Banshee

Senor Willy

First of all a question.
Does anyone here believe in the Banshee ?

My wife got a call yesterday from her brother telling her of a terrifying
experience both he and his girl friend had the other night.

Apparently his girlfriend woke up at roughly 3am to what she thought was their
baby boy screaming. She got up and went into the Nursery.
The baby was sound asleep. She returned to the bedroom and there was an
old woman screaming at their window. She panicked and woke her boyfriend
( my wifes brother ) up. He looked at the window and saw the old woman
screaming at them. They said the noise was defening. Both of them were
s******g it. His girlfriend hid under the duvet crying her eyes out.
My brother in law got up out of bed and went to the window to close it.
As he approached the window the woman backed away. He also noticed that
there was a really dense fog around the woman. He closed the window and
ran back to bed.
At this time the woman returned to the window and kept up her screaming.
Both of them lay terrified under the covers.

The thing is they live over a shop. So unless this woman was hanging from
a Crane there was no way she could have moved as she did.
This went on until 4:10am.
They said their ears were ringing and that they never ever heard screaming like it.
They swore blind they were not drinking or are making it up. The guy only told
my wife and her sister as he fears he will be ridiculed if he told anyone else.
Neither of them could sleep the following night.

I dont believe in Banshees, UFO`s, Bigfoot etc but the guy and his girlfriend
are really shaken.
We told my mother and she believed me straight away. She is originally from
Corporation street Buildings and she told me that she heard it many times
as a child. Apparently the was a family there named Kavanagh and every
time they heard the wailing a member of this family would be found dead
in the morning.
I looked up Banshee on Wiki and it mentioned the names of the old Celtic
families that she follows and Kavanagh was one of the families.

I just wanted to know what everyone elses take on this is and is there a
difference between hearing her and seeing her. That is if she exists at all.

kylith

I do not believe that the banshee exists.

I don't know what your family members may have seen, but is there a fire escape outside their window? Do they have any friends who may have set this up as a hilarious 'joke'? Is it possible that they're making it up or mistaken (foxes screech like you wouldn't believe)? Barring this I would think that it's most likely a case of one of them having a nightmare and waking the other to describe it. The second person, being half asleep, then integrates this into their own dream and believes that they've seen it too, as is believed to have happened in the Barney and Betty Hill 'abductions' in the 60s.

Morpheus

so in an hour and ten minutes they never thought once of phoning anyone else up or taking photos or some other method of finding out what the f**k was happening?

kylith

Morphéus wrote: »

so in an hour and ten minutes they never thought once of phoning anyone else up or taking photos or some other method of finding out what the f**k was happening?

I too find it odd that they didn't so much as take a photo. I know that if I woke up to see an elderly lady apparently floating outside my window I'd be out like a shot to see how she was doing it, or at least call the police.

Zombrex

I am very sceptically of anything people experience in the middle of the night because when you just wake up your ability to determine reality and imagination is quite diminished. I'm constantly waking up convinced there is someone in my room. I'm perfectly wake but what ever bit of my brain that is supposed to say "that is a shadow not a man" isn't working.

My guess would be what your brother-in-law experienced was a fire alarm going off and in their sleepy state interpreted shadows and shapes outside the window as a woman.

sensibleken

i was woken up only a few nights ago by the sound of someone walking up my stairs followed by soemthing casting a shadow accross the ceiling. i got up, armed myself and carefully walked around the house checking for a burglar.

nothing there. completely made it up but i was absolutely convinced of what i saw and heard before checking and confirming it wasn't. when youre half asleep you can take a sound and a sight, put them together and a quick reference to the deep references of your memory usually results in a false positive

Elbi

If they were so scared why didnt one of them go in and get the baby..

I dont believe it was a banshee at the window but whatever it was did frighten them but if I was that terrified first thing i would do is go get the baby to make sure it was safe.

Senor Willy

He must have been watching too many horror films.

munsterdevil

All I know is, if there was somebody outside my window roaring into me, I would open the window and tell them to f*ck off, and if the window was wide enough punch them in the gob:D

wonderfulname

Just going to go through a possible explanation:

A fox cub has found itself alone and is crying like mad for its mother, who is off hunting.
This crying half wakes a woman who, being mother to a young baby, is used to waking at obscene hours due to a similar sound.
Not being quite fully awake the woman is confused to see it was not her son that woke her.
She returns to bed, still half asleep.
Stangely the screaming continues, the woman notices the movement of a branch/light/insert-random-object-here at the window, she does as i often have, and sees a person.
She grabs her boyfriend to tell him. He sees what hes told (interestingly enough this is exactly what people do, look at this picture. calcite formation you say? why no its a face! look again, you'll see it now i've told you to look for it)
The girlfriend hid her face from this point, now regardless of whether or not shes fully awake she is no longer a witness.
Her boyfriend on the other hand is so asleep he is effectively dreaming.
He truly believes he is seeing this mystical woman, does as you describe, and runs back to bed.
Both man and woman are now in hiding, they see nothing and only hear the cubs cries for attention.
The cubs mammy comes back from the hunt at 4.10.
The screaming stops.
The couple feel safe again.

They get up the next morning and confirm each others story.
They ring your mother who further confirms their story.
They now fully believe they saw a banshee.

The fear of this "sighting" leaves them unable to sleep the following night.

Like i said just one possible explanation of what happened that night, minus the banshee!

Cunning Stunt

If they really saw a woman screaming outside their window and this went on for over an hour, why didn't they ring the guards?

jonbravo

kylith wrote: »

I do not believe that the banshee exists.

I don't know what your family members may have seen, but is there a fire escape outside their window? Do they have any friends who may have set this up as a hilarious 'joke'? Is it possible that they're making it up or mistaken (foxes screech like you wouldn't believe)? Barring this I would think that it's most likely a case of one of them having a nightmare and waking the other to describe it. The second person, being half asleep, then integrates this into their own dream and believes that they've seen it too, as is believed to have happened in the Barney and Betty Hill 'abductions' in the 60s.

Lets begin at the start; first of all the question was ,does anyone believe in the banshee?? i think this is the only post that answered that question.

second thing, is the betty and barney hill story which is totally out of context in this post to what actually happened in the report, maybe the skeptic who wrote it should explain the reason it appears in the subject of the banshee!??

maccored

not matter if the banshee exists or not, I'd say that if you traced this story back would you find the same story?

Im not trying to diss the OP in any way, but surely sometimes these kinds of stories grow in the telling (im assuming the post was copied from an email going by the formatting)?

wonderfulname

jonbravo wrote: »

Lets begin at the start; first of all the question was ,does anyone believe in the banshee?? i think this is the only post that answered that question.

Actually I would deem any post offering an alternative explanation, on a skeptics forum, to be one written by someone who does not believe in banshees, just because its not explicitly stated doesn't mean it wasn't said.

amacachi

They've been watching too many horror films, not because of what they think they saw but because they stayed in the ****in house!

kylith

jonbravo wrote: »

second thing, is the betty and barney hill story which is totally out of context in this post to what actually happened in the report, maybe the skeptic who wrote it should explain the reason it appears in the subject of the banshee!??

I mentioned Barney and Betty Hill is that it is believed that their 'abduction' memories were caused by Betty having nightmares after which she would wake her husband and describe them to him in detail. He, having been woken from a deep sleep, was not fully awake while listening to his wife's descriptions and so his unconcious, suggestable mind led to him having similar dreams, and from there the couple's shared beliefs that they were victims of alien abduction.

I brought this up because I believe it is a possible explanation for this 'banshee sighting'; one of the couple had a nightmare (perhaps influenced by the yowling of foxes or cats, or even a car alarm) and woke the other to describe it. The second person, being barely awake, is thus influenced to think that they too had the 'banshee' experience and each believes that the other's memory gives credence to their own.

HTH

jonbravo

i understand the thinking behind whats being said however i disagree, maybe theirs another case study{other then betty and barney} which would make more sence to me!?
Im not sayin your wrong i just think its the wrong case study to highlight.
thats just my opinion....

kylith

It's the only one that I could bring to mind at the time. I'm sure there are more examples out there.

Are you having trouble understanding it because you don't think it's true or because their shared false memory was about aliens rather than banshees?

jonbravo

kylith wrote: »

It's the only one that I could bring to mind at the time. I'm sure there are more examples out there.

Are you having trouble understanding it because you don't think it's true or because their shared false memory was about aliens rather than banshees?

i dont believe in False shared memory but i do believe in shared memory, the banshee by myth Warns ,unlike ET in some case's. two different things in my opinion.

wonderfulname

jonbravo wrote: »

i dont believe in False shared memory but i do believe in shared memory, the banshee by myth Warns ,unlike ET in some case's. two different things in my opinion.

Its not a shared memory, similar has happened to me before, your in REM, somebody attempts to wake you and tell you something, for example "wake up, its time to go to school" and then you start to dream about school.

In this case the man was told "wake up theres an old woman at the window" he did not wholly wake up, and he dreamed of a woman at the window.

And yes, in a sort of way, by myth the banshee warns, but not exactly in advance, or of something which can be prevented, so if it did happen who died that night?

jonbravo

wonderfulname wrote: »

Its not a shared memory, similar has happened to me before, your in REM, somebody attempts to wake you and tell you something, for example "wake up, its time to go to school" and then you start to dream about school.

In this case the man was told "wake up theres an old woman at the window" he did not wholly wake up, and he dreamed of a woman at the window.

And yes, in a sort of way, by myth the banshee warns, but not exactly in advance, or of something which can be prevented, so if it did happen who died that night?

something like that has never happened to me before im 100% sure on that, maybe their is something wrong with me..(no comit)
from the OP i dont know how someone would take from that, that the person was dreaming.... unless the dream had surround-sound or something, both persons heard something excluding the baby crying.
besides this person didnt see an old woman, He seen the banshee or someone smoking tryin to ring a taxi home!?

oceanman

judgeing from the content of post,i would say it most probably was the banshee.

wonderfulname

jonbravo wrote: »

something like that has never happened to me before im 100% sure on that, maybe their is something wrong with me..(no comit)
from the OP i dont know how someone would take from that, that the person was dreaming.... unless the dream had surround-sound or something, both persons heard something excluding the baby crying.
besides this person didnt see an old woman, He seen the banshee or someone smoking tryin to ring a taxi home!?

Have you never even been half awake and something like thats happened? I can't tell you how many things my alarm clock has been, fire engines, blitz warnings, security breaches.. needless to say its not very good at getting me out of bed..

Look at my first post, thats one possibility, people revert to myths when the truth is less than clear. Also if you read the OP he saw an old woman, he was told later that it was a banshee by someone who wasn't even there.

Seloth

To the people who said why didnt they do anything..well in all fairnes be this true or not if a woman indeed did come to your second story window screaming Im sure you too would be hiding under yer sheets!

a-k-47

im sure they also would of snapped out of theyre sub consicous minds after an hour. Surely they would of come to theyre sensing after a minute or two?

Elbi

Seloth wrote: »

To the people who said why didnt they do anything..well in all fairnes be this true or not if a woman indeed did come to your second story window screaming Im sure you too would be hiding under yer sheets!

NO a mother would run for her baby...
you would get your mobile and all someone, no matter how scared you are hiding under sheets is not going to protect you

pookie82

a-k-47 wrote: »

im sure they also would of snapped out of theyre sub consicous minds after an hour. Surely they would of come to theyre sensing after a minute or two?

Exactly what I was going to say. I don't believe in the banshee but I can't swallow this tale of them both being in a confused and dreamlike state for an hour and a half. If it were a fleeting glimpse, then sure, but a sustained screaming and vision for an hour and a half? That must have been some deep sleep...

sensibleken

real or not the banshee is a bangin reel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YapMcQgBwug

ballinue

wonderfulname wrote: »

Actually I would deem any post offering an alternative explanation, on a skeptics forum, to be one written by someone who does not believe in banshees, just because its not explicitly stated doesn't mean it wasn't said.

I had a similar experience to this some years ago, myself and another person were sitting watching TV when the most horrible human crying started at the window (ground floor)
I looked out to see what was making such a cry but there was nothing to be seen, but the sound continued as I stood there, I then went outside and the crying continued as it seemed right beside me, still nothing to be seen, as I stood there the sound started to move away until it faded into the distance. I was not woken from a sleep as this was about 10.00 at night and it was the most mournful cry I have ever heard in my life.
I was born and lived in the country all my life and know exactly the sound foxe's cat's
and any animal you would find in Ireland would make, this was not an animal.
I am not saying it was a Banshee what other explaination?.

LevelSpirit

This thread reminds me of something that happened only last week.

I live in a rural area and know what cats and foxes sound like. I hear them all the time. and im definitely not the type to scare easily.

I woke up about 2am to the sound of a baby crying outside the window. I remember thinking what the hell is a baby doing out in my garden. So I got up and went put. The crying kept going for about 2 mins while I looked for it and then stopped.

I figured it must have been my imagination so I went back to bed. Then it started again about 10 mins later as I was falling asleep again. Went out and looked around and couldnt find the source of it in the garden. It was really exactly like a baby crying. I went into the woods beside the house then and didnt I see 2 eyes in the torchlight.

As I got closer I saw another 2 eyes. This was about 100M from the house at this stage. It turned out it was two cats facing off against each other. Not fighting but wailing at each other. It was so much like a baby crying it would make you shiver. They were so focused on each other I was able to walk right up to them and nearly touch them before they noticed me and then they ran. Problem solved - or so I thought.

Went back in to bed and closed my eyes. We have a metal toilet roll holder in the en-suite and I heard it moving in the en-suite. I was half asleep confused as hell as to how toilet roll could be coming off that by itself. I said to my wife, did you hear that, but no answer. So I got up and walked over to the door and opened it slowly. As I opened it a hand came up to the handle and scared the living **** out of me. I screamed and jumped back, looking for something to pick up.

It turned out my wife had got up and gone to the toilet when I went outside. When I went back to bed I never even noticed she wasnt there. Shes still laughing at me even today.

This is how cats, tiredness and someone not being where you assumed they were can play tricks on you.

Check these out if you think you know what a cat sounds like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVGj44PeGaI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Ys0J4rvFQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxbrL0e_5Hc&feature=related

In this next one it is exactly like children crying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF0P5hS6DHo&feature=related

.

maccored

when you think of it, professional wailers or mourners were hired by those that could afford them many years ago which is probably where the idea of a wailing woman came from.

Cats, foxes and various other nocturnal animals can make noises that really do sound like people crying so thats probably whats kept stories of banshees abounding til modern times.

maccored

Seloth wrote: »

To the people who said why didnt they do anything..well in all fairnes be this true or not if a woman indeed did come to your second story window screaming Im sure you too would be hiding under yer sheets!

I honestly wouldnt. I'd be out looking for a ladder.

LevelSpirit

maccored wrote: »

I honestly wouldnt. I'd be out looking for a ladder.

Me too. Or a wire, or candid camera.

sashafierce

This post has been deleted.

Darkginger

OK, old woman screaming in mid air in the middle of the night. Fine. Did no one think this just *might* be a poor old lady who was in distress and needed some help? That would be my first thought if there was someone wrinkly dangling outside my window screaming at me. Bungee jump gone wrong? Who knows?

phill106

Darkginger wrote: »

OK, old woman screaming in mid air in the middle of the night. Fine. Did no one think this just *might* be a poor old lady who was in distress and needed some help? That would be my first thought if there was someone wrinkly dangling outside my window screaming at me. Bungee jump gone wrong? Who knows?

Old woman bungee jumping in the fog, in the middle of a town? tbh, id even believe banshees more then that!

kylith

phill106 wrote: »

Old woman bungee jumping in the fog, in the middle of a town? tbh, id even believe banshees more then that!

Maybe it was a tooth fairy prank gone horribly wrong.

mcmoustache

Sounds to me like a poor old woman screaming as she was getting beamed up to an alien spacecraft. She needed help and the OP ignored her. Poor woman.

Podman

I thought I heard a Banshee once, a terrifying squeal.

My sister told me it was probably a stag or a deer or something, they sound like a woman screaming.

She knows this because she lives in the wilds of Kerry and the deer often go into her garden to hang out.

DHYNZY

I remember my grandmother telling me about the banshee a long time ago. The woman really would have no reason to tell a lie, and she told me that she had in fact seen a banshee. So I'm open to it. There may or may not be. No experience myself.

LevelSpirit

DHYNZY wrote: »

I remember my grandmother telling me about the banshee a long time ago. The woman really would have no reason to tell a lie, and she told me that she had in fact seen a banshee. So I'm open to it. There may or may not be. No experience myself.

Which one of these options is more likely -

1 - You're grandmother, even though she had no reason to lie, did actually lie.

2 - She was mentally disturbed and believed what she was saying to you.

3 - She was just mistaken in what she saw and there is actually no supernatural explanation at all.

4 - There is actually a Banshee.

oceanman

personally i would go for no4!

Elbi

LevelSpirit wrote: »

Which one of these options is more likely -

1 - You're grandmother, even though she had no reason to lie, did actually lie.

2 - She was mentally disturbed and believed what she was saying to you.

3 - She was just mistaken in what she saw and there is actually no supernatural explanation at all.

4 - There is actually a Banshee.

I would go with no.3

and btw you are being kinda rude with no 1 and 2.

things were different people believed in alot more therefore something was seen and imagionation went wild and now assumes irt WAS in fact the Banshee

Major Lovechild

I don't think he's trying to be rude. Just pointing out obvious possibilities and one has to ask these questions.
People often do lie about these things without the intent of malice. There is a mischievous child in all of us from time to time

Elbi wrote: »

I would go with no.3

and btw you are being kinda rude with no 1 and 2.

things were different people believed in alot more therefore something was seen and imagionation went wild and now assumes irt WAS in fact the Banshee

Peyton Manning

Podman wrote: »

She knows this because she lives in the wilds of Kerry and the deer often go into her garden to hang out.

Great, now I'm giggling at the thought of a bunch of dear just sitting around having a few beers, maybe dabbling in experimental drugs but nothing too serious.

LevelSpirit

Elbi wrote: »

I would go with no.3

and btw you are being kinda rude with no 1 and 2.

things were different people believed in alot more therefore something was seen and imagionation went wild and now assumes irt WAS in fact the Banshee

Sorry, wasnt trying to be rude. Just pointing out that other options however unlikely are more likely than a real banshee.

MajorMax

As a young man in a girl's flat in West Cork, I hadn't slept in about three days (What a party) I was in the girls bedroom while she was in the bathroom and I was convinced that there was a goblin or little man sitting in the corner lauhging and making faces at me. I was freaked out!

Turns out it was a pile of dirty laundry, but I can still see his face 20 years later.

When you're sleep deprived you can totally see things and if you have a new baby like the people in the OP and you're not sleep deprived, you're not doing it right

Akrasia

This morning at about 6am I heard a sound that was exactly the same noise that a cat makes when it scrapes it's claws off a carpet or fabric couch. I was thinking Sh1t, the cats inside. now I've gotta get up and let it out. but then I remembered that I definitely put it out last night, and it turns out the noise was being made by my 2 year old daughter making tsk tsk sounds (she was awake and just experimenting with sounds the way all kids do.)

I have trouble falling into a deep sleep as I have 2 kids under 4 and one or the other is almost always finding a way to disturb my sleep. When you're in the half slumber phase between deep sleep and wide awake, the normal rules of logic and reason do not apply at all. It's almost like lucid dreaming but you are following logical paths that are divorced from reality