The banshee has been called a ghost. However, the word banshee is the anglicized form of the Gaelic, bean sidhe. Bean (pronounced ban) means woman, and sidhe (shee) means fairy. The Sidhe are special fairies that live in the hills. So the banshee is actually a female hill-fairy. She has appeared in many different forms, some claiming they've seen her in animal form. She has been seen as an old hag dressed in black, but most describe her as a beautiful young woman with long flowing red-gold hair, wearing a green dress. Her eyes are a fiery red from so much weeping. The sound she makes is almost always deeply sorrowful, from high pitched screeching to heart-rending crying. Most who claim to have seen a banshee have sensed an aura of overwhelming sadness. In every instance, the manifestation of the banshee has been a foreshadowing of some family member's death. She will hang around outside the house, or at the place of the dying person's birth, and will disappear as soon as the person dies. Though she is not visible, the banshee will also attend the funeral of the dead family member, her keening blending with the cries of the other mourners.
The banshee has mistakenly been accused of causing the deaths of those she mourns, but that is simply not so. She merely weeps and warns of the impending death, for somehow she knows ahead of time what is going to happen. Banshees love their family, and that is why they grieve so deeply when one of them dies.
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