Banshee

Time for a triple because these three are all ghosts that I feel are similar.  Can’t put my finger on why I feel that way, but I’m going with it in order to include more types of ghosts this month.

Banshee

I think most people have heard of this ghost even if they don’t realize she counts as one.  In some stories, they are fairies, which means they are up for debate.  Now, a banshee is a long-haired woman who screams and wails.  They come from Irish folklore with their role being that of a death omen.  If you hear a banshee, it means someone in your family is going to die soon.  Many even believed that every family had their own banshee instead of their being one for the whole country.  Other tales say that she can only scream while combing her hair.

As with any folklore being, there are different accounts.  Some have the banshee as a towering woman while others have her as a short old hag.  Some have her solely in gray or white while others say she wears green beneath a gray cloak.  Her eyes can be red from all the crying or she has a generally horrifying face.  It seems the only consistencies are her wailing and being a death omen.  Keep in mind that hearing her scream does not kill you like some modern fiction says, but it just tells you death is coming for someone.

Wraith

Wraith

These guys originally come from Scottish folklore where they are considered evil and dangerous spirits.  Wraiths are commonly described as flying beings with black cloaks and skeletal features, but there are tales of them being patches of deep darkness.  In all versions, they have glowing eyes.  They have the power to steal souls, curse victims, and cause emotional pain to those they make contact with.  Before anyone says it, they are probably what the Dementors of ‘Harry Potter’ are based on.  One can see how the Nazgul of LOTR are based on the wraith as well . . . I mean, they are called Ringwraiths.

Now, there are two ways that wraiths are created.  One is through black magic where they are conjured either by accident or on purpose.  They creators tend to be evil, but some stories say they appear when someone tries to gain immortality using dark magic.  It can be they either become the wraith or birth one that will terrorize them.  The second method of creation is that they are spirits with unresolved issues, but they are unable to satisfy their desires.  Being unable to find closure, they transform into a soul-stealing wraith that is fueled by dark emotions.

Revenant

Revenant

The last one is strange because it’s unclear if they could even be considered their own type of ghost.  Being found throughout Europe, many argue that revenant is nothing more than another word for undead.  That means, stories use the term for vampires, zombies, wraiths, and other undead.  So, it’s unclear if there was ever a unique revenant category that may have evolved into something else.

An interesting thing I found was that revenants typically were described as being revived corpses, which makes me think of zombies.  They don’t eat brains or flesh, but merely haunt the living.  Some are sent after specific people while others terrorize a town through attacking or spreading disease.  One can see vampires in that description too.