Banshee (Strange)

The Banshee is a villainess in the TV show Strange. She is based on the original Banshee in folklore, and the Banshee can contaminate human society by bringing an infernal plague from Hell. In fact she desires to doom people to Hell by making them die of plague.

Coming from Hell, the Banshee came to a village in Ireland in late Victorian times and got adopted by a rich family, posing as a young human girl to gain their trust. Pretending she was orphaned, the Banshee was adopted, and she seemed to live amicably with her adopted sister. In fact, the Banshee was planning to spread plague, and call her fellow companion, the Costa Burra, the death coach, to harvest the souls of the deceased.

The Banshee successfully spread the plague, and she herself pretended to be stricken with the illness and lay bed ridden. However, she called to the Death Coach, pretending she was crying because of the plague. But the Coach was summoned and she got her adopted father taken to Hell by the Death Coach.

When the demon had done away with her own family, her adopted sister fell ill. She was devastated, because her adopted sister was the only human she had ever cared for. The Banshee had begun to get a friendship with the girl and she was struck by sadness when the girl died of her own plague. So the Banshee lived in remorse the rest of her life, but harboured bitter feelings at humanity, because she believed they were responsible for her loss.

Eventually in 2003 the Banshee was a very old woman, and she once again decided to spread the plague. John Strange, a disgraced priest, had heard of sickness and knew it was a demonic plague. But finding the demon was a difficult matter. He tracked down an old woman (the Banshee) who knew of the last victim who had died of the plague. She seemed very introverted and liked quiet life. Strange needlessly didn't suspect her, and went away to ponder who the demon was.

Soon, his researcher Toby found information on the Banshee, an Irish demon, whose cries called the Costa Burra death coach to Earth from Hell. Once there, the coach could not return empty-handed. So, Strange realized the demon was the Banshee. Returning to the old woman's place just after she had claimed a researcher by calling the coach, Strange was confronted by the Banshee, and Jude, his assistant, was also frozen in place when the Banshee revealed her true nature. She promised to take them both to Hell and called the Costa Burra coach which galloped out of Hell, driven by a black-robed headless horseman.

The Banshee asked Strange and Jude who would be most tired of life and who would go on board. None of them answered because the Banshee had paralyzed them briefly. The coachman got impatient and so when neither Strange or Jude answered, the Banshee, remembering her grief for her adopted sister, decided to end her own life. Climbing on the death coach, she thanked Jude for letting her have this chance. Jude tried to stop her, but the Banshee boarded and screamed as the fires of Hell stripped away her flesh and she exploded in a ball of flame. The Costa Burra coach rode back into Hell, taking the swirling smoke which the Banshee had become with it.