Bean Nighe

In this week's episode, we're heading over to Bonnie Scotland for a horribly foreboding monster, the Bean Nighe from Celtic and Scottish folklore! How does this monster relate to the Irish Banshee? How can you get one to grant you three wishes in the weirdest way? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

It’s starting to get very cold here in the UK, and I love October - truly my favourite time of year. But if you are listening on the day this airs, you are hearing this whilst I am off on a Scottish adventure which is very apt for this week’s monster as well as adding more chill than usual.

DESCRIPTION:

Yes, join me in Scotland this week for a monster that has been known as an omen of death. This week we are looking at the horribly foreboding Bean Nighe from Scottish and Celtic folklore.

What a strange name I hear you cry - well of course we’ll get into etymology later in more depth, but the Bean Nighe is a Gaelic monster, which basically means old Scottish, but the language is still spoken in some parts of Scotland - which is why it looks a bit alien to us English speakers.

The Bean Nighe is generally a spirit, sometimes even described as a water spirit - that lives along lone bodies of water in Scotland. These would usually be small rivers or rock pools, and she would be washing clothes, usually those with blood stains. In terms of her appearance, she would often be dressed in green, with long, lank hair. However, when you get closer, you would see that she only has one nostril, long sagging breasts that are thrown over her shoulders, one jagged tooth and webbed feet. She is usually singing a sombre dirge or lament, but this could be called wailing too - and she is very absorbed in both her washing and her singing.

She’s not typically malevolent or benevolent, but very neutral - she has a job to do and she’s going to do it, all whilst wailing away. She’s seen as an omen of death as the clothes she is washing will be those of who is going to die, and sometimes you can even see your own if you find her. She is also known as the messenger from the Otherworld, which was the Celtic version of the Underworld, passing on omens from that world into this one to bring souls to that domain.

Sounds pretty bad right? Unfortunately, if you got this far, you’re probably not going to survive the encounter unless you’re willing to do some pretty rough things. If she’s seen you before you’ve seen her, you’re in for a horrible experience, as her gaze will make you lose the use of your limbs until she has finished her washing. Some tales even say that she will whip you with her wet clothing and take out your legs, and others that she will break your arms and drag you into the river. 

If you approach without her seeing you however, you can actually use this monster to your advantage, but not at a great moral cost, at least in my opinion it’s a great cost. You would need to take one of the breasts lobbed over her shoulder and suckle on it, and tell her you are her foster child. Then she will either grant you three wishes, or tell you the answer to a fated question. Most people reportedly ask who the clothes belong to that she is washing, and if they are an enemy, they leave her to finish. If they are your own clothes or someone you love, you can interrupt the Bean Nighe from completing her washing to avoid this fate. There is another way of getting your wishes that isn’t AS BAD as that, which is sneaking up behind her and answering three of her questions honestly, she would then answer three of your questions, and grant you your wish. She would then never be seen in that spot ever again.

These spirits are manifested from women who have died during childbirth and therefore are only ever female, and are cursed to complete her daily tasks as a mother until the day that they were supposed to have died - meaning the Bean Nighe can be around for 80 years or so. However, you could save the woman from this fate by making sure that all of their washing was done before they perished, otherwise she would have to finish these after death. There’s no way to exorcise or remove a Bean Nighe from an area either, so you’re just kind of stuck with one unless you want to go and talk to her, but risk either breastfeeding from a ghost or being paralyzed and drowning in a puddle.

ORIGIN:

Now for etymology, we established earlier that this monster is Gaelic, and the term Bean Nighe in this lovely language means washerwoman. However, these spirits in Scottish Gaelic are called ban-sith as an umbrella term, but in Irish Gaelic are called bean-sidhe. This translates into fairy woman, woman of peace or woman of the sidhe or mound, which is actually from Old Irish. You may remember that I’ve used bean sidhe before for another monster that we’ll get into later. There is another term for the Bean Nighe too, the nigheag, meaning the little washer, which is sometimes used for these monsters too. 

The French actually have their own version of this monster called Les Lavandieres, which means night washerwomen so that’s fun too, maybe we’ll cover them in their own episode one day.

For the Bean Nighe’s history, there’s actually very little to go on for this I’m afraid. There’s not any specific dates or times that this monster comes from, however, what I can tell you is that a similar monster from the same region came from the 8th century - and this is the Banshee from Irish mythology. Usually I would get onto this later, but this monster is the most popular and well known that its history slightly bleeds into this one. 

The Banshee is an Irish monster that is a female spirit who screams outside the house of a person who is doomed to perish. If you see a Banshee, it means that you are indeed that person - so you can see the similarities. I’ve covered the Banshee in a previous episode if you want to hear more, but they are also part of the bean sidhe family, and really have more of the research put into their background. We know that they came about in the 700s in exclusively Ireland, and were based on keeling women, who would cry and sing around a passed loved one for a few days after their death in mourning. The first written account was in 1380 of a bean sidhe, so we do know that they go back as far as the Middle Ages, and interestingly in Scotland at this time, it was a rife time for death and destruction. 

In 1300 exactly, the English started an invasion of Scotland, under King Edward 1st, and these wars had been going on for the last 4 years already, leaving Scottish and English dead for miles around the borders. And yes, if you are familiar with William Wallace and Braveheart, this is when this also took place - because they may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom yadder yadder.

But alongside a lot of soldiers dead, those at home were not much safer during these times - with the average life expectancy at a max of 45 and medicine not being very well developed, Bean Nighe appearances were all too common. Not to mention that in 1346, the Black Plague struck all of Europe, leaving 200 million dead across the continent, killing 30-50% of the entire population - meaning that burying your expectant wife, sister, mother or daughter was not uncommon. I will say that Scotland really was having a rough time during this part of history.

But where I lack exact dates about our monster, I can make up with some great stories about one. This story is called the Mermaid of Loch Slin, and is from the Scottish Highlands. 

A woman from Cromarty, which is on the Black Isle of Scotland, was walking alongside Loch Slin one Sunday morning and she saw a washerwoman smacking clothes with a bludgeon. Laid out next to the woman were around 30 shirts, all smeared with blood. Later that day, the local Abbey roof collapsed during service, killing everyone inside - totalling 36 people. And interestingly, this wasn’t documented in history - but the Abbey’s roof did collapse in 1742 which killed nearly 50 people, so some say this was the omen.

Another story is about Gille-cas-fliuch, which is Gaelic meaning wet foot man and I will not be saying it again because it’s really hard to pronounce and I’m sure I’ve already butchered it. He was going home to the island of Benbecula in the Scottish isles, and he spotted a washerwoman next to a loch singing. The man snuck up on her, and seized her hand, telling her to give him three things, to tell him whose death shroud she was washing, to give him his ideal wife and to keep seaweed flowing into the creek near his home. The Bean Nighe replied that she was washing the shroud of the leader of the Clan Ranald, a friend of his, stating that he would die if he were to cross a certain village by foot again. The Wet Foot man picked up the shroud with his spear and launched it into the Loch, saving himself and ran as fast as he could to his friend’s home, telling him everything. The Clan leader created a boat at first light, and then sailed across to avoid his fate, therefore never again returning by foot. I will say that a lot of this story was in Gaelic and the translations are rough - but it’s what I could gather with my resources here!

Now in terms of comparisons to real life, the only thing that is ever mistaken for these types of monsters are quite real and they are barn owls if you can believe it. These lovely birds sing a very beautiful but sad sounding song, and are found around the British Isles. For mythical comparisons, of course, we have already talked about Banshees, but they are almost a sister monster to this one from across the Irish sea. Which is interesting as the Irish and Scottish from the 1300’s were very much in conflict as Robert the Bruce went over in 1315 in the first wars against Ireland, but it makes sense that some of both of their folklores get mixed together, as they also shared the core Gaelic language structure too.

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CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, I’ve merged Banshees with them this week to fill this out, as they are very similar monsters as criers of death. 

For art, have a look at The Washerwomen of the Night) by Jean-Édouard Dargent from 1861, Bunworth Banshee by Thomas Crofton Croker from 1825, or Washerwoman by a Brook by Jean Pillement for some classic portraits or I would really recommend independent art this week for some spooky images of Banshees and Bean Nighe.

In movies, we have; Monster High, Scooby-Doo, Star Wars Clone Wars, Rebels, Banshee!!!, Darby O’Gill and the Little People, The Nightmare Before Christmas & The Scream of the Banshee.

For TV, we have; Xena Warrior Princess, Charmed, Supernatural, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Legacies, X-Men, The Ancient Magus’ Bride, The Imperfects, Lost Girl, The Quest, So Weird, Teen Wolf, Big Mouth, Gargoyles, The Real Ghostbusters, Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends, Extreme Ghostbusters, Catscratch, Arthur, Ducktales & Ruby Gloom.

In video games, we have ones such as; Mass Effect 3, Runescape, Phasmophobia, Fable, Warframe, God of War, Dragon’s Dogma, World of Warcraft, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Starcraft 2, Pokemon, The Force Unleashed, SMITE, Mortal Kombat, Halo, Quake 4, Shadowgate, Lila’s Sky Ark, Miitopia, Elvira 3: Jaws of Cerberus, Nexus War, Daily Life with Monster Girl Online, Mystery Case Files, City of Heroes, Nancy Drew, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Archon, Coffee Talk, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia & Blood.

My book recommendation this week is Celtic Myths and Legends by Peter Berresford Ellis or The Anthology of Scottish Folk Tales by Donald Smith for some great Scottish folklore stories as well as across the very small pond in Ireland for some Celtic folklore too.

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DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed? 1715

I’m going to say yes - almost definitely. It makes sense that with their historical context that these kinds of omens were respected and feared. I grew up on Celtic and Gaelic folklore, as well as traditional English of course. But because of this, all of these folklore tidbits were really important and hammered in growing up, and Banshees are one of my favourite myths as well as one of my most feared. I was always taught to never pick up an abandoned comb or hairbrush and to avoid looking at people in the woods - so this one really resonates with me as well. 

Of course, it makes sense that this myth exists in the first place - I’m sure seeing your grandma washing out blood of soldiers clothes is a bit of a bad omen in itself, but with the amount of death and realistically, genocide, of the Scottish people by the English, it definitely adds a foreboding tone to this monster.

I also have to mention that these are female monsters, cursed at their death at the hands of their gender really - which makes this monster very human, as well as terribly tragic. The concept of a woman dying in childbirth is so sad to think of now, but back then, and having this folklore over the top of you - would have been horrible, but a super interesting one nonetheless.

But what do you think? Did the Bean Nighe haunt the lakes and ponds of the Highlands? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

This monster has been on my to-do list for a really long time, and I’m so glad we’ve got to cover it. If you heard my Banshee episode, you’ll know they’re one of my favourites - so to follow with this one is wonderful. 

Next week, we’re heading over to Korea for the first time in ages and looking at a mischievous little goblin from Korean folklore, so keep an eye open for pranks for the Dokkaebi next Thursday!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.