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[[quoteright:299:[[VideoGame/{{Okami}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lechku.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:299:Check your nightmares at the door.]]
->''"If you were an alien abductee, you might have memories of seeing owls in the city, or owls on the subway, or owls sitting outside your apartment window, or owls sitting INSIDE your apartment window, wearing space clothes and preparing a rectal probe."''
-->-- '''John Hodgman''', ''Literature/MoreInformationThanYouRequire''
Owls are, to put it bluntly, [[NightmareFuel creepy]]. They just are. Perhaps it's because most of them are nocturnal or that they eat cute little mice or that they can spin their heads all the way around. It could be those (relatively) gigantic, piercing eyes. Or perhaps it's the sounds they make at night (except for the beating of their wings which are so soft and fluffy you'll never hear a thing. Bad news for rodents), in the dark, when you're in TheLostWoods.
It doesn't really matter ''why'' they are creepy, they just are. Owls have long been viewed as harbingers of disease, death, destruction, and bad luck. To the Hopi, they were a symbol of evil sorcery; to the Romans, they were funerary birds, signaling ill will in the daytime (unless you were collecting their eggs, in which case they signaled a HideousHangoverCure); and the [[UsefulNotes/AztecMythology Aztec]] [[TheGrimReaper god of death]], Mictlantecuhtli, was often portrayed with owls. Creator/GeoffreyChaucer also had a thing for them.
So remember: if you ever see an owl, clutch your Tootsie Roll Pops tightly and run in the other direction.
Owls are, of course, also [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/35819 assholes]].
See also FeatheredFiend for other types of creepy, creepy birds. Contrast TheOwlKnowingOne.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''Franchise/OnePiece'', every member of CP 9 has an animal motif, and the creepiest one is definitely Fukuro who is based off of an owl. Among other things, his mouth has a zipper on it that he has to unzip if he wants to talk.
* There is yet another Fukuro among the assassin group Trinity Raven in ''Manga/FairyTail'', who is also noticeably creepy. He has a man's body but an owl's head (also [[ImprobableWeaponUser two missiles on his back with the word "JUSTICE" printed on it]]), and one of his abilities is to swallow his opponents whole and use their magic until they digest fully. It's worth noting that "Fukuro" is Japanese for "owl."
* The ''Anime/WolfsRain'' anime series had a creepy owl that made appearances at times, most likely as a symbol for death.
* In the zoo chapter of ''Manga/{{Yotsubato}}'', Yotsuba is utterly terrified of the owl. She ends up trying to scare it (so that it stops staring at her)... and then it spreads its wings and hoots. Cut to her hiding behind her dad's legs.
* In ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'', a mother owl and her babies actually live in an abandoned castle in Germany where Albert/004 fights a robot with his same looks and powers. [[spoiler: During the fight, the nest gets knocked off its site and out of reflex 004 shields the owls with his own body... [[SpannerInTheworks which saves his life]], as the robot couldn't predict his ''human'' reaction and its programmed strategies are all screwed.]]
* In ''Anime/SoraNoWoTo'', an owl is both the unit's pet, Shuko, and their insignia. Shuko is a Northern White-faced Owl, the "evil transformer owl" with its own entry in the Real Life folder below.
* [[spoiler:Kouichi]] from ''Manga/NabariNoOu'' is actually an owl with a human heart. His partially transformed form after being shot in the heart is more than a [[http://www.mangareader.net/683-33512-20/nabari-no-ou/chapter-37.html little creepy]].
* [[MagnificentBastard Mukuro]] from ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' has a Snowy Owl as his box animal. Not so creepy until you see it with his red/blue heterochromia. Unsurprisingly, the owl is named Mukurou.
** Though the name might come from the fact that the Owl was the body Mukurou used for an extended period of time (and thus, was in fact Mukurou) before he got his own body back. That and the box technically belongs to Chrome, not Mukuro.
* A recurring motif in ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine'', with normal ones appearing in the opening, as well as more nightmarish humanoid ones appearing in a flashback of Fujiko's.
* The manga [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/jagan_wa_gachirin_ni_tobu/ Jagan wa Gachirin ni Tobu]] takes this tropes to its worst possible conclusion in the form of Minerva, an owl shaped [[AnimalisticAbomination abomination]] whose eyes continuously [[TearsofBlood spill blood from their sockets]], and whose mere gaze can kill any living thing almost instantly after forcing them to [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/jagan_wa_gachirin_ni_tobu/v01/c001/9.html expel blood from their eyes, ears and mouths]]. It's gaze was so potent that after escaping containment from a U.S. military aircraft carrier, it killed off the entire crew and decimated several Japanese cities just by flying over them. It was also nearly impossible to kill even with ranged weapons like guns, since it could sense its attackers' blood thirst. It took the efforts of a completely blind (courtesy of Minerva) expert hunter, a {{Batman Gambit}}, and a jet battle in midair to finally bring the wicked-eyed bird down.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Art]]
* Goya's etching ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleep_of_Reason_Produces_Monsters The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters]] (El sueño de la razón produce monstruos)'' depicts the artist's nightmares as owls and [[BatOutOfHell bats]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Card Games]]
* In the Alara block of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', strixes are kept as pets in the bio-mechanical realm of Esper. As the name might suggest to any Latin scholars, they're [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=175015 venomous]] or [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=175021 parasitic]] evil clockwork owls.
* Franchise/WinnieThePooh 's Owl appears in the Kingdom Hearts Collectible Card Game. Seeing how the game focuses a lot on Magic/Friends(Summons, in the first game, which ran on magic), such as Simba, Tinkerbell, Bambi, etc, playing an Owl card can cause a lot of grief, as he prevents them from being played. He can also be played at any time, and is a pain to get rid of.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Comic Books]]
* A horror comic had a short story called "[[{{Pun}} Hooters]]" where evil owls killed buxom women on a camping trip.
* In ''UsagiYojimbo'', the comic reflects the Japanese idea that the Owl is a symbol of death. In one story, Usagi and Gen spot one perched near a hut. When they looked inside and found their old friend, Zato-Ino, in a hut and gravely wounded, that bird was a bad omen. However, they are able to successfully treat the pig and Gen spitefully goes out to taunt the bird and drive it away. Later the Owl is diving for a cute little lizard, but the little guy is saved by an attacking Tokage who tackles the Owl and eats it.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}: The Corpse'', when the [[TheFairFolk Fairy King]] makes his first appearance, he has an owl perched on his arm.
** ''{{BPRD}} 1946'' and ''1947'' feature a vampire count who shapeshifts into an owl. Sometimes he does it to make murdering Nazis easier and sometimes he does it to get around faster. It's just his thing.
* In the MarvelUniverse, there's a villain named The Owl, who's primarily a member of {{Daredevil}}'s RoguesGallery. He eventually had surgery done to make him look more like an owl.
* In the DCUniverse, Owlman is the EvilCounterpart of Batman in the Crime Syndicate's MirrorUniverse.
** The reason why he was so named is because owls prey on bats.
** Another Batman example is the vilainous organisation [[ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls The Court of Owls]] introduced in Scott Snyder's run on Batman Volume 2. They're a clandestine society who have apparently secretly controlled Gotham for centuries, and the "owls prey on bats" imagery has been played up for all it's worth.
* Macduff, a wooden doll in form of an owl that formerly was the pet of Gepetto, recently joined ''JackFrost'' in his adventures.
* [[http://fancoredaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/mouse_guard.jpg This cover]] from ''MouseGuard''. The scene itself is even more brutal and awsome.
* Averted in the comic ''Owly'': the title owl is a FriendToAllLivingThings and the comic is sweet as can be.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Animation]]
* The Grand Duke of Owls and his henchmen from ''RockADoodle''. voiced by Christopher Plummer
* Disney's ''Disney/AliceInWonderland''. While traveling through a spooky forest Alice encounters an owl with a neck like an accordion that makes music as it flies.
* Although he's ultimately friendly, the ancient owl in ''TheSecretOfNimh'' is intensely scary.
* Merlin's pet Archimedes in ''Disney/TheSwordInTheStone'' is of the pompous, know-it-all variety.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]
* An owl provides a CatScare to Arthur at one point in ''Film/HorrorOfDracula''.
* The appearance of Jareth, the goblin king, in ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' (and his departure at the end) involved his becoming an owl... actually, ''Labyrinth'''s entire opening shot is a (for the time) impressive CG sequence of said owl flying around the opening credit shots and eventually becoming a real owl with a carefully executed editing sweep shot into the first scene.
* The movie ''Film/TheAdventuresOfMiloAndOtis'', a story about a lost kitten and a puppy, has a scene in the treetops at nighttime where the kitten talks with a horned owl with glowing eyes who pops out of nowhere. Though he is friendly, he is, needless to say, quite terrifying for younger children.
* The Owls in ''Film/IKnowWhoKilledMe''. [[FauxSymbolism They don't mean anything]], nor are they particularly foreboding. They're just there.
* The rather intense [[BodyHorror Owl-to-human]] {{transformation|Trauma}} in the Russian film version of ''Literature/{{Nightwatch}}''.
* In ''Film/TheFourthKind'', the owls are actually [[spoiler: Aliens coming to abduct you]]
* ''Film/BladeRunner'' features an owl in relation to [[AnimalMotif Tyrell]].
* The killer in ''Film/StageFrightAquarius'' wears an owl mask, which was part of the theatre production he crashes.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* Averted with the owl from the ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' books.
* In Mervyn Peake's ''Titus Groan'', Lord Sepulchrave [[spoiler: is driven mad by the destruction of his library, starts believing he is 'The Death Owl' and eventually commits suicide by allowing himself to be eaten by owls.]]
* Henry David Thoreau wrote in ''Walden'': "I rejoice that there are owls. Let them do the idiotic and maniacal hooting for men. It is a sound admirably suited to swamps and twilight woods which no day illustrates, suggesting a vast and underdeveloped nature which men have not recognized. They represent the stark twilight and unsatisfied thoughts which all [men] have."
* NeilGaiman: "Daughter of Owls," wherein a baby girl foundling is superstitiously thought to be, yes, born of owls and thus the townfolk will not raise her, only giving her food.
* In ''Bless Me Ultima'', owls are a sign that a bruja (or evil witch) is around. It seems to be the same concept as Western witches' familiars, but I'm not terribly familiar with the mythology surrounding brujeria.
** It's also a subversion, as the main owl in the story is connected to ''Ultima herself'', who is a curandera rather than a bruja (playing on the Latino Catholic stereotype of indigenous healers being witches). [[spoiler:In fact, when the owl is killed, Ultima dies not long after as a consequence]].
* As explained in the above quote, owls are symbols that you've been abducted by aliens in ''MoreInformationThanYouRequire''.
** The book also contains instructions on how to cook an owl. One of the steps is to remove their [[ClockworkCreature clockwork innards]].
* In ''TheChroniclesOfAncientDarkness'', [[spoiler:BigBad Eostra]] was once the mage of the Eagle Owl clan, so eagle owls are considered creepy bad omens. Other kinds of owls are cool, though.
* Owls are pretty nasty in Kenneth Oppel's ''Silverwing'' series, where their job is to keep bats from seeing the sun, and kill those that do - even going so far as to burn down a colony of females and children to take their revenge. Nothing compared to the ''real'' villains of the series: giant cannibal bats that worship an evil human-sacrifice-accepting god. In the later books, the owls get increasingly sympathetic.
* Stephen Bauer's fantasy novel Literature/{{Satyrday}} centers on the attempts of the protagonists - an orphaned boy, the satyr who raised him, a fox-spirit, and a sympathetic raven - to combat a malevolent owl and his plot to kidnap the Moon (who is a character in her own right). The owl is tyrannical and very cruel, a prime example of this trope.
* At one point in Literature/TheBible, [[IronWoobie Job]] complains that in the extremity of his misfortune, he has become "a brother to dragons and a companion to owls." Though some translations render it as "a companion to ostriches," which somehow reads as slightly less eerie.
* In Jincy Willet's short story "Justine Laughs at Death," an extended parallel is drawn between the SerialKiller (and rapist and torturer) Ripley and an owl he sees outside his window, with the owl's menace and predatory nature initially reminding Ripley comfortingly of himself (once the metaphor is extended, it gets... less comforting).
* [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in Creator/JamesThurber's comic essay [[http://mmi.tudelft.nl/~bart/leesvoer/owl.html "There's An Owl In My Room"]], which is mostly about pigeons and how ''un''-sinister (or poignant, for that matter) they are, but it does refer to the sinister nature of owls as a contrast:
-->You could dress up a pigeon in a tiny suit of evening clothes and put a tiny silk hat on his head and a tiny gold-headed cane under his wing and send him walking into my room at night. It would make no impression on me. I would not shout, "Good God Almighty, the birds are in charge!" But you could send an owl into my room, dressed only in the feathers it was born with, and no monkey business, and I would pull the covers over my head and scream.
* In the story "The Ghost Car" in Chris Woodyard's book ''Haunted Ohio II'', the deaths of a certain family's members are heralded by a number of owls that fly away one by one until none are left. This occurs after a man muffled in a coat knocks on the family's door before vanishing. This happens on winter nights for two years in a row. When the knock comes on the third year, the family does not open the door, at which the knocker chuckles and says, "Soon no one will occupy this farm but the owls."
* Creator/GeorgeEliot complains about a clumsy attempt to invoke this, in her essay "Literature/SillyNovelsByLadyNovelists":
-->she falls into this mediaeval vein of description (the italics are ours): "The banner ''unfurled it'' at the sound, and shook its guardian wing above, while the startled owl ''flapped her in'' the ivy; the firmament looking down through her 'argus eyes,'-
* Literature/{{Discworld}} makes fun of this trope (As it does virtually every trope in existence). The Epebian goddess of wisdom was ''supposed'' to have an owl as her signature animal. Unfortunately, due to her church hiring a sculptor who wasn't very good at doing birds for her statue, she ended up with a penguin.
* Subverted in the YoungAdult novel ''Literature/{{Hoot}}''. While burrowing owls are tiny and adorable, their existence on a construction site spells doom for the pancake house that is supposed to be built on it.
* Completely averted in Katherine Lasky's [[GuardiansOfGaHoole The Guardians of Ga'Hoole]], where the cast consists almost entirely of owls, the odd snake and seagull aside. That is, averted as long as you're talking about the protagonists; their enemies, The Pure Ones, [[ReligionOfEvil can be a pretty nasty bunch]].
* Justified in ''[[TalesFromDimwoodForest Poppy]]'', since most of the cast are mice. However the mice and the owl, Mr. Ocax, have an odd relationship in which the mice are forced to pretend that Mr. Ocax is their kindly ruler/landlord.
* Spooky owls crop up a lot in Creator/PaulCornell's Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures.
* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, owls are often thought of as ill omens. Justified, since an owl seems quite large to a cat, and owls have been known to carry off kits. However, [=ThunderClan=] does occasionally look for owls at night, because if it's windy and they're having trouble scenting prey, they can follow an owl and find prey that way.
* ''Coyote Blue'' by Christopher Moore has an owl. Not a major plot point, but a running sidearc.
* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Literature/{{Freckles}}'', one trial facing Freckles in his job is being caught on the train and hearing the unnerving hooting.
-->''Night closed in. The Limberlost stirred gently, then shook herself, growled, and awoke around him.\\
There seemed to be a great owl hooting from every hollow tree, and a little one screeching from every knothole. ''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Owls in ''TwinPeaks'' are supposed to be the eyes of BOB and/or the Black Lodge, but their significance is never really explained. Then again, neither is anything else of consequence to the series' overall plot.
* John Oliver once noted on ''MockTheWeek'' that owls can kill tigers, because they have the high ground.
* [[Series/TheColbertReport Owls are on notice]]. Colbert refuses to talk about it, saying "they know what they did". Possibly something to do with [[DungeonsAndDragons Owl]]{{bears|AreBadNews}}?
* [[TheFastShow WITH AN OWL!]]
* ''TalesFromTheCrypt'' had an episode with a man who gets the auditory system of an owl.
* On ''Series/MythQuest'', Gwydion and Math sentence Blodeuwedd to spend eternity as an owl, shunned by both man and bird, for murdering her husband.
* ''Series/WouldILieToYou'': Greg Davies used a a drawing of the "Hoot Owl of Death" as sort of a BlackSpot when he was a child.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Music Videos]]
* Watch the video for Outkast's "Ms. Jackson" and you may remember that owl forever.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD6VgRUE1y0 "The Owl"]] by I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YVZX7IfG6A This]] parody of the BlackEyedPeas' "I Gotta Feeling."
* A couple of Music/LindseyStirling's videos, e.g. her ''[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]]'' medly, use owl hoots to set the scene and make it seem scary.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Mythology]]
* Original references to vampires turning into flying creatures had them become owls, not bats.
** This may be because the Middle Eastern Lilith/Lilitu was often symbolized as an owl, and often took the form of an owl.
* The Cahuilla Indian [[TheGrimReaper god of death]], Muut, was represented by an owl.
* The demon Andras, is a man with the head and wings of an owl.
* There's the saying ''Cuando el tecolote canta, el indio muere'' (when owl hoots, an American Indian dies).
** Most Native cultures in Mexico and the American Southwest consider owls ill-omened -- many of them believed hearing an owl hoot is an omen of death. Though Old Man Owl occasionally does some good in Navajo legends, most owls one might meet are probably shape-shifted ghosts”the related Apache tribe wear owl feathers to keep ghosts away. Even when Old Man Owl does his good deed, it's creepy, considering what he says when given a deer-liver as thanks: "Turn your back, my grandchild, I allow nobody to see me feed."
** Owls also were the symbol of Mictlantehuatl, god of death and ruler of the Underworld in UsefulNotes/AztecMythology.
* Speaking of owls and the Aztecs, the Aztecs feared owls: hearing the hooting of an owl was an omen of misfortune, hearing the scream of a screech owl was an omen of your own death, and seeing a horned owl was the beginning of one's own spiritual corruption and doom.
* The Aztec god Tlacolotl was a patron of evil doers, sorcerers and darkness. He is similar to Tezcatlipoca, though, unlike the Smoking mirror, who is the dark half of the Light and cultivates evil so it can be exposed and dealt with, Tlacolotl cultivates [[ForTheEvulz wickedness for the sake of wickedness]]. In the Codex Cospiano, Tlacolotl is represented as a horned owl nesting in a temple as the blind sorcerer god of obstacles, ice and immobility, Itzlacoluihqui. sometimes described as a negative counterpart to Tezcatlipoca, makes an offering of blood and burning incense, apparently in an attempt to blot out the sun. [http://www.kunst-fuer-alle.de/english/art/artist/image/mexican-school/8713/16/index.htm#]
* In some parts of Medieval Europe, it's thought only owls could abide the presence of ghosts, so an owl nesting near a house is a sign that it's haunted.
* On the one hand, owls are considered a death omen in Japanese mythology. On the other, they're also considered to be [[TruthInTelevision really stupid.]]
* Stolas/Stolos, a demon and prince of hell in the ''Ars Goetia'', is represented as an owl. Also an example of TheOwlKnowingOne since he is presented as a tutor, albeit one who teaches poisons and other demonic knowledge.
* In several African tribal beliefs, particularly in the Congo, owls were and are considered evil beings that eat the souls of humans.
* Some cryptozoologists have argued that the infamous Mothman is actually 'merely' a giant owl from Pleistocene Cuba. They call it (what else?) Bighoot.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* There is a creature in DungeonsAndDragons called a spellweaver, which is a humanoid with six arms and the head of a barn owl. It's generally benevolent, but it doesn't talk, and [[UncannyValley it looks kind of creepy]].
** 3.5 Monster Manual also describes a giant owl, which is a subversion as it is usually Neutral Good. The evergreen Owl''{{bear|sAreBadNews}}'' on the other hand...
** Subverted with the grim, a 2nd Edition good-aligned monster that often took the form of an owl. It hung around cursed graveyards and other creepy locales, but did so to help keep evil forces from ''escaping'' such places.
* VampireTheRequiem (and its historical setting, "Requiem for Rome") has the Strix: strange, ghostly owl-like beings who may be responsible for, among other things, the fall of the Roman Empire, and the creation, followed by subsequent destruction, of a Clan of vampires. They possess corpses, and [[GrandTheftMe sleeping vampires]], and walk about causing mischief. Needless to say, they're the bad guys and the boogeymen. They're also based on an actual Roman myth.
** They also appear in the ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'' sourcebook on taking on vampires. They make a guy murder his girlfriend so they can ride the corpse.
* From {{Exalted}}, [[TheChessmaster Meticulous Owl]], Endless-Faced Spite. He gets ''bonuses'' for hiding in plain sight.
** Also [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Lilith]], a traumatized, horrifically powerful owl-totemed Lunar martial-arts master.
* In ''BunniesAndBurrows,'' owls are seen as something along the lines of dragons for their formidable wisdom and awesome rabbit-killing abilities.
* The owl-like Goetic demon Stolas appears in AgeOfAquarius Second Edition, in a piece of narrative text about [[MadScientist the Utopists]]. PlayedForLaughs in that they summon him only to pick a feather from his tail, turning him comically angry.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Theatre]]
* In GilbertAndSullivan's ''TheMikado'', the AbhorrentAdmirer Katisha is described as an "ill-omened owl" at one point.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* The owl (Kaepora Gaebora) in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series is a good guy, but still quite creepy in some portrayals. He is ''seen'' as being "evil", with "evil" being used as a synonym for annoying, even in his more tame appearances, due to his tendency to be a trifle... [[WallOfText long-winded]]. You see, [[CaptainObvious he usually says things that are blatantly obvious]] and [[ScrollingText take quite some time to scroll past]], and you can't skip them. In fact, trying to skip his speeches can make it take ''longer''. "Hoot! [[ShallIRepeatThat Do you want me to repeat this]]?"
-->'''Yes''' ←\\
No
** And when his head spins around so it's upside-down, his facial markings look like a second face. Seriously, who gives a good character [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory two]] [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder faces]]?
** [[CatchPhrase "The Owl is watching! Hoot!"]]
** The owl guide in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'' is also quite creepy, as he knowingly sends Link to effectively [[spoiler: destroy the world in which the owl himself and all of Link's new friends live.]]
* Lechku (pictured) and Nechku from ''{{Okami}}'' count, even though, technically, they're not real owls, but they're [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot demonic clockwork owls]]. With {{Nice Hat}}s. [[WidgetSeries In feudal Japan.]]
* Owls are considered creepy enough for them to be a recurring enemy in ''{{Castlevania}}'', sometimes accompanied by an Owl Knight.
** Poor dude gets pissed off if you kill his bird (and vice versa).
** Stolas from the ''ArsGoetia'' also appears. He doesn't attack on his own, but summons various other monsters.
* Clockwerk, the BigBad for the first SlyCooper game. Though he's technically a giant robot owl.
** According to Sly's in-game speculation, he was probably a regular owl who gradually replaced all of his body parts with robotic ones.
*** This was confirmed for true when he shows up.
---> Sly Cooper, you have escaped my gas chamber and destroyed my death ray. Remarkable, you Coopers always find a way to beat me.
*** Thieves in Time reveals that [[spoiler:Clockwerk might just be the very ''first'' of owls, as he's been around since the ice age]].
* VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft players flying in the Skettis area can testify to the truth of this trope. Gods all blast those [[http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=23051 Monstrous Kaliris...]].
* RagnarokOnline brings us an [[http://roempire.com/database/?page=monsters&act=view&mid=1320 Owl Duke]] and [[http://roempire.com/database/?page=monsters&act=view&mid=1295 Owl Baron]]. They are walking, aristocratically clothed demonic owls that attack you with lighting. And Baron also [[MookMaker summons]] [[FlunkyBoss a bunch of Dukes]]. [[note]]Yes, Gravity dropped the ball on that one. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peerage Baron is the lowest rank, while the Duke is the highest.]][[/note]]
* Olcadan from the SoulSeries is a man with the head and feet of an owl, and is [[MultiMeleeMaster adept in various weapon styles]].
* [[OmnicidalManiac Setsuna]] of ''VideoGame/TheLastBlade'' has an owl as a pet.
* In ''[[NintendoWars Advance Wars: Days of Ruin]]'', the symbol for military research company IDS (and thus, by extension [[BigBad Caulder/Stolos]]) is an owl. His European/Japanese name is a reference to the Ars Goetia demon (see Mythology).
* The BigBad of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' has a robot owl familiar/pet/something.
* Sometimes they warn you for [[VideoGame/KingsQuestV POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOISONOUS]] [[MemeticMutation SNAAKES]].
* Hoothoot and Noctowl from ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' straddle the fine line between this and TheOwlKnowingOne. For one thing, they aren't Dark/Flying type (That was reserved for [[RavensAndCrows the Murkrow line]]). However, they CAN learn a lot of good Psychic-type moves, may have as an ability either Insomnia (prevents sleep) or Keen Eye (prevents lowering of accuracy), and have two immunities. Ghost-types beware!
* [[BlowYouAway Storm]] Owl from ''{{Mega Man X}}4'', who is the commander of Repliforce's Air Force.
* The iPad/Mac game ''Lechuza'' seems to hinge on this trope, doing its best to illustrate owls as evil.
* The Peepsta Hoo dream eater in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3D''. It tends to be little more then an annoyance at first, simply throwing weak, homing [[FeatherFlechettes feather shurikens]] at you and trying to perform an EnemyScan on you. Should it complete the scan, however, it'll start blasting you with high tier magic and evading your attacks. The creepiness mostly applies to its Nightmare version, thanks to its [[RedEyesTakeWarning soulless red eyes]] and sinister color scheme.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' used owls as a RunningGag. Moperville North high school has [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-06-24 a mural]] warning "Read, or the Owl will Eat You". A [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/?date=2004-07-03 big owl]] appears as {{RTFM}} enforcer in [[{{Jumanji}} Goonmanji]] arc out of continuity. Then in a guest comic the owls make good on their threat, devouring an Analfabets Anonymous meeting (well, not really, but [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-10-06 close 'nuff]]).
** Subverted with Hedge, whose dramatic moments are always ruined by owls getting in the way.
* Muut (see Mythology, above) shows up in ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', but here he's an [[HalfHumanHybrid owl-man]].
* LucidTV: Being full of owls [[http://www.lucid-tv.com/075.jpg is a serious medical condition]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'': Considering owls' reputation as a death omen, having your elder healer named "Owl Caller" isn't a good sign.
* Owls show up fairly often in ''HappleTea''. The author, Scott Maynard, has stated that he's obsessed with them.
* ''ThistilMistilKistil'' [[http://tmkcomic.depleti.com/comic/ch02-pg12/ One of Loki's forms]]
* Space Owls show up twice as of April 2012 in QuestionableContent. They knock people unconscious, at least according to Faye, who is telling the story to cover up her own handiwork. However, it's not to be evil or creepy.
* Averted in ''Daisy Owl'', in which Mr. Owl is a benevolent single parent trying to raise a pair of human foundlings.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Original]]
* {{Mortasheen}}'s [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/bemzuul.htm Bemzull]] is a creepy-looking owl monster with freakishly huge eyes, capable of [[BeingWatched seeing things from a mile away.]] Bonus points for being able to MindRape its enemies when threatened.
** [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/mephilas.htm Mephilas]] is a Devil Bird pretty clearly based off Stolas mentioned above. Mephilas dramatically increases the intelligence of its master, but overexposure to him can induce existential horror and depression. Inducing this in victims is also Mephilas' signature attack.
** There is also [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/gloomstone.htm Gloomstone]], a tombstone-like monster which releases headless owls. [[WidgetSeries It's that kind of setting.]]
* [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/o-rly The O RLY?]] [[MemeticMutation owl.]]
* "Fake Science" blog: "[[http://fakescience.tumblr.com/post/19960430087/whats-a-nocturnal-animal you can't escape owls, even when you sleep]]".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The creepy opening sequence in the ''{{Peanuts}}'' HalloweenSpecial ''ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown'' features an owl hooting into the camera just before the commercial break.
* In the ''{{Freakazoid}}'' episode "JustForFun/CandleJack," the first instance of "Scream-o-vision" occurs when an owl appears in the frame and hoots at the audience.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** The Knowledge Spirit, Won Shi Tong, combines the inherent creepiness of a giant talking owl with the ability to stretch his neck like some sort of feathery snake.
** The standard owls in this universe really are cats as birds; one was used to aid in the creepy atmosphere of ''The Puppetmaster.''
* The freaking terrifying owl that attacks the furlings in ''OnceUponAForest''.
* The 1960s-era secret agent spoof ''CoolMcCool'' had a villain named The Owl, seen in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz95oL4iHRQ the opening credits]].
* ''Rupert and the Frog Song''. The evil, glowing-eyed white barn owl swooping down towards the viewer with a shriek is certified terror. Can be seen at around 4:25 of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUiDQ5PtyKI this video.]]
* Averted in a [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] classic, "ILoveToSinga". "I love to sing-a/about the moon-a/and the June-a and the spring-a/I love to sing-a..."
* An owl appears during [[TheLegendOfSleepyHollow the Headless Horseman's]] introductory sequence from ''Disney/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad''.
* An owl in the famous Silly Symphony ''The Skeleton Dance'' managed to scare ''[[{{Badass}} a freaking]] [[DemBones skeleton]]'' out of his lack-of-skin. (Though the skeleton DID pull himself together and [[CrowningMomentOfFunny knock the owl's feathers off with his own skull]].)
* He has been mentioned already under Comics, but the Owlman of 'WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'' takes it UpToEleven by being [[spoiler:an OmnicidalManiac who thinks the only action that would have any meaning would be to destroy every single Earth there is in the multiverse.]]
* Subverted by Owlowiscious in WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic. Spike feels that way about him for supposedly stealing his place as "Twilight Sparkle's number 1 assistant" (he also thinks Owlowiscious' 180 degrees head rotation looks creepy). However otherwise Owlowiscious falls pretty squarely into TheOwlKnowingOne.
* Averted in ''{{Franklin}}''. Mr. Owl is their teacher, and he is always kind and helpful...and though intelligent, never pompously so.
* In ''KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'', we learn that the owl Feng Huang, formerly the most powerful member of the previous Furious Five, was corrupted by her power, and turned evil.
* ''PhineasAndFerb'' had an episode where Candace dreamed that she was in ''TheWizardOfOz'': When Candace and co. make it to the forest, one of the things that startles them is an owl...but not just any owl; it's actually a whacked-out version of an owl with Stacy's head... [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110819214504/ackleyattack/images/a/a1/Stacy_Owl.png See for yourself.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Insheeption," Mr. Mackey is revealed to have a hoarding problem stemming from a childhood incident when he was molested by a Woodsy Owl mascot ("Give a hoot, don't pollute!"). When Mr. Mackey faces up to this traumatic memory in a dream, the owl mascot turns into a monstrous embodiment of Mr. Mackey's trauma. Eventually, believe it or not, the other people in the dream have to bring in Freddy Krueger from ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' to stop the owl.
* In the 31st-century New New York of ''{{Futurama}}'', owls are pests, considered to be vermin like the rats and pigeons they were introduced to eliminate. They ended up filling the ecological niche those pests vacated. Owls can be domesticated, though, and trained to attack trespassers.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Real Life]]
* Owls are suspected as the source for several reported ghost hauntings or sightings of aliens.
* The [[AncientConspiracy "Bohemian Grove"]] [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness secret society]] that pops up in many New World Order [[ParanoiaFuel conspiracy theories]] apparently worships the owl goddess Lily.
** Or the owl god Molech (according to tinfoil hatter Alex Jones), never mind that Molech is supposed to be a man with the head of a bull, not an owl.
* [[http://www.billdavenport.com/owls/owls1.html Macrame owls]] were horrifying to quite a few children in TheSeventies.
* [=OwlCam=], which caused the creation of some very unsettling [=GIFs=] on Website/SomethingAwful. One of them featured four or five young barn owls - one crouched low and weaving from side to side, one breathing rapidly, and one ''gulping down a rodent half its own size''. One Goon found horror in the fact that the barn owls resembled the equally creepy masked Jabber Wockeez dance crew.
* Assuming the clip hasn't been taken down, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAz1L8DlvBM this]] slow-motion footage is probably the last thing a mouse ever sees. To get the shot, they hung a piece of bait under the camera.
* Art scholars believe the owls in Hieronymous Bosch' paintings represent madness.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-GFZ4bdSiQ One kind of owl]] can camouflage itself that makes it look ''more evil'' when not in its proper enviroment.
** This trait is quite common among owls; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFJe6SMEHFA see another species doing more or less the same]].
* The [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4206031.stm Eurasian eagle owl]], a.k.a. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin killer owls]], inadvertently introduced into Scotland about five years ago. They can wind up three feet tall, and have been known to carry off dogs and ''small sheep''.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YvyXu7coXA Never]] piss off the barn owls.
* Much of the mythology regarding owls as omens of death could have its roots in the fact that they would frequently appear in old times when someone was ill. If a vigil was kept at night there would be lights burning, the light would attract insects, the insects would attract mice and the mice would attract owls.
[[/folder]]
----
[[MemeticMutation O RLY?]]
[[caption-width-right:299:Check your nightmares at the door.]]
->''"If you were an alien abductee, you might have memories of seeing owls in the city, or owls on the subway, or owls sitting outside your apartment window, or owls sitting INSIDE your apartment window, wearing space clothes and preparing a rectal probe."''
-->-- '''John Hodgman''', ''Literature/MoreInformationThanYouRequire''
Owls are, to put it bluntly, [[NightmareFuel creepy]]. They just are. Perhaps it's because most of them are nocturnal or that they eat cute little mice or that they can spin their heads all the way around. It could be those (relatively) gigantic, piercing eyes. Or perhaps it's the sounds they make at night (except for the beating of their wings which are so soft and fluffy you'll never hear a thing. Bad news for rodents), in the dark, when you're in TheLostWoods.
It doesn't really matter ''why'' they are creepy, they just are. Owls have long been viewed as harbingers of disease, death, destruction, and bad luck. To the Hopi, they were a symbol of evil sorcery; to the Romans, they were funerary birds, signaling ill will in the daytime (unless you were collecting their eggs, in which case they signaled a HideousHangoverCure); and the [[UsefulNotes/AztecMythology Aztec]] [[TheGrimReaper god of death]], Mictlantecuhtli, was often portrayed with owls. Creator/GeoffreyChaucer also had a thing for them.
So remember: if you ever see an owl, clutch your Tootsie Roll Pops tightly and run in the other direction.
Owls are, of course, also [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/35819 assholes]].
See also FeatheredFiend for other types of creepy, creepy birds. Contrast TheOwlKnowingOne.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''Franchise/OnePiece'', every member of CP 9 has an animal motif, and the creepiest one is definitely Fukuro who is based off of an owl. Among other things, his mouth has a zipper on it that he has to unzip if he wants to talk.
* There is yet another Fukuro among the assassin group Trinity Raven in ''Manga/FairyTail'', who is also noticeably creepy. He has a man's body but an owl's head (also [[ImprobableWeaponUser two missiles on his back with the word "JUSTICE" printed on it]]), and one of his abilities is to swallow his opponents whole and use their magic until they digest fully. It's worth noting that "Fukuro" is Japanese for "owl."
* The ''Anime/WolfsRain'' anime series had a creepy owl that made appearances at times, most likely as a symbol for death.
* In the zoo chapter of ''Manga/{{Yotsubato}}'', Yotsuba is utterly terrified of the owl. She ends up trying to scare it (so that it stops staring at her)... and then it spreads its wings and hoots. Cut to her hiding behind her dad's legs.
* In ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'', a mother owl and her babies actually live in an abandoned castle in Germany where Albert/004 fights a robot with his same looks and powers. [[spoiler: During the fight, the nest gets knocked off its site and out of reflex 004 shields the owls with his own body... [[SpannerInTheworks which saves his life]], as the robot couldn't predict his ''human'' reaction and its programmed strategies are all screwed.]]
* In ''Anime/SoraNoWoTo'', an owl is both the unit's pet, Shuko, and their insignia. Shuko is a Northern White-faced Owl, the "evil transformer owl" with its own entry in the Real Life folder below.
* [[spoiler:Kouichi]] from ''Manga/NabariNoOu'' is actually an owl with a human heart. His partially transformed form after being shot in the heart is more than a [[http://www.mangareader.net/683-33512-20/nabari-no-ou/chapter-37.html little creepy]].
* [[MagnificentBastard Mukuro]] from ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' has a Snowy Owl as his box animal. Not so creepy until you see it with his red/blue heterochromia. Unsurprisingly, the owl is named Mukurou.
** Though the name might come from the fact that the Owl was the body Mukurou used for an extended period of time (and thus, was in fact Mukurou) before he got his own body back. That and the box technically belongs to Chrome, not Mukuro.
* A recurring motif in ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine'', with normal ones appearing in the opening, as well as more nightmarish humanoid ones appearing in a flashback of Fujiko's.
* The manga [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/jagan_wa_gachirin_ni_tobu/ Jagan wa Gachirin ni Tobu]] takes this tropes to its worst possible conclusion in the form of Minerva, an owl shaped [[AnimalisticAbomination abomination]] whose eyes continuously [[TearsofBlood spill blood from their sockets]], and whose mere gaze can kill any living thing almost instantly after forcing them to [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/jagan_wa_gachirin_ni_tobu/v01/c001/9.html expel blood from their eyes, ears and mouths]]. It's gaze was so potent that after escaping containment from a U.S. military aircraft carrier, it killed off the entire crew and decimated several Japanese cities just by flying over them. It was also nearly impossible to kill even with ranged weapons like guns, since it could sense its attackers' blood thirst. It took the efforts of a completely blind (courtesy of Minerva) expert hunter, a {{Batman Gambit}}, and a jet battle in midair to finally bring the wicked-eyed bird down.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Art]]
* Goya's etching ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleep_of_Reason_Produces_Monsters The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters]] (El sueño de la razón produce monstruos)'' depicts the artist's nightmares as owls and [[BatOutOfHell bats]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Card Games]]
* In the Alara block of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', strixes are kept as pets in the bio-mechanical realm of Esper. As the name might suggest to any Latin scholars, they're [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=175015 venomous]] or [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=175021 parasitic]] evil clockwork owls.
* Franchise/WinnieThePooh 's Owl appears in the Kingdom Hearts Collectible Card Game. Seeing how the game focuses a lot on Magic/Friends(Summons, in the first game, which ran on magic), such as Simba, Tinkerbell, Bambi, etc, playing an Owl card can cause a lot of grief, as he prevents them from being played. He can also be played at any time, and is a pain to get rid of.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Comic Books]]
* A horror comic had a short story called "[[{{Pun}} Hooters]]" where evil owls killed buxom women on a camping trip.
* In ''UsagiYojimbo'', the comic reflects the Japanese idea that the Owl is a symbol of death. In one story, Usagi and Gen spot one perched near a hut. When they looked inside and found their old friend, Zato-Ino, in a hut and gravely wounded, that bird was a bad omen. However, they are able to successfully treat the pig and Gen spitefully goes out to taunt the bird and drive it away. Later the Owl is diving for a cute little lizard, but the little guy is saved by an attacking Tokage who tackles the Owl and eats it.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}: The Corpse'', when the [[TheFairFolk Fairy King]] makes his first appearance, he has an owl perched on his arm.
** ''{{BPRD}} 1946'' and ''1947'' feature a vampire count who shapeshifts into an owl. Sometimes he does it to make murdering Nazis easier and sometimes he does it to get around faster. It's just his thing.
* In the MarvelUniverse, there's a villain named The Owl, who's primarily a member of {{Daredevil}}'s RoguesGallery. He eventually had surgery done to make him look more like an owl.
* In the DCUniverse, Owlman is the EvilCounterpart of Batman in the Crime Syndicate's MirrorUniverse.
** The reason why he was so named is because owls prey on bats.
** Another Batman example is the vilainous organisation [[ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls The Court of Owls]] introduced in Scott Snyder's run on Batman Volume 2. They're a clandestine society who have apparently secretly controlled Gotham for centuries, and the "owls prey on bats" imagery has been played up for all it's worth.
* Macduff, a wooden doll in form of an owl that formerly was the pet of Gepetto, recently joined ''JackFrost'' in his adventures.
* [[http://fancoredaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/mouse_guard.jpg This cover]] from ''MouseGuard''. The scene itself is even more brutal and awsome.
* Averted in the comic ''Owly'': the title owl is a FriendToAllLivingThings and the comic is sweet as can be.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Animation]]
* The Grand Duke of Owls and his henchmen from ''RockADoodle''. voiced by Christopher Plummer
* Disney's ''Disney/AliceInWonderland''. While traveling through a spooky forest Alice encounters an owl with a neck like an accordion that makes music as it flies.
* Although he's ultimately friendly, the ancient owl in ''TheSecretOfNimh'' is intensely scary.
* Merlin's pet Archimedes in ''Disney/TheSwordInTheStone'' is of the pompous, know-it-all variety.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]
* An owl provides a CatScare to Arthur at one point in ''Film/HorrorOfDracula''.
* The appearance of Jareth, the goblin king, in ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' (and his departure at the end) involved his becoming an owl... actually, ''Labyrinth'''s entire opening shot is a (for the time) impressive CG sequence of said owl flying around the opening credit shots and eventually becoming a real owl with a carefully executed editing sweep shot into the first scene.
* The movie ''Film/TheAdventuresOfMiloAndOtis'', a story about a lost kitten and a puppy, has a scene in the treetops at nighttime where the kitten talks with a horned owl with glowing eyes who pops out of nowhere. Though he is friendly, he is, needless to say, quite terrifying for younger children.
* The Owls in ''Film/IKnowWhoKilledMe''. [[FauxSymbolism They don't mean anything]], nor are they particularly foreboding. They're just there.
* The rather intense [[BodyHorror Owl-to-human]] {{transformation|Trauma}} in the Russian film version of ''Literature/{{Nightwatch}}''.
* In ''Film/TheFourthKind'', the owls are actually [[spoiler: Aliens coming to abduct you]]
* ''Film/BladeRunner'' features an owl in relation to [[AnimalMotif Tyrell]].
* The killer in ''Film/StageFrightAquarius'' wears an owl mask, which was part of the theatre production he crashes.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* Averted with the owl from the ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' books.
* In Mervyn Peake's ''Titus Groan'', Lord Sepulchrave [[spoiler: is driven mad by the destruction of his library, starts believing he is 'The Death Owl' and eventually commits suicide by allowing himself to be eaten by owls.]]
* Henry David Thoreau wrote in ''Walden'': "I rejoice that there are owls. Let them do the idiotic and maniacal hooting for men. It is a sound admirably suited to swamps and twilight woods which no day illustrates, suggesting a vast and underdeveloped nature which men have not recognized. They represent the stark twilight and unsatisfied thoughts which all [men] have."
* NeilGaiman: "Daughter of Owls," wherein a baby girl foundling is superstitiously thought to be, yes, born of owls and thus the townfolk will not raise her, only giving her food.
* In ''Bless Me Ultima'', owls are a sign that a bruja (or evil witch) is around. It seems to be the same concept as Western witches' familiars, but I'm not terribly familiar with the mythology surrounding brujeria.
** It's also a subversion, as the main owl in the story is connected to ''Ultima herself'', who is a curandera rather than a bruja (playing on the Latino Catholic stereotype of indigenous healers being witches). [[spoiler:In fact, when the owl is killed, Ultima dies not long after as a consequence]].
* As explained in the above quote, owls are symbols that you've been abducted by aliens in ''MoreInformationThanYouRequire''.
** The book also contains instructions on how to cook an owl. One of the steps is to remove their [[ClockworkCreature clockwork innards]].
* In ''TheChroniclesOfAncientDarkness'', [[spoiler:BigBad Eostra]] was once the mage of the Eagle Owl clan, so eagle owls are considered creepy bad omens. Other kinds of owls are cool, though.
* Owls are pretty nasty in Kenneth Oppel's ''Silverwing'' series, where their job is to keep bats from seeing the sun, and kill those that do - even going so far as to burn down a colony of females and children to take their revenge. Nothing compared to the ''real'' villains of the series: giant cannibal bats that worship an evil human-sacrifice-accepting god. In the later books, the owls get increasingly sympathetic.
* Stephen Bauer's fantasy novel Literature/{{Satyrday}} centers on the attempts of the protagonists - an orphaned boy, the satyr who raised him, a fox-spirit, and a sympathetic raven - to combat a malevolent owl and his plot to kidnap the Moon (who is a character in her own right). The owl is tyrannical and very cruel, a prime example of this trope.
* At one point in Literature/TheBible, [[IronWoobie Job]] complains that in the extremity of his misfortune, he has become "a brother to dragons and a companion to owls." Though some translations render it as "a companion to ostriches," which somehow reads as slightly less eerie.
* In Jincy Willet's short story "Justine Laughs at Death," an extended parallel is drawn between the SerialKiller (and rapist and torturer) Ripley and an owl he sees outside his window, with the owl's menace and predatory nature initially reminding Ripley comfortingly of himself (once the metaphor is extended, it gets... less comforting).
* [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in Creator/JamesThurber's comic essay [[http://mmi.tudelft.nl/~bart/leesvoer/owl.html "There's An Owl In My Room"]], which is mostly about pigeons and how ''un''-sinister (or poignant, for that matter) they are, but it does refer to the sinister nature of owls as a contrast:
-->You could dress up a pigeon in a tiny suit of evening clothes and put a tiny silk hat on his head and a tiny gold-headed cane under his wing and send him walking into my room at night. It would make no impression on me. I would not shout, "Good God Almighty, the birds are in charge!" But you could send an owl into my room, dressed only in the feathers it was born with, and no monkey business, and I would pull the covers over my head and scream.
* In the story "The Ghost Car" in Chris Woodyard's book ''Haunted Ohio II'', the deaths of a certain family's members are heralded by a number of owls that fly away one by one until none are left. This occurs after a man muffled in a coat knocks on the family's door before vanishing. This happens on winter nights for two years in a row. When the knock comes on the third year, the family does not open the door, at which the knocker chuckles and says, "Soon no one will occupy this farm but the owls."
* Creator/GeorgeEliot complains about a clumsy attempt to invoke this, in her essay "Literature/SillyNovelsByLadyNovelists":
-->she falls into this mediaeval vein of description (the italics are ours): "The banner ''unfurled it'' at the sound, and shook its guardian wing above, while the startled owl ''flapped her in'' the ivy; the firmament looking down through her 'argus eyes,'-
* Literature/{{Discworld}} makes fun of this trope (As it does virtually every trope in existence). The Epebian goddess of wisdom was ''supposed'' to have an owl as her signature animal. Unfortunately, due to her church hiring a sculptor who wasn't very good at doing birds for her statue, she ended up with a penguin.
* Subverted in the YoungAdult novel ''Literature/{{Hoot}}''. While burrowing owls are tiny and adorable, their existence on a construction site spells doom for the pancake house that is supposed to be built on it.
* Completely averted in Katherine Lasky's [[GuardiansOfGaHoole The Guardians of Ga'Hoole]], where the cast consists almost entirely of owls, the odd snake and seagull aside. That is, averted as long as you're talking about the protagonists; their enemies, The Pure Ones, [[ReligionOfEvil can be a pretty nasty bunch]].
* Justified in ''[[TalesFromDimwoodForest Poppy]]'', since most of the cast are mice. However the mice and the owl, Mr. Ocax, have an odd relationship in which the mice are forced to pretend that Mr. Ocax is their kindly ruler/landlord.
* Spooky owls crop up a lot in Creator/PaulCornell's Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures.
* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, owls are often thought of as ill omens. Justified, since an owl seems quite large to a cat, and owls have been known to carry off kits. However, [=ThunderClan=] does occasionally look for owls at night, because if it's windy and they're having trouble scenting prey, they can follow an owl and find prey that way.
* ''Coyote Blue'' by Christopher Moore has an owl. Not a major plot point, but a running sidearc.
* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Literature/{{Freckles}}'', one trial facing Freckles in his job is being caught on the train and hearing the unnerving hooting.
-->''Night closed in. The Limberlost stirred gently, then shook herself, growled, and awoke around him.\\
There seemed to be a great owl hooting from every hollow tree, and a little one screeching from every knothole. ''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Owls in ''TwinPeaks'' are supposed to be the eyes of BOB and/or the Black Lodge, but their significance is never really explained. Then again, neither is anything else of consequence to the series' overall plot.
* John Oliver once noted on ''MockTheWeek'' that owls can kill tigers, because they have the high ground.
* [[Series/TheColbertReport Owls are on notice]]. Colbert refuses to talk about it, saying "they know what they did". Possibly something to do with [[DungeonsAndDragons Owl]]{{bears|AreBadNews}}?
* [[TheFastShow WITH AN OWL!]]
* ''TalesFromTheCrypt'' had an episode with a man who gets the auditory system of an owl.
* On ''Series/MythQuest'', Gwydion and Math sentence Blodeuwedd to spend eternity as an owl, shunned by both man and bird, for murdering her husband.
* ''Series/WouldILieToYou'': Greg Davies used a a drawing of the "Hoot Owl of Death" as sort of a BlackSpot when he was a child.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Music Videos]]
* Watch the video for Outkast's "Ms. Jackson" and you may remember that owl forever.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD6VgRUE1y0 "The Owl"]] by I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YVZX7IfG6A This]] parody of the BlackEyedPeas' "I Gotta Feeling."
* A couple of Music/LindseyStirling's videos, e.g. her ''[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]]'' medly, use owl hoots to set the scene and make it seem scary.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Mythology]]
* Original references to vampires turning into flying creatures had them become owls, not bats.
** This may be because the Middle Eastern Lilith/Lilitu was often symbolized as an owl, and often took the form of an owl.
* The Cahuilla Indian [[TheGrimReaper god of death]], Muut, was represented by an owl.
* The demon Andras, is a man with the head and wings of an owl.
* There's the saying ''Cuando el tecolote canta, el indio muere'' (when owl hoots, an American Indian dies).
** Most Native cultures in Mexico and the American Southwest consider owls ill-omened -- many of them believed hearing an owl hoot is an omen of death. Though Old Man Owl occasionally does some good in Navajo legends, most owls one might meet are probably shape-shifted ghosts”the related Apache tribe wear owl feathers to keep ghosts away. Even when Old Man Owl does his good deed, it's creepy, considering what he says when given a deer-liver as thanks: "Turn your back, my grandchild, I allow nobody to see me feed."
** Owls also were the symbol of Mictlantehuatl, god of death and ruler of the Underworld in UsefulNotes/AztecMythology.
* Speaking of owls and the Aztecs, the Aztecs feared owls: hearing the hooting of an owl was an omen of misfortune, hearing the scream of a screech owl was an omen of your own death, and seeing a horned owl was the beginning of one's own spiritual corruption and doom.
* The Aztec god Tlacolotl was a patron of evil doers, sorcerers and darkness. He is similar to Tezcatlipoca, though, unlike the Smoking mirror, who is the dark half of the Light and cultivates evil so it can be exposed and dealt with, Tlacolotl cultivates [[ForTheEvulz wickedness for the sake of wickedness]]. In the Codex Cospiano, Tlacolotl is represented as a horned owl nesting in a temple as the blind sorcerer god of obstacles, ice and immobility, Itzlacoluihqui. sometimes described as a negative counterpart to Tezcatlipoca, makes an offering of blood and burning incense, apparently in an attempt to blot out the sun. [http://www.kunst-fuer-alle.de/english/art/artist/image/mexican-school/8713/16/index.htm#]
* In some parts of Medieval Europe, it's thought only owls could abide the presence of ghosts, so an owl nesting near a house is a sign that it's haunted.
* On the one hand, owls are considered a death omen in Japanese mythology. On the other, they're also considered to be [[TruthInTelevision really stupid.]]
* Stolas/Stolos, a demon and prince of hell in the ''Ars Goetia'', is represented as an owl. Also an example of TheOwlKnowingOne since he is presented as a tutor, albeit one who teaches poisons and other demonic knowledge.
* In several African tribal beliefs, particularly in the Congo, owls were and are considered evil beings that eat the souls of humans.
* Some cryptozoologists have argued that the infamous Mothman is actually 'merely' a giant owl from Pleistocene Cuba. They call it (what else?) Bighoot.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* There is a creature in DungeonsAndDragons called a spellweaver, which is a humanoid with six arms and the head of a barn owl. It's generally benevolent, but it doesn't talk, and [[UncannyValley it looks kind of creepy]].
** 3.5 Monster Manual also describes a giant owl, which is a subversion as it is usually Neutral Good. The evergreen Owl''{{bear|sAreBadNews}}'' on the other hand...
** Subverted with the grim, a 2nd Edition good-aligned monster that often took the form of an owl. It hung around cursed graveyards and other creepy locales, but did so to help keep evil forces from ''escaping'' such places.
* VampireTheRequiem (and its historical setting, "Requiem for Rome") has the Strix: strange, ghostly owl-like beings who may be responsible for, among other things, the fall of the Roman Empire, and the creation, followed by subsequent destruction, of a Clan of vampires. They possess corpses, and [[GrandTheftMe sleeping vampires]], and walk about causing mischief. Needless to say, they're the bad guys and the boogeymen. They're also based on an actual Roman myth.
** They also appear in the ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'' sourcebook on taking on vampires. They make a guy murder his girlfriend so they can ride the corpse.
* From {{Exalted}}, [[TheChessmaster Meticulous Owl]], Endless-Faced Spite. He gets ''bonuses'' for hiding in plain sight.
** Also [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Lilith]], a traumatized, horrifically powerful owl-totemed Lunar martial-arts master.
* In ''BunniesAndBurrows,'' owls are seen as something along the lines of dragons for their formidable wisdom and awesome rabbit-killing abilities.
* The owl-like Goetic demon Stolas appears in AgeOfAquarius Second Edition, in a piece of narrative text about [[MadScientist the Utopists]]. PlayedForLaughs in that they summon him only to pick a feather from his tail, turning him comically angry.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Theatre]]
* In GilbertAndSullivan's ''TheMikado'', the AbhorrentAdmirer Katisha is described as an "ill-omened owl" at one point.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* The owl (Kaepora Gaebora) in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series is a good guy, but still quite creepy in some portrayals. He is ''seen'' as being "evil", with "evil" being used as a synonym for annoying, even in his more tame appearances, due to his tendency to be a trifle... [[WallOfText long-winded]]. You see, [[CaptainObvious he usually says things that are blatantly obvious]] and [[ScrollingText take quite some time to scroll past]], and you can't skip them. In fact, trying to skip his speeches can make it take ''longer''. "Hoot! [[ShallIRepeatThat Do you want me to repeat this]]?"
-->'''Yes''' ←\\
No
** And when his head spins around so it's upside-down, his facial markings look like a second face. Seriously, who gives a good character [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory two]] [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder faces]]?
** [[CatchPhrase "The Owl is watching! Hoot!"]]
** The owl guide in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'' is also quite creepy, as he knowingly sends Link to effectively [[spoiler: destroy the world in which the owl himself and all of Link's new friends live.]]
* Lechku (pictured) and Nechku from ''{{Okami}}'' count, even though, technically, they're not real owls, but they're [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot demonic clockwork owls]]. With {{Nice Hat}}s. [[WidgetSeries In feudal Japan.]]
* Owls are considered creepy enough for them to be a recurring enemy in ''{{Castlevania}}'', sometimes accompanied by an Owl Knight.
** Poor dude gets pissed off if you kill his bird (and vice versa).
** Stolas from the ''ArsGoetia'' also appears. He doesn't attack on his own, but summons various other monsters.
* Clockwerk, the BigBad for the first SlyCooper game. Though he's technically a giant robot owl.
** According to Sly's in-game speculation, he was probably a regular owl who gradually replaced all of his body parts with robotic ones.
*** This was confirmed for true when he shows up.
---> Sly Cooper, you have escaped my gas chamber and destroyed my death ray. Remarkable, you Coopers always find a way to beat me.
*** Thieves in Time reveals that [[spoiler:Clockwerk might just be the very ''first'' of owls, as he's been around since the ice age]].
* VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft players flying in the Skettis area can testify to the truth of this trope. Gods all blast those [[http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=23051 Monstrous Kaliris...]].
* RagnarokOnline brings us an [[http://roempire.com/database/?page=monsters&act=view&mid=1320 Owl Duke]] and [[http://roempire.com/database/?page=monsters&act=view&mid=1295 Owl Baron]]. They are walking, aristocratically clothed demonic owls that attack you with lighting. And Baron also [[MookMaker summons]] [[FlunkyBoss a bunch of Dukes]]. [[note]]Yes, Gravity dropped the ball on that one. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peerage Baron is the lowest rank, while the Duke is the highest.]][[/note]]
* Olcadan from the SoulSeries is a man with the head and feet of an owl, and is [[MultiMeleeMaster adept in various weapon styles]].
* [[OmnicidalManiac Setsuna]] of ''VideoGame/TheLastBlade'' has an owl as a pet.
* In ''[[NintendoWars Advance Wars: Days of Ruin]]'', the symbol for military research company IDS (and thus, by extension [[BigBad Caulder/Stolos]]) is an owl. His European/Japanese name is a reference to the Ars Goetia demon (see Mythology).
* The BigBad of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' has a robot owl familiar/pet/something.
* Sometimes they warn you for [[VideoGame/KingsQuestV POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOISONOUS]] [[MemeticMutation SNAAKES]].
* Hoothoot and Noctowl from ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' straddle the fine line between this and TheOwlKnowingOne. For one thing, they aren't Dark/Flying type (That was reserved for [[RavensAndCrows the Murkrow line]]). However, they CAN learn a lot of good Psychic-type moves, may have as an ability either Insomnia (prevents sleep) or Keen Eye (prevents lowering of accuracy), and have two immunities. Ghost-types beware!
* [[BlowYouAway Storm]] Owl from ''{{Mega Man X}}4'', who is the commander of Repliforce's Air Force.
* The iPad/Mac game ''Lechuza'' seems to hinge on this trope, doing its best to illustrate owls as evil.
* The Peepsta Hoo dream eater in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3D''. It tends to be little more then an annoyance at first, simply throwing weak, homing [[FeatherFlechettes feather shurikens]] at you and trying to perform an EnemyScan on you. Should it complete the scan, however, it'll start blasting you with high tier magic and evading your attacks. The creepiness mostly applies to its Nightmare version, thanks to its [[RedEyesTakeWarning soulless red eyes]] and sinister color scheme.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' used owls as a RunningGag. Moperville North high school has [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-06-24 a mural]] warning "Read, or the Owl will Eat You". A [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/?date=2004-07-03 big owl]] appears as {{RTFM}} enforcer in [[{{Jumanji}} Goonmanji]] arc out of continuity. Then in a guest comic the owls make good on their threat, devouring an Analfabets Anonymous meeting (well, not really, but [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-10-06 close 'nuff]]).
** Subverted with Hedge, whose dramatic moments are always ruined by owls getting in the way.
* Muut (see Mythology, above) shows up in ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', but here he's an [[HalfHumanHybrid owl-man]].
* LucidTV: Being full of owls [[http://www.lucid-tv.com/075.jpg is a serious medical condition]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'': Considering owls' reputation as a death omen, having your elder healer named "Owl Caller" isn't a good sign.
* Owls show up fairly often in ''HappleTea''. The author, Scott Maynard, has stated that he's obsessed with them.
* ''ThistilMistilKistil'' [[http://tmkcomic.depleti.com/comic/ch02-pg12/ One of Loki's forms]]
* Space Owls show up twice as of April 2012 in QuestionableContent. They knock people unconscious, at least according to Faye, who is telling the story to cover up her own handiwork. However, it's not to be evil or creepy.
* Averted in ''Daisy Owl'', in which Mr. Owl is a benevolent single parent trying to raise a pair of human foundlings.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Original]]
* {{Mortasheen}}'s [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/bemzuul.htm Bemzull]] is a creepy-looking owl monster with freakishly huge eyes, capable of [[BeingWatched seeing things from a mile away.]] Bonus points for being able to MindRape its enemies when threatened.
** [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/mephilas.htm Mephilas]] is a Devil Bird pretty clearly based off Stolas mentioned above. Mephilas dramatically increases the intelligence of its master, but overexposure to him can induce existential horror and depression. Inducing this in victims is also Mephilas' signature attack.
** There is also [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/gloomstone.htm Gloomstone]], a tombstone-like monster which releases headless owls. [[WidgetSeries It's that kind of setting.]]
* [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/o-rly The O RLY?]] [[MemeticMutation owl.]]
* "Fake Science" blog: "[[http://fakescience.tumblr.com/post/19960430087/whats-a-nocturnal-animal you can't escape owls, even when you sleep]]".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The creepy opening sequence in the ''{{Peanuts}}'' HalloweenSpecial ''ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown'' features an owl hooting into the camera just before the commercial break.
* In the ''{{Freakazoid}}'' episode "JustForFun/CandleJack," the first instance of "Scream-o-vision" occurs when an owl appears in the frame and hoots at the audience.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** The Knowledge Spirit, Won Shi Tong, combines the inherent creepiness of a giant talking owl with the ability to stretch his neck like some sort of feathery snake.
** The standard owls in this universe really are cats as birds; one was used to aid in the creepy atmosphere of ''The Puppetmaster.''
* The freaking terrifying owl that attacks the furlings in ''OnceUponAForest''.
* The 1960s-era secret agent spoof ''CoolMcCool'' had a villain named The Owl, seen in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz95oL4iHRQ the opening credits]].
* ''Rupert and the Frog Song''. The evil, glowing-eyed white barn owl swooping down towards the viewer with a shriek is certified terror. Can be seen at around 4:25 of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUiDQ5PtyKI this video.]]
* Averted in a [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] classic, "ILoveToSinga". "I love to sing-a/about the moon-a/and the June-a and the spring-a/I love to sing-a..."
* An owl appears during [[TheLegendOfSleepyHollow the Headless Horseman's]] introductory sequence from ''Disney/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad''.
* An owl in the famous Silly Symphony ''The Skeleton Dance'' managed to scare ''[[{{Badass}} a freaking]] [[DemBones skeleton]]'' out of his lack-of-skin. (Though the skeleton DID pull himself together and [[CrowningMomentOfFunny knock the owl's feathers off with his own skull]].)
* He has been mentioned already under Comics, but the Owlman of 'WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'' takes it UpToEleven by being [[spoiler:an OmnicidalManiac who thinks the only action that would have any meaning would be to destroy every single Earth there is in the multiverse.]]
* Subverted by Owlowiscious in WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic. Spike feels that way about him for supposedly stealing his place as "Twilight Sparkle's number 1 assistant" (he also thinks Owlowiscious' 180 degrees head rotation looks creepy). However otherwise Owlowiscious falls pretty squarely into TheOwlKnowingOne.
* Averted in ''{{Franklin}}''. Mr. Owl is their teacher, and he is always kind and helpful...and though intelligent, never pompously so.
* In ''KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'', we learn that the owl Feng Huang, formerly the most powerful member of the previous Furious Five, was corrupted by her power, and turned evil.
* ''PhineasAndFerb'' had an episode where Candace dreamed that she was in ''TheWizardOfOz'': When Candace and co. make it to the forest, one of the things that startles them is an owl...but not just any owl; it's actually a whacked-out version of an owl with Stacy's head... [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110819214504/ackleyattack/images/a/a1/Stacy_Owl.png See for yourself.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Insheeption," Mr. Mackey is revealed to have a hoarding problem stemming from a childhood incident when he was molested by a Woodsy Owl mascot ("Give a hoot, don't pollute!"). When Mr. Mackey faces up to this traumatic memory in a dream, the owl mascot turns into a monstrous embodiment of Mr. Mackey's trauma. Eventually, believe it or not, the other people in the dream have to bring in Freddy Krueger from ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' to stop the owl.
* In the 31st-century New New York of ''{{Futurama}}'', owls are pests, considered to be vermin like the rats and pigeons they were introduced to eliminate. They ended up filling the ecological niche those pests vacated. Owls can be domesticated, though, and trained to attack trespassers.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Real Life]]
* Owls are suspected as the source for several reported ghost hauntings or sightings of aliens.
* The [[AncientConspiracy "Bohemian Grove"]] [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness secret society]] that pops up in many New World Order [[ParanoiaFuel conspiracy theories]] apparently worships the owl goddess Lily.
** Or the owl god Molech (according to tinfoil hatter Alex Jones), never mind that Molech is supposed to be a man with the head of a bull, not an owl.
* [[http://www.billdavenport.com/owls/owls1.html Macrame owls]] were horrifying to quite a few children in TheSeventies.
* [=OwlCam=], which caused the creation of some very unsettling [=GIFs=] on Website/SomethingAwful. One of them featured four or five young barn owls - one crouched low and weaving from side to side, one breathing rapidly, and one ''gulping down a rodent half its own size''. One Goon found horror in the fact that the barn owls resembled the equally creepy masked Jabber Wockeez dance crew.
* Assuming the clip hasn't been taken down, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAz1L8DlvBM this]] slow-motion footage is probably the last thing a mouse ever sees. To get the shot, they hung a piece of bait under the camera.
* Art scholars believe the owls in Hieronymous Bosch' paintings represent madness.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-GFZ4bdSiQ One kind of owl]] can camouflage itself that makes it look ''more evil'' when not in its proper enviroment.
** This trait is quite common among owls; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFJe6SMEHFA see another species doing more or less the same]].
* The [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4206031.stm Eurasian eagle owl]], a.k.a. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin killer owls]], inadvertently introduced into Scotland about five years ago. They can wind up three feet tall, and have been known to carry off dogs and ''small sheep''.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YvyXu7coXA Never]] piss off the barn owls.
* Much of the mythology regarding owls as omens of death could have its roots in the fact that they would frequently appear in old times when someone was ill. If a vigil was kept at night there would be lights burning, the light would attract insects, the insects would attract mice and the mice would attract owls.
[[/folder]]
----
[[MemeticMutation O RLY?]]
to:
[[caption-width-right:299:Check your nightmares at the door.]]
->''"If you were an alien abductee, you might have memories of seeing owls in the city, or owls on the subway, or owls sitting outside your apartment window, or owls sitting INSIDE your apartment window, wearing space clothes and preparing a rectal probe."''
-->-- '''John Hodgman''', ''Literature/MoreInformationThanYouRequire''
Owls are, to put it bluntly, [[NightmareFuel creepy]]. They just are. Perhaps it's because most of them are nocturnal or that they eat cute little mice or that they can spin their heads all the way around. It could be those (relatively) gigantic, piercing eyes. Or perhaps it's the sounds they make at night (except for the beating of their wings which are so soft and fluffy you'll never hear a thing. Bad news for rodents), in the dark, when you're in TheLostWoods.
It doesn't really matter ''why'' they are creepy, they just are. Owls have long been viewed as harbingers of disease, death, destruction, and bad luck. To the Hopi, they were a symbol of evil sorcery; to the Romans, they were funerary birds, signaling ill will in the daytime (unless you were collecting their eggs, in which case they signaled a HideousHangoverCure); and the [[UsefulNotes/AztecMythology Aztec]] [[TheGrimReaper god of death]], Mictlantecuhtli, was often portrayed with owls. Creator/GeoffreyChaucer also had a thing for them.
So remember: if you ever see an owl, clutch your Tootsie Roll Pops tightly and run in the other direction.
Owls are, of course, also [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/35819 assholes]].
See also FeatheredFiend for other types of creepy, creepy birds. Contrast TheOwlKnowingOne.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''Franchise/OnePiece'', every member of CP 9 has an animal motif, and the creepiest one is definitely Fukuro who is based off of an owl. Among other things, his mouth has a zipper on it that he has to unzip if he wants to talk.
* There is yet another Fukuro among the assassin group Trinity Raven in ''Manga/FairyTail'', who is also noticeably creepy. He has a man's body but an owl's head (also [[ImprobableWeaponUser two missiles on his back with the word "JUSTICE" printed on it]]), and one of his abilities is to swallow his opponents whole and use their magic until they digest fully. It's worth noting that "Fukuro" is Japanese for "owl."
* The ''Anime/WolfsRain'' anime series had a creepy owl that made appearances at times, most likely as a symbol for death.
* In the zoo chapter of ''Manga/{{Yotsubato}}'', Yotsuba is utterly terrified of the owl. She ends up trying to scare it (so that it stops staring at her)... and then it spreads its wings and hoots. Cut to her hiding behind her dad's legs.
* In ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'', a mother owl and her babies actually live in an abandoned castle in Germany where Albert/004 fights a robot with his same looks and powers. [[spoiler: During the fight, the nest gets knocked off its site and out of reflex 004 shields the owls with his own body... [[SpannerInTheworks which saves his life]], as the robot couldn't predict his ''human'' reaction and its programmed strategies are all screwed.]]
* In ''Anime/SoraNoWoTo'', an owl is both the unit's pet, Shuko, and their insignia. Shuko is a Northern White-faced Owl, the "evil transformer owl" with its own entry in the Real Life folder below.
* [[spoiler:Kouichi]] from ''Manga/NabariNoOu'' is actually an owl with a human heart. His partially transformed form after being shot in the heart is more than a [[http://www.mangareader.net/683-33512-20/nabari-no-ou/chapter-37.html little creepy]].
* [[MagnificentBastard Mukuro]] from ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' has a Snowy Owl as his box animal. Not so creepy until you see it with his red/blue heterochromia. Unsurprisingly, the owl is named Mukurou.
** Though the name might come from the fact that the Owl was the body Mukurou used for an extended period of time (and thus, was in fact Mukurou) before he got his own body back. That and the box technically belongs to Chrome, not Mukuro.
* A recurring motif in ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine'', with normal ones appearing in the opening, as well as more nightmarish humanoid ones appearing in a flashback of Fujiko's.
* The manga [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/jagan_wa_gachirin_ni_tobu/ Jagan wa Gachirin ni Tobu]] takes this tropes to its worst possible conclusion in the form of Minerva, an owl shaped [[AnimalisticAbomination abomination]] whose eyes continuously [[TearsofBlood spill blood from their sockets]], and whose mere gaze can kill any living thing almost instantly after forcing them to [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/jagan_wa_gachirin_ni_tobu/v01/c001/9.html expel blood from their eyes, ears and mouths]]. It's gaze was so potent that after escaping containment from a U.S. military aircraft carrier, it killed off the entire crew and decimated several Japanese cities just by flying over them. It was also nearly impossible to kill even with ranged weapons like guns, since it could sense its attackers' blood thirst. It took the efforts of a completely blind (courtesy of Minerva) expert hunter, a {{Batman Gambit}}, and a jet battle in midair to finally bring the wicked-eyed bird down.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Art]]
* Goya's etching ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleep_of_Reason_Produces_Monsters The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters]] (El sueño de la razón produce monstruos)'' depicts the artist's nightmares as owls and [[BatOutOfHell bats]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Card Games]]
* In the Alara block of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', strixes are kept as pets in the bio-mechanical realm of Esper. As the name might suggest to any Latin scholars, they're [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=175015 venomous]] or [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=175021 parasitic]] evil clockwork owls.
* Franchise/WinnieThePooh 's Owl appears in the Kingdom Hearts Collectible Card Game. Seeing how the game focuses a lot on Magic/Friends(Summons, in the first game, which ran on magic), such as Simba, Tinkerbell, Bambi, etc, playing an Owl card can cause a lot of grief, as he prevents them from being played. He can also be played at any time, and is a pain to get rid of.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Comic Books]]
* A horror comic had a short story called "[[{{Pun}} Hooters]]" where evil owls killed buxom women on a camping trip.
* In ''UsagiYojimbo'', the comic reflects the Japanese idea that the Owl is a symbol of death. In one story, Usagi and Gen spot one perched near a hut. When they looked inside and found their old friend, Zato-Ino, in a hut and gravely wounded, that bird was a bad omen. However, they are able to successfully treat the pig and Gen spitefully goes out to taunt the bird and drive it away. Later the Owl is diving for a cute little lizard, but the little guy is saved by an attacking Tokage who tackles the Owl and eats it.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}: The Corpse'', when the [[TheFairFolk Fairy King]] makes his first appearance, he has an owl perched on his arm.
** ''{{BPRD}} 1946'' and ''1947'' feature a vampire count who shapeshifts into an owl. Sometimes he does it to make murdering Nazis easier and sometimes he does it to get around faster. It's just his thing.
* In the MarvelUniverse, there's a villain named The Owl, who's primarily a member of {{Daredevil}}'s RoguesGallery. He eventually had surgery done to make him look more like an owl.
* In the DCUniverse, Owlman is the EvilCounterpart of Batman in the Crime Syndicate's MirrorUniverse.
** The reason why he was so named is because owls prey on bats.
** Another Batman example is the vilainous organisation [[ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls The Court of Owls]] introduced in Scott Snyder's run on Batman Volume 2. They're a clandestine society who have apparently secretly controlled Gotham for centuries, and the "owls prey on bats" imagery has been played up for all it's worth.
* Macduff, a wooden doll in form of an owl that formerly was the pet of Gepetto, recently joined ''JackFrost'' in his adventures.
* [[http://fancoredaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/mouse_guard.jpg This cover]] from ''MouseGuard''. The scene itself is even more brutal and awsome.
* Averted in the comic ''Owly'': the title owl is a FriendToAllLivingThings and the comic is sweet as can be.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Animation]]
* The Grand Duke of Owls and his henchmen from ''RockADoodle''. voiced by Christopher Plummer
* Disney's ''Disney/AliceInWonderland''. While traveling through a spooky forest Alice encounters an owl with a neck like an accordion that makes music as it flies.
* Although he's ultimately friendly, the ancient owl in ''TheSecretOfNimh'' is intensely scary.
* Merlin's pet Archimedes in ''Disney/TheSwordInTheStone'' is of the pompous, know-it-all variety.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]
* An owl provides a CatScare to Arthur at one point in ''Film/HorrorOfDracula''.
* The appearance of Jareth, the goblin king, in ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' (and his departure at the end) involved his becoming an owl... actually, ''Labyrinth'''s entire opening shot is a (for the time) impressive CG sequence of said owl flying around the opening credit shots and eventually becoming a real owl with a carefully executed editing sweep shot into the first scene.
* The movie ''Film/TheAdventuresOfMiloAndOtis'', a story about a lost kitten and a puppy, has a scene in the treetops at nighttime where the kitten talks with a horned owl with glowing eyes who pops out of nowhere. Though he is friendly, he is, needless to say, quite terrifying for younger children.
* The Owls in ''Film/IKnowWhoKilledMe''. [[FauxSymbolism They don't mean anything]], nor are they particularly foreboding. They're just there.
* The rather intense [[BodyHorror Owl-to-human]] {{transformation|Trauma}} in the Russian film version of ''Literature/{{Nightwatch}}''.
* In ''Film/TheFourthKind'', the owls are actually [[spoiler: Aliens coming to abduct you]]
* ''Film/BladeRunner'' features an owl in relation to [[AnimalMotif Tyrell]].
* The killer in ''Film/StageFrightAquarius'' wears an owl mask, which was part of the theatre production he crashes.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* Averted with the owl from the ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' books.
* In Mervyn Peake's ''Titus Groan'', Lord Sepulchrave [[spoiler: is driven mad by the destruction of his library, starts believing he is 'The Death Owl' and eventually commits suicide by allowing himself to be eaten by owls.]]
* Henry David Thoreau wrote in ''Walden'': "I rejoice that there are owls. Let them do the idiotic and maniacal hooting for men. It is a sound admirably suited to swamps and twilight woods which no day illustrates, suggesting a vast and underdeveloped nature which men have not recognized. They represent the stark twilight and unsatisfied thoughts which all [men] have."
* NeilGaiman: "Daughter of Owls," wherein a baby girl foundling is superstitiously thought to be, yes, born of owls and thus the townfolk will not raise her, only giving her food.
* In ''Bless Me Ultima'', owls are a sign that a bruja (or evil witch) is around. It seems to be the same concept as Western witches' familiars, but I'm not terribly familiar with the mythology surrounding brujeria.
** It's also a subversion, as the main owl in the story is connected to ''Ultima herself'', who is a curandera rather than a bruja (playing on the Latino Catholic stereotype of indigenous healers being witches). [[spoiler:In fact, when the owl is killed, Ultima dies not long after as a consequence]].
* As explained in the above quote, owls are symbols that you've been abducted by aliens in ''MoreInformationThanYouRequire''.
** The book also contains instructions on how to cook an owl. One of the steps is to remove their [[ClockworkCreature clockwork innards]].
* In ''TheChroniclesOfAncientDarkness'', [[spoiler:BigBad Eostra]] was once the mage of the Eagle Owl clan, so eagle owls are considered creepy bad omens. Other kinds of owls are cool, though.
* Owls are pretty nasty in Kenneth Oppel's ''Silverwing'' series, where their job is to keep bats from seeing the sun, and kill those that do - even going so far as to burn down a colony of females and children to take their revenge. Nothing compared to the ''real'' villains of the series: giant cannibal bats that worship an evil human-sacrifice-accepting god. In the later books, the owls get increasingly sympathetic.
* Stephen Bauer's fantasy novel Literature/{{Satyrday}} centers on the attempts of the protagonists - an orphaned boy, the satyr who raised him, a fox-spirit, and a sympathetic raven - to combat a malevolent owl and his plot to kidnap the Moon (who is a character in her own right). The owl is tyrannical and very cruel, a prime example of this trope.
* At one point in Literature/TheBible, [[IronWoobie Job]] complains that in the extremity of his misfortune, he has become "a brother to dragons and a companion to owls." Though some translations render it as "a companion to ostriches," which somehow reads as slightly less eerie.
* In Jincy Willet's short story "Justine Laughs at Death," an extended parallel is drawn between the SerialKiller (and rapist and torturer) Ripley and an owl he sees outside his window, with the owl's menace and predatory nature initially reminding Ripley comfortingly of himself (once the metaphor is extended, it gets... less comforting).
* [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in Creator/JamesThurber's comic essay [[http://mmi.tudelft.nl/~bart/leesvoer/owl.html "There's An Owl In My Room"]], which is mostly about pigeons and how ''un''-sinister (or poignant, for that matter) they are, but it does refer to the sinister nature of owls as a contrast:
-->You could dress up a pigeon in a tiny suit of evening clothes and put a tiny silk hat on his head and a tiny gold-headed cane under his wing and send him walking into my room at night. It would make no impression on me. I would not shout, "Good God Almighty, the birds are in charge!" But you could send an owl into my room, dressed only in the feathers it was born with, and no monkey business, and I would pull the covers over my head and scream.
* In the story "The Ghost Car" in Chris Woodyard's book ''Haunted Ohio II'', the deaths of a certain family's members are heralded by a number of owls that fly away one by one until none are left. This occurs after a man muffled in a coat knocks on the family's door before vanishing. This happens on winter nights for two years in a row. When the knock comes on the third year, the family does not open the door, at which the knocker chuckles and says, "Soon no one will occupy this farm but the owls."
* Creator/GeorgeEliot complains about a clumsy attempt to invoke this, in her essay "Literature/SillyNovelsByLadyNovelists":
-->she falls into this mediaeval vein of description (the italics are ours): "The banner ''unfurled it'' at the sound, and shook its guardian wing above, while the startled owl ''flapped her in'' the ivy; the firmament looking down through her 'argus eyes,'-
* Literature/{{Discworld}} makes fun of this trope (As it does virtually every trope in existence). The Epebian goddess of wisdom was ''supposed'' to have an owl as her signature animal. Unfortunately, due to her church hiring a sculptor who wasn't very good at doing birds for her statue, she ended up with a penguin.
* Subverted in the YoungAdult novel ''Literature/{{Hoot}}''. While burrowing owls are tiny and adorable, their existence on a construction site spells doom for the pancake house that is supposed to be built on it.
* Completely averted in Katherine Lasky's [[GuardiansOfGaHoole The Guardians of Ga'Hoole]], where the cast consists almost entirely of owls, the odd snake and seagull aside. That is, averted as long as you're talking about the protagonists; their enemies, The Pure Ones, [[ReligionOfEvil can be a pretty nasty bunch]].
* Justified in ''[[TalesFromDimwoodForest Poppy]]'', since most of the cast are mice. However the mice and the owl, Mr. Ocax, have an odd relationship in which the mice are forced to pretend that Mr. Ocax is their kindly ruler/landlord.
* Spooky owls crop up a lot in Creator/PaulCornell's Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures.
* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, owls are often thought of as ill omens. Justified, since an owl seems quite large to a cat, and owls have been known to carry off kits. However, [=ThunderClan=] does occasionally look for owls at night, because if it's windy and they're having trouble scenting prey, they can follow an owl and find prey that way.
* ''Coyote Blue'' by Christopher Moore has an owl. Not a major plot point, but a running sidearc.
* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Literature/{{Freckles}}'', one trial facing Freckles in his job is being caught on the train and hearing the unnerving hooting.
-->''Night closed in. The Limberlost stirred gently, then shook herself, growled, and awoke around him.\\
There seemed to be a great owl hooting from every hollow tree, and a little one screeching from every knothole. ''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Owls in ''TwinPeaks'' are supposed to be the eyes of BOB and/or the Black Lodge, but their significance is never really explained. Then again, neither is anything else of consequence to the series' overall plot.
* John Oliver once noted on ''MockTheWeek'' that owls can kill tigers, because they have the high ground.
* [[Series/TheColbertReport Owls are on notice]]. Colbert refuses to talk about it, saying "they know what they did". Possibly something to do with [[DungeonsAndDragons Owl]]{{bears|AreBadNews}}?
* [[TheFastShow WITH AN OWL!]]
* ''TalesFromTheCrypt'' had an episode with a man who gets the auditory system of an owl.
* On ''Series/MythQuest'', Gwydion and Math sentence Blodeuwedd to spend eternity as an owl, shunned by both man and bird, for murdering her husband.
* ''Series/WouldILieToYou'': Greg Davies used a a drawing of the "Hoot Owl of Death" as sort of a BlackSpot when he was a child.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Music Videos]]
* Watch the video for Outkast's "Ms. Jackson" and you may remember that owl forever.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD6VgRUE1y0 "The Owl"]] by I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YVZX7IfG6A This]] parody of the BlackEyedPeas' "I Gotta Feeling."
* A couple of Music/LindseyStirling's videos, e.g. her ''[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]]'' medly, use owl hoots to set the scene and make it seem scary.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Mythology]]
* Original references to vampires turning into flying creatures had them become owls, not bats.
** This may be because the Middle Eastern Lilith/Lilitu was often symbolized as an owl, and often took the form of an owl.
* The Cahuilla Indian [[TheGrimReaper god of death]], Muut, was represented by an owl.
* The demon Andras, is a man with the head and wings of an owl.
* There's the saying ''Cuando el tecolote canta, el indio muere'' (when owl hoots, an American Indian dies).
** Most Native cultures in Mexico and the American Southwest consider owls ill-omened -- many of them believed hearing an owl hoot is an omen of death. Though Old Man Owl occasionally does some good in Navajo legends, most owls one might meet are probably shape-shifted ghosts”the related Apache tribe wear owl feathers to keep ghosts away. Even when Old Man Owl does his good deed, it's creepy, considering what he says when given a deer-liver as thanks: "Turn your back, my grandchild, I allow nobody to see me feed."
** Owls also were the symbol of Mictlantehuatl, god of death and ruler of the Underworld in UsefulNotes/AztecMythology.
* Speaking of owls and the Aztecs, the Aztecs feared owls: hearing the hooting of an owl was an omen of misfortune, hearing the scream of a screech owl was an omen of your own death, and seeing a horned owl was the beginning of one's own spiritual corruption and doom.
* The Aztec god Tlacolotl was a patron of evil doers, sorcerers and darkness. He is similar to Tezcatlipoca, though, unlike the Smoking mirror, who is the dark half of the Light and cultivates evil so it can be exposed and dealt with, Tlacolotl cultivates [[ForTheEvulz wickedness for the sake of wickedness]]. In the Codex Cospiano, Tlacolotl is represented as a horned owl nesting in a temple as the blind sorcerer god of obstacles, ice and immobility, Itzlacoluihqui. sometimes described as a negative counterpart to Tezcatlipoca, makes an offering of blood and burning incense, apparently in an attempt to blot out the sun. [http://www.kunst-fuer-alle.de/english/art/artist/image/mexican-school/8713/16/index.htm#]
* In some parts of Medieval Europe, it's thought only owls could abide the presence of ghosts, so an owl nesting near a house is a sign that it's haunted.
* On the one hand, owls are considered a death omen in Japanese mythology. On the other, they're also considered to be [[TruthInTelevision really stupid.]]
* Stolas/Stolos, a demon and prince of hell in the ''Ars Goetia'', is represented as an owl. Also an example of TheOwlKnowingOne since he is presented as a tutor, albeit one who teaches poisons and other demonic knowledge.
* In several African tribal beliefs, particularly in the Congo, owls were and are considered evil beings that eat the souls of humans.
* Some cryptozoologists have argued that the infamous Mothman is actually 'merely' a giant owl from Pleistocene Cuba. They call it (what else?) Bighoot.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* There is a creature in DungeonsAndDragons called a spellweaver, which is a humanoid with six arms and the head of a barn owl. It's generally benevolent, but it doesn't talk, and [[UncannyValley it looks kind of creepy]].
** 3.5 Monster Manual also describes a giant owl, which is a subversion as it is usually Neutral Good. The evergreen Owl''{{bear|sAreBadNews}}'' on the other hand...
** Subverted with the grim, a 2nd Edition good-aligned monster that often took the form of an owl. It hung around cursed graveyards and other creepy locales, but did so to help keep evil forces from ''escaping'' such places.
* VampireTheRequiem (and its historical setting, "Requiem for Rome") has the Strix: strange, ghostly owl-like beings who may be responsible for, among other things, the fall of the Roman Empire, and the creation, followed by subsequent destruction, of a Clan of vampires. They possess corpses, and [[GrandTheftMe sleeping vampires]], and walk about causing mischief. Needless to say, they're the bad guys and the boogeymen. They're also based on an actual Roman myth.
** They also appear in the ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'' sourcebook on taking on vampires. They make a guy murder his girlfriend so they can ride the corpse.
* From {{Exalted}}, [[TheChessmaster Meticulous Owl]], Endless-Faced Spite. He gets ''bonuses'' for hiding in plain sight.
** Also [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Lilith]], a traumatized, horrifically powerful owl-totemed Lunar martial-arts master.
* In ''BunniesAndBurrows,'' owls are seen as something along the lines of dragons for their formidable wisdom and awesome rabbit-killing abilities.
* The owl-like Goetic demon Stolas appears in AgeOfAquarius Second Edition, in a piece of narrative text about [[MadScientist the Utopists]]. PlayedForLaughs in that they summon him only to pick a feather from his tail, turning him comically angry.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Theatre]]
* In GilbertAndSullivan's ''TheMikado'', the AbhorrentAdmirer Katisha is described as an "ill-omened owl" at one point.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* The owl (Kaepora Gaebora) in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series is a good guy, but still quite creepy in some portrayals. He is ''seen'' as being "evil", with "evil" being used as a synonym for annoying, even in his more tame appearances, due to his tendency to be a trifle... [[WallOfText long-winded]]. You see, [[CaptainObvious he usually says things that are blatantly obvious]] and [[ScrollingText take quite some time to scroll past]], and you can't skip them. In fact, trying to skip his speeches can make it take ''longer''. "Hoot! [[ShallIRepeatThat Do you want me to repeat this]]?"
-->'''Yes''' ←\\
No
** And when his head spins around so it's upside-down, his facial markings look like a second face. Seriously, who gives a good character [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory two]] [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder faces]]?
** [[CatchPhrase "The Owl is watching! Hoot!"]]
** The owl guide in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'' is also quite creepy, as he knowingly sends Link to effectively [[spoiler: destroy the world in which the owl himself and all of Link's new friends live.]]
* Lechku (pictured) and Nechku from ''{{Okami}}'' count, even though, technically, they're not real owls, but they're [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot demonic clockwork owls]]. With {{Nice Hat}}s. [[WidgetSeries In feudal Japan.]]
* Owls are considered creepy enough for them to be a recurring enemy in ''{{Castlevania}}'', sometimes accompanied by an Owl Knight.
** Poor dude gets pissed off if you kill his bird (and vice versa).
** Stolas from the ''ArsGoetia'' also appears. He doesn't attack on his own, but summons various other monsters.
* Clockwerk, the BigBad for the first SlyCooper game. Though he's technically a giant robot owl.
** According to Sly's in-game speculation, he was probably a regular owl who gradually replaced all of his body parts with robotic ones.
*** This was confirmed for true when he shows up.
---> Sly Cooper, you have escaped my gas chamber and destroyed my death ray. Remarkable, you Coopers always find a way to beat me.
*** Thieves in Time reveals that [[spoiler:Clockwerk might just be the very ''first'' of owls, as he's been around since the ice age]].
* VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft players flying in the Skettis area can testify to the truth of this trope. Gods all blast those [[http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=23051 Monstrous Kaliris...]].
* RagnarokOnline brings us an [[http://roempire.com/database/?page=monsters&act=view&mid=1320 Owl Duke]] and [[http://roempire.com/database/?page=monsters&act=view&mid=1295 Owl Baron]]. They are walking, aristocratically clothed demonic owls that attack you with lighting. And Baron also [[MookMaker summons]] [[FlunkyBoss a bunch of Dukes]]. [[note]]Yes, Gravity dropped the ball on that one. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peerage Baron is the lowest rank, while the Duke is the highest.]][[/note]]
* Olcadan from the SoulSeries is a man with the head and feet of an owl, and is [[MultiMeleeMaster adept in various weapon styles]].
* [[OmnicidalManiac Setsuna]] of ''VideoGame/TheLastBlade'' has an owl as a pet.
* In ''[[NintendoWars Advance Wars: Days of Ruin]]'', the symbol for military research company IDS (and thus, by extension [[BigBad Caulder/Stolos]]) is an owl. His European/Japanese name is a reference to the Ars Goetia demon (see Mythology).
* The BigBad of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' has a robot owl familiar/pet/something.
* Sometimes they warn you for [[VideoGame/KingsQuestV POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOISONOUS]] [[MemeticMutation SNAAKES]].
* Hoothoot and Noctowl from ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' straddle the fine line between this and TheOwlKnowingOne. For one thing, they aren't Dark/Flying type (That was reserved for [[RavensAndCrows the Murkrow line]]). However, they CAN learn a lot of good Psychic-type moves, may have as an ability either Insomnia (prevents sleep) or Keen Eye (prevents lowering of accuracy), and have two immunities. Ghost-types beware!
* [[BlowYouAway Storm]] Owl from ''{{Mega Man X}}4'', who is the commander of Repliforce's Air Force.
* The iPad/Mac game ''Lechuza'' seems to hinge on this trope, doing its best to illustrate owls as evil.
* The Peepsta Hoo dream eater in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3D''. It tends to be little more then an annoyance at first, simply throwing weak, homing [[FeatherFlechettes feather shurikens]] at you and trying to perform an EnemyScan on you. Should it complete the scan, however, it'll start blasting you with high tier magic and evading your attacks. The creepiness mostly applies to its Nightmare version, thanks to its [[RedEyesTakeWarning soulless red eyes]] and sinister color scheme.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' used owls as a RunningGag. Moperville North high school has [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-06-24 a mural]] warning "Read, or the Owl will Eat You". A [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/?date=2004-07-03 big owl]] appears as {{RTFM}} enforcer in [[{{Jumanji}} Goonmanji]] arc out of continuity. Then in a guest comic the owls make good on their threat, devouring an Analfabets Anonymous meeting (well, not really, but [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-10-06 close 'nuff]]).
** Subverted with Hedge, whose dramatic moments are always ruined by owls getting in the way.
* Muut (see Mythology, above) shows up in ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', but here he's an [[HalfHumanHybrid owl-man]].
* LucidTV: Being full of owls [[http://www.lucid-tv.com/075.jpg is a serious medical condition]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'': Considering owls' reputation as a death omen, having your elder healer named "Owl Caller" isn't a good sign.
* Owls show up fairly often in ''HappleTea''. The author, Scott Maynard, has stated that he's obsessed with them.
* ''ThistilMistilKistil'' [[http://tmkcomic.depleti.com/comic/ch02-pg12/ One of Loki's forms]]
* Space Owls show up twice as of April 2012 in QuestionableContent. They knock people unconscious, at least according to Faye, who is telling the story to cover up her own handiwork. However, it's not to be evil or creepy.
* Averted in ''Daisy Owl'', in which Mr. Owl is a benevolent single parent trying to raise a pair of human foundlings.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Original]]
* {{Mortasheen}}'s [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/bemzuul.htm Bemzull]] is a creepy-looking owl monster with freakishly huge eyes, capable of [[BeingWatched seeing things from a mile away.]] Bonus points for being able to MindRape its enemies when threatened.
** [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/mephilas.htm Mephilas]] is a Devil Bird pretty clearly based off Stolas mentioned above. Mephilas dramatically increases the intelligence of its master, but overexposure to him can induce existential horror and depression. Inducing this in victims is also Mephilas' signature attack.
** There is also [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/gloomstone.htm Gloomstone]], a tombstone-like monster which releases headless owls. [[WidgetSeries It's that kind of setting.]]
* [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/o-rly The O RLY?]] [[MemeticMutation owl.]]
* "Fake Science" blog: "[[http://fakescience.tumblr.com/post/19960430087/whats-a-nocturnal-animal you can't escape owls, even when you sleep]]".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The creepy opening sequence in the ''{{Peanuts}}'' HalloweenSpecial ''ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown'' features an owl hooting into the camera just before the commercial break.
* In the ''{{Freakazoid}}'' episode "JustForFun/CandleJack," the first instance of "Scream-o-vision" occurs when an owl appears in the frame and hoots at the audience.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** The Knowledge Spirit, Won Shi Tong, combines the inherent creepiness of a giant talking owl with the ability to stretch his neck like some sort of feathery snake.
** The standard owls in this universe really are cats as birds; one was used to aid in the creepy atmosphere of ''The Puppetmaster.''
* The freaking terrifying owl that attacks the furlings in ''OnceUponAForest''.
* The 1960s-era secret agent spoof ''CoolMcCool'' had a villain named The Owl, seen in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz95oL4iHRQ the opening credits]].
* ''Rupert and the Frog Song''. The evil, glowing-eyed white barn owl swooping down towards the viewer with a shriek is certified terror. Can be seen at around 4:25 of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUiDQ5PtyKI this video.]]
* Averted in a [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] classic, "ILoveToSinga". "I love to sing-a/about the moon-a/and the June-a and the spring-a/I love to sing-a..."
* An owl appears during [[TheLegendOfSleepyHollow the Headless Horseman's]] introductory sequence from ''Disney/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad''.
* An owl in the famous Silly Symphony ''The Skeleton Dance'' managed to scare ''[[{{Badass}} a freaking]] [[DemBones skeleton]]'' out of his lack-of-skin. (Though the skeleton DID pull himself together and [[CrowningMomentOfFunny knock the owl's feathers off with his own skull]].)
* He has been mentioned already under Comics, but the Owlman of 'WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'' takes it UpToEleven by being [[spoiler:an OmnicidalManiac who thinks the only action that would have any meaning would be to destroy every single Earth there is in the multiverse.]]
* Subverted by Owlowiscious in WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic. Spike feels that way about him for supposedly stealing his place as "Twilight Sparkle's number 1 assistant" (he also thinks Owlowiscious' 180 degrees head rotation looks creepy). However otherwise Owlowiscious falls pretty squarely into TheOwlKnowingOne.
* Averted in ''{{Franklin}}''. Mr. Owl is their teacher, and he is always kind and helpful...and though intelligent, never pompously so.
* In ''KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'', we learn that the owl Feng Huang, formerly the most powerful member of the previous Furious Five, was corrupted by her power, and turned evil.
* ''PhineasAndFerb'' had an episode where Candace dreamed that she was in ''TheWizardOfOz'': When Candace and co. make it to the forest, one of the things that startles them is an owl...but not just any owl; it's actually a whacked-out version of an owl with Stacy's head... [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110819214504/ackleyattack/images/a/a1/Stacy_Owl.png See for yourself.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Insheeption," Mr. Mackey is revealed to have a hoarding problem stemming from a childhood incident when he was molested by a Woodsy Owl mascot ("Give a hoot, don't pollute!"). When Mr. Mackey faces up to this traumatic memory in a dream, the owl mascot turns into a monstrous embodiment of Mr. Mackey's trauma. Eventually, believe it or not, the other people in the dream have to bring in Freddy Krueger from ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' to stop the owl.
* In the 31st-century New New York of ''{{Futurama}}'', owls are pests, considered to be vermin like the rats and pigeons they were introduced to eliminate. They ended up filling the ecological niche those pests vacated. Owls can be domesticated, though, and trained to attack trespassers.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Real Life]]
* Owls are suspected as the source for several reported ghost hauntings or sightings of aliens.
* The [[AncientConspiracy "Bohemian Grove"]] [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness secret society]] that pops up in many New World Order [[ParanoiaFuel conspiracy theories]] apparently worships the owl goddess Lily.
** Or the owl god Molech (according to tinfoil hatter Alex Jones), never mind that Molech is supposed to be a man with the head of a bull, not an owl.
* [[http://www.billdavenport.com/owls/owls1.html Macrame owls]] were horrifying to quite a few children in TheSeventies.
* [=OwlCam=], which caused the creation of some very unsettling [=GIFs=] on Website/SomethingAwful. One of them featured four or five young barn owls - one crouched low and weaving from side to side, one breathing rapidly, and one ''gulping down a rodent half its own size''. One Goon found horror in the fact that the barn owls resembled the equally creepy masked Jabber Wockeez dance crew.
* Assuming the clip hasn't been taken down, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAz1L8DlvBM this]] slow-motion footage is probably the last thing a mouse ever sees. To get the shot, they hung a piece of bait under the camera.
* Art scholars believe the owls in Hieronymous Bosch' paintings represent madness.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-GFZ4bdSiQ One kind of owl]] can camouflage itself that makes it look ''more evil'' when not in its proper enviroment.
** This trait is quite common among owls; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFJe6SMEHFA see another species doing more or less the same]].
* The [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4206031.stm Eurasian eagle owl]], a.k.a. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin killer owls]], inadvertently introduced into Scotland about five years ago. They can wind up three feet tall, and have been known to carry off dogs and ''small sheep''.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YvyXu7coXA Never]] piss off the barn owls.
* Much of the mythology regarding owls as omens of death could have its roots in the fact that they would frequently appear in old times when someone was ill. If a vigil was kept at night there would be lights burning, the light would attract insects, the insects would attract mice and the mice would attract owls.
[[/folder]]
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* In the 31st-century New New York of {{Futurama}}, owls are pests, considered to be vermin like the rats and pigeons they were introduced to eliminate. They ended up filling the ecological niche those pests vacated. Owls can be domesticated, though, and trained to attack trespassers.
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* In the 31st-century New New York of {{Futurama}}, ''{{Futurama}}'', owls are pests, considered to be vermin like the rats and pigeons they were introduced to eliminate. They ended up filling the ecological niche those pests vacated. Owls can be domesticated, though, and trained to attack trespassers.
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* In the 31st-century New New York of {{Futurama}}, owls are pests, considered to be vermin like the rats and pigeons they were introduced to eliminate. They ended up filling the ecological niche those pests vacated. Owls can be domesticated, though, and trained to attack trespassers.
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* Series/WouldILieToYou: Greg Davies used a a drawing of the "Hoot Owl of Death" as sort of a BlackSpot when he was a child.
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* Series/WouldILieToYou: ''Series/WouldILieToYou'': Greg Davies used a a drawing of the "Hoot Owl of Death" as sort of a BlackSpot when he was a child.
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* Series/WouldILieToYou: Greg Davies used a a drawing of the "Hoot Owl of Death" as sort of a BlackSpot when he was a child.
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Trope was narrowed down to \"creepiness associated with owls\". Removing contradictory paragraphs.
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On the other hand, owl was a symbol of Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, and generally one of the most human-friendly of the Olympians. Thus as long as it's not just there to scare you, the owl can be a symbol of wisdom. This of course may lead to the softer version of the trope that owls tend to be pompously intellectual and annoying.
To many, owls seem like cats [[RecycledInSpace as birds]]. Whether this makes them [[CuteKitten better]] or [[CatsAreMean worse]] is up to you.
Also, [[http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Owls/ everyone is fond of owls]], as the hit count and comments on [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G1PFLuTrgM Lovely Owl Molla]] demonstrate. Possibly because an owl's face superficially resembles a human face, with the beak where a human nose would be. How this is relevant, God only knows.
To many, owls seem like cats [[RecycledInSpace as birds]]. Whether this makes them [[CuteKitten better]] or [[CatsAreMean worse]] is up to you.
Also, [[http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Owls/ everyone is fond of owls]], as the hit count and comments on [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G1PFLuTrgM Lovely Owl Molla]] demonstrate. Possibly because an owl's face superficially resembles a human face, with the beak where a human nose would be. How this is relevant, God only knows.
