Thoughts.com Blogs - Devil woman?

I don't think I have ever heard the bean shìth (banshee), but my mother did!

For those who don't know, the banshee is a folklore type figure in Scotland Ireland. It is a Spirit, some say a Demon, which makes an appearance when someone is about to die. Sometimes it can be heard by different members of one family and seems to follow some families, while others never hear of it at all. I guess it depends on one's belief in it also.

The banshee is always a female, always with wild, windswept hair and her one reason for being seems to be to show up and let out a shriek which turns the blood icy cold in your veins, as a warning that someone in that household will die that very night, or soon thereafter.

I relate this story from my family just as I know of it and you can make of it what you will....

During WW2 my father was posted in Africa and my mother was living with my Gran, her mother, back in Scotland. One night she heard what she described as a 'banshee' but was told by my gran that it was only her imagination and not to worry.

Later, in the middle of the night, my mother woke to find my father sitting at the end of her bed, complete in 'Khaki desert uniform'. She was instantly wide awake, (wouldnt you be?) and when my father smiled at her and reached out towards her, she shot out of bed like a bullet and went to my wake my Gran. Of course, on investigation, my father was not in the room. About two days later, one of my uncles died from an undiagnoised brain tumor and about a week later, my mother received a telegram putting my dad as MIA.

Did a banshee turn up to herald the death of my uncle? Or to warn about my father being, possibly, dead?

Well, the good news was that my dad was eventually found in a field hospital having suffered total amnesia and some injuries from a shell blast in which two of his buddies had been killed outright. Did he appear to my mother at the time of his trauma taking place?

We may never know. We can only make up our own mind, but I know what I believe. Everyone else can make up theirs!

Peace :)