Reading only of "Legends of the Banshee" from Fairy legends and traditions of the south of Ireland by Thomas Crofton Croker 1838.

The tale follows Charles McCarthy, a young Irish Catholic nobleman from an old family with a hereditary banshee. In 1749, at age 24, Charles was living a dissolute, drunken lifestyle when he fell gravely ill with fever. He appeared to die, but suddenly revived and claimed he had experienced a divine vision where he was judged before God. A guardian saint interceded for him, securing three years to repent and reform his ways.

Charles completely changed his behavior, becoming religious and temperate. However, as his 27th birthday approached (the end of his three-year reprieve), family and friends had largely forgotten or dismissed his vision as delirium.

On the night before his birthday, Mrs. Barry and her daughters were traveling to Spring House for a wedding celebration when they encountered a banshee - a tall, thin woman in white pointing toward Spring House while making terrible screams and cries.

Upon arrival, they discovered that Charles had been accidentally shot in the leg by a mentally disturbed young woman who had intended to kill James Ryan (who had seduced and abandoned her). Though initially thought minor, the wound became infected due to poor treatment. Charles died before sunset on his 27th birthday, exactly as he had predicted from his vision three years earlier.

The story serves as a traditional Irish tale combining elements of supernatural warning (the banshee), divine judgment, redemption, and fate.