Rea, County Kerry

The beansídhe is know to be a fairy woman and she lives in glens and valleys and lonely places and she is after certain people very much.
One night this man was walking in a very lonely glen and he was not there long when he saw a fine pipe of tobacco lost so he sat down on a clump of soft green grass and took out his box of matches and reddened the pipe. He was smoking and smoking at his ease when the beansídhe gave a great roar, inside in a clump of briars, that lifted him off the ground and he soon saw this tall black woman between two drains, she was very mournful looking and she was the very same as any woman but she had no legs. So the man continued his journey. He was walking through this green field when his pipe got a crack of a fist and the pipe fell down and he picked it up and put it in his mouth and no sooner had he it in his mouth when it got a crack and fell again and in the finish he had to put it in his pocked. So when he was near a gate he heard the beansidhe again but he did not see her at all this time.

From the National Folklore Collection, UCD.


The beansidhe is supposed to be a woman dressed in white and it is thought that she follows certain families such as the Mac' and the O'. But the truth is that she follows every family only that she is not heard, because the crying that is heard is the spirit of the person that is going to die. I often heard funny tales about the beanside. On one occasion a man came out of a house at four o'clock in the morning and he had to go through a path in a field on his journey; he hadn't gone far when he met a woman dressed in white and she was crying. He thought to continue on but he couldn't pass her out so he had to turn back and go into the house until she had crossed and a few days after a man in the house died.

From the National Folklore Collection, UCD. 


On another occasion a man was going on a journey very early in the morning and he heard very lonesome crying so he went in the direction of it and he met a woman and a baby in her arms and she crying. He spoke to her but she never answered him so when he arrived home that evening his wife and her young baby were dead.

From the National Folklore Collection, UCD.


The beansidhe or bean caoin is a fairy woman which foretells death, and the origin of her is handed down to us from generation to generation.
The old system they had long ago was to cry in the funeral from the house to the Churchyard and there were certain women appointed for this who had good voices.
It is thought that it is their spirit that comes back still when anyone of their family name is dying or dead.

From the National Folklore Collection, UCD.


The beansidhe follows certain families, the Keanes, the Meades, the Dillons and the Sheehrys. Before any of these people die she is heard crying outside the windows. Some people who saw her said that she is a very tall woman dressed in black and has a very lonesome cry.
The time that great [-] was in France she followed families who were wounded and dead and she was heard to cry there.
She always keeps to the glens and lonely places. It is said that one time she had a quarrel with another woman over flan and the other woman cursed her.
Ever afterwards, she is going round the place crying.
There was a certain man sick and the beansidhe was crying outside the window and even people saw her. The man however got better.

From the National Folklore Collection, UCD.