The "Harbinger Of Death?" Story

My photograph taken from the bell-tower of
St. James Church.  Below is a wooden cross
that was carved from a diseased Elm tree.

It was an ordinary day.  Leaning from the bell tower at St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania taking a photo of the churchyard below me.  I was hoping to take a photo of the cross that had recently been carved from the remains of the huge English Elm tree that had been standing beneath me until a few months ago.  Toward the end of the 1970s Dutch Elm Disease had infested many of the elm trees around the city of Lancaster and before long had arrived at St. James.  Shortly bark beetles had spread the disease to the 100 year old, 90 foot tall elms along the exterior of the property along both Orange and Duke Streets as well as the elms in the churchyard.  I assumed it was the Dutch Elm Disease that killed the trees, but after reading a recent story in the Lancaster Newspaper, I began to wonder.  The story told of a 90-year-old Dutch Elm on the rear lawn of Wheatland, President James Buchanan's Lancaster home, and how it may have met it's recent demise.  Seems a Great Horned Owl had been spotted during daylight hours sitting in the huge tree. Wasn't long after that the tree's leaves turned yellow and died and fell to the ground, the final signal that the elm was about to die.  

One of my altered Polaroid prints done on the rear lawn
of Wheatland with the diseased elm on the left side of photo.

A few local arborists talked about the belief that American Indians have that owls, especially seen during the daytime, sitting in trees are a harbinger of death.  Seems that to most Native American tribes that owls are a symbol of death.  Hearing owls hooting is considered an unlucky omen and they are the subject of numerous "bogeyman" stories told to warn children to stay inside at night or not cry too much, otherwise the owl may carry them away.  Wow!  It then struck me that when I was in the church steeple taking my photograph, during the middle of the day, I spotted a large horned owl sitting nearby me in the dark belfry.  We scared each other until it finally took flight and landed in a nearby tree.  

The scary Great Horned Owl.

Perhaps the owl had been roosting in the elm trees around the city and churchyard, thus causing their deaths.  My guess is that it was the Dutch Elm Disease that had struck them, as well as the recent tree at Wheatland, but owls can be scary and I can see why someone would believe they are associated with death.  But, as I finished reading the newspaper story written by Jack Brubaker, aka "The Scribbler", he told of the concert he had recently attended on the rear lawn of Wheatland, under the old, dying elm, and listening to the musical piece titled 'Noon Witch' by Antonin Dvorak.  He tells that the music follows the story of a woman who threatens her son with a call to the 'Noon Witch' if he doesn't behave.  The son misbehaves, the witch arrives and the mother runs away with her son in her arms.  As she runs she faints and falls on her son, smothering the child to death.  So, did the 'Noon Witch'  kill the child or the mother?  Did the horned owl kill the Elm trees or did the Dutch Elm Disease.  You be the judge!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.