Is THIS BIRD Responsible for Ghost Sightings Across the World?

[@jameshitt3263]

I remember the first time I ever heard a barn owl scream in the dusk as a kid. Absolutely blood-curdling.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@jameshitt3263 definitely!

[@tvalkyrie]

🦉 Perfect video for Halloween Bird Watchers! 🎃🍁💕

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@tvalkyrie that’s what we were going for! 👻

[@timjozwiak2293]

Great information. Also takes away any negativity for this beautiful bird

[@Paxtone]

Years ago I saw a documentary on The Mothman sightings where, as a test, they drove people down a winding country lane at night where they put various life size cut-outs of animals. One was an owl. They could only view the figures for a moment in the headlights as they passed by. The test subjects didn’t get it was an owl and wingspan estimates I think were 15’ to 25’! Shiny eyes, huge wingspan…Mothman! 🤗

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Interesting! Do you remember what the doc was called?

[@Paxtone]

@ It took a while to find it, and it wasn’t a documentary as I remembered. It was Season 4 Episode 5 of Monsterquest from 2010! Lol The wingspan estimates were from interviewed “actual witnesses” of Mothman, not the test subjects as I remembered. But, the “scientist” running the test actually says it was likely a Barn Owl people saw with eye shine and misjudged sizes due to fear and surprise of a fleeting encounter. With calm subjects who knew they were there to see something in the test they did much better, but three still overestimated the size.

[@markshen3280]

Another birder video also noted that the Great Horned Owl was legendary responsible for the transition from a female demon into an owl for its eerie screams and screeches.

[@maegpye]

I had been reading The Exorcist soon after its release (early 70s). I thought I like scary stories but it turned out I thought scary stories were like those old movies: The Mummy, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman. The Exorcist wasn't anything like those and I was not prepared for how scared I would be, pretty much perpetually. One night, I heard the most ungodly scream outside my second floor bedroom window and then, I swear, the screaming entity started circling around the house... Second floor level. Freaked me way out. I told this story to someone years later and they just said "barn owl". And that made sense.

[@markpaul-ym5wg]

The bird called a rain crow in the eastern U.S is one of the hardest to spot of all birds.Totally mysterious and most have never saw 1.The indigo bunting is one of the most beautiful birds in the U.S.They are abiut the size of your thumb.Thanks again for the video.😊

[@taradorsey1317]

Happy Halloween and for the blood chilling barn, owl

[@markshen3280]

Good morning 🌅 to you from Hong Kong 🇭🇰 SAR. Hong Kong 🇭🇰 SAR only has the Collared Scops Owl, the Asian Barred Owlet, and the Northern Boobook, which is an uncommon passage migrant mainly in spring to widespread wooded area.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@markshen3280 those all sound very cool! Have you seen them all?

[@markshen3280]

@ I have not the opportunity to any owl in Hong Kong 🇭🇰 SAR. Not even in the country side.

[@RedKoopaPlumber]

Mothman actually is based on a actual vagrant large snowy owl! The youtuber Trey the explainer recently made video on it and even took a trip to find the taxidermied specimen!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Just checked out that video and it was really interesting! Hard to say if the Snowy was responsible but it seems like it’s definitely a possibility!

[@maegpye]

Personally I think it fits the description of a sandhill crane... Or whatever similar species of crane they get at that location.

[@aspiecomputergeek9870]

It's not just owls. There's a member of the crane family called the Limpkin that lives in Florida and their call is a bloodcurdling shriek. I've heard stories from some Florida communities where someone has heard a Limpkin and then gone outdoors thinking someone was being attacked.

[@jtru0]

Happy Halloween 🦉 🎃 👻 🦇 cool video.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@@jtru0 Happy Halloween!

[@michaelsimko7694]

One special day every year that this has a connection to is Halloween. An interesting thing I found out about in the history and origination of Halloween is that it originated in Ireland in ancient times. The day the ancient people would celebrate it is said to be the same day as the modern calendar's October 31, which was a different date during the ancient times. The ancient people worshiped the dead on the night of that date every year, which would tell you why owls have a connection with Halloween. Witchcraft was more common during those times too.

[@NathanWebb-c5h]

I can also imagine hearing the limpkin's piercing wail on Halloween evening. Happy Halloween!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Totally!!

[@Oltoir]

What a great vid!

[@Beryllahawk]

Why not both? (big grin) Perfect video for Halloween y'all!! I will say - even the ancient folks would've been capable of observing barn owls in the daytime, and though they aren't AS active they do still get out and about, especially during the breeding and brooding seasons - hungry owl babies make for a lot of work! And therefore I feel like they might've been a LITTLE more familiar with its overall shape and maybe its sounds. It's even possible they might have had a less than friendly relationship with the owls - appreciating their hunting of mice and rats, but NOT so much the occasional tendency to take domestic pigeons, ha! (And given some of the nature documentaries I've seen, they are downright bullies during breeding season, getting very territorial and attacking plenty of other birds, so it's not that big a leap to think of them harassing someone's dovecote or even the chickens.) But as you point out - things that are very familiar in daylight are NOT so familiar in the dark! Even your cat can look like a completely demonic creature if you catch it just the wrong way - owls and cats both have that reflective eye thing (I can never spell it right), and as spooky as their eyes look in artificial light, I can't IMAGINE how terrifying and unexpected that would be from the light of a candle or a torch. And in a time period where even bio-luminescence and phosphor-light was creepy and supernatural, it really makes a lot more sense that eye-shine and owl screams would add up to "scary screamy lady on the roof!" I also think that it's fascinating that for all the "banshees are bad news" legends, there are also quite a few that claim certain spirits are guardians, warning of death not to cry doom but to aid the family in preparing for the grief, a somber sort of kindness. But all those predate Christianity I think, so that might also have colored the banshee stories. Humans really do love to embroider on every little thing we see or imagine!

[@JAGzilla-ur3lh]

"More natural and less paranormal." Less paranormal. As in, a smaller but still higher-than-zero percentage might be paranormal. Wise of you to leave that possibility on the table...

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Never shut the door on the paranormal completely lol