i heard her cry

Many years ago when I lived in Ireland, my sister and I who slept in separate rooms were woken by this cry. One that I have never heard before or since. I can only describe it as a cross between a baby and a cat. We both ran to each other .we just listened, I came close to looking out behind the curtains, but my nerve went. The cry lasted about an hour an a half; it took us ages to get back to sleep. In the morning, the man opposite our house was found dead. any one out there have a similar story would love to hear them. www.irelandseye.com...


The bean-sidhe (woman of the fairy may be an ancestral spirit appointed to forewarn members of certain ancient Irish families of their time of death. According to tradition, the banshee can only cry for five major Irish families: the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, the O'Gradys and the Kavanaghs. Intermarriage has since extended this select list.
Whatever her origins, the banshee chiefly appears in one of three guises: a young woman, a stately matron or a raddled old hag. These represent the triple aspects of the Celtic goddess of war and death, namely Badhbh, Macha and Mor-Rioghain.) She usually wears either a grey, hooded cloak or the winding sheet or grave robe of the unshriven dead. She may also appear as a washer-woman, and is seen apparently washing the blood stained clothes of those who are about to die. In this guise she is known as the bean-nighe (washing woman).
Although not always seen, her mourning call is heard, usually at night when someone is about to die. In 1437, King James I of Scotland was approached by an Irish seeress or banshee who foretold his murder at the instigation of the Earl of Atholl. This is an example of the banshee in human form. There are records of several human banshees or prophetesses attending the great houses of Ireland and the courts of local Irish kings. In some parts of Leinster, she is referred to as the bean chaointe (keening woman) whose wail can be so piercing that it shatters glass. In Kerry, the keen is experienced as a "low, pleasant singing"; in Tyrone as "the sound of two boards being struck together"; and on Rathlin Island as "a thin, screeching sound somewhere between the wail of a woman and the moan of an owl".
The banshee may also appear in a variety of other forms, such as that of a hooded crow, stoat, hare and weasel - animals associated in Ireland with witchcraft.

Well the obvious question: did he have a cat? If he was dead, then he couldnt have let it in and it would be "crying". They can sound pretty weird.

I think thats the sound of a cat wanting sex.

Very funny. However, no it was not a cat. But that is the nearest sound I can think off cross with a baby. (there were also no babies).This thing made the hairs on the back of my neck sand up. Now unless a cat and a baby got together and did this man over .I don’t know what else to make of it. My farther also said he saw her when he was young; sitting at the end of his street combing her hair making the same sound .again some one on his street died that night

Are you sure it wasn't a fox cry? I'm usually woken thinking there's a baby screeching outside my window only to see a fox running through my garden (usually after dumping in it).

There's a list of fox cries available HERE. Some of the more haunting calls sound very human.

Distress call
Distress call 2

Originally posted by iammonkey
Very funny. However, no it was not a cat. But that is the nearest sound I can think off cross with a baby. (there were also no babies).This thing made the hairs on the back of my neck sand up. Now unless a cat and a baby got together and did this man over .I don’t know what else to make of it. My farther also said he saw her when he was young; sitting at the end of his street combing her hair making the same sound .again some one on his street died that night

It was not supposed to be funny, it's not a joke I'm very serious.

I can assure you a cat does this EXACT sound, in the middle of the night I've heard babies cry, after a while I come to realise its just a cat in heat, when a female cat is in heat, it make the oddest sound all around the neighbourhood, then tomcats(if any around) make noise and piss on places to mark their territory etc.
This would be my guess Im 90% sure thats what you heard, but you may have heard something else who knows.

[edit on 12-1-2008 by _Phoenix_]

Listen to this, cat in heat, other cats reacting to her. turn the volume high up to hear because they are far away outside the house.

www.youtube.com...

Trust me they can sound much scarier,(depends on the cat I guess) sometimes I really thought it was a baby in pain or something lol.



[edit on 12-1-2008 by _Phoenix_]

reply to post by _Phoenix_



That is true: I mean, about cats sounding "weird". And I can guarantee that they can sound EXACTLY like a baby!

And while anything really IS possible, it is not absolutely necessary that the man's death and the cry the night before were really related.

In what MONTH did this happen?
(Cats are usually in heat around January-February.)

I know that if somebody told me this story, my first thought - not necessarily the last, mind you - would be: an animal, perhaps from the house or just "sensitive", sensed the death of the man. Or perhaps it was an animal depending for food on the man who died.

Obviously, it does not mean that it HAS to be either of these explanations.

But I have another question, not really related to this particular story... Why would creatures, such as the "banshee", warn somebody about an impending death - if there's nothing the person (or group of people) can do to prevent it? Isn't that just... well, pointlessly CRUEL?

(I am not "arguing" about this with anyone; and I do realise that folklore is... well, folk-lore. Very knowledgeable in many things, but not necessarily to-the-point, or even good, in the sense of goodness.)





[edit on 12-1-2008 by Vanitas]

reply to post by JackofBlades


This was my first thought, a fox.

As I've said before in many threads, foxes can mimic many sounds and I have on occasion heard this exact "baby wail" and it too sent the hairs standing up on my neck. Of course I was walking a lease road deep in the woods in pitch dark night hunting wild dogs. When you are on edge and you suddenly hear that sound 25 feet away in the thick brush you just about pee your pants.

Thanks for replies. jacofblades . The first two links did not work. None of the wolf cries matched.
Phoenix. The reason in so adornment that it was not a cat is I know what they sound like. I have heard them many times even when having sex. This sound was just freaky. I think what I am hoping for is some one to say if they have ever had a similar thing. I really cant describe it any better. Like I said never heard any thing like it before of since.
Vanitas. The man did not have a cat, and yes I agree it dose seem cruel.


[edit on 12/1/08 by iammonkey]

Can’t remember the month but we lived in the city

iammonkey,

The night my brother died my parents heard a babies cat-like cry in their home, for nearly two hours. My brother lived many miles away from them. Mom called me up at my house and told me about the baby crying. She said, her and dad were looking all over the place for a baby. But no baby was found. I went over to their house early the next day and desperately tried to figure out what was going on. Both of my parents were obviously shook-up. My dad was always the a rock of gibraltar. This was the first time I ever seen him so intensely overwhelmed! Around 8:30 a.m. that morning my parents got a phone from the police saying my brother (their son) was found dead.

A neighbor came over and called a minister for my parents. My dad told him about the babies cat-like cry they heard that night. The minister said, " It was their son's soul crying out for help." My brother did die under suspicious circumstances.

Well if you want to go by folk-lore, then yes definetly could have been a banshee. I personally would like to think it was, however, as jbondo posted foxes make interesting sounds... I have a thread on it in here already. Yes, I was fooled by a fox as well. See the following post. Different situation, possible same outcome. Strange sounds in NEPA

I can say that I have heard this cry before when I was in Spain....me and my friend were riding bikes on a night when there was a storm....and the cry we heard sounded like babies in some kind of pain....we just froze and didnt know what to do....as we thought it could have been a baby we took a closer look and realised that in fact it was just a cat.....and I think it was scared of the storm or something....but like I said the scream, noise was not something Ive heard before....very piercing and definatley scarey.....

reply to post by iammonkey



I have an interesting folklore tale to talk to you about.

When I was living in south america, we heard of creature called "La llorona" (the weeper.) There differing tales on what she really is. Some say she's a demon spirit of a woman with the bottom half of a horse or bull (think, a female satyr). But the story with the most concensus is that she's actually the human spirit of an upset mother looking for her baby that had died. Some stories say that in fact she killed her own baby and afterwards she killed herself and was now looking to be reunited with her baby after death. Other stories say that in fact her baby was stolen and sacrificed to the devil by an evil man or spirit that kidnapped her new born son (most colombians believe this one is story more so than the one of her killing her own child).

In any case. The story tellers all agree that if you hear the sound of a woman moaning and crying out in the dark forest (and believe me, it is DARK!) that it is better that you stay indoors and not go out. Because if you stumble into her. Chances are she's going to kill you. I don't know if I was ever explained why this happens, maybe because her spirit is so corrupted from searching for her baby that she can't really have peace.

There's another story of 2 friends who went out camping and met her spirit. She had joined them for the night, and she had talked about her distress and wanting to find her baby etc. When they went to sleep, one of the friends woke up to find that she had sucked the soul out of her friend. The man ran as fast as he could through the thick forest. He jumped into the middle of a river where she couldn't reach him, she kept begging him to come out (trying to hypnotize him so to speak, like a siren) but he prayed to god to keep him safe, and he stayed in the water until sunrise. When the sunrose, she disappeared. It's a very creepy story to hear about.

I wanted to reply to this thread but am too easily scared from reading other posters' responses. Perhaps, there was too much wind blowing at that time and the sound could be no more than air passing fast through old windows or parts of the house.

This is what happened to us but only a few minutes. The wind was blowing quite a bit and I did hear something that sounded like a female making a crying noise. Now, I'm scaring myself. I'm going now. Bye for now.

Sounds like a Banshee. You said you lived in Ireland, that's something of Irish folklore and when you hear it, someones about to die.

reply to post by ChrisJr03

My mom recently told me that she woke and heard someone crying loudly she went thru the house and no one was awake, about 2 weeks later, her close companion died, i didnt believe her when she first told me because she cant here well, ill believe her for now on she was so adamant of what she heard!

Wow, this is definitely interesting, and I do not doubt at all that this is something supernatural especially since a number of other people have reported similar experiences.

The fox theory is still a possibility, but an hour an a half? I'm no fox expert, but do foxes really have any good, natural reason to wail for an hour and a half?

@ iammonkey: Did you live near a ravine, riverbank, beach or woody stream area? Because, in a city area, those are the places where foxes would live.

Well, I can say that I believe you because I have seen one myself. Ii was the single most freaky thing that I have ever seen and it took me almost 10 years to even discuss what I had seen and to begin the process of researching it. *I shudder at the memory even now, in the daylight, with my husband and two kids in the house with me* It was terrifying.