What’s a Banshee?

According to Wikipedia, the fount of all knowledge, a banshee is:

A feminine spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld… A fairy woman keening at the death of important personages. In later stories, the appearance of the banshee could foretell death… The banshee can appear in a variety of guises. Most often she appears as an ugly, frightening hag, but she can also appear as a stunningly beautiful woman of any age that suits her.

So, though I’m not quite a twisted, vaguely chauvinistic myth… I will re-appropriate the legend of my ancestors.