At Last--Interview With a Banshee

Last Wednesday, SOBS excitedly announced that Banshee Keira Nightsinger had agreed to do a series of interviews with us.  In her eagerness, An Gra Nightsinger had said she would to like start the interviews over the weekend, but early Saturday morning she was called to an emergency and the interview was delayed.  The situation has been resolved and we are delighted now to share the transcript of our first conversation with her.

SOBS: An Gra Nightsinger, thank you for agreeing to talk with us about the true nature of banshees.  


Nightsinger: You're most welcome and please give me joy by calling me Keira.


SOBS: Thank you.  Keira, you were called to an emergency.  Please tell us what happened.


Nightsinger: Oh, yes.  It was a near-tragedy!  My family, the McAshinaghs, has five children.  The youngest child, Ciaran, sleepwalks.  Early Saturday morning, about two o'clock your time, the little boy--he's only four--wandered out of the house.  There is a stream nearby and river goblins inhabit a part of it.  The miserable things usually prey on young women but at seeing little Ciaran, they took the opportunity for easy food and pounced on the poor boy.  Grabbing him, they pulled him into the stream to drown him.  Thankfully, Kyla Reedtender, a Water Sprite who guards another part of the stream heard the commotion and rushed to help the boy, but she couldn't fight all of the goblins herself.  She enlisted the help of a number of Tree Spirits who began battling the monsters.  I, of course, was alerted to the mortal danger Ciaran was in and went to warn the McAshinaghs that the boy was close to dying.  On my way, I asked the Sluaghshee from the grove near the stream to come fight for Ciaran and I called out for my sister, who is a faery-healer.  Well, when the goblins saw the Sluagshee coming, they decided the bit of food wasn't worth it and gave the boy up.  The poor little thing was near-drowned and looked past saving.  But my sister, Keena, is a skilled healer and she worked hard on the boy.  In the meantime, I had awakened the family with my cries and, discovering that Ciaran was missing, they began to search for him.  By the time they found him, Keena had him almost completely healed, just wet, shivering and tired.  The family took him home, dried him off and put him to bed. He's told them about the goblins and the battle, but they think he dreamt it all.  They believe he fell into the stream while he was sleepwalking, that the water awakened him and he pulled himself out.  They will never know how close they came to losing him.


SOBS: Well, thank heaven that there were members of the magical world who fought to save the boy.


Nightsinger: Of course!  Just as with the humans, there are some bad magical beings, but most of us are good.


SOBS: I know that you've gotten very little rest since early Saturday morning, so just a couple more questions today.  First, you talked about the Slughashee.  What is that?


Nightsinger: The Slugashee are a host of faeries.  Some bands of Slugashee are vicious and violent by nature, but the one that lives in Ghost Sprite Grove is made up of well-meaning faeries who only attack those who threaten to harm the Grove or its inhabitants.


SOBS: You mentioned that your sister is a faery.  Most people believe that Banshees are ghosts.  Are you a ghost or a faery?  


Nightsinger: I am a faery.  The word banshee actually means faery woman.  There are some human women who died young, some violently, who have stayed near their families and performed the duties of a banshee.  This might be why humans have come to believe that Banshees are ghosts.


SOBS: Perhaps we can talk about that in more detail next time?


Nightsinger: I would be happy to.


Did anything Keira said surprise you?  What would you like to ask her?

Banshee Emergency

Keira Nightsinger had wanted to do her first interview with us this weekend, but she has been called away on a family emergency.  As soon as she gets back to us and completes the first interview, we'll get it online.  We'll keep you posted!

First Banshee Interview Set

Immediately after I posted the announcement about the banshee interviews, An Gra Nightsinger contacted me to say that she wants to move the date of the first interview up.  Instead of waiting until next week, she is wants to start the interviews this Saturday.  The time hasn't been quite worked out yet, but the first interview post should be out by Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning at the latest.  Exciting!

If you have any questions you'd like to ask An Gra Nightsinger, be sure to post them in the comments section.  Thanks!

Slainte!

C.F., SOBS founder

Banshee Confidential

     Are banshees evil?  Cruel?  Predatory?  Murderous?  If you answered yes, you've been mislead by movies and television.  Unfortunately, this distorted view of banshees has become prevalent in American society.  That is why SOBS (the Society of Banshee Supporters) was formed: to help people understand that banshees are not harmful.  On the contrary, they are compassionate, caring souls who perform an important service for the families they are attached to.


     The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines banshees this way: "a female spirit in Gaelic folklore whose appearance or wailing warns a family that one of them will soon die."  This definition is accurate.  Notice that it says the banshee's appearance or wailing warns the family.  Somehow, people have come to believe that the banshees cause the person's death. This is completely false.  The banshee doesn't harm the person.  She comes to prepare the family and perhaps the person himself or herself to get ready for the inevitable.  Think about it this way.  A doctor may have to tell someone, "I'm sorry, but you have an incurable cancer."  The doctor has warned the person that he or she is going to die, but the doctor does not bring about the person's death.  The cancer does.  So cast away the thought that banshees seek people out to murder them.  There is a belief that banshees kill people with their screams.  Again, no.  The banshee's wail is not a lethal weapon; it is a cry of mourning and a song of grief.  Can you hear the compassion of these beings?  They want to prepare the family for a death and then they grieve for the person who has died.  Why have people in the entertainment industry portrayed them as evil beings who seek out victims, feed on their sadness, then murder them with a piercing scream?  In a word: money.  A thriller or a horror movie needs a villain and the misunderstood banshee has been shanghaied for this purpose.


In an effort to set the record straight and restore honor to the name of Banshee, Keira Nightsinger, who has served as a banshee for over 20 ages has agreed to be interviewed by SOBS and she is willing to share some of her diary with us.  So please come back for the next blog post as An Gra Nightsinger shares with SOBS her innermost thoughts and feelings, including how she feels about the corruption of the name of Banshee.


If you had an opportunity to interview a banshee, what would you most want to ask her?