According to Irish folklore, the banshee is a ghostly figure whose eerie wail signifies impending death. Her voice reverberates with supernatural sorrow that instills fear and an ominous sense of certainty. Muncie’s own Banshee, a modern tornado siren perched on the roof of the Delaware County Building, serves a comparable role. It’s a product of technology rather than myth but it, too, blares out a wild howl to warn of imminent danger.
The electromechanical siren was invented around the turn of the twentieth century. Local governments bought them by the thousands during the Cold War. Delaware County has more than thirty outdoor warning sirens today! It may not look like much, but none are more intimidating than the Banshee at the courthouse.
When I worked the night shift, nothing matched the jolt of being startled awake every Friday morning by the apocalyptic blare of Muncie’s outdoor warning sirens! If I go back far enough, I owe that unwelcome wake-up call to Federal Signal, which developed its Thunderbolt-1000 between 1949 and 1952 to warn cities of impending Soviet attack.
On January 9, 1958, six Thunderbolts arrived in Muncie at the order of Marshall Sipe, Delaware County’s Director of Civil Defense. The initial wave of sirens was installed at Riley and Roosevelt Elementary Schools, Franklin Middle School, Covalt Dairy, Broderick Company, and Ball Stores. Each promised a full mile of coverage1.
In 1973, Ball Stores’ Thunderbolt was removed to provide room for new air conditioners installed during a remodeling project. Although the initial plan was to reinstall the siren on Muncie’s downtown water tower2, it was eventually moved to Storer Middle School on the city’s northwest side3.
That year, a plan was drafted to use the sirens for tornado warnings after the 1974 Super Outbreak destroyed the White County Courthouse in Monticello4. I haven’t found a newspaper article to back this up, but I believe the Banshee atop the courthouse was installed around that time.
Alerting Communicators of America brought the Banshee to market in 1968 along with its smaller Screamer and larger Cyclone models. Mechanically, all Banshees are pretty simple. A 10-horsepower motor mounted to the top of the siren drives an axial fan known as a rotor within a stationary housing called a stator.
The spinning rotor opens and closes a series of integrated holes called ports. That causes air from an intake below to project out through the mechanism. The Banshee family featured two variants, a single-rotor Banshee 110 and a dual-rotor SuperBanshee 115.
Sirens like Delaware County’s Model 110 were available in 10/12 and 9/12 port dual-tone models; Muncie’s features the 10/12 configuration. Later, the sirens were sold in 8-port single and 8/12 port dual-tone configurations. Unfortunately, ACA discontinued the model in 19735.
Today, Banshees are pretty thin in these parts. According to the Indiana Siren Map administered by Spencer Harman, only a few remain in the state. Remarkably, four are in Kendallville! A fifth is on top of the Reade Liberal Arts Center at Taylor University, and the sixth is the one downtown. Muncie’s is the only Banshee 110; the rest appear to be Banshee 115s.
Muncie’s Banshee screams with a throaty resonance. The siren and the mythical banshee’s wail both create a profound sense of foreboding, and their unsettling sounds provoke immediate awareness of danger- even during Delaware County’s weekly tests! Banshee 110s reach 112 decibels of intensity at 100 feet, and the dual tones are terrifying to hear in any weather. On the evening of March 5, 2000, the Banshee malfunctioned and cried for two minutes before maintenance crews could shut it off6! I bet locals were scared out of their wits.
Want to build your own? I recently learned that a cohort of siren fans like to design their favorites in LEGO. A Banshee 110 like the one in downtown Muncie takes twenty-one easily-found pieces. According to Bricklink, ordering the parts costs about $17! To convert it to a more powerful Banshee 115, swap the fluted 2×2 brick for a 3943 cone to “cover” the motor.
Aside from those we recreate in LEGO bricks, many of Delaware County’s old warning sirens have been phased out as they’ve aged. Today, only three of the six Thunderbolts remain in use. Nearly two-thirds of the outdoor warning sirens in Delaware County are modern Federal Signal SRN-2001s.
I live close to several of them and usually hear a Thunderbolt. In fact, I can hear the SRN-2001 nearby and three others; the Thunderbolt; and two of Ball State’s electronic Whelen WPS-4004s Nevertheless, I wish I lived closer to downtown to experience the ominous cry of the Banshee every Friday morning.
I was terrified of all of Muncie’s sirens as a kid, but now, not so much. Sometimes, the best way to face your fears is by forcing yourself to get as close to what’s frightening you as possible. I wouldn’t do it with a wolverine, but sirens have proven pretty safe so far.
I wasn’t sure how to answer when someone asked why I’m so fascinated by outdoor warning sirens,. I’ve always been intrigued by hidden infrastructure, especially things that are often heard but rarely seen. Maybe there’s a connection to my own proclivity towards obnoxious noisemaking! Regardless, Delaware County and Muncie hosts a dwindling number of vintage sirens. The historic Banshee may disrupt our downtown routines with its apocalyptic blare, but I’m glad it does.
Sources Cited
1 Downtown Siren Last in CD Link (1958, March 17). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
2 Collier, W. (1974, June 7). Civil defense siren sounds in city again. The Muncie Evening Press. p. 1.
3 Canan, J. (1998, May 24). 25 years ago. The Muncie Star Press. p. 30.Canan, J. (1998, May 24). 25 years ago. The Muncie Star Press. p. 30.
4 (See footnote 2).
5 ACA Banshee (n.d.). Civil Defense Sirens Wiki. Fandom. Web. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
6 Malfunction sets off downtown siren (2000, March 5). The Muncie Star Press. p. 7.
