Gwrach y Rhibyn
Also called Gwrach Y Rhibyn, Gwrach-y-Rhibyn, Hag of the Mist, the Llandaff Gwrach y Rhibyn.
In Welsh folklore, Gwrach y Rhibyn is a hideous death-warning spirit, a Welsh counterpart to the Irish banshee, whose shrieks and cries name the person whose death is coming.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Welsh folklore
- Trait family
- The Death-Criers
Near this figure
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Sight and sound
- Blood curdling scream
why
breaking into a ghastly shriek
Omens
- Mournful wail predicts death of kin
why
Some sources describe her crying out specific, personal words depending on who is fated to die, such as calling out for "my husband" or "my wife" or "my little child," while a wordless, inarticulate scream is said to mean that the death foretold is that of the listener personally.
Curses
- Death omen
why
Her essential role is to give warning of an approaching death, and the accounts describe her doing this in more than one way.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Death carries both readings
5 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Gwrach Y Rhibyn."
- George M. Eberhart, Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, s.v. "Gwrach Y Rhibyn."
- Katharine Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, s.v. "Gwrach Y Rhibyn."
- Patricia Monaghan, The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore, p. 234.
- Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages.