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Speaker 1: Section six of the Best Ghost Stories. This is a

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LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

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For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.

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Read by NYE. Swanson The Best Ghost Stories Bansheese. Of

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all Irish ghosts, fairies or boguls, the banshee, sometimes called

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locally the Bohita or Baquinita, is the best known to

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the general public. Indeed, Cross Channel visitors would class her

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with pigs, potatoes and other fauna and flora of Ireland,

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and would expect her to make manifest her presence to

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them as being one of the sites of the country.

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She is a spirit with a lengthy pedigree. How lengthy

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no man can say, as its roots go back into

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the dim mysterious past. The most famous banshee of ancient

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times was that attached to the kingly house of O'Brien Abel,

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who haunted the rock of Cragley above Killaloo, near the

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old Palace of Cancora. In a d ten fourteen, was

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fought the Battle of Clintarfe, from which the aged king

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Brian bu knew that he would never come away alive.

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For the previous night Abel had appeared to him to

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tell him of his impending fate. The Banshee's method of

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foretelling death in olden times differed from that adopted by

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her at the present day. Now she wails and wrings

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her hands as a general rule. But in the old

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Irish tales she is to be found washing human heads

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and limbs, or blood stained clothes till the water is

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all dyed with human blood. This would take place before

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a battle, so it would seem that in the course

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of centuries her attributes and characteristics have changed somewhat. Very

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different descriptions are given of her personal appearance. Sometimes she

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is young and beautiful, sometimes old and of a fearsome appearance.

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One writer describes her as a tall, thin woman with

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uncovered head and long hair that floated round her shoulders,

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attired in something which seemed either a loose white cloak

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or a sheet thrown hastily around her, uttering piercing cries.

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Another person, a coachman, saw her one evening sitting on

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a style in the yard. She seemed to be a

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very small woman, with blue eyes, long light hair, and

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wearing a red cloak. Other descriptions will be found in

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this chapter by the way, it does not seem to

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be true that the banshee exclusively follows families of Irish descent,

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for the last incident had reference to the death of

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a member of a County Galway family, English by name

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and origin. One of the oldest and best known banshee

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stories is that related in the memoirs of Lady fanshaw.

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In sixteen forty two, her husband Sir Richard, and she

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chanced to visit a friend, the head of an Irish sept,

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who resided in his ancient baronial castle surrounded with a moat.

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At midnight. She was awakened by a ghastly and supernatural scream, and,

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looking out of bed, beheld in the moonlight a female

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face and part of the form hovering at the window.

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The distance from the ground, as well as the circumstance

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of the moat, excluded the possibility that what she beheld

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was of this world. The face was that of a

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young and rather handsome woman, but pale, and the hair,

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which was reddish, was loose and disheveled. The dress, which

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Lady Fanshawe's terror did not prevent her from remarking accurately,

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was that of the ancient irish. This apparition continued to

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exhibit itself for some time, and then vanished with two

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shrieks similar to that which had first excited Lady Fanshaw's attention.

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In the morning, with infinite terror, she communicated to her

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host what she had witnessed, and found him prepared not

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only to credit but to account for the superstition. A

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near relation of my family said, he expired last night

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in this castle. We disguised our certain expectation of the

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event from you, lest it should throw a cloud over

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the cheerful reception which was your due. Now before such

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an event happens in this family or castle, the female

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specter whom you have seen is always visible. She is

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believed to be the spirit of a woman of inferior rank,

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whom one of my ancestors degraded himself by marrying, and whom, afterwards,

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to expiate the dishonor done to his family, he caused

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to be drowned in the moat. In strictness, this woman

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could hardly be termed banshee. The motive for the haunting

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is akin to that in the tale of the Scotch

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Drummer of Cordici, where the spirit of the murdered man

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haunts the family out of revenge and appears before death.

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Mister T. J. Westrop m A. Has furnished the following story.

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My maternal grandmother heard the following tradition from her mother,

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one of the miss ross Lewins who witnessed the occurrence.

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Their father, mister Harrison ross Lewin, was away in Dublin

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on law business, and in his absence, the young people

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went off to spend the evening with a friend who

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lived some miles away. The night was fine and lightsome

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as they were returning, save at one point where the

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road ran between trees or high hedges, not far to

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the west of the old Church of Kilchrist. The latter,

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like many similar ruins, was a simple oblong building with

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long side walls and high gables, and at that time

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it and its graveyard were unenclosed and lay in the

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open fields. As the party passed down the long, dark lane,

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they suddenly heard in the distance loud keening and clapping

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of hands, as the country people were accustomed to do

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when lamenting the dead. The ross Lewins hurried on and

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came in sight of the church, on the side wall

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of which a little gray haired old woman clad in

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a dark cloak, was running to and fro chanting and

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wailing and throwing up her arms. The girls were very frightened,

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but the young men ran forward and surrounded the ruin,

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and two of them went into the church, the apparition

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vanishing from the wall as they did so. They searched

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every nook and found no one, nor did anyone pass out.

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All were now well scared and got home as fast

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as possible. On reaching their home, their mother opened the

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door and at once told them that she was in

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terror about their father, for as she sat looking out

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the window in the moonlight, a huge raven with fiery

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eyes lit on the sill and tapped three times on

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the glass. They told her their story, which only added

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to their anxiety, And as they stood talking, taps came

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to the nearest window, and they saw the bird again.

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A few days later, news reached them that mister ross

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Lewin had died suddenly in Dublin. This occurred about seventeen

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seventy six. Mister Westrup also writes that the sister of

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a former Roman Catholic bishop told his sisters that when

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she was a little girl, she went out one evening

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with some other children for a walk. Going down the road,

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they passed the gate of the Principal near the town.

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There was a rock or large stone beside the road

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on which they saw something going nearer. They perceived it

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to be a little, dark old woman who began crying

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and clapping her hands. Some of them attempted to speak

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to her, but got frightened, and all finally ran home

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as quickly as they could. Next day the news came

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that the gentleman near whose gate the banshee had cried

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was dead, and it was found on inquiry that he

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had died at the very hour at which the children

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had seen the specter. A lady who was a relation

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of one of the compilers and a member of a

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County Cork family of English descent, sends the two following

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experiences of a banshee in her family. My mother, when

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a young girl was standing looking out of the window

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in their house at Black Rock, near Cork, she suddenly

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saw a white figure standing on a bridge which was

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easily visible from the house. The figure waved her arms

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towards the house, and my mother heard the bitter wailing

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of the banshee. It lasted some seconds, and then the

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figure disappeared. Next morning, my grandfather was walking as usual

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into the city of Cork. He accidentally fell, hid his

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head against the curbstone and never recovered consciousness. In March

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nineteen hundred, my mother was very ill, and one evening,

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the nurse and I were with her arranging her bed.

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We suddenly heard the most extraordinary wailing, which seemed to

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come in waves round and under her bed. We naturally

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looked everywhere to try and find the cause, but in

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vain The nurse and I looked at one another, but

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made no remark, as my mother did not seem to

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hear it. My sister was downstairs sitting with my father.

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She heard it and thought some terrible thing had happened

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to her little boy, who was in bed upstairs. She

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rushed up and found him sleeping quietly. My father did

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not hear it. In the house next door, they heard

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it and ran downstairs, thinking something had happened to the servant.

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But the latter at once said to them, did you

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hear the banshee? Missus p must be dying. A few

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years ago I e. Before eighteen ninety four, a curious

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incident occurred in a public school in connection with the

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belief in the Banshee. One of the boys happening to

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become ill, was at once placed in a room by himself,

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where he used to sit all day. On one occasion,

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as he was being visited by the doctor, he suddenly

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started up from his seat and affirmed that he heard

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somebody crying. The doctor, of course, who could hear or

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see nothing, came to the conclusion that the illness had

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slightly affected his brain. However, the boy, who appeared quite sensible,

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still persisted that he heard some one crying, and furthermore said,

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it is the Bansheet, as I have heard it before.

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The following morning, the head master received a telegram saying

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that the boy's brother had been accidentally shot dead. That

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the Banshee is not confined within the geographical limits of Ireland,

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but that she can follow the fortunes of a family

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abroad and there foretell their death is clearly shown by

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the following story. A party of visitors were gathered together

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on the deck of a private yacht on one of

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the Italian lakes, and during a lull in the conversation,

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one of them, a colonel said to the owner, count,

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who's that queer looking woman you have on. The Count

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replied that there was nobody except the ladies present and

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the stewardess. But the speaker protested that he was correct,

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and suddenly, with a scream of horror, he placed his

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hands before his eyes and exclaimed, oh my God, what

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a face. For some time he was overcome with terror,

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and at length reluctantly looked up and cried, Thank Heavens,

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it's gone. What was it, asked the Count. Nothing human,

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replied the colonel. Nothing belonging to this world. It was

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a woman of no earthly type, with a queer shaped,

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gleaming face, a mass of red hair, and eyes that

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would have been beautiful but for their expression, which was hellish.

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She had on a green hood after the fashion of

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an Irish peasant. An American lady present suggested that the

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description tallied with that of the Banshee, upon which the

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Count said, I am an O'Neill. At least I am

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descended from one. My family name is, as you know, Nilsinni,

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which little more than a century ago was O'Neill. My

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great grandfather served in the Irish Brigade, and on its

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dissolution at the time of the French Revolution, had the

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good fortune to escape the general massacre of officers, and,

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in company with an O'Brien and a McGuire, fled across

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the frontier and settled in Italy. On his death, his son,

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who had been born in Italy and was far more

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Italian than Irish, changed his name to Nilsini, by which

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name the family has been known ever since. But for

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all that we are Irish, the banshee was yours, then,

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ejaculated the colonel. What exactly does it mean? It means,

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the count replied, solemnly, the death of some one very

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nearly associated with me. Pray heaven, it is not my

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wife or daughter. On that score, however, his anxiety was

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speedily removed, for within two hours he was seized with

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a violent attack of angina pectoris and died before morning.

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Mister Elliot O'Donnell, to whose article on banshee's we are

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indebted for the above, adds, the banshee never manifests itself

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to the person whose death it is prognosticating. Other people

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may see or hear it, but the fated one never,

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so that when every one present is aware of it,

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but one the fate of that one may be regarded

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as pretty well certain end of Section six at