The Irish of Beacon and their legend of the Banshee
Did you know that the area surrounding Spring Valley Street in Beacon was once known as “Fiddler’s Green”. The Irish families that lived along the beautiful Fishkill Creek at the base of the Highland mountain range named it—they would say-- for their village “back in the old country” of Ireland, located somewhere in Dublin. Although I couldn’t find this mythical place in Dublin, I did find it in the afterlife as a place where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing, and dancers who never tire. This certainly sounds like Beacon during pub-crawl (some years more than others).
Another mythical character that the Irish introduced to Rombout’s Precinct, aka Southern Dutchess County was that of the Banshee. According to an old newspaper, mention of the Banshee or “fairy-woman,” occurs even in the earliest recorded history of Ireland. Initially, she seems to have been regarded as a superior type of fairy, but later the range of her powers narrowed in popular belief until at last she was accepted as fulfilling the function of death-warner, or forecaster of family calamities. One way to tell if a Banshee is trying to warn of impending doom is to see one, often dressed in ancient clothing moaning and wringing their hands as they try to communicate to the living that ominous dark clouds surround them. Another sign was if a picture popped off a wall. And then there is the scream…
I first heard about the Banshee when I found an old article that described a ghost that was haunting the Village of Wappingers Falls in 1916. My grandmother grew up there a few streets away and would have been nine years old at the time. How I wish I could ask her if she had witnessed the Banshee or at least heard her cry.
In celebration of all our Irish neighbors and their historical ghosts and legends, enjoy the full article below.
HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!!!
Newspaper article: Evening Enterprise on May 11, 1916, from Wappingers Falls, Dutchess County, NY,
PERSON IN WHITE PUZZLES POLICE
There is quite an excitement in the village over the appearance of a person dressed in white, who frequents the park and peeks at people passing through or else chases the. Whether the person is a man or woman is unknown, as everybody who is having any experience with the strange personage has been too frightened to ascertain any particulars.
Last night the apparition appeared on the streets of the village, being observed first on Mill Street about 10 o’clock, which created a great excitement and caused everybody on the street at that time to have a nervous chill.
Pursuit was made by perhaps one hundred people, men and boys, but the goblin eluded all efforts at capture and disappeared. No one is able to explain the circumstance, even the policemen being puzzled. The freak made no sound except an occasional shriek, which resembles the banshee’s cry, which all Irishmen will recognize, and the affair still remains a mystery and people are wondering what it means and who it is.