#21 - The Banshee

• Also known as a brownie and a Glaistig (a woman demon).

• Glastaiges were originally mortal women who had been put under enchantment and given a fairy nature.

• Can be a warning or protective spirit associated with certain families.

• A fairy woman who is a spirit who heralds the death of a family member, usually by wailing, shrieking or keening.

• Her eyes are red from continual weeping.

• She may be dressed in white with red hair and a ghastly complexion.

• Sometimes the banshee assumes the form of some sweet singing virgin of the family who died young, and has been given the mission by the invisible powers to become the harbinger of coming doom to her mortal kindred. Or she may be seen at night as a shrouded woman, crouched beneath the trees, lamenting with veiled face, or flying past in the moonlight, crying bitterly.

• The cry of this spirit is mournful beyond all other sounds on earth, and betokens certain death to some member of the family whenever it is heard in the silence of the night.

• Though the Glaistaig is supernatural, she could die.