summoned to
join the waiting throng of his ancestors. If, during her lifetime, the
Banshee was an enemy of the family, the cry is the scream of a fiend,
howling with demoniac delight over the coming death-agony of another of
her foes.

[Illustration: Music: Song of the Banshee]

In some parts of Ireland there exists a belief that the spirits of the
dead are not taken from earth, nor do they lose all their former interest
in earthly affairs, but enjoy the happiness of the saved, or suffer the
punishment imposed for their sins, in the neighborhood of the scenes among
which they lived while clothed in flesh and blood. At particular crises in
the affairs of mortals, these disenthralled spirits sometimes display joy
or grief in such a manner as to attract the attention of living men and
women. At weddings they are frequently unseen guests; at funerals they are
always present; and sometimes, at both weddings and funerals, their
presence is recognized by aerial voices or mysterious music known to be of
unearthly origin. The spirits of the good wander with the living as
guardian angels, but the spirits of the bad are restrained in their
action, and compelled to do penance at or near the places where their
crimes were committed. Some are chained at the bottoms of the lakes,
others buried under ground, others confined in mountain gorges; some hang
on the sides of precipices, others are transfixed on the tree-tops, while
others haunt the homes of their ancestors, all waiting till the penance
has been endured and the hour of release arrives. The Castle of
Dunseverick, in Antrim, is believed to be still inhabited by the spirit of
a chief, who there atones for a horrid crime, while the castles of
Dunluce, of Magrath, and many others are similarly peopled by the wicked
dead. In the Abbey of Clare, the ghost of a sinful abbot walks and will
continue to do so until his sin has been atoned for by the prayers he
unceasingly mutters in his tireless march up and down the aisles of the
ruined nave.

The Banshee is of the spirits who look with interested eyes on earthly
doings; and, deeply attached to the old families, or, on the contrary,
regarding all their members with a hatred beyond that known to mortals,
lingers about their dwellings to soften or to aggravate the sorrow of the
approaching death. The Banshee attends only the old families, and though
their descendants, through misfortune, may be brought down from high