Donal Hickey: Have you heard a banshee wailing? It might have been a barn owl

The Irish name for the barn owl is ‘screachog reilige’ (graveyard screecher) and that explains why its nocturnal cry might unsettle folk

Ghostly white in plumage, this owl only moves around at night and then silently. You’ll sometimes see it in car headlights as it hunts for prey. Picture: iStock

It’s a time of year, especially on clear, frosty nights, when sounds carry for long distances in the countryside when you‘re likely to hear odd, chilling cries.

Many animals make noises that could well come from humans. Little wonder then that, in less enlightened times, people believed such screams were from the banshee, the fairy woman and harbinger of death.