English Original
My mother's family is Irish, so my grandmother would tell me stories about my great-grandfather from Ireland. They were small stories, like how he had a musical ear and could play almost any instrument. I've always been fascinated by the paranormal, so I often asked if he'd ever encountered anything unusual. Her memory was vague, so she asked her sister Mary, who recalled his banshee encounters in County Cork, Ireland.
My grandmother relayed what Mary remembered from their father's childhood tales. A banshee, for context, is an Irish myth—a ghost that protects an Irish family for eternity, revealing itself only when a family member is about to die. Since it can foresee the future, it knows who will pass away. It mourns under the moonlight with cries that sound like the wind, appearing to a family member (preferably not the one destined to die), grieving deeply as it considers itself part of the family.
When my great-grandfather was a boy in Ireland, he would ride home on horseback through the fields after school dances. Occasionally, his horse would stop dead in its tracks—animals can sense things humans cannot. He would urge it to trudge on, but it wouldn't budge.
Then, he would feel a ghostly chill and hear the banshee's wail. Aunt Mary recalled him saying the banshee's cry was the worst sound. After the wailing and eerie presence passed, his horse would move again. That was all Mary could remember.
Since my great-grandfather had seen and heard banshees, I've begun to wonder if our family has one. But it's not just because of him; my mother had an experience too.
When my mother was nine, she woke in the middle of the night and looked out the backyard window. Glittering in the moonlight, she saw a woman weeping. My mother heard her cries, which she described as wind-like (she told me this before I learned that banshee cries often resemble the wind). The woman was floating above their swimming pool, her appearance inexplicable—she looked young yet ancient, with fair, flowing hair. After watching for a while, my mother lay back down and fell asleep.
About one or two weeks later, my mother's grandparents died within the same week. Coincidence? I wonder if I'll ever see one.
中文翻译
我母亲娘家是爱尔兰人，所以姥姥常给我讲爱尔兰太姥爷的故事。都是些小故事，比如他很有音乐天赋，几乎能演奏任何乐器。我一直对超自然现象着迷，所以总问她太姥爷是否遇到过不寻常的事。姥姥记不清了，便去问妹妹玛丽，玛丽想起了太姥爷在爱尔兰科克郡遭遇女妖的事。
姥姥转述了玛丽回忆的父亲儿时讲述的故事。女妖是爱尔兰神话中的幽灵，永远守护一个爱尔兰家庭，只在家庭成员将死时现身。它能预知未来，知道谁将去世。它在月光下哀悼，哭声如风，向一位家庭成员（通常非将死者）显现，因其自视为家族一员而悲痛不已。
太姥爷小时候在爱尔兰，参加完学校舞会后常骑马穿过田野回家。有时，马会突然止步不前——动物能感知人类无法察觉的东西。他催促马前行，但它纹丝不动。
接着，他会感到一股鬼魅的寒意并听到女妖的哀号。玛丽姥姥记得他说，女妖的哭声是最可怕的。待哀号和幽灵的触感消散，马才会继续前进。这是玛丽仅存的记忆。
既然太姥爷见过也听过女妖，我开始怀疑我们家是否也有一个。但这不仅因为太姥爷；我母亲也有过经历。
母亲九岁时，一天深夜醒来望向后院窗外。月光下，她看见一个女人在哭泣。母亲听到她的哭声，形容其如风声一般（她告诉我时，我还不知女妖哭声常似风声）。那女人漂浮在游泳池上方，样貌难以言喻——看似年轻却透着古老的气息，拥有一头浅色飘逸的长发。凝视片刻后，母亲躺回枕上睡着了。
大约一两个星期后，母亲的祖父母在同一周内相继去世。是巧合吗？我想知道，我是否也会见到女妖。