The Banshee: The Irish Death Messenger

The banshee, the female supernatural death-messenger, is the legendary herald of death in Ireland. Through analysis of folklore sources, a comprehensive picture of the banshee emerges, and the functions of the belief in this remarkable creature of the folk imagination are examined. Many issues associated with attitudes toward life and death are expressed through the banshee tradition, and changes in such attitudes down through the ages are also revealed in changing beliefs about the banshee's presence and activity. This book unravels that network of beliefs, drawing on a large body of oral and written sources, including literary accounts from the Old Irish period to the present, as well as folklore accounts collected over the past sixty years. Recent fieldwork brings the study up-to-date, showing that in many instances belief in the banshee is alive today.