Mysterious, intelligent, and masters of night flight, owls have been beloved by many human cultures over the centuries. Throughout history, owls figure prominently in various different religions and mythologies, from ancient Rome to Native Americans.
In ancient Rome, nailing an owl to the door of a house would divert evil, and the hoot of an owl was believed to predict imminent death. In eighteenth and nineteenth century England, poets often referred to the barn owl as the "bird of doom." In some early English home remedies or folk cures, an owl egg was used to cure alcoholism.
To Apache Indians, dreaming of an owl signifies approaching death. The Native American Cree people believed the whistles of the boreal owl were summons from the spirits. In the Sierras, some native people believed that the great horned owl could capture the soul of a dead person and carry them to the underworld.
