Research source

Mr Sikes gives a very graphic description of the appearance of this apparition to a peasant farmer near…

Date of account: Published 1920
Source: The Banshee
Reference: The Banshee · selected passage 88
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Mr Sikes gives a very graphic description of the appearance of this apparition to a peasant farmer near Cardiff, a little over forty years ago

Published source text

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Source passage

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Mr Sikes gives a very graphic description of the appearance of this apparition to a peasant farmer near Cardiff, a little over forty years ago. To be precise, it was on the evening of the 14th November, 1877. The farmer was on a visit to an old friend at the time, and was awakened at midnight by the most ghastly screaming and a violent shaking of the window-frame. The noise continued for some seconds, and then terminated in one final screech that far surpassed all the others in intensity and sheer horror. Greatly excited--though Mr Sikes affirms he was not frightened--the old man leaped out of bed, and, throwing open the window, saw a figure like a frightful old woman, with long, dishevelled, red hair, and tusk-like teeth, and a startling white complexion, floating in mid-air. She was enveloped in a long, loose, flowing kind of black robe that entirely concealed her body. As he gazed at her, completely dumbfounded with astonishment, she peered down at him and, throwing back her dreadful head, emitted another of the very wildest and most harrowing of screams.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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