{"id":346,"date":"2023-06-06T15:55:39","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T15:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/okeefeclan.org\/2020\/?page_id=346"},"modified":"2023-06-22T17:16:30","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T17:16:30","slug":"banshee","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/okeefeclan.org\/2020\/banshee\/","title":{"rendered":"Banshee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Surname<\/a> | Coat of Arms<\/a> | Kings<\/a> | Castles<\/a> | Gathering<\/a> | Articles<\/a> | Notables<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Banshee\u2019s Lonely Wail<\/strong>
By D. H. Allen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whenever the banshee is mentioned the first thing that comes into one\u2019s mind is her lonesome wail-the loneliest one could hear. The cry itself is like the crying of a cat, a dog wailing at the moon, the cry of a vixen fox, or the piercing wail of the wind, very mournful, pity full and piercing, a lamentation that would go to your heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Banshee\u2019 or \u2018bean sidhe\u2019 is Irish and means \u2018fairy woman\u2019. So, Right away, there is something mysterious about her. And indeed there is. Many people have heard her but few have actually seen her. As a boy I often heard that she had long hair, and spent her time combing it. I heard too that she was afraid to cross over water. A priest going on a sock call, riding on his horse as was the custom of the time, was confronted by the banshee. She tried to stop him. He realised that the only way of escape was to gallop as fast as he could for the nearest stream or river. This he did and just managed to jump a stream in time before she could catch hold of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said about the banshee that she follows families with \u2018Mac\u2019 or \u2018O\u2019 in their names. When someone in that family is near death she comes to give warning, wailing for that person like a keening woman of other days. It is said that she sometimes give warning in other ways, like tapping on a window, or rattling the door-latch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some banshee have personal names, Cliona, is associated in a special way with Munitir Ui Chaoimh, the O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s, Cliona also known as a fairy queen, had her home at Carrigcliona, between Mallow and Fermoy. The O\u2019 Keeffes, at one time ruled over a large part of Duhallow. They were fond of the hunt, and wherever they went they took their dogs with them, even to Mass, so the story goes. The priest had to wait at the foot of the Altar until the O\u2019 Keeffes arrived. One Sunday, a priest new to the parish, started Mass before the O\u2019 Keeffes arrived. When Mass was over the O\u2019 Keeffes set the dogs after him. Ever since when a prominent member of the O\u2019 Keeffe family is going to die, dogs are heard barking in the sky. I was once told by a woman, who lived about two miles at the Macroom side of Millstreet, that she was a young girl she heard dogs barking in the sky, when she was alone in the house one evening. Shortly after a well-known O\u2019 Keeffe died. There is a long tradition that the Bean Si cries at the death of an ancient Celtic family<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surname | Coat of Arms | Kings | Castles | Gathering | Articles | Notables The Banshee\u2019s Lonely WailBy D. H. Allen. Whenever the banshee is mentioned the first thing that comes into one\u2019s mind is her lonesome wail-the loneliest one could hear. The cry itself is like the crying of a cat, a dog […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-346","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/okeefeclan.org\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/okeefeclan.org\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/okeefeclan.org\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/okeefeclan.org\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/okeefeclan.org\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/okeefeclan.org\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":789,"href":"https:\/\/okeefeclan.org\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/346\/revisions\/789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/okeefeclan.org\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}