The Banshee

The Banshee. Faerie #2/20something.
For my faerie anthology that I'm making for class.

Book entry as follows;

“There are phantoms of sunshiny hours
That fled when the summer time fled,
And specters that mock while they haunt us,
Long buried, but never dead.
And ever and ever an hour
Will come that the heart-wraiths control,
Till down from Eternity’s tower
A banshee shall ring for the soul.”

-- Madge Morris Wagner, The ghosts in the Heart

The Banshee is an Irish death spirit. She can appear as an old hag, a stately matron or a young woman, but is always seen wearing either a grey hooded cloak over a green dress or the long winding grave robes of the unholy dead. Her hair is long and flowing, often grey or white, and tangled by a constant freezing wind and her eyes are as red as blood.
The Banshee’s keening foretells death and sounds like a high-pitched cry. It echoes through areas to inform people of an impending death. However, a Banshee is sometimes attached to old families, where she lets her wailing voice be heard to them only. Often she will wander around an estate, keening and washing the grave clothes of the one who is about to die.

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