Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-01-31
GhoStly ApparitionS.
Modern SuperstitiOns Traced to OLD
Morse Legends.
The Banshee Of Ireland and the White
Lady Of Germany.
Chicago Globe.

gends. 1t is not everyone that can see
the inhabitants of the invisible world,
| but those whose eyes are opened, or
| for those whom the ghost has feeling
that makes bond of sympathy, or those
who by some popularity of birth are
better qualified than others for such
mystic sight. For instance, child born
on Sunday in Scotland is believed to have
| this power over ell others.
| The "White Lady" appears on such
occasions in such a manner as she
chooses, but is also capable of being
summoned by any of her family accord
ing TO prescribed form ala and by the
performance of certain rites.
| The "White Lady of Avenel" is only
the application to particular belief
common in Scotland where the appari-
ton known in Ireland as the banshee is
known by the same name, but quite as
often the "white lady," In fact, most of
the great families in the Highlands we're
supposed to have a domestic spirit who
took an interest in their prosperity, and
usually intimated an approaching disas-
ter by wailings and uuearthly sounds of
grief. But there was difference in the
apparition varying with the character
which each is Supposed to have held
|
in general it appeared as an old woman
in a mantle with streaming hair.
| A superstition of the same kind is so
generally received in the Green Isle that
the banshee is cou nted in popular belief
to be peculiarly Irish credulity.
In Ireland there have been various ex-
plantations Of the word banshee, most of
them explaining it as the head of the
fairies or the white fairy, but DR.. OBrien
il his Irish dictionary writes, beau sighe
plural mua sighe, she fairies or woman
fairies credulously supposed by the com
mon people to be so affected to certain
families that they are heard to sing
mournful lamentations around houses at
night whenever any member of the fami-
| Iy labors under sickness which is to end
in death.
Some of the cases IN which the banshee
has appeared, are told with an abundance
of detail and confirmed by so many wit
Desses that although unwilling to believe
the tale, it becomes a difficult one to
answer or explain away.
The bansEee OF the BUnsworth family
as related to have appeared on the coca
sion of the death OF the Rev. Charles
Bunworth, rector of Butevant, in the
County o. Cork, about the middle of the
last century is such case. It's first ap-
pearaEce was to one of the servants
named Kavanagh, who came to the house
apparently In great grief and wringing
his hands.
"What is it you mean, Kavanagh?" in
quired Mss Bunworth.
els it mean?" said he. "the banshee has
came for LiTr, mics, ami tits not [ alone
| who have heard her."
"'TIs an ole superstition" said Miss
Buns worth.
"Magbe SO, but as L came through the
glen OF Ballybeg she was along with me-
keening and screeching and clapping hen
hands by my side every step OF the way,
with her long white hair falling upon
her shoulders and could hear her re.
peat the masters lame every now and
| then, as plain as l ever heard it. When ]
came to the old abby she parted from me
there, and turned into the pigeon field
next the bUrying ground, and folding her
cloak About her, sat down under the tree
that was struck by Zig htning and began
keening so bitterly that it went through
ones heart TO he2r it,
Miss Bunworth told him that her father
was sleeping quietly, and that they
thought he was doing well, but warned
him not to tell the story to anyone.
Mr.. BunsWorth, hovever, did not pro
gress toward recovery bat declined grad
ually, though nothing more happened
until the night of his death. Then there
was a sudden sound outside the window
near the bed. A rose tree was forced
aside with some noise, and a low moan
ing was heard, accompanied by cIapping
of hands, as If of female in deep aff1ic-
ton. It seemed as if the sound pro-
cedod from person holding her mouth
close to the window. The lady who sat
by the bedside went into an adjoining
room and asked the gentlemen there if
they had heard the banshee. None of
them believed in her ladyship, and they
at once walked all around the house ex-
aiming every spot of ground, but there
was not sign, not even a footstep upon
the fresh earth of the garden. Upon
their return they were astonished to hear
that the manifestations had been repeat
ed and that they had been marked, and
the clapping CT hands loader than be-
fore.
During the night the sick man grew
rapidly worse and expired with the first
glim pse of morning.
The legend OF "The MCCARTHY" is the
most peculiar among all the banshees.
The young man died and was laid out
| for several hours when he came back to
| life and insisted that he had been before
the judgment seat, but had been permit
| ed to come back with the understanding
that three years more of life were grant
ed him in which he might become better
man.
He had been very wild and dissipated.
| but reformed at once and lived as a man
naturally would who knew that the day
of his death was fixed. As tbs time drew
near McCarthy's mother sent tor her
sister to be with them at the eventful
time. On the way the banshee appeared,
giving succession of screams and max
Ing loud clapping of the hands. Then
they saw the figure of a tall, thin woman
| with uncovered head, and hair that aoated
round her shoulders, attired in something
| which might be a loose white cloak or q
sheet. She stood in the way as if to
| stop them, and motioned to go another
way which they finally went. When they
got there they found that Mccarthy had
been slightly wounded by pistol-shot,
| wound that was thought of no import
arce, but from which he died the very dav
that the three years vas up.
The origin of all these appearances
and many like them is easy to trace.
They go back, not to classic, but to the
old Morse days when Wooden, whom We
call Odin, was given place among the
gods, and Frigga was made his consort.
Odin became the earliest form OF the
hunter, Who, with his mystic attendants
horn TO