The Ghost Monk
Lee's 'More Glimpses' includes a great first-hand description of a banshee from 17th Century Limerick in #Ireland. The witness was one Lady Fanshaw. I shall write it out verbatim, because it's worth it, but I don't think the thread will be terribly long. [Cont: #PhantomsFriday #banshee #folklore
Mar 6 at 10:35amWeb
Show threadThe Ghost MonkMar 6
"At about one o'clock, I heard a voice that wakened me. I drew the curtains and in the casement of the window ,I saw, by the light of the moon, a woman leaning into the window, through the casement, in white, with red hair and a pale, ghastly complexion. [Cont:
Show threadThe Ghost MonkMar 6
She spoke loud, and in a tone of voice I had never heard, thrice, 'A horse!' and then, with a sigh more like wind than breath, she vanished, and to me her body seemed more like a thick cloud than substance. I was so much frightened, that my hair stood on end, and my night clothes fell off. [Cont:
Show threadThe Ghost MonkMar 6
I pulled and pinched your father, who never woke during the disorder I was in; but at last was much surprised to see me in this fright, and more so when I related the story and showed him the window open. Neither of us slept anymore that night..." [Cont:
Show threadThe Ghost MonkMar 6
The lady of the house later tells them she had been by the bedside of a cousin whose ancestors had owned the house and who had died at 2am. 'I wish you have had no disturbance, for 'tis the custom of the place that when any of the family are dying, the shape of a woman appears in the window.' [Final
Show threadThe Ghost MonkMar 6
In this case the banshee has a history: she is the ghost of a woman 'got with child by the owner of this place' who then murdered her and threw her body into the river flowing beneath the window. Lee gives no explanation for her bizarre cry of 'A horse!' Some confusion with the Ceffyl Dwr maybe?