The Banshee is Ray Bradbury’s autobiographical short story written in 1984 for the Gallery magazine and later included in the Ray Bradbury Theater series.
The plot is based on the real story of the hostile relationship of the screenwriter Bradbury and director John Houston while working on the movie Moby Dick . When Bradbury visited Houston's home in Ireland on business, he had to endure many taunts and ridicule on his part, as well as attempts to intimidate him with ghost stories.
Story
In the story, director John Hampton and writer Douglas Rogers also have an unfriendly relationship: the director frankly mocks his colleague. But Bradbury makes an unexpected turn in the plot: all of a sudden, Hampton's horror story becomes true. In the forest, John really expects a banshee , the grieving spirit of a woman. Despite the fear, Douglas, conversing with the woman, finds out that she mistakenly mistook John for a certain William, a past tenant of the house, her unfaithful lover. Angered by John's antics, Doug sends him to meet with the Banshee, knowing that death awaits him. However, at the last moment he asks him to change his mind and not walk. John, nevertheless, goes towards fate.
In a television production, the director is Peter O'Toole and the screenwriter is Charles Martin Smith . Interestingly, Peter O'Toole worked with John Houston in the movie The Bible: At the Beginning .