"Did Owen say your grandmother was a banshee?" "He said she was 'wailing like a banshee,'" I explained. Dan got out the dictionary , then; he was c… - John Irving

"Did Owen say your grandmother was a banshee?"

"He said she was 'wailing like a banshee,'" I explained.

Dan got out the dictionary , then; he was clucking his tongue and shaking his head, and laughing at himself saying, "That boy! What a boy! Brilliant but preposterous!" And that was the first time I learned, literally, what a banshee was — a banshee, in Irish folklore, is a female spirit whose wailing is a sign that a loved one will soon die.