Monstrum

For centuries, bats have been# linked with all things spooky.

But heres the thing: Bats are mostly harmless.# Lets go see what these ladies are up to.

This is going to be fun.

Oh my god, this is terrifying.# Im just gonna go around these people.

Hope for the#best.

Hello!

Were here to check out the# largest urban bat colony in North America, under the Congress Street Bridge in Austin,# Texas.

Were making our way over there.

I feel like people can see them up# there.

You can hear them.

Come to##me my pretties.

Are you kidding?

What?

I# told you they talk to each other.

Yeah.

Bats pollinate plants, spread seeds, and# devour many bugs, including mosquitoes - who, by the way, are widely considered# the deadliest animal in the world.

Maybe they should be the Halloween mascot.

So how did bats get such# a bad rap across cultures, and how did they turn into one of# Halloweens most iconic mascots?

Of all the creatures of the night, bats stand# apart.

Theyre the only mammal with true sustained#flight.

They can hang upside down in caves and# fly around in unpredictable, often jerky patterns, usually only at night.. In other words, bats# are.

strange.

They can make people feel uneasy, and many cultures around the world have painted# bats as creatures of death and misfortune.

In Mesoamerican traditions, bats# were strongly linked to darkness#and death.

The Aztecs often depicted their god# of death, surrounded by bats.

The Mayans told of this guy, an absolutely metal, bat-human hybrid with large claws and teeth, and# a blade-like nose used to chop off peoples heads.

Today, people of Tzotzil Mayan# descent are still called batmen for their ancestors devotion to a bat deity.

An ocean away, bats portend misfortune.

In# Nigeria, bats are often linked to witchcraft, and in Sierra Leone, bats are sometimes blamed for# the sudden death of children.

Across the British Isles, lore said a bat in the house foretold bad# luck, and the animals were linked to witchcraft.

Weve always had a habit of turning the# things we dont understand into monsters.

In early Christianity, bats# were associated with the Devil, casting these innocent animals into# symbols of duplicity and darkness.

In the Bible, God forbade Moses# and his people from eating bats, deeming them unclean.

Over the centuries, the# idea of uncleanliness was often reinterpreted as moral corruption, which helped# cast bats into an evil light.

So different places, different stories.# These associations can be chalked up to geographical proximity to bats, like# living near caves.

A sick bat inside your home could very well be dangerous.

But these# arent the only reasons the legends endure.

But another connection binds# bats to mayhem dragons.

In European tradition, dragons are fearsome# predators, and they sport leathery bat-like wings.

In the Book of Revelation, amidst the impending apocalypse, Satan takes the form of# a great dragon with seven heads.

Judeo-Christian art, going back# to at least the 13th Century, also portrays the devil with# bat-like wings.

Famously, in Dantes Divine Comedy, Satan has not# only one, but two sets of bat-like wings.

European witches, rumored consorts of the# Devil, were often associated with bats.

Witches were said to ride on the backs# of bats or turn into one themselves.

So,#presumably, bats might be mistaken# for nefarious, supernatural beings in disguise, spreading irrational fear and# furthering the bat equals evil associations.

In 1332, accounts from France describe# a woman accused of witchcraft, supposedly because a swarm of bats circled# over her home.

She was tried and executed.

Death gods, dragons, the devil,# witches.not looking so great for the bat.

And then theres the vampire bat.Out of more# than 1,400 bat species, only three drink blood.

And they drink the blood of livestock or wild# animals, not humans.

Vampire bats' only habitats are Central and South America.

Nevertheless,# early European scientists spread the idea that blood-sucking bats lived all over the world-based# less on fact and more on rumor and confusion.

Europeans imported fear of the vampire# bat and layered it onto existing lore.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Eastern# Europe began recording tales of revenants, the undead who rose from their graves to drink# the blood of the living.

In Romanian lore,#for example, certain animals# appearing near a freshly dug grave could signify the rise of a# vampire.

Among them was the bat.

Then in the early 19th century, the# Gothic serialized story of Varney the Vampire drew a distinct parallel between# vampires and bats.

The vampire in that story didnt shapeshift into a bat the# way Dracula later would.

However, the illustrations and advertisements for the series# depicted bats, bat wings, and bat-like imagery.

But it was Dracula, published in 1897, that put the proverbial nail in# the coffin of bats as vampires.

Bram Stoker doomed bats forever when he gave# Dracula the ability to shapeshift into a bat and carry out his nefarious deeds in disguise, showing his unworldly nature and firmly solidifying bats with vampires.

But how does that explain it becoming# the unofficial mascot for Halloween?

Theres a very direct explanation.

The Halloween holiday itself traces back# to Samhain, the Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest season and# the shift to winter and shorter days.

The tradition of Samhain is very# old, going back to the ancient Celts of Ireland and Britain, likely# originating over 2,000 years ago.

It was documented in medieval Irish manuscripts# centuries later.

These texts describe Samhain as a time when otherworldly spirits and# the dead could cross into the human world.

Believed to be a night when the veil between# the living and the dead is the thinnest, massive bonfires were part of the tradition.# They illuminate the festivities and ritually cleanse the space.# Archaeological evidence suggests these fires were thought to protect# communities against wandering spirits.

Insects swarming the light from the# bonfires would naturally attract more bats, who darted and swooped overhead of the revelers.

Imagine villagers seeing the silhouetted# bats flicker in the glow at exactly the time when spirits were believed# to cross into the human world.

Celtic folklore often treats nocturnal# creatures as messengers between realms.

Later Irish folktales sometimes describe# bats as familiars of the Aos Si, the fae people who were especially active at night.

And in Scotland, some# traditions describe flittermice, an old word for bats, as signs of restless# souls, much like will-o'-the-wisps.

Later folklore kept the association# alive.

Bats in the house on Halloween meant a ghost had followed them in.

Bats# circling your head forewarned of death.

So, for the Celtic people,# bats were both physically and supernaturally tied to the Samhaim holiday.

In an attempt to discourage and even demonize older spiritual traditions and pagan rituals,# Christianity amalgamated these practices with martyr feasts, and by the 7th century,# November 1 had been declared All Saints Day, or All Hallows Day.

The Samhain holiday continued# to be celebrated the night before, as All Hallows#Eve, And over time, the holiday moved from a# spiritual observance to a secular celebration.

In the 19th Century, Scottish and Irish# immigrants brought their All Hallows Eve traditions with them into the United# States.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the tradition of Halloween had spread# in popularity across North America.

With the Halloween traditions# came the folklore of bats.

For a season steeped in darkness and the# supernatural, bats were a perfect fit.. As Halloween and the vampire became more# ingrained in pop culture, appearing on 20th-century postcards and dcor, Hollywood# doubled down on the bats are scary thing.

"There's that bat again!"

(bat squeals) Just take Fantasia.# A demon-like figure uses his giant bat wings to soar over to the lost souls of Hell.# Scarring theater-going children for life.

There are so many film references, we# could talk about it for hours, days, even.

But one modern one that stands# out is the 1999 creature feature,#Bats, where entire swarms of genetically# modified bats decide that human blood makes for a great diet.

Seems the bat isnt# beyond evolving alongside our modern fears.

Bats got such a bad rap because they dont# fit neatly into our categories, and theyre easy to paint as demonic or villainous.# But their truth is rarely frightening.

I really do just like the sound they make.

Maybe some of my good feelings about# bats come from my childhood.

I did##grow up in a time with characters# like Batty Koda in Fern Gully.

Im a nocturnal placental flying mammal.

Member of ... And the delightful childrens book Stellaluna,# whose author intentionally designed the bat characters to not only be scientifically# accurate, but also pretty dang cute.

Bats arent just fascinating creatures of# the night, they represent centuries of myth, superstition, and representation.

Maybe# its time we see bats as more than just scaryand start appreciating the# mystery and wonder they bring.