, you know, some people call Mothman
Fae, some people call itpotentially being Banshee
adjacent because of its abilityto be a prognosticator of death.
Yeah, oh, you like thatPrognosticator.

Speaker 1 (01:01:21):
I'll give you a quarter for saying that word.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
I appreciate it, I'll take it.
I mean I don't mind, Iappreciate it, I'll take it.
I mean I don't mind, wow, sowhat a great.
I mean, first of all, thank youagain for all that research.
I mean that's just.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
I have one last thing to share.
It's what to do if you hear abanshee.
Oh, ok, yeah, yeah, this needsto be shared.
So, um, according to irishfolklore, if you hear a banshee,
take it seriously.
This is a warning that someonein your family or your immediate
circle is about to die.
So the most appropriate actionis to prepare yourself

(01:02:01):
emotionally for news of a loss.
There is nothing you can do tochange an omen from a banshee.
You cannot fight it, you cannotbribe it, you cannot reason
with it.
It is a done deal.
If you see or hear a banshee,it is a premonition of death
that cannot be altered.
Now, if this happens to you,you should focus on preparing

(01:02:22):
yourself and your family for thenews of a loss.
So reach out to your loved ones, check in on people's health
and well-being and, when ithappens, be ready to offer
support, and that's pretty muchall you can do if you hear a
banshee.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
That's good advice, though that is good advice.
That's good advice in general,but especially if you hear that.

Speaker 3 (01:02:41):
Right, you know yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
And it's interesting because some people say crow.
When you see crows and ravens,that that's also a harbinger.
And it's interesting that thebanshee is somewhat adjacent to
that as well.
So it's interesting.
I mean, there's definitely.

Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
There's got to be something to it.
You know, all these legends andstuff always go back.
They're all very similarlyrelated in a certain way.
So something, things like that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
So I would imagine that maybe one of the reasons
they're capable of doing that isthat they can sense the
hospital or there's not a long,long, long prolonged death at
home where they're suffering andbasically their body's decaying
Right Animals are going tosmell that.
I mean, there's probably youknow where a lot of this stuff

(01:03:31):
has started or began.

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
Yeah, that makes sense.
It was only around the time ofthe Civil War when the funeral
industry started up.
Right time of the Civil Warwhen the funeral industry
started up Because there were somany deaths and people didn't
know what to do, unfortunately,with all the dead soldiers,
that's kind of when the wholecemetery industry started and
the funeral industry.
But before that it was verynormal to die at home.

(01:04:22):
It was a regular part of lifethat you would eventually die at
home, they would have your wakethere and you would be buried
in your family property orchurch.
Charge one or the other, rightyeah.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
Yeah, and it's funny because, being paranormal
investigators and doing thethings that we do, you know, we
always know that everybody says,well, did somebody die in the
home?
Well, if it's an old enoughhome.

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:04:46):
Somebody died in the home More than likely.

Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
Yeah, did somebody die in the home?
Well, if it's an old enoughhome, yes, somebody died in the
home.
More than likely.
Yeah, I mean it's a given, youknow, and the chances of there
being some sort of attachment,depending on how old it is, I
mean there's, there's very goodlikelihood to it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
But it was normal.
I mean, yeah Well okay, thatwas great.

Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
That was really good, even with the the blood bowls.

Speaker 3 (01:05:06):
You definitely taught me some things I had never
heard before and I've looked alot into it over the years.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
So that's really great.
I mean, you deliver and knockit out of the park, it's what
you do.

Speaker 1 (01:05:18):
No, this was a fun one, because I had to dig really
hard for some of this.
It wasn't like it just fell out, you know, out of like three
books.
It was scattered everywherebecause the legend of the
Banshee has sort of fallen outof favor.
I think it's kind of sad,because I think it's actually a
beautiful story.
What a gift to be warned thatsomebody is going to die.

(01:05:41):
You would have time to prepare.
You'd have time to settle youraccounts.
You'd have time to say goodbye.

Speaker 3 (01:05:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
You know, yeah, I mean it'd have time to say
goodbye.
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:05:50):
Yeah, I mean it'd be it'd be nice to know, but also I
can see where it'sheart-wrenching, troubling.
Yeah, yeah, exactly which iswhere the whale comes from.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
I think that's very much so the grief, it's the
burden of knowing.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, our resident historianhas knocked out of the park once
again.
Rissa, I know you're probablycrazy busy, I know you usually
are, but for our audience thatwants to catch up with you what
you got going on.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
Oh my gosh.
Well, you know, march, I'mturning 50.
So that's big for me.
Yeah, this will come out rightaround the time of my birthday
in march, so that's, that's abig thing for me.
Um, but you know, I have all myusual stuff going on.
I'll be talking cryptids andghosts.
I'll start ghost tours up againin april and, um, you know, if

(01:06:40):
anybody needs to find me ortrack me down, they can go to
tea and smokecom.
I post my schedule on the blogthere every month so you can see
what I'm doing in person and onvirtually as well.
So if there's something that,uh, oh, you know also, I wanted
to throw this out there ifthere's any historical thing
that any of your listeners wantto hear about, ask, I'd love to

(01:07:01):
know.
You know, I know we've got.
We've got a cool one coming upin may.
Uh, we do, we do it going to beso cool.
I've already started working onthat.
So that's fun.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
That's kind of an operative word there.
That's kind of interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:07:16):
Ice cold perhaps.

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
Yes ice cold.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
Yeah, honestly, and the same goes for us.
You know everybody who's gotour email address or hit us up
on social say hey, love to seeyou guys and Rissa talk about
this, or see if Rissa can kindof go down the matrix hole of X,
whatever it is.
By all means, let us know.
As you can see, she brings it,so you know.

(01:07:41):
I'm a very tenacious researcherand a very valuable one.
We appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
I appreciate you all.
I love being on your show.
We appreciate it.
I appreciate you all.
I love being on your show.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
This is great.
Oh, you're still one of thecast now.
You are part of us Part of thefamily, one of us.
But anyway, rissa, thank you somuch and we look forward to
connecting with you again.
Thanks, rissa.

Speaker 3 (01:08:04):
Thank you so much, rissa.
We love having you.
She just knocks it out of thepark.
Yeah, she does.

Speaker 2 (01:08:12):
Yeah, yes, mom, I had her back on.
I was telling Rissa that mymom's really enjoys having her
on.
In fact, she probably enjoysher more than me, but that's
okay yeah, probably anyway, yeah, it was great.

Speaker 3 (01:08:22):
um, there were some definite things I had never
heard before.

Speaker 2 (01:08:26):
Yeah, yeah, I think that the not just the folklore
behind it.
Obviously it's really.
It's really ingrained inculture, it's ingrained in, you
know, in belief, structure andstuff.
But you know there's so manydifferent parallels from other
things that like they'readjacent, like we were talking
about Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3 (01:08:50):
It lends not only credence to the Banshee, lore,
lore, but it just makes a lot ofsense for some things too.
Yeah, and I mean there's somelike we talked for all the
warnings about death mm-hmmhere's two-sided to that,
because while it could be a goodthing, it could also be a bad
thing.
But I also think you thinkabout and if you've ever, you
know, had someone that you, youknow, pass away, after it's over

(01:09:13):
, sometimes knowing about it, Ithink, is a little bit better
because you can prepare yourself.
I think some of the worst griefI've ever had over someone
passing away is when it's ashock.
Yeah, it's a shock, there's nopreparation for it and it's just
like bam and it's extremelyhard to get over after that.

(01:09:34):
So maybe that's where this comefrom.
Maybe comes from because shesaid you know, this is this is
what you're supposed to do ifyou hear the banshee cry.
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
like a protective kind of yeah like be, like, be
prepared.

Speaker 3 (01:09:47):
This is coming, get everything in order, say that
you love them, you know, tellthem their goodbyes.
Because that's always whatsomeone says is I didn't get a
chance to say goodbye.
That's true, I didn't get, youknow, tell them how much I love
them, or so it's almost comesfrom a loving place, I think.

Speaker 2 (01:10:02):
I think so.
There's definitely some thoughtto that, for sure, and you're
right, sometimes you think thatthere's going to be some ease
when you know about it, but youand I both have been through a
loss where we knew way ahead oftime.

Speaker 3 (01:10:18):
Maybe not, you know, I've been through both Right,
we've been through both A coupletimes on both sides, and I,
while I don't want to knowsomeone's going to pass away, I
will say the recovery from ithas been easier.
Sure, then there sometimes theno recovery, yeah, of of a

(01:10:39):
sudden loss that's true so Ithink it's maybe just a cultural
loving way of a family sayinghey, you need to prepare, this
is about to happen.
Now, while I say that I do notwant to hear the fancy gray no,
anytime soon.
No, I don't, especially if itwere for your own death, that
would be creepy.
But I also think like if you'rethat close to death most of the

(01:11:01):
time, you know about it.
Yeah, at least if it's in abiological way, you know, not
like something that is a tragedy.
But you know, most people knowthat it's coming, yeah they do
so?
I don't know, freaky, it's just.
It's a very interesting legendor lore.
Maybe it's not lore, we don'tknow.

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):
We don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:11:23):
I mean ladies and gentlemen, the Bay world is very
vast.

Speaker 2 (01:11:26):
Public service announcement.
The Bay world is very vast.
Public service announcement.
If you find a woman with nohead at your door holding a bowl
full of blood, you might have aproblem.

Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
Yeah, I don't like that version of it though.
Oh, that's pretty bad.
It's too much like the HeadlessHorseman.
Well, yeah, the HeadlessHorseman's kind of cool because
he's got a horse, but he's a manwith no head, sorry.
Pulling out the Johnny Depp.

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
Yes, all right guys.
Well, listen, we had a greattime.
Rissa, thank you for coming on.

Speaker 3 (01:11:55):
We had a blast and, uh, she's going to be back on
soon, guys, don't worry, yeah,yeah, we've got another
interesting one for you comingup in a few All right, guys,
take care and we'll see you nextweek.
Happy St Paddy's Day.
Happy St Pat's.

Speaker 4 (01:12:23):
Thanks for tuning in to Generation X Paranormal.
Remember, all editing is donein-house and we're a self-funded
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Like, subscribe and follow uson all socials to stay connected
.
Special thanks to Eric Cooleyfor creating our music, and

(01:12:44):
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Stay curious and keep exploringthe unexplained.