The banshee comes from Old Irish fables and is sometimes depicted as a fallen angel and other times as a fairy woman. The banshee began in association with certain Irish families and was said to wail to warn that a member of the family was going to die.
Some experts believe the myth was derived from the tradition of a woman "keener" who would sing at wakes to comfort the mourners. Banshees are thought to be the close cousins to mermaids and sirens, and can be found in Scottish, Welsh, Norse, and even American folktales.
Sometimes the banshee appears as a young beautiful woman, like Lydia, with a pleasant song, and other times she is seen as an old hag with a piercing screech (also like Lydia). She is always depicted as white-haired, pale-skinned, and dressed in all white.
