The Solitary Fairies

The banshee , from ban (bean), a woman, and shee ( sidhe, a fairie), is an attendant fairy that follows the old families and wails before a death.

folklore said the voice of the Banshee was sometimes a terrifying shriek or ghastly wail or a soft, comforting voice adressed to those whom the Goddess loved 'a welcome rather than a warning' of the coming passage into the unknown realm of death.

In the Scottish Highlands the Banshee is called BEAN-NIGHE or 'Little-Washer-by-the-Ford', and she washes the grave-clothes of those about to die.