Not really a Thanksgiving quote

[janradder]

So I have this irrational fear/superstition about crows.

I've always felt like they are somehow ominous portents of doom and I've always chased them from our yard and trees when I see them because of this. The one time I decided to get over this and just leave the damn things alone was a couple weeks ago. The result? My dad wound up in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat at the beginning of the week and I ended it by having PTSD flashbacks of being bullied in school (real stomach-churning, tremor-inducing flashbacks). Okay, so maybe it wasn't the crows that caused it, but the fact that those things happened has done nothing to assuage my feelings about them.

Now today I went over to our friends' house to take care of their cats. In the trees, on the yards, and overhead were about thirty crows -- cawing, circling, hopping, and generally looking like that last scene in The Birds where they walk out to the car. Not good. But when I came back outside, there was something far worse. All the crows were gone, save one: a dead crow, its neck twisted unnaturally to the side, laying right next to the front steps of my friends' house. Now what the fuck is that supposed to mean?

Comments

Re: don't be afraid young Skywalker

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough, I just found this about crows:

One curious feature of the behaviour of crows is their seeming
capacity to hold 'courts' at which, by numerous accounts, they
pass judgement and carry out summary execution of such of their
numbers as, for some mysterious reason, they consider deserving
of it. As Edward Stanley, the Victorian naturalist put it:
In the Northern part of Scotland, and in the Faroe Islands,
extraordinary meetings of crows are known to occur. They
collect in great numbers, as if they had all been summoned,
for the occasion; a few of the flock sit with dropping heads,
and the others seem as grave as judges, while others again
are exceedingly active and noisy; in the course of about an
hour they disperse and it is not uncommon, after they have
flown away, to find one or two left dead on the spot.
Another writer (in Dr Edmonston's "Shetland Isles"), says that
these meetings will sometimes continue for a day or two, before
the object, whatever it may be, is complete. Crows continue to
arrive from all quarters during the session. As soon as they
have all arrived, a very general noise ensues, and shortly
after, the whole fall upon one or two individuals, and put them
to death; when this execution has been performed, they quietly
disperse.

more crow stuff

[(Anonymous)]

There's a pretty good book (much too long, but interesting) called Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, about two wizards in a fictional 17th century England. One of the secondary characters is called "The Raven King" and in these books was considered the greatest wizard of his time. I also came across the Raven King as a wizard in one of the Magic Tree House books that Noah was reading. But Google doesn't seem to have much to say about him other than references to the book I mentioned above. So I don't know if there's a mythological story he's based on or not.

I also found something about crows being extremely intelligent. They use tools to catch prey, just like the chimps and us.

Sorry about the relentless optimism. It's just my public persona. Privately, I tend to balance that out with periodic glumness. And in my head there are often visions of dread waiting just around the corner. I think this is fairly universal, but nobody really talks about it.

Re: more crow stuff

[janradder.livejournal.com]

No worries, Ben -- your optimism is quite refreshing. I really didn't mean to imply that it wasn't.

Haddayr read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell a few years back and enjoyed it quite a bit. I'd actually been looking for it earlier this fall to read it but apparently it's been loaned out or else misplaced. Whenever I find it, I do plan on reading it. As to the Raven King, that's the first I've heard mention of him, though my knowledge of mythology is far from exhaustive (and in any case, is far more limited to Greek and Roman).