S06-S09 - The Tale of the Banshee

Haunted UK Podcast: History, Hauntings and the Unexplained

Steven Holloway

Haunted Locations, Ghosts, Society & Culture, Strange Phenomena, Documentary Podcast, Folklore, Documentary, Hauntings, Ufos, History, Paranormal, Unexplained Mysteries

4.5 • 652 Ratings

🗓️ 1 February 2025

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Some legends are frightening because they feel ancient.

Others endure because they speak to something deeply human — the fear of death, the mystery of farewell, and the strange moments when the living seem to sense that an ending is near.

In this episode of Haunted UK Podcast, we explore one of Ireland’s most powerful and unsettling supernatural figures: the banshee. Known as the woman of the fairy mound, she is said to appear in the night with a cry, wail or sob that foretells death within a family. Sometimes she is seen as an old woman with long grey hair, sometimes as a beautiful young figure, sometimes as a washerwoman by the water, and sometimes she is only heard — a sound that witnesses never forget.

The episode follows the banshee through Irish folklore, Celtic mythology, fairy belief, family traditions, keening, battlefield goddesses, and the old stories of women whose grief, rage or loyalty transformed them into harbingers of death. From Morrígan and Áine to the O’Connors, the Fitzgeralds, The Bow of Wexford, the Scottish Bean Nighe and the Welsh Gwrach y Rhibyn, this is a journey through the many faces of the death messenger.

Alongside the folklore, the episode also reflects on death-bed phenomena, intuition, family stories, final goodbyes, and the strange signs people sometimes report around the moment of passing. Atmospheric, thoughtful and deeply rooted in Celtic tradition, this is a haunting meditation on death, warning, grief and the cry that carries across the dark.

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Transcript

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1:30.7	Whichever platform you choose, we're sure you'll enjoy the bonus content. Thanks for listening and enjoy the episode. Exhausted he approached his doorstep with heavy footsteps.
1:54.8	His eyes glued to the cobblestones when he heard the clang of something hit the ground.
2:07.6	It was a comb, the symbol of the banchi, and when he looked ahead to his doorstep, an old ghostly woman with the longest grey hair looked at him.
2:12.6	Her face wizened, hag-like, she silently pointed up to the sky with her fingers.
2:20.3	The The
2:37.0	The This is episode 59 of the Haunted UK podcast,
3:14.2	and this is the tale of the Banshee,
3:17.3	a powerful Celtic legend who heralds death to families on the island of Ireland.
	...

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