Western Folklore

Banshee

밴시

Also: Bean Sídhe

The Banshee is a female spirit of Irish Celtic tradition who, when the death of a family member is near, foretells it with a wail of lament. To hear that keening is itself the announcement of a loss to come.

As an auditory horror in which the sound arrives first to declare a death, it belongs to the lineage of the uncanny where the signal received is what fixes the fate.

Irish Celtic folklore

← Back to Encyclopedia