A Newfoundland man has became so frustrated with an infestation of ravens in his home that he’s going to extreme measures to eradicate them. No, we’re not talking about poison or trapping—we’re talking about a good old-fashioned exorcism.
Johnaton Poulain recently bought the house, which is in Harbour Breton, a town on Newfoundland’s south coast, and since he moved in, he hasn’t had a moment’s peace from ravens who stare in the windows. The ravens don’t always just look, either—they actually attack the home, scratching at windows and tearing at the screens.
When Poulain was out of town recently, his neighbours sent him a video of a bird staring in his window and jumping at the glass, and it’s like a scene straight out of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.
So Poulain has decided to use an extermination method that’s also straight out of a horror movie—exorcism. “I have a priest coming up this evening just to bless the house because I was a little bit superstitious over this,” Poulain told the Huffington Post.
So far, the birds have been undeterred by the plastic owls Poulain and his girlfriend have put up. “You can see them sitting on the owls’ heads,” he said. He also noted that already, ten panes of glass need to be replaced on the house because the birds have broken the seals.
Online viewers of the video have put forward some theories regarding the ravens’ behaviour, some hypothesizing that the birds may have a nest or babies in the house’s framing, and others arguing that the ravens are reacting to their own reflections. As for Poulain, he thinks the birds might just want the house itself.
“They might just want to move in and take over the mortgage, and that would be fine.”
