Hello and welcome to the last installment of #WitchyWednesday! Today, I wanted to dive into creatures of the night that are often associated with haunted locations, bad omens, and Halloween. At the end of this post, I’ll share a round-up of all my Witchy Wednesday posts to share and highlight the magical topics I wrote about in October.

Bats

Spooky bats are often depicted flying against a full moon to set the tone for Halloween. Nocturnal creatures, they are often feared because they’re rarely spotted during the day and, thanks to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, superstitious persist that they’re vampiric and feed on human blood.

Bats are part of a larger ecosystem to help pollinate and control pests in different environments. There are over 1,400 species of bats found worldwide–and less than a handful, found in Mexico and South America, feed on animal blood. Most bats, however, feed on night-flying insects and sweet treats like fruits.

Bats often get painted as “evil” because it’s assumed they’re all disease carriers. Crucial to conservation, the U.S. Department of the Interior writes that “over 300 species of fruit depend on bats for pollination. Bats help spread seeds for nuts, figs and cacao — the main ingredient in chocolate. Without bats, we also wouldn’t have plants like agave or the iconic saguaro cactus.”

The next time you spot a bat, it’s best to leave them be. If you want to help conserve and learn more about this unusual creature, you can visit batcon.org.

Black Cats

The black cat has been synonymous with fear and witches ever since the Middle Ages. You can even find vintage Halloween decorations with black cats popping out of jack o’ lanterns. Edgar Allen Poe wrote an infamous story about cats; I even translated this character for Gothic Icons. But are they horrifying? Well, not exactly. Yet, people still fear them.

Cats are an interesting creature because they domesticated themselves. Twice. Free-spirited voids who are full of love, hungry cats mimick a baby’s cry to trick humans into feeding them. At night, a black cat’s eyes glimmer, but it’s easy to get spooked due to their dark fur that blends into the shadows.

During the Middle Ages, well before the Age of Reason, Pope Gregory IX declared that all cats were satanic, emphasizing the black cat. The pope’s papal bull led to a mass extermination of cats which allowed their prey–like Bubonic plague-carrying rats–to flourish and spread.

Today, fears persist about black cats. Not only are they the least adopted cat, there’s often a moratorium to adopt them around Halloween to prevent animal abuse.

If you are considering adopting a cat, please consider welcoming a black cat into your home. Even if you’re not, please remember that animals with black fur are simply animals with black fur.

Black Dogs

The black dog is an interesting source of fear, because their demonic nature is tied to English folktales. If you spot a black-furred hound, you’re doomed. There are several urban legends tied to specific locations; some black dogs are also regarded as protectors. In general, however, the colors black and red are commonly associated with demonic forces; this is a departure from what these colors meant in medieval times, where black meant “of the earth” and red represented vitality.

When I was digging into whether or not black dogs were adopted less, I found conflicting reports whether or not “Black Dog Syndrome” was real. From what I found, breed plays into the decisions for adopting dogs moreso than color. Still, if I was wandering down the street at night and spotted a dark-furred hound with red, glowing eyes? I’d tread carefully, too. *Screams in cat person.*

That said, like black cats, black-furred dogs are simply dogs with dark fur.

Ravens

Ravens are exceptional birds that often get mistaken for crows–and vice versa. The symbol is flush with folklore and myth; illustrating their flight, their intelligence, and how they scavenge the dead. Viewed as portents of doom in English, Swedish, and German folklore, ravens are simply a carrion bird that’s part of an ecosystem modern society has forgotten about.

Outside of Europe, ravens are mythological tricksters and harbingers of prophecy for the indigineous peoples of the Pacific Northwest as well as Siberian and Hindu cultures. Ravens and crows are interchangeable at first glance, but ravens are much larger and can soar through the skies. Crows, on the other hand, tend to flap their wings and are much smaller. Even their sounds are different: ravens croak and crows caw.

Superstitions about these black birds hold a lot of spiritual and cultural significance. As a creature of the night, this is a prime example of how the bird’s flight patterns and natural acts are perceived differently depending on the culture and location of the birds.

Spiders

Arachnophobia, or a fear of spiders, is extremely common. I even wrote about a spider biting me when I slept in my debut poetry collection. Spiders are one of those multi-legged creatures that freak people out–especially if they spin webs, are black and poisonous, or are fuzzy. The interesting thing about spiders is that they are, like bats, a form of natural pest control. There are over 40,000 identified varieties of spiders, too, ranging from garden spiders to venomous tarantulas.

While you might think they’re insects, they’re arachnids and some varieties have developed to live in your home and reduce pests. According to Museums Victoria: “An estimated 25 million tonnes of spiders populate the planet, and they eat between 400 and 800 million tonnes of invertebrates a year—insects that could otherwise pose a threat to us or our food sources.” Pretty amazing for an eight-legged creature, eh?

Spiders often get a bad rap because, let’s face it, many of them put the creep in creepy crawly. They do, however, have their place–both in the ecosystem and in stories. Many folktales remark on their ability to weave webs or, perhaps most famously like Anansi, to outwit their enemies. Associating spiders with good luck could have been a way to remind people of their inherit worth.

Thank you again for reading my #WitchyWednesday posts. Hope you enjoyed them! If you did, I’d love a cup of coffee as a treat. Happy Halloween!

Resources

Here is a list of articles you can read if you’d like to learn more about these horror-associated creatures. Several of these links point to conservation sites, too. If you can’t adopt a creature of the night, please consider reading more about them and, if you have a few bucks to spare, support conservation efforts through places like Peppermint Narwhal.

doi.gov/blog/13-facts-about-bats
kids.nationalgeographic.com/nature/article/bat-myths-busted
nps.gov/subjects/bats/myth-busters.htm
wildlifesos.org/chronological-news/bat-ling-myths-and-superstitions
history.com/news/black-cats-superstitions
aercmn.com/origins-of-black-cat-superstitions
smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/cats-may-have-been-domesticated-twice
newscientist.com/article/hungry-cats-trick-owners-with-baby-cry-mimicry
irishlegal.com/articles/our-legal-heritage-gregory-ix-the-cat-killing-pope-who-laid-down-the-law
fundamentallyfeline.com/black-cats-most-common-least-desired
wikipedia.org/wiki/Black Dog Folklore
rover.com/blog/black-dog-syndrome
treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/trees-plants-animals/birds/raven
wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural depictions of ravens
audubon.org/magazine/how-tell-raven-crow
washington.edu/news/spider-myths-facts-from-the-burke-museums-spider-expert
aaipest.com/6-myths-youve-led-believe-spiders
nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/debunking-spider-myths
museumsvictoria.com.au/article/top-spider-myths
sothebys.com/en/articles/arachnophilia-spiders-in-art-and-folklore
naturalhistorymag.com/fragments-of-spider-lore
learnreligions.com/spider-mythology-and-folklore-2562730

Witchy Wednesday Links

Missed my other posts? Here’s the Witchy Wednesday roundup for all of October 2024’s published articles! Thanks for reading!

Poisoned Treats and Lures for Witchy Wednesday
Magic Systems and Rules for Witchy Wednesday
Colonial American Witch Trials for Witchy Wednesday
Origins of Modern Tarot and Divination for Witchy Wednesday




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Tags | halloween, horror, witchywednesday