Kilnantic, County Kildare

You don't believe in banshees? Well, talk to Mr Richard Mather, Kilnantic, Rathangan, and he will do his best to make you change your mind! Mr Mather is convinced that a banshee is at present prowling around the Kilnantic area - because he heard her.

"It was a long, long wailing sound which lasted for five minutes; I would not like ever to hear it again," he told our representative. He heard "the wail" sometime after midnight just as he entered his home after driving from Waterford.

You still don't believe it? Neither do I, but Mr Mather is quite willing to test your nerves by challenging you to sit up some night at the spot. But he won't be with you!

Leinster Leader, 19th November 1955.


Dear Sir, - Re your report of "Banshee" heard in Rathangan district. Has your correspondent ever heard a vixen fox calling her mate? Well I have, many a time, one of these soloists treated us to his [sic] performance every night at practically the same hour, and in the distance could be heard her boy friends barking in response.

I do not blame anyone for thinking of "Banshees" or any other weird creature, for of all the hair-raising sounds one could imagine this animal's cry is the worst I've ever heard - something between the screaming of a child, or of a woman being strangled. It has to be heard to be believed.

I've invited some neighbours to come and listen to it, and they nearly died from fright, especially when Mrs Vixen jumped out of a hedge quite near us, and ran off protesting. I'm sorry to attempt to explode the exciting "Banshee" thrill, but offer a possible solution, which may save some nervous person having an attack of "jitters."
- Yours, etc., (Miss) B. Gregg, Kilmeague.

Leinster Leader,  26th November, 1955.




Still sticking to his story - that he heard a banshee cry - is Mr Richard Mather, Kilnantic. And to the kind lady who wrote in these columns that his banshee was really a vixen, Mr. Mather replies: "I have heard most native animals cry at night, including the fox and the vixen, but there is nothing like the cry of a woman - and it was a woman I heard."

Leinster Leader, 17th December 1955.