Afternoon D-
I hope you're doing well, wherever you are. I missed you especially this morning because I saw something unusual and that always puts you firmly to the center of my mind.
As I was riding the train to work I noticed a young man curled up on one of the smaller subway seats. This isn't unusual in Gotham, the homeless come in all types, but something about him struck me as odd. First of all he was clean and put together, and through you can't see it in this photo, he was sitting on his sneakers which were brand new Nikes...not cheap. I get the impression he was just a kid who partied too hard and chose a bad place to sleep it off. Then I noticed the mask.
At first glance I could not ascertain what it was supposed to be, but then I noticed the shape of the eye holes, and an indent meant to be a beak.
An owl. Before he ended up asleep on the subway sitting on his expensive sneakers in a black fur hat this kid had been somewhere it was appropriate to be an owl....or to be dressed as one.
In Sicilian folklore Owls are considered to be bad omens and it's not wise to put an image of one in your home. In fact, the Owl is one of the few animals to be represented in cave drawings, and throughout the history of humanity they have been perceived as everything from a symbol of kindness and wisdom to the animal form of a witch.
These concepts and superstitions still pervade to this day. Many people think that the legendary Mothman incident at Point Pleasant West Virginia was actually the spotting of a rather oversized barn Owl.
England has it's own Owlman in Cornwall. The creature is said to leave behind the crackling sound of static for a few minutes after it takes flight into the air. It was first spotted in 1976, but sightings continue to crop up every few years.
A letter written by Tony 'Doc' Shiels - April 1976: "A very weird thing happened over the Easter weekend. A holiday-maker from Preston, Lancs., told me about something his two young daughters had seen ... a big, feathered bird-man hovering over the church tower at Mawnan (a village near the mouth of the Helford River). The girls (June 12, and Vicky, daughters of Mr Don Melling), were so scared that the family cut their holiday short and went backthree days early. This really is a fantastic thing, and I am sure the man wasn't just making it up because he'd been told I was on a monster hunt. I couldn't get the kids to talk about it (in fact, their father wouldn't even let me try), but he gave me a sketch of the thing drawn by June. There have been no reports, so far as I know, of anybody else seeing the Bird-Man ... even if it turned out to be just a fancy dress hang-glider, you'd think someone else would have spotted him ... but Mawnan is not a place for hang-gliding! I really don't know what to think ... it's as if a whole load of weirdness has been let loose in the Falmouth area since last autumn!" (Phantoms and Monsters)
There are a lot of theories about what it might be, some claim that a church built on ancient Druid leylines is the cause. Most however think that it's probably just an Eagle Owl that has flown out of it's normal hunting areas.
On an even more bizarre note are the tales of the Lechuza, or shape shifting witch caught in Texas that started making the rounds last year accompanied by a rather perplexing photo.
Lechuza are women, or the spirits of women who can transform into a vengeful giant owl. There are many stories and thoughts of Why though. Some versions of the tale state that a Bruja or witch was killed by local townspeople. Some claim that she is the faithful wife of an unfaithful husband whose spirit seeks justice. No matter what she was, as the Lechuza she is deeply dangerous. Often her modus operandi includes sitting in the trees and making the sound of a newborn baby to attract her prey. She then swoops down and carries the victim off to her cave to eat him slowly. It draws certain comparisons to the Hag or Banshee.
Either way, I think that our sleeping friend is safe from Lechuzas. Safe from the people of Gotham is another story.
-Vi
