Note 1 — VII.—GHOSTS, APPARITIONS, AND SUPERNATURAL BEINGS.

Lady Fanshaw, visiting the head of an Irish sept in his moated baronial grange, was made aware that banshees are not peculiar to Scotland. Awakened at midnight by an awful, unearthly scream, she beheld by the light of the moon a female form at the window of her room, which was too far from the ground for any woman of mortal mold to reach. The creature owned a pretty, pale face, and red, dishevelled hair, and was clad in the garb of old—very old—Ireland. After exhibiting herself some time, the interesting spectre shrieked twice and vanished. When Lady Fanshaw told her host what she had seen he was not at all surprised. “A near relation,” said he, “died last night in this castle. We kept our expectation of the event from you lest it should throw a cloud over the cheerful reception which was your due. Now, before such an event happens in the family and castle, the female spectre you saw always becomes visible. She is believed to be the spirit of a woman of inferior rank, whom one of my ancestors married, and whom he afterward caused to be drowned in the moat, to expiate the dishonor done to our race.”—All the Year Round. ↑