The word Banshee comes for the the Irish Bean Sí meaning 'other-world lady'. She is a female spirit that, in folklore belief, is heard to cry when the death of a member of an Irish family is imminent.
She is a solitary being, and her cry is said to sound very much like the keening of a woman of this world. It is usually heard in the vicinity of the familly home, and therefore near in location the person who is about to die. However, some avvounts have her cry being heard at the family home, although that person can be far away, even in a foreign country.
Belief in the banshee has survived with surprising strength all over Ireland, and in urban as well as rural parts. She is much more often heard than seen, although some people claim to have caught a glimpse of her, and in such accounts she is usually portrayed as an old woman combing her long white hair as she laments.