#a surprisingly not terrible take on this is in the white queen by phillippa gregory

[insipid-drivel]

This is funny, but there really is an answer to this question. The answer is nay.

Our Americanized concepts of banshees are based upon the Irish Bean Sídhe, or 'Woman of the Sídhe'. She's not a ghost at all - she's fey, and was never intended to be interpreted as an evil or harmful entity. If nothing else, her role can be seen as loving.

In the days where Druidism hadn't yet been wiped out by the Christianized Romans, the Sídhe, faeries, and even gods were tied to the land and to individual people and played extremely important roles in daily life and spirituality. In the case of the Bean Sídhe, they have nothing to do with the deaths of people. They're portent-bearers, clan-guardians, and guardians of the dead.

Traditionally, a Bean Sídhe manifests as a woman in a grey cloak and green dress. Her eyes are puffy and red from crying, not from some supernatural LED eyeballs. Usually, only those that are related to the person who is about to die can find her by following the sound of her crying and wailing in grief for a family member or close loved one that is going to die the night that she's seen and heard crying. In some legends, it's said that if you're able to physically catch her before she finishes delivering her warning, she can be compelled to tell you exactly who in your family is going to die (this doesn't mean you can prevent it, though). Otherwise, her cries only warn that it's a family member of yours that is going to die before sunrise. It was also sometimes believed that the sound of her cries and keening could guide the soul of the dead person to the Otherworld (the realm of spirits and fey).

Some alternate, similar versions of the Bean Sídhe also include the imagery of her washing the blood-stained clothes and armor of the person soon to die by a river while mourning their loss. This version, however, is usually more closely tied with the viewer being the one warned of their own demise in battle, rather than the viewer being warned of someone in their family's death but not their own.

Find that special ghoul, today!