The story of the Reverend Charles Bunworth and the Banshee took place in Buttevant, County Cork, Ireland in the eighteenth century. The Reverend was a much respected man in the area and admired as an accomplished harpist. When he became ill local people became concerned. This was a concern that was heightened, not by the immediate prognosis of his illness, which was not thought to be terminal, but the strange events that took place in the area prior to his demise.
A servant of the household reported to the concerned family of Reverend Bunworth that he had heard the wailing of a banshee. He described how the woman had wailed and moaned and clapped her hands in despair, repeating the Reverend’s name. Local people knew that this could only mean one thing. For the banshee was known to all as the lone female figure whose cries of despair herald an impending death.
