The Sanguin Chalis Inn

The bean-sidhe (woman of the fairy may be an ancestral spirit
appointed to forewarn members of certain ancient Irish families of
their time of death. According to tradition, the banshee can only cry
for five major Irish families: the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the
O'Connors, the O'Gradys and the Kavanaghs. Intermarriage has since
extended this select list.

Whatever her origins, the banshee chiefly appears in one of three
guises: a young woman, a stately matron or a raddled old hag. These
represent the triple aspects of the Celtic goddess of war and death,
namely Badhbh, Macha and Mor-Rioghain.<WBR>) She usually wears either a
grey, hooded cloak or the winding sheet or grave robe of the
unshriven dead. She may also appear as a washer-woman, and is seen
apparently washing the blood stained clothes of those who are about
to die. In this guise she is known as the bean-nighe (washing woman).

Although not always seen, her mourning call is heard, usually at
night when someone is about to die. In 1437, King James I of Scotland
was approached by an Irish seeress or banshee who foretold his murder
at the instigation of the Earl of Atholl. This is an example of the
banshee in human form. There are records of several human banshees or
prophetesses attending the great houses of Ireland and the courts of
local Irish kings. In some parts of Leinster, she is referred to as
the bean chaointe (keening woman) whose wail can be so piercing that
it shatters glass. In Kerry, the keen is experienced as a "low,
pleasant singing"; in Tyrone as "the sound of two boards being struck
together"; and on Rathlin Island as "a thin, screeching sound
somewhere between the wail of a woman and the moan of an owl".

The banshee may also appear in a variety of other forms, such as that
of a hooded crow, stoat, hare and weasel - animals associated in
Ireland with witchcraft.

http://www.irelands<WBR>eye.com/animatio<WBR>n/explorer/<WBR>banshee.html