The Banshee

sympathetic or friendly Banshees. I will now present to the reader a

y got up and, challenging my remark that not all Banshees were alike, tried to prove that I was wrong, on the assumption that all Banshees must be sad and beautiful because the B

show that Banshees are of many and diverse kinds; and that no two

ugly, distorted features; maledictions are written in every line of her wrinkled fac

in one mould and all beautiful Banshees in another, whereas from my own personal experiences I should

arried, and, with the passing away of all who knew him in his youth, he came to be regarded as a model of absolute propriety and rectitude. Hence it was in these circumstances that he was sitting one night before a big blazing fire in the hall of his castle, outwardly happy enough and surrou

aming. This time the aged chieftain did not accompany the rest of the household in their search for the originator of the disturbances. Possibly, in that discordant moaning and screaming he fancied he could detect the

to every generation of the family, before the death of one of its members. Happily, however, the haunting now does

in Ireland. I happened to be visiting a certain relative of mine, at that date residing in B

nsisted of Mr O'D., who had been something in India in his youth and was now very much of a recluse, though much esteemed locally on account of his extreme piety and good-heartedness; Mrs O'D., who, despite her grey hair and wrinkled count

y expected that she and Wilfred would make what is vulgarly termed a "match of it." Indeed, the first of the ghostly happenings that s

onately declared his love, and, apparently, did not declare it in vain. The trio, then, in more or less exalted spirits-for my relative had of course let Ellen into the secret-walked home toget

red exclaimed

id not confine her labour to the culinary art, but performed all kinds of odd jobs as well), "nor anyone from the farm. But what

to be entirely concentrated on the visage before them, making it appear luminous. It was a broad face with very pronounced cheek-bones; a large mouth, the thin lips

ly shouldering her spade, she walked slowly away, turning round every now and again to cast the same malevolent gleeful look at them, until she came to th

nued gazing after her in a kind of paralysed astoni

ng hag," he exclaime

to the quarry, and my only hope is that she is lying at the bottom of it with a broken nec

d altogether evil, that all three involuntarily quickened their steps, and, at the same time, refrained from speaking, until they had reached the house, whic

. "I haven't authorised anyone

approach she left off and gave us the most diabolical look I have ever seen. Then she went away and seemed to vanish in the hed

sibly she was a tramp or gipsy. We must take care to keep all the doors locked. Whatever you do, don't

O'D. household had all retired to rest, peal after peal of the same infernal mocking laughter was heard, just under the windows, first of all in the front of the house, and then

n's case hate there was without any doubt. Barely able, even from the first, to tolerate her husband (his favourite trick was to make love to her in public and almost in the same breath bully her-also in public), she eventually grew to loathe him, and at last, unable to endure his hated presence any longer, she eloped with an officer who was stationed in the neighbourhood. The night before Ellen took this step, my relative and Wil

lative was not unnaturally interested, as it had been arranged that she and Wilfred should marry, as soon as possible after his arrival in Ireland. They were all three-Mr and Mrs O'D. and my relative-engaged in animated conversatio

er gaze, "do come. There's the most awful old woman in the garden, staring

of the woman she had seen, two years ago, digging in the garden. The old hag seemed to remember my relative, too, for, as their glances met, a gleam of recognition crept into her light eyes, and, a moment later, gave way to an expression of such diabolical hate that

ot a trace of their sinister-looking visitor could he see anywhere. He had hardly, however, finished speaking, when, apparently from close t

erge of fainting, "what can be the meanin

ssesses an inveterate hatred of my family, and we must prepare again for some evil tidings. But," he went on, st

been stricken down with fever, supposed to have been caught from one of his fellow-passengers, and had died on the very day that he should have landed, on th

o live with some friends near Dublin, and though, from time to time, she co

lived in a semi-detached house close to Lower Merrion Street. Miss S-- did not know to what branch of the O'Rorkes they belonged, for they were very retic

as one room that was invariably kept locked, and in connection with this room it

d have on the two old ladies, but she could never quite sum up the courage to do so. One afternoon, how

just handed Miss S-- a cup of tea and was about to pour out another for herself, when

rgina exclaimed, "whateve

ough to raise all the Saints in Heaven. Norah" (Norah was the cook) "and I both heard it-a groaning, and a chuckling, and a scratching, as if the cratur was tearing up the b

adly pale, and Miss Harriet, the youn

irs, tell her to come down at once. Miss Harriet and I will go and see what the noise is that you complain about upstairs. There r

e all those noises. 'Tis some evil spirit, sure, and Norah is of the sa

ew minutes, left the room, and returned shortly

t a degree of unconcern as she could assume, "and I feel we owe you an explanatio

ould not, and then comp

pleasant Banshee. Being Irish, you will not laugh, of course, as many English people do, at what I sa

selves," she remarked, "but pray

it seems to have a strong attraction in the shape of an old gold ring which has been in the possession of the family from time immemorial. Both ancestors I have referred to are alleged to have been wearing this ring at the time the Banshee appeared to them, and it is said to strictly confine its manifestations to the immediate vicinity of that article. T

" Miss S-- ventured to remark, some

orgina

relative's death or grave catastrophe to some member of the family; probably,

hin a few days of the Banshee's visit a member of the family died, but