Banshee/Charmed

Banshees are a rare breed of demons with distinctive white hair and a high pitched scream. Their screams can burst glass and blood vessels, killing mortals or turning emotionally confused witches into new Banshees.
Powers of a witch are capable of vanquishing a Banshee, as seen when Piper Halliwell blew up a Banshee with her new power. When a witch is transformed into a Banshee, the only way to revert her is for her to deal with her emotional pain. However, the transformation will become permanent when she kills a person.
The Book of Shadows has an entry on Banshees, as well as a spell to track them. However, this will turn the caster into a dog, as only they are capable of hearing the cries of a Banshee other than the victim. The Book however lacks information on how to vanquish them, but Banshees are vulnerable to offensive powers, such as Molecular Combustion.
== History ==
=== A Banshee in San Francisco ===
: Piper: "Yeah, and how are we gonna save you?"
: Phoebe: "What are you talking about?"
: Piper: "I'm talking about how the Banshee zeroed in on you even though I was the one blowing up things."
: — [src]
In 2001, a Banshee attacked several heart-broken people in San Francisco, such as a grieving husband and a teenage girl. To track the Banshee, the Charmed Ones cast a spell, which turned Prue into a dog. After following her, Piper and Phoebe were able to save the girl. With a loud sonic scream, the Banshee zeroed in on a grief-stricken Phoebe. Piper attacked the demon with her new power but missed, causing the Banshee to run away.
When Phoebe was in the attic crying over her loss of Cole, the Banshee sensed her grief and attacked her. Phoebe called for her sister but it was too late. The Banshee's screams turned Phoebe into another Banshee. Piper and Leo rushed into the attic and Piper vanquished the demon by blowing her up.
Once Phoebe turned into a Banshee, she leaped out the attic window, screaming and looking for anyone in grief. She stalked a woman in the streets, though she gave up when the woman's lover arrived. After Piper cast the spell to summon Belthazor, Cole showed up and his aching heart called out to Phoebe. Phoebe attacked Cole and they shimmered to the mausoleum. They fought each other and Cole pinned Phoebe to the ground. When she began screaming, he wrapped his hands around her throat. She flung him across the room and Cole returned to him human self. He confessed that he loved her and she could feel his broken heart. With a final scream, Phoebe then transforms back into herself.
=== The Round table ===
In 2003, when Piper temporarily gained control of Excalibur, a Banshee was on her round table of the strongest demons. However, the Banshee was vanquished when Mordaunt stole her and the others' powers, in an attempt to capture Excalibur for himself.
== Powers and Abilities ==
; Active Powers
* Sonic Scream: The ability to generate vocal sounds of a higher amplitude than a normal human.
* Super Strength: The ability to have magically augmented physical strength and stamina.
* Enhanced Agility: The ability that provides the possessor with inhuman agility, reflexes, and speed.
* Levitation: The ability to propel oneself up in the air and hover. The Banshee could leap great distances with it.
* Power Granting: The ability to grant any number of powers to another being. Banshees could turn a witch pre-disposed to emotional pain into a Banshee.
== Appendices ==
=== Book of Shadows ===
==== A Banshee ====
: is a Demon who
: wanders the earth
: feeding on souls in
: great pain. Hunting
: only at night, this
: Demon uses her voice
: as a high pitched Call
: to locate a victim, by
: hearing the inner cry.
: She does this by
: zeroing in on the waves
: of pain that emanate
: from the stricken
: A Banshee then
: elevates her Call
: into a Scream, so
: powerful it kills
: those she targets.
----
==== To Track a Banshee ====
: The piercing cry
: That feeds on pain
: And leaves more
: Sorrow than it gains
: Shall now be heard
: By one who seeks
: To stop the havoc
: That it wreaks
== Notes and Trivia ==
* This is the first demon Piper Halliwell blows up on purpose.
* The Banshee's ability and method of turning a good witch into another Banshee are similar to how Furies also turn witches into one of their own. They both prey on witches with emotional distress, with the difference that Banshees target sorrow while Furies target anger. Both also managed to turn a Charmed One in the episodes that they are introduced.
* Like a lot of the demonic beings on Charmed, the Banshee is an actual mythological being. The Banshee is rooted from Gaelic and Irish Folklore. These cultures believed that a Banshee's, or Bean Sí's, scream would foretell an upcoming death. If the banshee was caught, it would be obliged to reveal the name of the person who was supposed to die.
* In "Hell Hath No Fury", Phoebe described the Banshee as a demonic screamer, kind of trampy and feeds on pain.
* The back-up version of this page was sold in 2009.
* It is assumed that one of the creatures fighting on the Golden Gate Bridge in Oh, Henry is a Banshee because of her look, however, Banshees do not fly and this creature did. It could be possible that her levitation power might have advanced to flight after she received some of the Source's power.