"Banshee" is an autobiographical short story written by

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

in the September 1984 issue of

Gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (Gr ...

, and later adapted by Bradbury as an episode of '' Ray Bradbury Theater''. The story is based on Bradbury's experiences with John Huston during pre-production of their film ''

Moby Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...

'', directed by Huston and adapted into a screenplay by Bradbury from

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are ''Moby-Dick'' (1851); ''Typee'' (1846), a rom ...

's novel. Bradbury and Huston had a very unpleasant working relationship whenever Bradbury would visit Huston's house in Ireland, where Huston would routinely manipulate and torment Bradbury with insults, pranks, and attempts to frighten the young author with impromptu

ghost stories A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

. In "Banshee", director John Hampton and writer Douglas Rogers share an identical relationship. However, Bradbury puts a supernatural twist into the story by making one of John's ghostly tales true; unbeknownst to John, his property in the Irish country-side really is haunted by a

banshee A banshee ( ; Modern Irish , from sga, ben síde , "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name i ...

, a wailing female spirit. Despite his fear, Doug converses with the ghost, who has mistaken John for William, a former resident of the house who was her unfaithful lover when she was alive centuries before and vows to take him into eternity. Angered by John's cruel behavior earlier in the evening, Doug returns to the house and goads John into venturing into the night to meet the banshee, knowing that she intends to kill John/William. At the last minute, Doug has second thoughts and unsuccessfully tries to convince John ''not'' to meet the banshee; however, John laughs off the warning and goes outside to confront her anyway. Outside the closed door can be heard the banshee's scream of triumph The television adaptation stars

Charles Martin Smith Charles Martin Smith (born October 30, 1953) is an American actor, writer, and director of film and television, based in British Columbia. He is known for his roles in ''American Graffiti'' (1973), ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), '' Never Cry Wo ...

as Doug (the Bradbury character) and Peter O'Toole as John (the character based on Huston).

References

External links

* 1984 short stories Short stories by Ray Bradbury Ghosts in written fiction Works originally published in Gallery (magazine) Short stories set in Ireland Banshees Autobiographical short stories {{1980s-horror-story-stub