Generation X Paranormal
Generation X Paranormal Podcast: Exploring the Unexplained, One Mystery at a Time
Delve into the world of the mysterious with Generation X Paranormal, a gripping podcast hosted by the dynamic duo, Logan and Nicole. Each episode takes you on an immersive journey through spine-chilling paranormal encounters, unsolved mysteries, cryptid sightings, and supernatural phenomena. From haunted locations and ghostly legends to UFO encounters and Bigfoot investigations, Generation X Paranormal fearlessly explores the unexplained with a blend of curiosity, wit, and reverence.
As seasoned paranormal enthusiasts, Logan and Nicole bring expert insights, compelling interviews with renowned researchers, and deep dives into famous cases like the Ariel School UFO sighting, the Michigan Dogman, and historic hauntings. Whether you're a believer or a skeptic, this podcast will captivate your mind and leave you questioning the unknown.
Tune in weekly to discover the truth behind the legends and unravel the mysteries that continue to baffle humanity. Subscribe to Generation X Paranormal today and join a community of curious minds seeking answers in the shadows.
Generation X Paranormal
Banshee Cry with Rissa Miller
In this episode, we take a haunting journey through Irish folklore to uncover the myth of the Banshee—a mysterious figure who announces death with her eerie wail. With rich ties to Gaelic heritage, the Banshee represents more than just a ghostly apparition; she embodies the complexities of grief and the cultural significance of mourning.
We explore how the Banshee has evolved from an ancient myth into a powerful symbol within the Irish and, later, American context. Our conversation dives into the Banshee's origins, absurd variations, and remarkable sightings that tell profound stories tying families across generations. We reflect on the intertwining practices of keening and the legacy of female mourners, while unraveling the legends of Banshees linked to specific bloodlines and notable families.
Through insightful storytelling, listeners gain a deeper appreciation of the Banshee’s role as a harbinger of death—inviting space for preparation and reflection on loss. We also discuss how these old-world legends have infused themselves into modern culture, from literature to films.
As we navigate the mythos surrounding the Banshee, we ponder: What happens if you hear her cry? Join us in this captivating exploration of the supernatural, and remember to share your thoughts on this chilling legend. Don't forget to subscribe, share, and drop us a review as we continue to delve into the unexplained mysteries that inspire curiosity and wonder.
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Well, this is probably one of the most chilling and enduring myths of Irish folklore. Specifically, you know we're going to think tonight like who is she, what makes her scream and how has she evolved through history? So the Banshee is very well known throughout the supernatural world, but there's a lot of mystery about her. Is she a fairy? Is she a ghost? Is she something else entirely? And what makes her wailing so haunting? Is it deadly? Thank, you.
Speaker 2:Well, everybody welcome back.
Speaker 3:Hey everybody.
Speaker 2:I'm Logan and I'm Nicole and we are Generation X Paranormal. So we have a resident historian yes, she's back we have Rissa back and we're going to be talking about something that I'm just not that familiar about. So what can you tell us? What you know we're going to talk about?
Speaker 3:Well, I'm familiar with it, but I don't want to spoil her talk. So, since we have a holiday coming up here in the States, we've got St Patrick's Day. So happy St Patrick's Day, everybody. Wear your green. Yep, yep, we're going to be talking about Banshees, that's right, and if you're not familiar with Banshees, you're about to learn all about them, and it's something I've always loved growing up, because I love anything with the Celtic lore. So I do know a little bit about what she's going to speak about, but I'm sure she's going to school me on some things.
Speaker 2:She's going to school, the heck out of me. Let's get her on. Let's talk about being cheese. Well, hey, rissa, welcome back.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much for having me back. I'm delighted to be here and to be talking about one of Nicole's favorite topics.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm so excited. She can't wait. She's been dancing across the halls today knowing that she's going to get to talk about what we're going to talk about. So, yes, yeah, and it's definitely something I got to admit. I am not that knowledgeable of, for sure, and I know a little bit about folklore and stuff, but for some reason this particular subject, I guess, has escaped me. But but, yeah, we're going to talk about Banshees.
Speaker 3:Yes, we are. I can't wait to hear more about them, cause I know a little bit, but probably not to the extent of what you've done your research on.
Speaker 2:So yeah it's on. So yeah it's. It should be a fun show. I you know it never fails every time you're on you. We always do something that either hits at the right time or just kind of connects with a lot of people, because it's like, first of all, my mom's always asking me when's the next time rissa's gonna be on I am.
Speaker 3:She loves rissa. I'm like she's so excited when you're on I feel.
Speaker 2:I feel like she's not gonna watch, unless rissa's on or something. We're sitting back.
Speaker 3:All the time.
Speaker 1:Well, it's good you never have a fan.
Speaker 2:Oh you do. My mom loves you.
Speaker 3:This episode will be coming out right before St Patrick's Day. You kind of timed it for the perfect.
Speaker 2:American holiday. It's just serendipitous. Yes, it could be. So, rissa, tell us about the Banshee.
Speaker 1:Well, this is probably one of the most chilling and enduring myths of Irish folklore. Specifically, you know we're going to think tonight like who is she, what makes her scream and how has she evolved through history? So the Banshee is very well known throughout the supernatural world, but there's a lot of mystery about her. Is she a fairy? Is she a ghost? Is she something else entirely? And what makes her wailing so haunting? Is it deadly? So? Over the course of our time together, I want to talk about her origins, her variations, some famous sightings and her ongoing significance. Um the banshee, so the legend of the banshee. Should I just jump right in the hit.
Speaker 2:All right, let's go right through there all right.
Speaker 1:So the legend of the banshee can be traced back to the 8th century in Ireland. Banshee I cannot speak old Irish language, let's just be clear about that. Right now None of us can, so you're in good company. So it looks like the Irish word was B-E-A-N-S-I, but it's pronounced banshee and it means woman of the fairy mound or fairy woman. So Banshees are supernatural beings believed to be harbingers of death. Now maybe they connect to certain bloodlines or certain people who have Gaelic lineage.
Speaker 1:Some say they are very specific families, like they have to begin with the surnames Mac or O, like MacDonald or O'Brien. Other people say that they're completely unbiased with their warnings. Some people think a banshee in your family is an honor. Other people think it's a bad omen. So to immediately clear the air, banshees don't cause death. They are a warning of death in your family. And um, her wail, which is a like a lament, slash, scream, um is probably going to be near the home of someone who's about to lose a loved one. The sound is compared to the cry of a dying animal and wind howling through the trees. Apparently it's like an unbearable noise that like rattles your soul.
Speaker 2:That sounds like it, yeah yeah, I mean, first of all, a scream in any direction is still going to get my attention, but you make it sound like that it's probably going to. Well, it's definitely going to get my attention.
Speaker 3:Well, it's always the sound, I imagine, like reading the book weathering heights. You know they talk about the wind, of the moors and I think that's kind of what they meant in that book.
Speaker 2:Sure, it's like that, that cry, that howling yeah, and unfortunately I, I, I know about one banshee and I hate the fact that it's the only one that I typically know about is from the Marvel Universe, because there's an actual yeah, there's a Banshee and she yeah, I'm a nerd, I get it, I understand, but that is the one that I typically always kind of, I guess, relate to when it comes to Banshees, but hers is more one of their superpowers and she just kicks butt with it. But that's interesting.
Speaker 3:Oh, you played your man card for this episode. Let's get back to you.
Speaker 2:I kind of burnt it early. I guess. All right, fair enough.
Speaker 1:So some people call this the Banshee's song, even though I can't find very many accounts where it sounds like she's singing and more like she's screaming. It generally is heard a day to a few days before the death of a family member or the person for whom it is intended.
Speaker 3:Hmm, yeah, that would be the way.
Speaker 1:There's some wiggle room in the story, so I want to go back to the irish tradition of keening k-e-e-n. This kind of mirrors the role of a banshee. Uh, so this was when there were professional female mourners, known as keeners, who would wail and lament at funerals to express grief, and these women were usually paid in alcohol and they would sing these sorrowful dirges, they would cry and tear at their hair and they were an essential part of a traditional Irish funeral. Now some people said that because they were paid in alcohol, that they were sinners and that they would become banshees eventually. But I mean, if that's what they've been doing their whole life, I guess just keep at it after death. I don't know.
Speaker 3:Right, why not Professional? At that point it's the shoe fits yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know if you're going to get things going, keep going Right, Exactly yeah. And we talked a little bit about before we got started. That's not too unsimilar to like native cultures, that there seems to be some correlation between the two, and I don't think it was. It was spawned by like alcohol, but it was. I can't remember how that kind of worked out, but but yeah, I, I know about that particular practice, at least from like a native standpoint.
Speaker 1:Right. Well, there were structured elements to um keening. I mean, it wasn't just like a lot of screaming. Um, there were verses, there were wailing cries, there were some symbolic gestures of like beating your chest, pulling on your hair, and most keeners were actually women with really, really strong voices and they could like create an effect where it was like everybody was moved to tears.
Speaker 1:But then the Catholic church lands in Ireland and they decide they really aren't wild about this. They begin to frown upon Keening in the 18th century as early as the 18th century and they say it's just too pagan and that the Irish have to cut it out. But the Keening keeps going for a while. Families are used to it like it's part of their system. You know that these Keeners would be hired, they would stand guard over the body, sometimes for more than one day, and um, it didn't matter if the keeners had ever met the person or not. That was completely irrelevant. This was like their profession, right? Um, keening was pretty much over, though by 1950.
Speaker 1:There were a lot of factors in this. The church was one of them. The fact that the keening was done by women was also not like smiled at by the church, and there started to be this feeling that keening was kind of like backwards or part of like old thinking culture. So you know they were looking for something more modern, a more modern way of mourning their families as we get into the 20th century. But you can still find keening online. I found a lot of examples of it on YouTube if people are interested. And the keen itself had the salutation, which was the introduction, the dirge, which was a verse, and then the goal, which was a cry. So those were like the three main parts, just like if you were writing any other kind of song or poem. It had particular parts.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So it is fascinating and it is a. If you go on and listen to it, it's something you'll remember. It is definitely a very haunting kind of song.
Speaker 2:It sounds like it would be. Yeah, yeah, you know you think about dirge in general. You know, having somewhat of a musical background, those are typically very, very dark, very, um, kind of an ominous sound when, when they're played and I think dirge is for the most part like the one I always think of is like for sailors, there's a. There's a really famous sailors dirge that you know, when they think that they're going to to pass away on on the land or on the water, that's one of the songs that they play, um, and I think it's the one using Titanic. Actually, um, I can't remember, the name escapes me. The peril on the sea one.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, that's a very popular dirge, so it's interesting. You know part of that structure. So, yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1:So I do want to take a moment to also note that during this time a lot of Irish funerals were held in people's homes, but even more were held at local pubs. It used to be a legal requirement in Ireland that bodies were taken for safekeeping to the nearest pub before funerals, and so this further made these ladies scandalous. Right. This was called the Coroner's Act of 1846, and it happened because of the Great Hunger. About something like a million people died from starvation and related diseases and mortuaries doctor's offices. They couldn't this is going to sound terrible they couldn't keep track of all the dead bodies, so they had to be stored somewhere to keep them from being consumed by wild animals, and so pub became the place, and sometimes funerals were held at the pub and that's where the keening would take place. So that law actually remained on the books in Ireland until 1962.
Speaker 2:No kidding, wow, that's insane. Well, that's cool, though. I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but wow, I would never have thought that late into history I mean you imagine they'd have to advertise something like that?
Speaker 2:Because if you're coming, you know. If you're just wandering through and you happen upon a pub and you walk in and there's, you know, a casket or something there.
Speaker 3:You know, you always hear about, like the most haunted places, oh yeah, other than the castles are always the pub. So now that would make a lot of sense.
Speaker 1:That does. That makes a lot of sense, for sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 1:But let's get back to the banshees now. Yeah, so there's the theory that the banshees are the spirits of keeners doomed to lament for eternity. But then there are other people who say that banshees were once noble women who died tragically and became bound to their family lineage. And then there's also the belief that it is the spirit of someone who died violently or very young. Now, all of this might lead you to think that a banshee is a ghost.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:But no, in no telling is a banshee a ghost? It's interesting because I even went to a in Salem. There's a monster museum and they have a whole exhibit of ghosts and banshees are lumped in with the ghosts. They are not in in the separate category. They are. They're lumped in with ghosts, um, and I think the the sign just said irish screaming ghost or something like that.
Speaker 1:But um, that's, that's a pretty serious simplification of what a banshee is. But um, a banshee is considered um fey or a fairy. Um, now, if you think about what a ghost is is kind of the spirit of a dead person. Um, banshees are not a dead person according to irish lore, even though there's all these dead humans that can become a banshee. Somehow they become part of the fey world in their death. So this is not like a restless or lost soul and this is not someone who interacts directly with the living in the way that a ghost does. Their only job. Their only thing they do is to forewarn of impending death. They don't bring it. They're not inherently evil, they just like the uh canary in the coal mine, that's it that's interesting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like a like the fey elemental type.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, having never actually had human form. But yeah, that's um, and I've heard a lot of different versions of that with fey um, but and that whole world in the celtic tradition is very intricate, oh for sure, like when you get into the fairy and the elemental.
Speaker 3:I mean there's so many like branches that go off from that.
Speaker 2:So absolutely fascinating really yes, it is and we do have a lot of irish listeners so I'm sure they could probably school is pretty good on that.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, it is very intricate.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. To be clear, banshees are heard more than they're seen, but they do make an appearance from time to time and I couldn't find any one note about how they look. So I'm going to go through all of the notes I found about what they can look like, about how they can appear. So it is always a female in Irish lore, always a woman, actually an American too. I'm going to come to American banshees at the end. She always is a female, usually wears a cloak over a dress, very old-fashioned, normally has long hair and usually has either pink or red eyes. From continuous weeping and crying, Okay.
Speaker 1:So the most famous look for a banshee is sort of an ethereal young woman with flowing hair. Now it can be silver, blonde or red, and often she is seen with a comb, like a very beautiful comb, and she's combing her long hair while she's making these mournful cries. This symbolizes impending death because it's kind of a representation of the hair tearing gesture in the mourning tradition.
Speaker 3:Okay, okay, that makes sense yeah.
Speaker 1:And some people even say that you can hear her comb running through her hair. And, like, I have really long hair, as you both know. I mean it's up tonight but when you run a comb through somebody with hair, with long hair, there is a sound and if there's any tearing in there, it's a really loud, weird, uncomfortable sound. Yes, it is so a model nails on the chalkboard, yeah, that like ripping hair sound. And so, as I was reading this and thinking about it, I was like that can be a very troubling sound, especially if it was like magnified to some supernatural level. So I was like, yeah, I could see how that would be an uncomfortable thing to run across, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when you hear that tearing, you're right, it's such a. It's a very unnerving sound and since I don't have hair anymore, um, I once had hair, but never quite that long, but I know that when you do that it probably creates a sound for the person getting their hair kind of pulled on too, because you know, your skull kind of works as like a little magnifier, like a megaphone inside your head yeah, that's crazy yeah, now, I did say that banshees are not malevolent, but there is one thing that will make them very angry, and that is if you take their comb.
Speaker 1:You must never steal or take the comb of a banshee. So if you are walking along the road and you find a spare comb, especially if it's very nice, don't pick it up. If a banshee has left her comb, she's probably coming back for it and she knows where it is. If you are unlucky enough to steal a banshee's comb, expect her to show up at your house. She will bang on your doors, walls and windows until you reach through the window to give it back to her.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 1:Yes, there is a specific system, by the way the Irish have you must use iron tongs. If you use just your hand, expect an injury.
Speaker 3:Iron tongs. Where do you find iron tongs?
Speaker 1:I guess if you're a blacksmith? You keep the rule one of those back in the garage, you know iron is an age old thing that protects you from the fae, so that's why they're iron in this tale.
Speaker 2:It's interesting, though. The other thing that cracked me up a little bit is like who the heck picks up random freaking combs from the ground.
Speaker 3:Well, you never know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm sure somebody does it. It's a beautiful comb, I guess, but it's very intricate. Yeah, there's some beautiful silver combs. My grandmother had a beautiful comb.
Speaker 2:But from the ground.
Speaker 3:No, I don't think so. The old Victorian, yeah, the old Victorian combs and stuff they had. They were Well, I don't think so. Yeah, the old Victorian combs and stuff they had. They were very detailed and beautiful.
Speaker 2:This, of course, coming from a man who has no hair.
Speaker 1:So please continue. So yes, well, that was the end of that description. Next, the size of a banshee will differ. Sometimes they're only like one or two, three feet, like tiny I I'm. I'm exactly five feet tall, so, um, I I'm pretty petite, so I, I would be tall next to some of these itty bitty banshees. But others are huge, like unnaturally tall, like seven or eight feet. Um, I could not find any notes on why some banshees are small and why some Banshees are enormous, but I mean, either way, their voices are big, so I guess that's what really counts.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's interesting. I never heard about the small ones. I always thought it was a taller.
Speaker 1:I always picture her being tall.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, I do. I guess probably because it's a big, booming voice you kind of expect.
Speaker 3:Well, I guess all the portrayals of one and all the pictures and art that's done about Banshees. They're always very tall or they're floating or something.
Speaker 1:Well, the very next one I'm going to say.
Speaker 3:He's frequently dressed in either gray or white and she glides like she doesn't have feet and she never touches the ground.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, that I'm more familiar with, or at least what you see the most of. Yep, um, so next, the washer woman tradition of the banshee. This is more of a scottish thing, but, uh, it did filter into ireland and wales and some other places. Um, you see a woman who, an ethereal woman washing clothing in a body of water a stream, a river, a river, a lake. The washerwoman was in charge of preparing the body for burial. So basically, she is getting things ready for the funeral by washing the clothing and she'll be doing this while she's doing the wailing. Okay, so, yes, we can also have the banshee who is an old crone with rotten teeth, nasty fingernails and ragged clothing, kind of in this description I thought of, like the traditional, like you know, you have the maiden mother and crone. I feel like there are the range of Banshees that are maiden mothers and crones as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it sounds like it.
Speaker 2:It's weird. For some reason in my mind you talk about something that small and then to have that particular look I think of like a golem type figure.
Speaker 3:you know being short with kind of that look to it Well you know, they've got the fairies and they've got the leprechauns, so everything is kind of smaller yeah. Oh yeah, so maybe that's where it kind of started and then grew over time. Whatever, you never know.
Speaker 2:I mean you're five foot, rissa's five foot. I get it. I know you guys are the same size, so I'm not much taller.
Speaker 1:So so the last two descriptions that I found were more rare, but they're definitely out there. So some legends describe her as a headless adult woman carrying a bowl of blood and who walks up to your door that way. Ooh, this sounds mortifying to me. Yes, like absolutely terrifying. I much prefer any of the other banshees I've just described to show up carrying a bowl of blood no head not carrying in the head.
Speaker 1:That's the doula hands job, I guess. But uh, yes, the adult headless woman carrying a bowl of blood. I'm like where's the sound come from if she doesn't right exactly?
Speaker 2:oh, it probably comes from like the neck hole Gross.
Speaker 1:Let's not linger here too long. I did not look for art on that for you. Thank you for saving it from that. But she can also take an animal form, which is either the crow or the cat, and both of those animals can already make a pretty loud sound. But if a banshee takes the form of a crow or a cat, look for the creature to have red eyes, just like the regular banshee does, and to make an abnormally loud, screeching sound.
Speaker 3:Wow, well, I could see where the cat would be involved with that.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, and a crow's. I mean, when you hear that screech, you know when it. I don't know what the yeah, a call, yeah, the call that is. If you're close enough to that thing, that is blood curdling, it is freaky. Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard it. A crow's I definitely have, and it's one of those when you hear it you're like you'll never mistake it, ever again you know exactly what it sounds like.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, you do so. The one other thing about a banshee's appearance is that, in any form, if you are indeed looking at a banshee, she will disappear. They vanish into a cloud of, like mist or smoke, and this action creates a sound the disappearance that sounds like a bird flapping its wings.
Speaker 3:Action creates a sound the disappearance.
Speaker 1:That sounds like a bird flapping its wings. So I thought that was a unique way to disappear and kind of dramatic and cool. Yeah, but yeah, I was just like all right, I like that. That's very dramatic.
Speaker 2:That's like I keep thinking of, like Batman, you know, when he does a smoke. Okay, I'm a nerd, I know.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry that's too superhero, isn't it?
Speaker 2:I'm gonna go back to my corner.
Speaker 1:So Banshees can come in good and bad flavor. Good Banshees are the enchanting women that sing their sorrowful song and they're concerned with their families. So in Irish culture death is considered sort of like a passage to the next realm, not so much like a final end, and the banshee is kind of like a guide into that transition. But on the other side of the coin we can have an angry and scary banshee that hated their family that they're with and they can be very frightening at persons and they're kind of like celebrating the demise of someone they loathe.
Speaker 2:Geez.
Speaker 1:Wow, and yeah, the eventual angry Bannon is just kind of not someone I want to run across. So there's a Gaelic word for the bad Banshee and I don't know how to say it. I'm going to spell it B-A-O-B-H-A-N-S-I, so it's like babosai. I put in somehow I don't know, I probably just hacked that. I do not speak Gaelic.
Speaker 2:Neither do we.
Speaker 1:So this dark banshee is considered a fae, and she can actually become something that's not the same as a banshee. She apparently uses her delicate hands and her sharp fingernails to put cuts into victims and then to drink their blood in a vampiric way.
Speaker 3:Ooh.
Speaker 1:Apparently, hunters are especially vulnerable to this dark banshee because she can smell blood on their clothing and she will kind of sing and lure him in to his demise.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 1:Not like a siren.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, that's what I was thinking, like the mermaids, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I would imagine that if you're hearing something like that when you're a hunter, you're probably curious as to what the heck's going on out there in the first place.
Speaker 3:Well, it's interesting, there's so many versions.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But no one is actually sure where Banshees get their knowledge of a person's death. So that was something I really wanted to know, like what brings them forward, like why do they show up, how do they know it's time? But I couldn't find, I think it adds to the mythos it does.
Speaker 2:yeah.
Speaker 3:It does. Yeah, just kind of like the Grim Reaper, the same concept they're just sent to bring them cross them over.
Speaker 2:Even if we agree that they're fey. Sometimes even flesh and blood can smell decay. Impossible death like dogs.
Speaker 1:Yes, like dogs.
Speaker 2:Yes, dogs, definitely Right. It almost makes you wonder if you know, because they're fey if they can, if they have that extra bit of sense that they can actually maybe either sniff it or see it, or but then again they don't have, they weren't human form. So that's really that's interesting.
Speaker 3:Maybe they just know, we don't know how it works.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, I am trying to be technical about something I know.
Speaker 1:There's no way you can know. It's difficult to apply logic. Sometimes I like to do the same. That's why I ask these questions Like how did they know Right? That's why I go out looking to answer certain questions when I do these talks for you. I want to know the answers to this, this and this.
Speaker 1:And sometimes that's just not a thing all right, but I can't, it just adds to it. Yeah, like banshees are solitary creatures, um, they tend to be linked to a, usually a family or an area, and they are usually appear by themselves. There were a few stories of multiple banshees showing up before royalty died, um, so I thought that was interesting, like to to give you, like, the heads up about the death of a king or queen okay, a very important role yes, some somebody who was bigger deal, and then as little, you get more than one man.
Speaker 1:she is your important, yep, but um, those stories were few and far between. Much more common was the single banshee. Now where do they show up? Most often near the home of the person whose death she is foretelling, and they say that the sound might sound very close, or it sounds like it's echoing from incredibly far away, and I thought that was interesting too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is interesting.
Speaker 1:Sometimes she will be at the closest body of water. Again, she could be seen washing clothes. This would include streams, rivers, lakes. I don't think the family pool counts. I didn't see anything like that. Well, you know, I was curious. It was like how do these stories modernize? Because there are definitely folklore stories that can be modernized for pools and things like that.
Speaker 2:Well, and I'm thinking and I know we'll probably get to it later, so I don't want to step on it, but I'm thinking of a very popular American sighting of something that kind of comes similar to this, and I'm not going to get ahead of it, but when we get there maybe we'll talk about it for a second.
Speaker 1:Banshees can also be found whaling at the nearest crossroad. So crossroads go back deep into folklore. We have a different American folklore about crossroads too, but crossroads are generally thought of as spiritually significant because they're liminal space, like the space between two things. Bridges are also considered liminal space. I don't know if you remember we talked about that a little bit when we talked about the bride on two things. Bridges are also considered liminal space. I don't know if you remember we talked about that a little bit when we talked about the bride on the bridge. Yes, how, there's these like gaps that are kind of like in between Crossroads, bridges, the crossing of two rivers. They're all liminal spaces and there are places where you do find Fae, and so it makes sense that Banshees would show up at the closest of these things to you and her voice would echo to your home.
Speaker 3:That's interesting Between two worlds, between two planes of existence.
Speaker 2:That's interesting.
Speaker 3:Well, and that is yeah, that that kind of lends more to that theory of being able to spot.
Speaker 1:You know, if they know that somebody is going to you know, shed the mortal coil, as they say. You know, if you're're living in between two different dimensions, I would imagine you'd be able to see that a lot better. Yeah, yeah, so they also show up near fairy mounds, which are allegedly um burial grounds for the fey. So, um, that's another place they can be. And that leads me into talking about them as fae. So the fae is pronounced in Gaelic. I looked this up. Hopefully it's right East sheet and that's A-O-S-S-I. And this is the supernatural world, the parallel universe of the fae. Now, this encompasses a lot of creatures, not just banshees and not even just bears, um, so, as I'm sure you know, but um, in irish folklore, the fae are both revered and feared. They can be extremely unpredictable, they can be tricksters.
Speaker 1:Some of them are definitely benevolent and they are like protectors of nature or certain locations, but others are capricious, mischievous, downright malevolent, like dark fey yes um, they are known to be hidden in parts of the landscape um forests, lakes, fairy mounds, of course, like we talked about um and that this is where allegedly the the story of the banshee lives. This is not a ghost story. This is a story about a mystical race who serves as a harbinger of death, and I think that is probably one of the biggest takeaways from this story is that she's not a ghost, right? Yeah, she's like a supernatural messenger, basically Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:There is a legend, like a regular story, that goes around Ireland about a farmer working near a ferry mount who hears the cry of a banshee and he finds her and she's a tiny thing and she's weeping and wringing her hands, and then later he goes home and finds out that someone in his town had just died Not his family but his town. And again, there's lots of different kinds of fae. You guys did the story already on the Dullahan, which falls into the fae category, like the Pooka falls into the fae category.
Speaker 2:That's exactly the one I was thinking of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I actually love the Pooka story, but Banshee is one in the pantheon of the fae world, so I'd like to get into some of the historic and modern sightings of banshees in ireland. Um, there were so many stories about banshees and um, a lot of them have to do with very specific families, and so the first one is the o'brien banshee. This was a noble family and their banshee appeared as a beautiful young woman who would cry outside of their home. Usually she would start crying before the person even got sick. Like she was super early. She was like the early banshee and, yes, like it's like oh shit, there she is again. You know who's going to get sick.
Speaker 3:Who is it? Which one is it? Yeah?
Speaker 2:Did you see that I picture like Conan? O' is it? Yeah, I could just see that I picture like Conan.
Speaker 3:O'Brien sitting at a table going well, shit, anyway, conan, yeah, pork bones.
Speaker 1:Right. So next we have the McCarthy Banshee and she was one of the banshees that carried a comb and she had a silver comb, one of those very fancy ornate silver combs. And apparently they carried a comb and she had a silver comb, one of those very fancy ornate silver combs, and apparently she left it lay around like a lot. Um, so they would know she was there and know not to touch it because she would show up at their door asking for it back. Um. In one story a curious family member goes to investigate the banshee and finds her sitting in the reeds combing her hair, and apparently then she just sank and disappeared into the water like missed into the water. I thought that was kind of a nice visual.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is very much so I wonder if they ever find her hair strands.
Speaker 1:I keep thinking like brushing your hair. Yeah, I know that I show them every hair. Yeah, leave them all over, I left mine every hair too.
Speaker 3:That'd be an interesting angle to look into.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, I didn't see any notes like that, but that would be even interesting in storytelling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, imagine trying to take that into a DNA test. Hey, can you run this for me real quick?
Speaker 1:so the o'neill banshee would show up by the river boyne in ireland and um, she was another haircomber. She would stand next to the river combing her hair and crying, and whenever somebody approached her she would disappear into a cloud of mist and then a death would occur in the family within days. One of the most famous stories in ireland is the bunworth banshee. Um, this story is probably the one I found the most so. Charles bunworth was a clergyman in the 1700s in Ireland and his family and servants reported hearing an eerie wailing cry near their home. And then, as you might expect, charles falls very ill and despite everybody's efforts to save him because he was like a beloved member of the community he passes away, like basically fulfilling the warning of the banshee, and then on the night of his passing she returns and wails all night long, and he was a harp player. So in this inhaling there's harp music accompanying her as he, as he, passes over. In 1995, some Irish folks placed a harp-shaped plaque outside of the Bunworth former home to sort of memorialize this story.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's nice. I like that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Something nice.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, I mean, these stories aren't all horrible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like you throw something nice in and everybody's like, oh, that's a nice little breath of fresh air.
Speaker 3:Has to give you a break sometimes.
Speaker 1:Right, she had to make up for the headless bucket of oh, that's just yeah. If I don't find something on more than two sources, I don't share it, but that one was out there. That's definitely a thing that's out in the world.
Speaker 3:There's always got to be a grotesque version of a thing. Sure yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the Keening Woman of Kerry, k-e-r-r-y was an Irish rural village and she was like the village banshee and basically when somebody died she would start wailing and basically let the village know that somebody had passed hmm, that's kind of nice like the town bell yeah yeah, so then there's the the story of terry glass castle on the river shannon.
Speaker 1:It was once a fortress, uh like a stronghold really, of a chieftain named oak harrell, and he set out to you know, go do chieftain stuff. And that night the castle's watchman heard this unearthly wailing from the water and under the moonlight, everybody who looked out saw this spectral woman gliding over the lake like doing her lament. Um, it was the oak harrell's banshee and she was uh letting them know there was about to be a tragedy. And the next morning, um, when o'carroll was supposed to return home, instead they received his body. Um, he was uh slain in a duel with a man named o'brien, and, um, his remains were brought back instead of him returning to his castle.
Speaker 2:That's interesting. It's not a way you want to come back home.
Speaker 1:No, it's not the best way to go home. No, so Kate James allegedly heard a banshee before his own death. There are records of several people saying that an irish woman, uh, came and sang for him, didn't wail, but an unknown irish woman sang to, came james the first right before his death. Um, and it turned out that she was a banshee interesting I thought that was a fascinating story. I really wanted to find more about it, but I I was grabbing and grabbing and grabbing for it and I couldn't quite get it.
Speaker 3:I've never heard that Me either. That's cool.
Speaker 1:I like that story too. My final Banshee story comes from a friend of mine named Casey, who actually went to Ireland recently and visited Dungar Castle. It was built in the 1500s and her tour guide who she described as a wonderful Irishman who could tell a story was telling the story about a ghostly washerwoman who would wash bloody clothes in the stream a week before somebody died. Basically, they would see this woman appear in this spectral form and she would be crying and screaming and she would be washing somebody's specific clothes, and they were the clothes of the person who was going to die jeez, wow, wow that sucks yeah, no, I mean like, like, if I recognize my clothes, I'm going to be like hey, dan's got an Iron Maiden shirt.
Speaker 1:You're like. Well, I better take care of some things. I may only have a day or two left to live here.
Speaker 2:That's wild.
Speaker 3:It's hard to know if this is a blessing or a curse.
Speaker 1:Exactly, I think it's both. Yeah, I agree, Logan. I think it's both.
Speaker 3:Certain situations depending. I've always loved it, though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there are similar beings in other cultures. Like you were talking about the native cultures, I found some others. So Scotland has a banshee and she is more of the washerwoman, and Wales has one I'm not even going to attempt to say the word in Welsh Welsh but she is sort of a spectral hag with bat wings who announces death. Bat wings, bat wings, yep. So in North mythology there are the Norns. They foretell death and guide souls back to the other world. And then in Japanese culture there's a yokai called the I might say this wrong Yonaki Baba, and she is a crying old woman who remains outside of the house weeping all night before someone dies. So this is definitely a thing we see all over the world, this phenomenon, this entity.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can't place why, but I kind of think I know the Japanese one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it sounds familiar, I feel like the baba. Oh, yeah, sounds familiar, I feel like we either.
Speaker 2:We watch something, anyway it's. It's sprung one of those little you know things in my head called brain cells and uh anyway just scratching your brain yeah, it's like.
Speaker 1:So the Banshee immigrated to America Surprisingly yeah, okay, with Irish immigration, especially during that period of time we talked about the Great Hunger. Banshee lore traveled with people. Irish Americans brought their family Banshee stories with them and possibly their family Banshees I mean, there are Fae stories that came with immigration too. There are so many that come to mind. So it makes perfect sense. It doesn't seem at all strange to me that the Banshee story came along and that these Banshees, they pop up in lore all over America now as well. So there are cases in Boston, new Orleans, new York and apparently Greenwich Village has a fairly famous Banshee and I ordered a book with a story in it. I thought I ordered it well in advance and I still don't have it.
Speaker 1:Every time I get a notice they're like your book will ship soon. I'm like, can you mail it? Like yeah, I know when they get those. I was like can you send my book? It's from some random bookshop in New York and I've called. I'm like I need you to send this book, I need this Banshee story. And they're like oh yeah, the Greenwich Village Banshee. I'm like can you read it to me? Can you help me out here? So I know there's a Greenwich Village Banshee story. I, I lived in Greenwich Village. I went to NYU, like I, I didn't know the story when I was there. Um, it's, it's so frustrating that I can't tell you this story tonight, but I tried, yeah, and I'm telling you it's there. So, um, for those who are listening and they are still interested, if you're in New York, go get the local ghost story books from the 1980s. It's in there.
Speaker 2:That's so cool, man. I can't believe that a New York store is having a hard time shipping something. I mean it's like back in the old days of like the 80s, or allows 80 weeks of shipping, yeah right.
Speaker 1:Right, I remember those days. But you know, sometimes when you're dealing with like a little bookseller, it's like one or two people. But you know, sometimes when you're dealing with like a little bookseller, it's like one or two people and you know it's an obscure book that I dug around to find and you know it'll probably arrive tomorrow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, probably so. Yeah, just after the nick of time. Exactly Okay, there's always next time.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So yes, there is a famous Greenwich Village banshee and I cannot tell her story because I don't know it, but there is another in North Carolina, which is another place that a lot of Irish folks settled, and this one goes back to 1781 along the Tar River in Edgecombe County. So this was around the time of the Revolution, I guess just after the time of the Revolution, and Dave Warner had a sawmill on the Tar River and there were some British soldiers still hanging around there that allegedly chained him up, threw him into the river and took his property. But they say that just before Warner died he put a curse on the soldiers and so his banshee arrived to fulfill it. And they say that she came for the men who had hurt her person and led them one night into the river where they drowned interesting yeah hmm, a vengeful yeah yes, well, she is part of this.
Speaker 1:Goes back to the banshee being part of a family, right, all right. Yeah, warner doesn't sound like a super irish name to me, but who knows where marriage came from there right, yeah, I mean that's, that's pretty freaky that's pretty awesome.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, I mean it is awesome like a banshee at your disposal. Yeah, like six out people is kind of like wrong.
Speaker 2:Speaking of jewel on it makes me think of, like you know, uh sleepy hollow. When she's got the head of the yeah, it's like oh yeah, go ahead, do my bidding, please.
Speaker 3:Yeah right, right, right, exactly. Yeah, it's exactly what it is. That's an interesting story. I like that one. Well, they say that that banshee still appears from time to time on the Right, right, right, exactly. Yeah, it's exactly what it is. That's an interesting story, I like that one.
Speaker 1:Well, they say that that banshee still appears from time to time on the Tar River and that you can hear her crying.
Speaker 2:Hmm, that would be weird to hear.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would be terrified if I heard a banshee cry. It would be. I'd be like uh-oh.
Speaker 2:And we're kayakers, so I can't imagine us being up like kayaks. Yeah, let's turn around. You know we're happening up there.
Speaker 1:Like I didn't hear anything, did you? No, no.
Speaker 3:I wonder if it's similar to like a mountain lion cry because they say it sounds like a woman screaming.
Speaker 2:That's true.
Speaker 3:But this is more of a whale, so maybe it's like a version of that, but I mean, that's terrifying if you've ever heard it.
Speaker 1:I am not Just a fox, by itself can terrify me. Yeah, a fox is terrifying. That is a strange sound.
Speaker 3:I've heard it before when I was a child and it was scary. I thought some woman was getting hurt in the woods and it was really scary. Yeah, I couldn't imagine hearing that. So I wonder if that part of that could come from that. I don't know. Potentially, yeah, to be north carolina anyway, I mean yeah, oh, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:so the next one, we're going to go to south dakota, surprisingly, which was not a place. There were a lot of irish immigrants, but this is a native story. That is a banshee. So, um, allegedly there, I couldn't find any. I couldn't nail down any history on this, but I did find this story in several books.
Speaker 1:There's a native woman who was killed by white men, which is very believable, and that she became a banshee in the desert and that people who, a lot of the folks who use this desert right, this is the badlands of South Dakota Mostly cowboys or people who are just passing through. They're not afraid of much that's going to be out there. But apparently the fan she is terrifying. She only appears at night. She'll appear first on the hill, called watchdog, as a beaut B-U-T-T-E. Beaut, yeah, beaut. And called Watchdog is it Butte? B-u-t-t-e. Butte, yeah, butte. And her dark hair will be blowing. So this is a change in the story. And then, if you keep going and you don't turn back, apparently there are some rocks there that are sort of phosphorescent and they start to flash and the banshee will sweep up and stand right beside you.
Speaker 2:If you speak to her, she will start screaming oh, oh, some nightmare fuel there.
Speaker 3:If you've ever been in the desert at night? Yeah, I mean people, it is dark yeah, yes, people don't really, and that wind blows, I mean it's it can be pretty creepy, yeah. Yeah, that's a, that's a scary one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it does feel. It feels like unearthly in the desert.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, Hmm, got it.
Speaker 1:So the idea is if you see her, you don't talk. Keep your mouth shut, that's a high-class.
Speaker 3:I don't think I could talk either.
Speaker 2:Primarily, I'd probably soil myself first and then.
Speaker 3:Unless it was, I'd probably be frozen and tattered.
Speaker 1:Yes, it would make any kind of sound for sure. Wow, so she will eventually disappear. Um, you might still see her wringing her hands and weeping on the hilltop. Um, but they say that where she likes to hang out, cattle don't want to graze and local cowboys don't go there because they know better. Now, one of the most peculiar things about this banshee is there's another haunting there. It's a thing, a creature that appears as a skeleton, and it will like walk through camps where cowboys are camped out, and if it hears any kinds of music, it'll sit down and start to hang out with you. If you leave a fiddle out, it will play it, but no matter what, you must never follow the player away from the campfire, because he will definitely lead you to your death.
Speaker 3:Interesting.
Speaker 1:Wow, and apparently this haunt happens in the same place, the same mountain pass area as the Banshee.
Speaker 3:Hmm.
Speaker 2:That's odd. Yeah, so it's a skeleton.
Speaker 1:That's what the story says. Appears as a skeleton.
Speaker 3:And people are not, there's like a little skeleton. Walk up and sit down at their campfire.
Speaker 2:Here's a fiddle, enjoy yourself. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I'd hear that.
Speaker 1:What a story that would be. Yeah, no, kidding, right.
Speaker 2:I mean, can you take a selfie with it?
Speaker 3:I don't hear these stories, though, you just always wonder, where they come from.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, what is the origin of the fiddle-playing skeleton that once you follow it to certain death, I'm like, honestly, I'm not going to follow a skeleton away from the campfire anyway, that's probably not going to happen, you know.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:What makes me think is that guaranteed this has something to do back in the old days with alcohol. I'm sure they were completely ripped out of their head. The cowboys told stories around the fire, so I'm sure it was some kind of yeah, and then one of the cowboys got ripped and then walked off and probably fell off of a cliff, yeah, and they were like, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Very easily up there. Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 1:This could be like Stay Close to the Camp, Stay Close to the Fire kind of story, like a cautionary tale.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now camp stay close to the fire kind of story, like a cautionary tale. Yeah, yeah, now the bad fee in the past, though I don't know what she would. She doesn't feel like a cautionary tale. She feels a bit more vengeful than the other banshees.
Speaker 3:Yes, for sure. Yeah, there's so many like they always talk about, like native curses on the land and and stuff like that in the west from all the the tragedy and the deaths, and, yeah, deaths, yeah, especially in those canyons. Oh yeah. There's always stories about the canyons where the wind whips through, so that kind of matches up with that.
Speaker 2:There is definitely. I mean, I'm only half and I can tell you that, even being half going through some of that desert you know being raised pretty much in Arizona, going through some of that desert you know being raised pretty much in Arizona there is so much lore and so much that is pulled from that area that there is so much cultural attachment to this type of thing. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that doesn't surprise me, and especially, you know, not in the least. Not in the least, no, and given what's happened with you know the Native women, and what's happened you know, especially now, historically, over time, I sure hope there's a Banshee woman out there doing that, because there's some really not so good stuff happening.
Speaker 3:Good warning yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, you have one more American Banshee story. This one is going to bring us to West Virginia. And Thomas and Mary Mar were immigrants from Scotland, and Thomas kept noticing a woman riding a horse and she was obscured by a cloak. And in February of 1878 the horse and rider approached the house where Mary was waiting for Thomas to come home. He had mentioned to her that he had seen this horse and rider approached the house where Mary was waiting for Thomas to come home. He had mentioned to her that he had seen this horse and rider, this woman riding.
Speaker 1:I mean, they lived kind of out in the middle of nowhere, so it's not like there would be a lot of ladies in cloaks riding around, you know. And the rider came close and she saw the face of a veiled, pale woman who said I am here to tell you, mary Marr, that Thomas Marr has just died. Woman who said I am here to tell you, mary Marr, that Thomas Marr has just died. Say your prayers, lady, and I bid you well. And disappeared. Years later the banshee made one more appearance when Mary died, and at her funeral they say that there was the keening of an unseen woman from the hills Wow I like that one.
Speaker 3:That's really cool. Yeah, no wailing, but she actually talked to them.
Speaker 2:that's a new one yeah, in west virginia, that's another place that if you've never been there, it's not like um, it's not like a bunch of big cities, it. There's so much rural openness out there that you know you get lost out there and I would imagine a bench out there because it's and there is something with West Virginia, because I was in Franklin, west Virginia, and I I got lost in the mountains when you got lost In the Appalachians, yeah, in the Appalachians, trying to get back home.
Speaker 2:That was not good In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night, and uh, there is something about driving through that range that it gives you all the feels, I mean, it's something happening out there.
Speaker 1:It is an interesting country and it definitely has a lot of its own sort of lore. And how do I want to say this? It has its own culture and lore.
Speaker 1:It's very different from other places, absolutely so. That's my last american banshee story and um, I thought I would be able to find tons of banshees in popular culture, but um, as I said before we get started, there weren't that many. Um, there are some, there are a few. And just thought honestly, this creature could use way more representation in modern storytelling. For sure, it's definitely a gap. I mean, what an interesting character too. Now they've had Banshees on some shows, like Charmed had a Banshee that didn't just announce death but sensed people's pain and then killed them over it. And, of course, supernatural had an evil banshee who forced people to shatter their skulls with her voice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's not at all what a banshee does, right and more in the classic literary. William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and folklorist and he was absolutely fascinated by fairy stories. He wrote a lot about banshees and other fae figures and he was really fascinated with the idea of like the otherworldly realm. So you could find him writing about fae in his fairy and folk tales of the Irish peasantry collection.
Speaker 3:You have to check that one out.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Sounds like a good read.
Speaker 1:Of course everybody remembers in Harry Potter when the Banshee shows up. But it's actually not really a Banshee, it is a Boggart. So Okay. It was just somebody's fear of a Banshee that was represented by the Boggart, yeah, and the. I think they were in the dark arts classroom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember that yeah.
Speaker 1:But yeah, very, very little. So, Logan, you had a famous banshee you wanted to talk about it was a native, and now I'm trying to remember it was the one with the waterfall.
Speaker 3:Um, oh gosh, one with the water.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a lady who was by a waterfall yet again water and if I remember right, it had something to do with her father. Anyway, I don't want to get into it because I probably will completely butcher it and I'll have to come back and update you later, but that was the one I was thinking of. Right now, my, my little sprockets aren't, aren't working so it was like wailing by the waterfall.
Speaker 3:What did how? There's lots of those stories, though, of like oh, usually it's over like a failed romance or something. Well, it wasn't a filled romance.
Speaker 2:I think it basically boils down to this, and I'm probably destroying it but, um, she was washing, I think she was bathing by the water and there was a obviously like a an opposing uh nation that came upon her and they slayed her and then she ended up becoming a banshee. So anytime you would go to that body of water, you could hear the scream, and that typically meant that an impending death was coming oh, okay uh, and I just and the reason I I'm butchering it is because I I had it in my head.
Speaker 2:Then it went but uh, but yeah, that was the one that I was thinking of, and I'm sure our audience probably knows exactly the one I'm talking about and be like, yeah, idiot, it's this, but I don't remember well, I don't know that story, but you know I did want to draw a parallel between the Banshee story and the Lady in White story.
Speaker 1:So the Lady in White story is a classic ghost story. It's not a fae story. To be very clear, there is a difference. But the Lady in White often appears where there has been some injustice done to someone, usually a woman or a child, and she is also a very ethereal pale woman. She's often seen at crossroads, at bridges, at bodies of water, um, you could also even equate this to, uh, la llorona, um, same same vein of story.
Speaker 1:When I was doing all this Banshee research, I kept thinking of Lady and White stories and I did think of La Llorona as well, because I was like they're adjacent. They're not the same but they're definitely adjacent. And a lot of the Lady and White stories will come up, not necessarily to announce a death, but to announce that somebody did die here and it was an unjust death, that like there was some tragedy. To announce a death, but to announce that somebody did die here and it was an unjust death, um, that like there was some tragedy that happened in a place or that, um, there was something horrible that happened to her that she had to take her own life or take her children's life or something like that. But there was there was definitely some overlapping feeling between the story of the Banshee and the Lady in White, so I did want to mention that as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I know that there was some talk about. Obviously it's not necessarily a Banshee per se, but some people have even said, like the Jersey Devil potentially could have been one, or even, I mean honestly, even Mothman at some point. I know that some people had talked about that potentially being adjacent to the Banshee.
Speaker 1:Right, I have, I don't the Harbinger.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I just feel like they're not close enough. Okay, well, that's fine, I try to keep them separated.
Speaker 2:Well, the Mothman for sure, because it's so much. But I can definitely see where there's some adjacency to it, because it does it is a harbinger of upcoming danger or mortality or something like that.
Speaker 3:Well, it is interesting, the Welsh one you mentioned with the bat wings, so that is interesting. It's the first time I've ever heard about the wings and with mothman having the wings, that is very red eyes yeah you know, I mean, yeah, it's see I'd never heard that stuff before so that's, yeah, a little bit more credence to it it's interesting.
Speaker 2:I mean again, you know, some people call Mothman Fae, some people call it potentially being Banshee adjacent because of its ability to be a prognosticator of death. Yeah, oh, you like that Prognosticator.
Speaker 1:I'll give you a quarter for saying that word.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it, I'll take it. I mean I don't mind, I appreciate it, I'll take it. I mean I don't mind, wow, so what a great. I mean, first of all, thank you again for all that research. I mean that's just.
Speaker 1:I have one last thing to share. It's what to do if you hear a banshee. Oh, ok, yeah, yeah, this needs to be shared. So, um, according to irish folklore, if you hear a banshee, take it seriously. This is a warning that someone in your family or your immediate circle is about to die. So the most appropriate action is to prepare yourself emotionally for news of a loss. There is nothing you can do to change an omen from a banshee. You cannot fight it, you cannot bribe it, you cannot reason with it. It is a done deal. If you see or hear a banshee, it is a premonition of death that cannot be altered. Now, if this happens to you, you should focus on preparing yourself and your family for the news of a loss. So reach out to your loved ones, check in on people's health and well-being and, when it happens, be ready to offer support, and that's pretty much all you can do if you hear a banshee.
Speaker 2:That's good advice, though that is good advice. That's good advice in general, but especially if you hear that.
Speaker 3:Right, you know yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's interesting because some people say crow. When you see crows and ravens, that that's also a harbinger. And it's interesting that the banshee is somewhat adjacent to that as well. So it's interesting. I mean, there's definitely.
Speaker 3:There's got to be something to it. You know, all these legends and stuff always go back. They're all very similarly related in a certain way. So something, things like that.
Speaker 2:So I would imagine that maybe one of the reasons they're capable of doing that is that they can sense the hospital or there's not a long, long, long prolonged death at home where they're suffering and basically their body's decaying Right Animals are going to smell that. I mean, there's probably you know where a lot of this stuff has started or began.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. It was only around the time of the Civil War when the funeral industry started up. Right time of the Civil War when the funeral industry started up Because there were so many deaths and people didn't know what to do, unfortunately, with all the dead soldiers, that's kind of when the whole cemetery industry started and the funeral industry. But before that it was very normal to die at home. It was a regular part of life that you would eventually die at home, they would have your wake there and you would be buried in your family property or church. Charge one or the other, right yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's funny because, being paranormal investigators and doing the things that we do, you know, we always know that everybody says, well, did somebody die in the home? Well, if it's an old enough home.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Somebody died in the home More than likely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, did somebody die in the home? Well, if it's an old enough home, yes, somebody died in the home. More than likely. Yeah, I mean it's a given, you know, and the chances of there being some sort of attachment, depending on how old it is, I mean there's, there's very good likelihood to it.
Speaker 3:But it was normal. I mean, yeah Well okay, that was great.
Speaker 2:That was really good, even with the the blood bowls.
Speaker 3:You definitely taught me some things I had never heard before and I've looked a lot into it over the years.
Speaker 2:So that's really great. I mean, you deliver and knock it out of the park, it's what you do.
Speaker 1:No, this was a fun one, because I had to dig really hard for some of this. It wasn't like it just fell out, you know, out of like three books. It was scattered everywhere because the legend of the Banshee has sort of fallen out of favor. I think it's kind of sad, because I think it's actually a beautiful story. What a gift to be warned that somebody is going to die. You would have time to prepare. You'd have time to settle your accounts. You'd have time to say goodbye.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, I mean it'd have time to say goodbye. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean it'd be it'd be nice to know, but also I can see where it's heart-wrenching, troubling. Yeah, yeah, exactly which is where the whale comes from.
Speaker 2:I think that's very much so the grief, it's the burden of knowing. Yeah, yeah. Well, our resident historian has knocked out of the park once again. Rissa, I know you're probably crazy busy, I know you usually are, but for our audience that wants to catch up with you what you got going on.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. Well, you know, march, I'm turning 50. So that's big for me. Yeah, this will come out right around the time of my birthday in march, so that's, that's a big thing for me. Um, but you know, I have all my usual stuff going on. I'll be talking cryptids and ghosts. I'll start ghost tours up again in april and, um, you know, if anybody needs to find me or track me down, they can go to tea and smokecom. I post my schedule on the blog there every month so you can see what I'm doing in person and on virtually as well. So if there's something that, uh, oh, you know also, I wanted to throw this out there if there's any historical thing that any of your listeners want to hear about, ask, I'd love to know. You know, I know we've got. We've got a cool one coming up in may. Uh, we do, we do it going to be so cool. I've already started working on that. So that's fun.
Speaker 2:That's kind of an operative word there. That's kind of interesting.
Speaker 1:Ice cold perhaps.
Speaker 3:Yes ice cold.
Speaker 2:Yeah, honestly, and the same goes for us. You know everybody who's got our email address or hit us up on social say hey, love to see you guys and Rissa talk about this, or see if Rissa can kind of go down the matrix hole of X, whatever it is. By all means, let us know. As you can see, she brings it, so you know. I'm a very tenacious researcher and a very valuable one. We appreciate it.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you all. I love being on your show. We appreciate it. I appreciate you all. I love being on your show.
Speaker 2:This is great. Oh, you're still one of the cast now. You are part of us Part of the family, one of us. But anyway, rissa, thank you so much and we look forward to connecting with you again. Thanks, rissa.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, rissa. We love having you. She just knocks it out of the park. Yeah, she does.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, mom, I had her back on. I was telling Rissa that my mom's really enjoys having her on. In fact, she probably enjoys her more than me, but that's okay yeah, probably anyway, yeah, it was great.
Speaker 3:um, there were some definite things I had never heard before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think that the not just the folklore behind it. Obviously it's really. It's really ingrained in culture, it's ingrained in, you know, in belief, structure and stuff. But you know there's so many different parallels from other things that like they're adjacent, like we were talking about Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:It lends not only credence to the Banshee, lore, lore, but it just makes a lot of sense for some things too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I mean there's some like we talked for all the warnings about death mm-hmm here's two-sided to that, because while it could be a good thing, it could also be a bad thing. But I also think you think about and if you've ever, you know, had someone that you, you know, pass away, after it's over, sometimes knowing about it, I think, is a little bit better because you can prepare yourself. I think some of the worst grief I've ever had over someone passing away is when it's a shock. Yeah, it's a shock, there's no preparation for it and it's just like bam and it's extremely hard to get over after that. So maybe that's where this come from. Maybe comes from because she said you know, this is this is what you're supposed to do if you hear the banshee cry. Right?
Speaker 2:like a protective kind of yeah like be, like, be prepared.
Speaker 3:This is coming, get everything in order, say that you love them, you know, tell them their goodbyes. Because that's always what someone says is I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. That's true, I didn't get, you know, tell them how much I love them, or so it's almost comes from a loving place, I think.
Speaker 2:I think so. There's definitely some thought to that, for sure, and you're right, sometimes you think that there's going to be some ease when you know about it, but you and I both have been through a loss where we knew way ahead of time.
Speaker 3:Maybe not, you know, I've been through both Right, we've been through both A couple times on both sides, and I, while I don't want to know someone's going to pass away, I will say the recovery from it has been easier.
Speaker 3:Sure, then there sometimes the no recovery, yeah, of of a sudden loss that's true so I think it's maybe just a cultural loving way of a family saying hey, you need to prepare, this is about to happen. Now, while I say that I do not want to hear the fancy gray no, anytime soon. No, I don't, especially if it were for your own death, that would be creepy. But I also think like if you're that close to death most of the time, you know about it. Yeah, at least if it's in a biological way, you know, not like something that is a tragedy. But you know, most people know that it's coming, yeah they do so?
Speaker 3:I don't know, freaky, it's just. It's a very interesting legend or lore. Maybe it's not lore, we don't know.
Speaker 2:We don't know.
Speaker 3:I mean ladies and gentlemen, the Bay world is very vast.
Speaker 2:Public service announcement. The Bay world is very vast. Public service announcement. If you find a woman with no head at your door holding a bowl full of blood, you might have a problem.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't like that version of it though. Oh, that's pretty bad. It's too much like the Headless Horseman. Well, yeah, the Headless Horseman's kind of cool because he's got a horse, but he's a man with no head, sorry. Pulling out the Johnny Depp.
Speaker 2:Yes, all right guys. Well, listen, we had a great time. Rissa, thank you for coming on.
Speaker 3:We had a blast and, uh, she's going to be back on soon, guys, don't worry, yeah, yeah, we've got another interesting one for you coming up in a few All right, guys, take care and we'll see you next week. Happy St Paddy's Day. Happy St Pat's.
Speaker 4:Thanks for tuning in to Generation X Paranormal. Remember, all editing is done in-house and we're a self-funded podcast, so your support truly makes a difference. Like, subscribe and follow us on all socials to stay connected. Special thanks to Eric Cooley for creating our music, and don't forget to check out our Patreon for exclusive content and ways to help us keep the show going Until next time. Stay curious and keep exploring the unexplained.
