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Owls and Halloween?

BigBearBigBear If your life had a face, I would punch it.Registered User regular
edited October 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
This isn't a big deal, I figured I'd ask this question just for fun and out of curiosity.

I bought some cheap paper Halloween decorations from Stop and Shop today. They're those paper cutouts that people tape to their windows.

There's a pack of four of them. One of them is a haunted house, another one is a pumpkin smoking a corn cob pipe, there's a witch, and then I notice one of them is an owl.

That got me thinking, what exactly do owls have to do with Halloween?

I know that owls are predators, but they don't seem particularly scary or spooky in my mind. Actually, they seem kind of cute and cuddly sometimes. I guess I just don't see why they're connected to the holiday.

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Posts

  • ImprovoloneImprovolone Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Owls are very autumn to me.

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  • TarantioTarantio Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Google-Fu Activate!

    http://birds.suite101.com/article.cfm/barn_owl_one_of_our_halloween_birds

    Basically, they're nocturnal and sometimes scare people with loud noises.

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  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    The sound of an owl is also supposed to herald death in a lot of mythology.

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  • Reservoir AngelReservoir Angel __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2009
    Owls are scary in the dark. Picture it. You're in the woods. you're alone. It's dark. you hear an ominous hoot from behind you. You turn; nothing there. Another hoot. Still nothing there. Then you see just a pair of bright yellow eyes staring at you from a low branch. You carefully approach the owl, and then it's whole head spins 360 degrees, like something from the fucking Exorcist!

    Reservoir Angel on
  • MKRMKR Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Reservoir Angel wrote: »
    Owls are scary in the dark. Picture it. You're in the woods. you're alone. It's dark. you hear an ominous hoot from behind you. You turn; nothing there. Another hoot. Still nothing there. Then you see just a pair of bright yellow eyes staring at you from a low branch. You carefully approach the owl, and then it's whole head spins 360 degrees, like something from the fucking Exorcist!

    I've actually experienced this. Even worse, we have an animal here whose name I can't recall, but its call sounds like a woman shrieking.

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  • Reservoir AngelReservoir Angel __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2009
    MKR wrote: »
    Reservoir Angel wrote: »
    Owls are scary in the dark. Picture it. You're in the woods. you're alone. It's dark. you hear an ominous hoot from behind you. You turn; nothing there. Another hoot. Still nothing there. Then you see just a pair of bright yellow eyes staring at you from a low branch. You carefully approach the owl, and then it's whole head spins 360 degrees, like something from the fucking Exorcist!

    I've actually experienced this. Even worse, we have an animal here whose name I can't recall, but its call sounds like a woman shrieking.
    Oh that sounds creepy as fuck. If I lived where you did I'd move immediately. I scare insanely easily

    Reservoir Angel on
  • MKRMKR Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Reservoir Angel wrote: »
    MKR wrote: »
    Reservoir Angel wrote: »
    Owls are scary in the dark. Picture it. You're in the woods. you're alone. It's dark. you hear an ominous hoot from behind you. You turn; nothing there. Another hoot. Still nothing there. Then you see just a pair of bright yellow eyes staring at you from a low branch. You carefully approach the owl, and then it's whole head spins 360 degrees, like something from the fucking Exorcist!

    I've actually experienced this. Even worse, we have an animal here whose name I can't recall, but its call sounds like a woman shrieking.
    Oh that sounds creepy as fuck. If I lived where you did I'd move immediately. I scare insanely easily

    Things we also have: Rabbits, deer, lizards, turtles, tortoises, foxes. It's not so bad.

    MKR on
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  • Reservoir AngelReservoir Angel __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2009
    MKR wrote: »
    Reservoir Angel wrote: »
    MKR wrote: »
    Reservoir Angel wrote: »
    Owls are scary in the dark. Picture it. You're in the woods. you're alone. It's dark. you hear an ominous hoot from behind you. You turn; nothing there. Another hoot. Still nothing there. Then you see just a pair of bright yellow eyes staring at you from a low branch. You carefully approach the owl, and then it's whole head spins 360 degrees, like something from the fucking Exorcist!

    I've actually experienced this. Even worse, we have an animal here whose name I can't recall, but its call sounds like a woman shrieking.
    Oh that sounds creepy as fuck. If I lived where you did I'd move immediately. I scare insanely easily

    Things we also have: Rabbits, deer, lizards, turtles, tortoises, foxes. It's not so bad.
    All those lovely animals would not be able to make me stay if I heard the sound of a woman shrieking in the woods late at night.

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  • ImprovoloneImprovolone Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Rabbits sound like women screaming. It's bizarre.

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  • SentrySentry Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    The sound of an owl is also supposed to herald death in a lot of mythology.

    This is especially true. Many Native American cultures believe this. I think this, coupled with the nighttime activities, plus incessent hooting, is why they are a Halloween animal, joining the ranks of the black cat, and the undead turkey.

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  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Haven't you seen that gif of freaky barn owls?

    Scary as fuck.

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  • Mike DangerMike Danger "Diane..." a place both wonderful and strangeRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    MKR wrote: »
    Reservoir Angel wrote: »
    Owls are scary in the dark. Picture it. You're in the woods. you're alone. It's dark. you hear an ominous hoot from behind you. You turn; nothing there. Another hoot. Still nothing there. Then you see just a pair of bright yellow eyes staring at you from a low branch. You carefully approach the owl, and then it's whole head spins 360 degrees, like something from the fucking Exorcist!

    I've actually experienced this. Even worse, we have an animal here whose name I can't recall, but its call sounds like a woman shrieking.

    My grandmother had a neighbor who kept peacocks as pets, and they sounded like this.

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  • MKRMKR Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Mike Danger wrote: »
    MKR wrote: »
    Reservoir Angel wrote: »
    Owls are scary in the dark. Picture it. You're in the woods. you're alone. It's dark. you hear an ominous hoot from behind you. You turn; nothing there. Another hoot. Still nothing there. Then you see just a pair of bright yellow eyes staring at you from a low branch. You carefully approach the owl, and then it's whole head spins 360 degrees, like something from the fucking Exorcist!

    I've actually experienced this. Even worse, we have an animal here whose name I can't recall, but its call sounds like a woman shrieking.

    My grandmother had a neighbor who kept peacocks as pets, and they sounded like this.

    I'm not talking about one short shriek. :P

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  • RentRent I'm always right Fuckin' deal with itRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    hOWLoween

    Rent on
  • BigBearBigBear If your life had a face, I would punch it. Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Does anyone have that barn owl gif? My Google skills fail me.

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  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    BigBear wrote: »
    Does anyone have that barn owl gif? My Google skills fail me.

    Whoops, it wasn't a gif, it's a video.

    http://www.craveonline.com/videos/video/creepy-owls-38070

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  • piLpiL Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Improvolone wrote: »
    Rabbits sound like women screaming. It's bizarre.


    To combine the two, we used to own a rabbit, but my mom was cleaning the rabbit's cage one night. She sets the rabbit down. He wont run, he hasn't before, this is a smart rabbit who knows that living with us means carrots and petting, but all the wilds have for him are trees and strife. He's been loose before and gone nowhere.

    It was dusk, and there's one thing she didn't count on.

    There was no scream, no cry, no wail of death--that would be comfort; only the near-silent sound of a brush of air. Owls are highly evolved predators, and a white and black bunny, unused to survival and without the benefit of tall grass stood no chance. So owls are, in my mind, silent death.

    piL on
  • CorvusCorvus . VancouverRegistered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Reservoir Angel wrote: »
    MKR wrote: »
    Reservoir Angel wrote: »
    Owls are scary in the dark. Picture it. You're in the woods. you're alone. It's dark. you hear an ominous hoot from behind you. You turn; nothing there. Another hoot. Still nothing there. Then you see just a pair of bright yellow eyes staring at you from a low branch. You carefully approach the owl, and then it's whole head spins 360 degrees, like something from the fucking Exorcist!

    I've actually experienced this. Even worse, we have an animal here whose name I can't recall, but its call sounds like a woman shrieking.
    Oh that sounds creepy as fuck. If I lived where you did I'd move immediately. I scare insanely easily

    Peacocks have this call that sounds sort of like someone screaming for help. It is creepy as fuck at night.

    Corvus on
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  • darkgruedarkgrue Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Corvus wrote: »
    Peacocks have this call that sounds sort of like someone screaming for help. It is creepy as fuck at night.

    Yup, personally experienced this. It's remarkably convincing, if you don't know to expect it. Sounds very much like a woman yelling "HELP!"

    darkgrue on
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