Hans Vogel is Dead

oh no

Barn owls have long held a place of prominence in European superstition (the German word for superstition, delightfully, is Aberglaube–glauben: to believe, aber: but/although, Aberglaube: to believe in spite of (the facts) ). These ominous birds are said to foretell deaths in the family, in some German regions specifically the deaths of children or stillbirths. It was not an uncommon practice in Germany and France to nail the dead bodies of barn owls over barn doors, supposedly to protect against fire, bad luck, and lightning strikes. Pilots have historically been a superstitious lot, after all.