BANSHEE (Irish

See also:

• BEAN (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. Bohne)

bean sidhe; Gaelic

See also:

• BAN

ban sith, " woman of the fairies ")  , a supernatural being in Irish and general Celtic folklore, whose mournful screaming, or " keening," at night is held to foretell the death of some member of the household visited . In Ireland legends of the banshee belong more particularly to certain families in whose records periodic visits from the spirit are chronicled . A like ghostly informer figures in Brittany folklore . The Irish banshee is held to be the distinction only of families of pure Milesian descent . The Welsh have the banshee under the name gwrach y Rhibyn (witch of Rhibyn) . Sir Walter Scott mentions a belief in the banshee as existing in the highlands of Scotland (Demonology and Witchcraft, p . 351) . A Welsh death-portent often confused with the gwrach y Rhibyn and banshee is the cyhyraeth, the groaning spirit . See W . Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (188o) .