Animals that don't Exist

The Midnight Owl

The midnight owl, Bubo medianox, is a little-known member of the Strigidae family. Commonly found in most of Eurasia, it is rarely spotted, and most sightings have been reported by amateurs, which delayed its aknowledgement as a seperate species by the scientific community.

The midnight owl owns its name to both its jet-black plumage, as well as its strange behavior. As mentioned above, the midnight owl is rarely seen. However, each sighting happened during the one hour smack in the middle of the night (between the setting and rising of the sun). Most observers said that they were in a state of intense reflection about philosophical matters when they felt something watching them. Looking out of the window, they would see two bright orbs staring at them, followed by the silent swooshing of wings unfloding, and a dark shadow gliding away into the night.

Scientists are at a loss as to how the owl might discern the state of mind of those it shows itself to, or how that behavior might hold any benefits for it in terms of natural selection. Some have speculated that the owl might simply have passed by coincidentally. However, given that midnight owls have never been sighted by people who were not in this particular state of mind at that particular time, this seems unlikely.

Dr. John Burner, of the American Institute for the Study of Huge Birds (AISHB), was one of the first scientists to have seen a midnight owl, and has since developed his own theory in regards to its behavior. Dr. Burner believes that the owls feed on the brainwaves we emit when in intense reflection, which would explain why most people who have seen the owl say that they felt somehow relieved afterwards, and stopped thinking about what was preoccupying them. He is convinced that the owls are hugely benefcial to humans, stopping us from dwelling for too long on any one subject, and allowing us to avoid massive mental stress.

Others, however, do not share his positive view of the bird. Some people even believe that the owls are spying on us, especially in those moments of high brain activity, so that they may be able to attack and eradicate us later on.

The debate has begun to spread in the ornithology community, and people spend more and more time pondering the mystery that is the midnight owl. Although it has to be said that quite a few of them only do so in hopes of seeing the rare bird with their own eyes.