Lol, yeah those people annoy me too.
I've got a whole frickin' book on superstitions! and, yes, they contain owls.
Somewhere in time the owl's reputation plummeted and the bird is now an associate of crime, witches, and death. The common barn owl, the screech owl, the great horned owl, all carry baggage of evil.
Of course it didn't help the owl's reputation that Roman senators reported hearing an owl in the senate chamber just before Caesar was stabbed. Anyway, to this day people around the planet believe when they hear an owl hoot, someone close to them will shortly die. Some Native Americans believe the owl is not even a real bird, it is the spirit of the dead warning of yet another death to come.
To counter this evil owl power- put irons in your fire. Or throw salt, pepper, and vinegar on the fire-the owl will get a sore tongue, hoot no more, and no one close to you will die. That's very good luck.
Other folks tie a knot whenever they an owl hoot. Better yet, some people recommend taking off your clothes, turning them inside out, and putting them back on. You might not want to do this if you're out in public.
If you're on the way to visit the one you love and you hear and owl hoot, your lover will prove to be false and your romance will end. So keep your car windows up and the radio blaring so you won't hear that hoot. And, don't mimic an owl's hoot-the clothing on your back will incinerate. That's a powerful evil bird! Well, imitators are boring adults.
Roman men believed that if the heart of a horned-owl was put on the left breast of a woman while she slept, she would reveal all her secrets! Of course women to this day differently. Nothing makes a woman reveal all her secrets, unless of course she's a woman like Madonna who does seem, repeatedly, to reveal all her secrets of heart and flesh.
Pliny the elder is responsible for labeling the owl as evil as print.He wrote that the owl "always betokeneth some heavie newes and is most execrable and accursed." [Yes, that is how it's spelled..] This one man's verdict has stuck for centuries.
Only the white owl- the snowy owl is good. To see a white owl during the day means good luck, prosperity, and ease will shortly be yours. No wonder the snowy owl is protected by the EPA!
All owls are neat birds. WIthout them, the planet would be overrun with rodents. Just because owls sleep by day and fly by night is no reason to despise them-ever notice how people are suspicious of folks who are "night owls"? But then perhaps owls have survived because they are nocturnal. People simply are too tired to wait up for an owl to appear so they can kill it.
And there's one owl superstition that's good-good for women that is. Some folks to this day believe that any man who eats roasted owl will be obedient and a slave to his wife. Wives, get out the roasting pans!