In the fictional Halo universe, the Banshee is a ground attack aircraft. The item was first depicted in the console game Halo: Combat Evolved (2001). Made by the Covenant, they are one passenger aerial ground assault vehicles with the ability to fly, high maneuverability, and fair speed. Its weapon set includes twin plasma cannons and a single fuel rod gun. They were restricted to single player only in the X-Box version, but the PC version brought it to multiplayer. The Banshee is fairly unbalanced in online games due to its ability to fly and its powerful weapons, making it only easily defeatable by skilled players or anyone with a human tank or rocket launcher. The Banshee makes a wailing noise as it flies, thus giving it the name, "Banshee."

The "Golden Banshee"

One of the more amusing pranks concerning the Banshee was the 'discovery' of a gold-colored Banshee craft. Normally purple, this specific craft was supposedly more powerful and could be used easier than the standard. Despite the increasing obviousness of the prank, many people claimed to have seen and used these craft. The situation did not improve when players modified their game to allow "golden" Banshees, which fueled more and more belief in the mysterious Gold Banshee.