In Irish folklore, the demon-like wailing spirit whose cry foretells death is the banshee.
The word comes from the Irish bean sí, commonly translated as “woman of the fairy mound” or “fairy woman.” A banshee traditionally announces the approaching death of a family member through keening, wailing, screaming, or shrieking. In some stories, the death has already occurred far away, and the banshee’s lament becomes the family’s first warning.
The figure is closely connected with the Irish mourning tradition of keening, in which a woman performed a formal lament for the dead. Folklore sometimes describes the banshee with streaming hair, red eyes from continual weeping, and a grey cloak. These visual details vary by region and later retelling, so the sound and its association with death are more central than any fixed appearance.
The banshee is not usually a killer or a demon in the strict theological sense; she is primarily an omen or herald. Related traditions appear in Scotland through the bean nighe and in Wales through the cyhyraeth, but those are distinct regional figures.