It is not my intention in this work to do more than briefly refer to a few
of the most famous of the German hauntings in their relation to the
Banshee; and, since it is the best known, I would first of all call
attention to the White Lady, that restricts its unwelcome attentions to
Royalty, and more especially, perhaps, to that branch of it known as the
House of Hohenzollern. Between this White Lady family phantasm and the
Banshee there is undoubtedly something in common. They are both
exclusively associated with families of really ancient lineage, which they
follow about from town to town, province to province, and country to
country; and the purpose of their respective missions is generally the
same, namely, to give warning of some approaching death or calamity, which
in the case of the White Lady is usually of a national order.
Occasionally, too, the German family ghost, like the Banshee, is heard
playing on a harp, but here I think the likeness ends. There are no very
striking characteristics in the appearance of the White Lady of the
Hohenzollerns, she would seem to be neither very beautiful nor the
reverse; nor does she convey the impression of belonging to any very
remote age; on the contrary, she might well be the earth-bound spirit of
someone who died in the Middle Ages or even later.
In December, 1628, she was seen in the Royal Palace in Berlin, and was
heard to say, "_Veni, judica vivos et mortuos; judicum mihi adhuc
superest_"--that is to say, "Come judge the quick and the dead--I wait for
judgment." She also manifested herself to one of the Fredericks of
Prussia, who regarded her advent as a sure sign of his approaching death,
which it was, for he died shortly afterwards. We next read of her
appearing in Bohemia at the Castle of Neuhaus. One of the princesses of
the royal house was trying on a new head-gear before a mirror, and,
thinking her waiting-maid was near at hand, she inquired of her the time.
To the Princess's horror, however, instead of the maid answering her, a
strange figure all in white, which her instincts told her was the famous
national ghost, stepped out from behind a screen and exclaimed, "_Zehn uhr
ist es irh Liebden!_" "It is ten o'clock, your love"; the last two words
being the mode of address usually adopted in Germany and Austria by
Royalties when speaking to one another. The Princess was soon afterwards
taken ill and died.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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