Tales
of Appalachian Banshees
\
The Banshee of Marr...
Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
O, well done, I commend your pains.
And now about the cauldron sing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring.
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
From “MacBeth” by William Shakespeare
Not all fairy tales have happy
endings. Not all fairies bring goodness and light. Among the Irish and Scottish
people there is a supernatural creature they call “the Banshee.”
The Banshee is an attendant death fairy, one that brings an omen of
doom to Irish or Scottish clans. It is the Banshee that announces the death of a
family member, usually over bodies of water with her keening or caoine, a
shrill crying for the dead.
But the Banshee doesn’t just stay near bodies of water washing out the
grave clothes of her dead as it is told. She also travels to the homes of those
about to die, sometimes mounted on a pale steed or riding a black funeral coach
with two, pale headless horses leading the way.
There are various descriptions of the Banshee. The Irish Banshee is
called Bean Sidhe in an older tongue. Depending upon what source you use,
“Bean” means woman and “Sidhe” (shee) means fairy. But other sources say
that Bean Sidhe is translated as “woman of the hills.” Some ancient lore says
the Banshee can even be the ghost of a young woman who has died in childbirth,
especially if she was not given the last rites of confession.
The Irish Banshee is said to materialize as a beautiful young woman
with streaming auburn hair. She wears a green woolen dress with gray cloak
clasped about her shoulders. The Irish Banshee hangs out at rivers and
waterfalls. The only hint that this beautiful Banshee is a messenger of doom
comes from the fact that her eyes are blood red from crying for her Irish dead.
The Scottish Banshee, the “Bean Nighe,” is more menacing. The Scottish
Banshee dresses in moldering grave clothes, her face covered by a tattered veil.
Often, she rides a prancing white steed. Her age and features are difficult to
make out but she appears to be a decrepit crone. And yet, the Banshee’s
movements are lithe and she rides her pale horse sometimes with a black hearse
following behind her. Rarely, the shroud of the Scottish Banshee is crimson,
reddened by the gore of blood.
The Mid-Ohio Valley as well as West Virginia was settled predominantly of people
of Irish and Scottish ancestry. Along with the Welsh and French, they shard
ancient Celtic ties and are descended from clans. The Celts believed in unique
forms of mysticism, such as sorcerers, witches, leprechauns and fairies, and not
the least of them — the Banshee.
Stories of Banshee spirits went underground as Irish and Scottish
immigrants moved into the verdant hills of the Ohio Valley and West Virginia.
But the legend of the Banshee is not entirely forgotten, as you will see by
reading the following pages.
Let us travel back to the shores of Scotland on a blustery winter day
in the year
1590. A group of women, known later as the Berwick Witches, summoned their
powers at the ocean’s edge. Over the icy waters of the North Sea, King James VI
and
his new bride Anne of Denmark made their way back to Scotland when their boat
nearly capsized. Rumors circulated that King James was in great danger
from
a plot or a curse put upon him by the witches of North Berwick.
This quickly caught King James’s attention, since he had always been
fascinated by witchcraft. It wasn’t long until the supposed witches were
captured and put on trial.
One young woman, called Gilly Duncan, confessed under torture that she and other
witches cursed the King, and was intent upon murdering him by chanting spells
and evil curses. She also claimed that she
and other witches were in cahoots with the Earl of Boswell, first in line to the
throne after King James’s death, and they wished him dead.
King
James had earlier written a treatise against witchcraft. Wild claims about the
Devil being intent upon murdering King James were made and rumors flew. It was
reported back to King James that a group of Scottish witches had gathered at
night near a castle in Edinburgh where they fashioned a waxen image of the King. In front of a raging
bonfire, the witches passed the wax doll amongst themselves, chanting in unison:
“This is King James the VI, ordained to be consumed at the instance of
a nobleman, Francis Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell.” The witches’ poppet was tossed
into the flames where it melted away instantly.
Were such dubious claims likely? It is highly doubtful. Most of the
women charged with witchcraft identified themselves as devout Christians, and
would not likely talk ill against such a powerful and paranoid ruler.
But the story fit in
perfectly with what the King already believed, making him even more determined
to hunt down the “witches” who were “persecuting” him. More “witches” were
brought forth and the King himself interrogated them. It was alleged that 200
witches met at a Church in North Berwick on All Hallows Eve to curse King James
again. It was then told that the Devil himself presided over the meeting wearing
a black mask, preaching obedience to him and bringing great evil against the
King. Unable to stay quiet a moment longer, King James interjected and called
the witches present liars.
The witches were later executed at Edinburgh’s Castle Hill. But it did
not end there. In later years, Scottish witches were “brought to justice” at MacBeth’s Hill near the town of Nairn. Witchcraft had a strong hold in Scotland.
Scottish rule executed 4,400 alleged witches. Only a handful of witches were
executed in England and Ireland. Next to Germany, Scotland murdered more people
during their witch trials than any other country.
In light of our tale, if the names of “Duncan” and “MacBeth” sound
familiar, there is a reason for it. It has long been thought that King James
held great influence over William Shakespeare and was even responsible for
Shakespeare’s unflattering portrayal of Scottish witches in his play “Macbeth.”
James supported the works of Shakespeare, whose famous plays came about later.
King James was certainly one of the most literate of all British Kings
and Shakespeare’s Macbeth was written only seventeen years after initial
royal paranoia about the Berwick witches, a long enough time for the imagination
to fodder and take certain liberties with the actual story.
Most of the scenes for MacBeth took place at Glamis Castle,
allegedly the most haunted castle in Scotland. This was even acknowledged in the
day of Shakespeare. But Scotland’s influence on public thought having to do with
witches and witchcraft did not end there. Many trials and executions were to
follow later.
North of Aberdeen, there is a haunted place called the “Forest of
Marr.” It is believed this is the area where some of the Scottish witches
escaped. As they went underground, the women’s occult powers grew. It was
conjectured that the ghosts of the executed witches eventually became Banshee
spirits and continued to roam the countryside bringing death to the Scottish
Clans who backed King James or were responsible for their persecution.
From that area of Scotland to Wood County, came a family named “Marr.”
Some have said that their lives were marred by the earlier witches’ tragedies.
And now we begin our first tale moving from the dark reaches of Scotland into
the even darker reaches of West Virginia...
Marrtown
Banshee
On certain lonely,
moonless nights in the Mid-Ohio Valley, under a sky littered with stars, riding
over the hills of Marrtown, there appears a shrouded figure on a white horse—
one that is known as “the Banshee of Marrtown.”
Marrtown was once a small farming community southeast of the city of
Parkersburg. The family of Scottish immigrant Thomas Marr settled Marrtown in
1836. Thomas later married a local woman named Mary Disosche whose family owned
a local brewery. The Marr family brought to America many of the ancient beliefs
and superstitions from their native land of Scotland, where a belief in
banshees, witches and ghosts remained strong. The daughter of a widow, Mary Marr
was an autumn bride, considered to be an ill omen among the Scottish people. In
years to come, Mary would lose six of the eight children that she bore. Only two
would carry on the Marr name. Times were hard for Thomas and Mary Marr but they
did not lose their dream of a better life, pouring their energies into a simple
tract of land that is now Marrtown.
Soon, a picturesque white
farmhouse stood against shadowy woods thick with sumac, milkweed and blackberry
brambles, framed by a sweeping green valley. To the west of the Marr homestead
was a steep hill that ran directly into the Ohio River. To the north was Fort
Boreman Hill, where Union troops camped during the Civil War, and where a Pest
House housed locals and soldiers who had contracted typhoid fever, small pox and
other diseases.
The years of the Civil War, as for most, were not happy ones for the
Marr Family. They lost two of their children to typhoid fever. From their front
window Thomas and Mary witnessed small clashes that turned into bloody battles
between Yankee and Confederate soldiers. There were public hangings on nearby
Fort Boreman Hill. As the Civil War drew to a close, marauding soldiers from
both sides stole freely from the Marr family, making off with what food and
stock the family had put away for themselves.
Shortly after the Civil War, the Marr family’s Scottish brew of bad
luck appeared to come to an end. Thomas landed a job as night watchman at the
toll bridge that crossed over the Little Kanawha River from lower Parkersburg to
the road leading into Marrtown. Mary would stay home to tend the farm and
children. Still, there were ominous hints of what was about to unfold.
On several occasions as Thomas traveled to and from his work, he
mentioned to Mary about seeing a robed figure riding a white horse. Thomas said
that he came upon this rider nearly every night in the identical spot not far
from his farmhouse. Mr. Marr said he was not able to determine the gender of the
person on the horse but it was as if their paths were fated to meet. Some sense
told Thomas that the person was a woman but he couldn’t be sure. The face
remained covered by a ragged hood. Whenever Thomas tried to approach the
shrouded figure, the white mare reared. Horse and rider then disappeared into
the mists of morning.
===
On a cold February night in the year 1876, Mary sat by the front window awaiting
Thomas to come home from his job. Earlier, Mary had awakened suddenly and was
eager to see her husband. The middle-aged woman heard footsteps coming up the
road. She stood up to peer out the window. But instead of Thomas, a white horse
loped up to the front gate of the house and then stopped. Sitting atop the horse
was a rider whose face was covered by a tattered veil. It looked to be a woman.
Alarmed, Mary moved from her chair and walked outside into the frigid night air.
The rider, dressed in the threadbare clothing of a beggar, remained silent.
As bitter winds gusted, Mary pulled her woolen shawl close. Mary asked
the rider what she wanted. There was no answer. Plumes of icy air billowed from
the nostrils of the white horse. As Mary repeated her question, rider and horse
inched closer. The aged woman sat stiffly in her saddle. Underneath the gauzy
veil, Mary saw that the woman’s eyes radiated an eerie red glow.
After a few moments, the woman on the horse spoke. “I am here to tell
you, Mary Marr that Thomas Marr has just died. Say your prayers, Lady. I bid you
well.” Rider and horse turned abruptly and galloped away.
Mary collapsed onto the front stoop. Through tears, she watched the
shrouded woman and her horse vanish entirely just as they reached the bend in
the road. Within the hour, a man who worked with Thomas came to deliver the
dreaded news.
No one knows for sure what happened to Thomas Marr that fated winter
evening. Some say that while working at the toll bridge Thomas was shot by an
assailant’s bullet then fell and drowned in the Little Kanawha River. Others
claim that it was the cry of the Banshee that startled Thomas into meeting his
end in the river below. Other reports have Thomas Marr found dead along the B&O
railroad tracks only a few yards away from the turbulent waters. After all, it
is known that the keening of the Banshee is most often heard over bodies of
water. The truth is, Thomas Marr did die on February 5th, 1878 when the Marrtown
Banshee was to have made her visit, and she had to cross water to do so.
In years to come, the Banshee did not abandon her Marr clan just yet.
The ghostly rider continued to make other visits to the family. Mary Marr lived
to be ninety years old. Such advanced years were an exception for the time. As
Mary lay as a corpse in the parlor of her home many years after her husband’s
death, family members heard the rattling of chains in the attic. Others claimed
to hear the shrieks of a wild cat near the house around the same time.
A few years after Mary died, one of the Marr descendents had his arm
cut off in a tragic accident. As family members sat up with the boy, they heard
snarling and growling sounds on the porch. When the women went outside to see
what is was, the stoop where Mary met her Banshee was covered with blood as if a
terrible struggle had taken place.
What has become of the Banshee of Marrtown? It is said she still
rides, giving dreaded omens to those of Scottish Blood. Not Scottish or Irish,
you say? You would still be wise to avoid Marrtown on certain still, dark and
moonless nights--S.S.
From "Cry of the Banshee" by Susan Sheppard, a new edition forthcoming from WV Books
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