Here comes the Murder!

This year has been a wild ride, I think we all can agree on that. Something that helped my friends and me get through these tough times is some trivia nights via zoom. As somewhat of a control freak, I, of course, always choose and organize the questions for the night.

We used many different categories like movies, television, music, popular culture and general knowledge. The latter was my favourite one to research as I learned so many different facts I did not know before. There were facts I learned such as what language is most spoken in the world or how many stomachs cows have (the answers are Mandarian and four by the way.) But the fact that most enticed me was the one about crows.

Some people know that groups of animals have names they go by. Many know that a group of lions go by pride but do you know what a group of crows go by? They go by a murder! A murder! Isn't that crazy? In some ways, I could not believe this but in others, it made so much sense. I mean, there is a horror film called "The Birds" about birds who are kind of murdering.

Some of my friends got it which shocked me because it was not something I expected anyone to get. When searching general knowledge questions it was one of the ones that showed up which I feel it shouldn't be? Is it really something that someone would consider 'general knowledge'? I don't think it should be classified under general knowledge but I had to put it in the category regardless because it is something that if my friends considered, would make complete sense for the person making the trivia question.

Most of the attendees know my major obsession with horror films and the fact the crows tend to be a big part of them, on occasion. Their presence is a clue to the audience that something wicked is coming are has already arrived. I think they have been used this way for quite some time but it is because of the folklore behind them.

The folklore can come from the fact that a crow or a raven are often seen as omens of death. So when you see a murder of crows circling in the sky, death is probable. Whether it is an animal carcass or something much worse, I don't think you would want to know.

Some other places they seem to hover around would be places cemeteries or battlefields and again it would be places of death and bodies. As I mentioned earlier, the film "The Birds" uses something like birds as its symbol for death and that is the case for lots of pieces of art. Other films and plays will use the sounds of crowings cawing or circling the sky as death is coming or has already happened.

Even looking back further to the work of Edgar Allen Poe. He has a poem that is literally called "The Raven." When you think of him as well, I am sure that this is the one you think of. This fact about a murder of crows has an important meaning when it comes to the world of art like this poem and other forms of media.

Another fact I found out alongside this one was the fact that crows hold their own on trial to punish one of them if they did something to betray the group. I'm sorry what? Why are there so many things confusing and almost wrong about that?

With that being said, this fact was a big hit on my trivia night and inspired me to look for more names for groups of animals. A parliament of owls? A knot of frogs? Do you have a favourite? A murder of crows is definitely mine.