Banshee.
The Banshee may not be the first monster you think of when forming a list of the best, but there is no denying she is a fearsome and often ominous creature. Usually taking the form of a pale woman in white, almost ghostly in appearance, the Banshee’s country of origin is Ireland. If you hear the keening of the banshee, someone close is certain to die or is dead already.
The keening woman was traditionally used in parts of Scotland to mourn the death of a member of one of the great families. Some legends say that it was a fay or fairy woman who sang the lament even if the deceased was far away or death had not yet arrived.
I believe my first encounter with the Banshee was in the movie Darby O’Gill and the Little People. I was just a kid, but the sequence when the Banshee arrives and calls for the death coach to carry away a dying girl, left an impression. Enough to add the ghastly creature to the Monster 50.
Now that I think about it, the Banshee is long overdue for a revival. She deserves better than the one children’s movie over 50 years ago and the occasional Scooby Doo mystery. Ti West, make it happen.
Brandon Jimison 