Imagine a young woman has woken up and begins her morning as usual. She goes into the kitchen to start breakfast for her family, but she notices that her husband and children are gathered around the table crying. As she gets a closer look, she sees her children holding a picture of herself. It slowly dawns on her that she has died.

She has little memory of her death, and she wonders why she is still on Earth and not in the afterlife with her other dead relatives. Sadness overwhelms her, and she begins to wail uncontrollably. The family is terrified by her haunting screams and flee from the house in fear. Overwhelmed by her death, and unable to communicate with her loved ones, she continues to wail. One day later, her husband falls through ice and dies. This young woman now realizes what she is, and what her new role is. She is a banshee—and she has a message to deliver.

What is a banshee? The banshee is a mysterious entity that originates from Irish mythology. Whether she’s considered a monster, spirit, or supernatural force, she is a potent harbinger of death. There is no sound on earth more haunting or terrifying than a banshee. At anytime without warning, her bone-chilling howl or a hellish scream can blow out windows, rupture eardrums, and cause maddening pain.

This is a loud and clear signal to the living that death is very close.

The Irish believe that banshees are women who died unexpectedly and were unfairly taken from life; because they did not pass over in peace, they have become messengers of the spirit world, and their duty is to deliver messages to people who are about to die.

This is why banshees are seen as spirits stuck in our realm. They’ve been denied entry into the afterlife. They are tortured, stuck on Earth and invisible, forced to watch the living laugh and love one another. While banshees are invisible, they are not weak and powerless—far from it. This is why people try to contain, control, and free banshees.

Most banshees want peace. They want to release their soul and move on into the afterlife, which typically occurs after a banshee helps a dying mortal find peace and closure before they leave this world. Resolving long standing family feuds, forgiveness, coming clean, and apologizing are all ways that a mortal can find peace in order to pass properly, and somehow the Banshee must communicate this to them before they die.

A person on their deathbed is surrounded by family, and this sets the stage for the banshee’s entrance.  

The room is dark and quiet, other than a hoarse, ragged breathing of the dying, and intermittent sniffles of the family. A slight breeze appears and cools the room, and the family looks toward the windows and the doors in confusion. As they figure out where the wind is coming from, everyone hears a soft, distant scream. They all freeze and look at each other in silence with bewildered eyes, wondering if it was real. A violent scream rips through the room—the family stirs in terror and panic by the spirit world’s power. Yet the dying mortal is calm because somehow, their soul knows what’s happening. They can’t explain any of it—the screams, the mission, the resolution, but they can feel that they must do one final act before death carries them away. If they do, the banshee has completed her task and is now released in peace.

Most banshees find success in their tasks and move on to the afterlife. Some banshees are incredibly skilled communicators and don’t even need to scream or howl at their dying assignment, they just speak to them in a spirit world voice-of-God kind of way. Most, however, do scream or wail, not just to instill fear but to grab attention. Some banshees cannot communicate their message no matter what they try. This is when a medium must be brought in.

Mediums are living individuals that can communicate with the spirit world. They specialize in communicating with supernatural entities, and can help deal with banshees that are stuck in this world. Mediums can see parts of the banshee’s mortal life, such as memories or events, and especially her last memory before she wrongfully died. Mediums must have experience dealing with spirits, including elements of evil. They must be strong enough to withstand an evil spirit that enters their body as well.

For once a banshee enters a medium they are no longer invisible spirits—they are humans with supernatural abilities.

By connecting with a banshee, a medium makes communication possible between the banshee and the living. When a banshee enters a medium, she is reunited with her own voice. If she is a relative of the family, they will be shocked, amazed, or horrified to hear a deceased loved one again. The family may now talk with her, ask questions, soothe regrets, and find closure.

The conversation will focus on death, closure, and forgiveness because the medium’s body has limited time to allow her to finish her mission and be freed. Once she has said what she needs to say, she will disconnect and leave the medium. Shortly after, the medium will determine if the banshee is still stuck on Earth or not.

Using a medium provides a relatively high chance of success in freeing a banshee, since most want to find peace and be released into the afterlife. Unfortunately, some banshees are pure evil and want suffering, pain, and more death. If given the chance to enter a medium, these banshees now have a physical body to inflict terror and wreak havoc onto the living. These banshees are extraordinarily dangerous, they are previously scorned women who are hellbent on revenge and sowing their misery far and wide.

These banshees love violence. A banshee like this wants blood, and she’s crafty and intelligent in her methods to torment the living.

Once she acquires a human body to control, she has that body’s knowledge in addition to her own. She may immediately attack the family and individuals in the room, either using nearby weapons or her piercing scream. However, the most dangerous banshees are the ones that have been wandering the Earth for hundreds of years and are highly skilled in blending in to their surrounding and bringing death to their victims.

Given the chance, these banshees will possess a medium for years, able to control the body like a puppet. Mediums do not age while they are possessed, their bodies are held in a state of biological hibernation that’s functional for the banshee. When she leaves the body, the body rapidly degenerates according to how much time has passed. Some mediums turn to dust upon depossession.

Very little is known about how a possessed medium can fight off a banshee. If a medium has lost control, it’s been speculated that priests, another spirit world expert, may be able to help exorcise the banshee from the medium. The priest does this by calling angels and other spirits to battle the banshee and release the medium. If a truly evil banshee has possessed a medium and there is no priest available, then it’s recommended to isolate or kill the medium in order to prevent large-scale catastrophe.

When successful, however, mediums facilitate peace for the dying, the haunted, and the living. A successful connection between a banshee and a medium allows the struggling banshee to connect with the family and fulfill her duty. Yet the devil is in the details, and some banshees are full of light and simple to release, while some are impossible to release, being full of darkness.

Is it wrong for humans to interfere with a banshee? Should they be left alone to complete their duty on Earth, even if they are haunting people? Are they a nuisance, and is it worth the risk to connect with banshees to facilitate a release? 

It’s hard to say. But remember this the next time you hear a banshee wail—it isn’t necessarily a monster, it could be a doomed soul aimlessly searching for release. Try to give her a chance to tell her story. But always be on your guard, because you never know her true intentions.