20 October 2012
They say that if an owl perches on your roof it is the sign of death. Is it superstitious nonsense? For me it isn't. Owls are often associated with horror or Halloween. Perhaps it's their magnificent looks; those striking wide eyes, the tufts of feathers on a long eared owl that make them look like devils horns or just their unique piercing cries in the night. I was probably nine or ten years old when it first happened. The house I grew up in was terraced and backed on to another row of terraced houses. Back then my parents knew everyone on the street and those behind too. I was in the kitchen watching my mother iron, annoying her no doubt, when I spotted a large bird sitting on one of the roofs to the rear. I forget the mans name now, but lets call him Bob Grey. I climbed up on the sink to look out the window better. "Look mum! There's an owl on the Greys house!" I said excitedly. She just kept on ironing and said she knew. It had been there for a couple of days now. Someone's going to die soon, she says. It's an omen if you have an owl on your roof, she explained. And that was that. The very next day, we here that Bob had died of a heart attack. To me then he was old, but looking back he could only have been in his late forties, early fifties. I know now that my mother must have been very superstitious; I suppose that's where I get it from. I know them all, new shoes on the table, umbrella in the house, spilling salt, to name but a few, but it was the owl that stuck with me the most. I live in the countryside, and am fortunate to have nature on my doorstep. I go running and see deer. Pheasants parade in the field behind my house, occasionally appearing in my garden looking very confused as to how they got there. And owls.... we hear them at night a lot. Occasionally we see bats, but not too often. So, I have lived here for almost ten years and have gotten very used to the sound of the owls at night. Until, one December night, in 2010. It was a Tuesday night I remember it well, tuesday 21st, as I had just put my son Alex to bed, and was closing the blinds and curtains in my room, when I heard it. The owl. It wasn't in the distant as usual, but right above me. If your superstitious you may understand I had a terrible chill and panic that went through me. I opened the window slightly and stood there waiting. Again, the familiar hoot hoot sung out right above me. I looked out into the peaceful nights air. A strange calmness washed over me. The sky was clear, there would be a harsh winter frost on its way. I closed the window, feeling a little melancholy, and returned downstairs and told my husband. Who as usual said its a lot of rubbish, that we live in the sticks and if course we'll have an owl on our roof. It was Christmas week, so with Alex now in bed, the in laws gone that day, I could get on with wrapping the final presents. And so I forgot about the owl with all the excitement of the festive season until the Friday, Christmas Eve, when I received a phonecall from my brother to say my mum was found dead that morning.
So when you see that owl upon someone's roof, perhaps think to yourself who's next?
*i probably should point out this is a true story.
Who Who • Opuss № I