Chapter
Banshee
Glenblane House is by no means the only house in Scotland with a family tradition of a banshee. Mr. Duncan Glenblane, the current laird, told me her story over a glass of the excellent local whisky. During the wars of the Covenant, the house was sacked and all its occupants slaughtered, save one servant woman who jumped to her death from the high tower rather than submit herself to murder and worse. The screams of her tortured spirit are a sure and baleful omen for the family, and the laird assured me that he had heard her on the night of his own father’s death.
— William Stukeley, April 1721
Despite a name that translates from Irish and Scots Gaelic as “fairy woman”, the banshee is a type of ghost. Normally solitary, always female, and usually the result of a violent or traumatic death, it haunts a great house or castle and gives warning of an imminent death in the household. Banshees are often invisible, but can sometimes be seen as spectral figures with wild hair and eyes reddened by crying. They can appear as attractive young women or as ancient and hideous hags. Some reports credit a banshee with the ability to cause death as well as predict it. A banshee’s howl is not always an omen of unavoidable death. They have also been known to scream as a warning, when a family member is about to enter a situation that they cannot survive. On rare occasions, several banshees can come together to lament the death of an exceptionally great or holy person.