Tales of ghosts and spirits have many similarities in different cultures, but they also differ significantly. Each country has its own version of various supernatural beings, the living dead, flying monsters.
Some of these phenomena are becoming popular enough to become known around the world. One of them is the famous Irish banshees. These screaming, terrifying spirits, with whom, even based on their description, few people would want to meet, as they say, do not at all belong only to legends and myths. Banshees make up a significant part of Irish folklore. The word comes from the Old Irish language, from the word "ben side" or "byntside", which roughly means "woman-fairy" or "woman from the hill of fairies."
The banshee is described as a fierce female spirit, whose furious screams, weeping and groaning, usually signify the harbinger of death. The banshee is always female, but can take many different forms and have different names. Her abilities also differ. It all depends on the specific area in which you hear the story about her. She is sometimes described as a disgusting old witch, and other times she looks like a young, beautiful girl. It happens that she appears with the head of a bird or a hare.
In one of the cases, she is described as a woman of unearthly beauty with strange and unusual features, lush red hair and eyes in which a devilish fire burns. Like the Irish peasants, she sometimes wore a green cape. Clothing, eye color and hair color also vary by location. Growth varies from a height of more than two meters to several tens of centimeters.
Many crows flying by, screaming cats or howling dogs often signal the banshee's approach. No matter what the banshee looks like or what form it takes, it always brings doom with it. Of course, all these stories look like ordinary folklore. But there are many stories of encounters with banshees.
The book Real Irish Ghost Stories, published in the 1900s, tells the story of a family in Cork who was haunted by banshees. In one case, a little girl, looking out the window, saw a white figure standing on the bridge and waving her arms towards the house. The girl's mother heard the banshee's scream, which lasted for several seconds, and then died away as she herself disappeared. The next day, the girl's grandfather set off on his usual journey to the city of Cork. He accidentally fell and smashed his head on a stone.
The Irish have many stories to tell. They are found in almost every locality. For the most part, however, they belong to a fairly distant past. Apparently, the banshees are either dying out, or have decided to be more invisible.
GUSAKOVA IRINA YURIEVNA
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