BANSHEE, a supernatural being in Irish and general Celtic folklore, whose mournful screaming at night is held to foretell the death of some member of the household visited (Ir. bean sidhe; Gael. ban situ, "woman of the fairies") . The Irish banshee is held to be the distinction only of families of pure descent. The Welsh banshee is the gwrach y Rhibyn (witch of Rhibyn). Sir Walter Scott mentions belief in the banshee in the highlands of Scotland (Demonology and Witchcraft, p. 351).
See W. Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (188o).