OK, so this is admittedly weird, and certainly a new experience for me. I was working in the garden earlier this week when my friend discovered the skull of a goat placed on one of my 55 gallon drums. In a bucket on the ground next to it there is a recently eviscerated corpse of a male cardinal. The body of the bird is intact and not damaged, it's just been totally eviscerated.

I live close to Louisiana, and my soon to be ex-hubby has friends from the bayou. I have no knowledge of voodoo (or whatever else this might be) other than a story told by my grandparents who witnessed some events in Haiti that left them very shaken. They got out of there quick, and only told me the story one time several years ago. I think I'm concerned about this mostly because my grandfather believed what he saw and never would discuss it in detail. It's the only time in my life I saw my grandfather afraid. (This scared him more than the time he was shot by a gunman during a robbery.)

My soon to be ex, is becoming more and more consumed with rage and fury. He is making decisions that are not characteristic for him. He is erratic, and yet consumed with his own self importance. Tuesday we had an excruciating 4 hour meeting to divide assets. This meeting ended badly with all progress being eliminated when he didn't like the counsel his lawyer gave him. He was furious. I don't know if this has any connection to Tuesday.

I live alone in the country, (so rural few people know how to get to my home, and fewer still can see it from the road.) I don't see how a perfectly white goat skull (horns and all) suddenly appears on top of a 55 gallon drum. If an animal had drug it up then it would be dirty, smelly, and on the ground. With the cardinal corpse next to it in a bucket, this is not some random event.

I'm not sure that "just don't worry about it" is enough. I don't think that just because its not my belief system it lacks power. Please share if you have any insight.

Sorry for posting about this here but it's the only place I have with diverse religious views. Living in the buckle of the bible belt limits my resources immensely. Thanks again for your help.

and it sounds like you are buying into it.

Someone is messing with you. Don't give them any power. It's complete BS. It's just crap someone put there to rattle you. Don't even acknowledge it (other than thinking of it as vandalism) or you will encourage this person.

My guess is that soon to be ex hubby or someone in his camp is behind it. Someone wants you to be vulnerable. Don't let them manipulate you. Someone knows you feel insecure living out in nowhere.

Your soon to be ex sounds a little unstable. Of course going through a divorce and dividing assets sounds like a horrible thing to face.

Be strong. Remember to keep your head when everyone else around you is losing theirs.

I hope you can make some changes in your life soon. Get somewhere where you will have more security and be able to make another life for yourself. I think you will need to get some space between you and your ex.

Remember the police are an option. Let them know someone is harassing you and to keep their eye out.

Lol Dave I have considered your position. I'm hoping you are correct, and that's all there is to it.

It's easy to be intimidated by what you don't know or understand. It's Halloween season, a white skull might be easy to obtain. But killing a bird for intimidation purposes is just sick. If that is what's going on then I am in much more trouble than I thought.

It could be some Halloween prank by kids.

I might inform the police. Killing the bird is gross and even if it is a Halloween prank, that kind of thing should be dealt with. If there are kids out there who think this is a cool way to celebrate, you are probably not the only victim. It wouldn't hurt for the police to be aware of this. I'd hate to see it expand or to see pets killed. I might be over reacting, but this is gross.

I think there are studies that show that a lot of violent adults started off hurting animals. (I have not read the studies.)

I don't like to see animals treated poorly. It really bothers me.

Of course nature is pretty harsh. Maybe the bird was attacked by a cat? Birds are not easy to catch. Given the skull nearby though, it looks like possibly a cruel person might be getting a start.

Yeah, the killing of the bird is what put it over the edge for me too. It ceases to be a prank. You are right I have cattle, and the last thing I need is for this to escalate to "ritual mutilations" etc. for either the purpose of intimidation OR kids trying to be cruel and have fun.

It just seemed kinda silly to call the police over a skull and dead bird, but I hadn't considered the escalation to pets or cattle. Thanks.

It is possible other people have had the same experience. I don't see that it can hurt to call the police. It might mean that they send a patrol car around a little more often and it can't hurt to make them aware of such things so they can keep an eye out.You can't expect them to commit a lot of time or officers to this, but it can't hurt to make them aware that something strange happened.There as an incident in my sister's neighborhood where pets were being killed and it was good that people were aware of it in order to take precautions and for the culprits to know the police were aware of it and looking for them.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2011 04:00PM by bona dea.

The bird might be a protected species, unlawful to kill. It would be good to contact authorities. If someone is trying to intimidate you, they may have broken a law by killing the bird.

Ok, so general consensus is this is intimidation, not some alternative religious practice. If that is all there is, then I'm ok with that. (Still feel sorry for the bird though.)

I am having a security system installed tomorrow. (That was already scheduled.) I will bury the bird, and chunk the skull so my dog doesn't dig it up and drag it everywhere. I'm glad I posted here as opposed to asking local friends. Now no one in my area will even hear a peep about it.

Hopefully, this will end it, and future attempts at intimidation wont escalate. $%#@! getting a divorce is crappy. Had someone tell me that this was less about differences in religious views and more about his loss of control over me. Would agree 100% if it were any religion other than mormon.

I especially like the idea of a security system.

Let us know how things go.

Call the non emergency line of the PD and just tell them you need to report something. Be low key, matter of fact, you just want to get it on record. Then ask them if it is ok to get rid of everything.

You have gotten some very sound advice.

I know a little bit, but not much about Santaria, Voudoun, etc. I don't know if it'll help you have some peace of mind or not, but I contacted a friend of mine who has actively studied African Diaspora religions for more then ten years, and she agrees that if it's not an odd coincidence, it's a scare tactic not a ritual.

vasalissasdoll you have no idea how much I appreciate you checking into it. What I feared most was ignorance. Not understanding the significance if any of the skull and bird.

I'm not buying the odd coincidence, since something eviscerated the bird. My dog has absolutely no house cleaning skills, and is far more likely to practically climb a tree and take it out to "play" with it, than to place it neatly and tidily in a bucket 2' over her head.

It sounds like someone in the area is a little unhinged. Could be hubby, could be someone else. I put a phone call into the non emergency line of the police dept. The lady laughed when I told her what happened. She said I am at the VERY bottom of the list for writing up reports, but she would have someone out here today or tomorrow.

If this ends up on Jay Leno's stupid police reports bit, let me know. You can say you saw it here first. Thank you for the great suggestions and reassurances. You are all more helpful than I can ever convey.

Then she should be out on her arse. Unprofessional.

Glad you reported it, still! Better to be safe and take precautions...

I tend to have a very pragmatic/sceptic approach to things that fall under the "spells and rituals" concept, but find that there are some things that help me feel safer, better able to deal with someone, etc, for the same sorts of psychological and emotional reasons that getting a blessing or having my house blessed when LDS would have helped. If you are interested in any sort of protection-oriented ritual for similar reasons, I'd be happy to discuss it via email...just ask Susan I/S to pass you my email.

That would piss the police off. This is not an emergency. They take it serious here in the US. The main thing is just to get something on paper.

This is a clear threat to the personal safety of the OP.

As such, it would be considered an emergency by UK police forces. And the police officers I know would not be pissed off to receive a 999 call under such circumstances.

In the US you call 9/11 if you are in immediate danger. If it can wait, you call the police.This should be reported but it is in no way shape or form an emergency.This could be nothing more than a Halloween prank and as far as we know, the bird could have been dead and some kids decided to use it in a prank. As someone said, catching a bird isn't easy.

Susan is right about the police getting pissed off. Years ago, I was teaching in a mobile unit. There was a stray dog hanging around. One of my students wanted to call her mom to see if she could take it home. Rather than send her to the office, I loaned her my cell and told her to step outside and make the call. A sluffer came by and grabbed the phone. She chased him down and he gave it back. Unbeknownst to her and to me, he had made a prank call to 9/11 while he had it. I had the police at my house that evening wanting to know what the emergency was. When I told them what happened they involved the school and the kid was charged and had to appear in court. They take it seriously.People can die while someone is tying up the line with pranks or non emergency calls.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2011 06:04PM by bona dea.

Bona Dea, a prank call and a call for assistance. Not the same.

FYI: cardinals are a protected species

No, but it better be an emergency or they will be angry. There are laws against using 9/11 for anything but an emergency. I doubt the police would prosecute if there was a reason for the call, but they would not be happy. In fact, that happened to me once. Someone needed the police ( no emergency, but they did need assistance) and didn't have a phone. I did not have access to a phone book so I called 9/11. The were pretty short with me even after I explained and gave me the number to call. They made it clear that this was not an emergency and that they would not handle it.Maybe laws are different in the UK, but that is how it is here.

You call 9/11 if someone is breaking in your house, if someone is severely ill or injured and you need an ambulance etc., not because you find a dead animal.

at 4:00, so if you need to call them, you dial 911 and the first thing you say is "This is a non-emergency". That is the procedure here. 911 is a local thing, not a national thing.

Department of wildlife keeps records of reported dead birds. If too many start showing up in one place they will investigate, be it natural or unnatural causes.

In the context your statement >not because you find a dead animal< shows a lack of understanding of the situation.

It's not just a dead animal. It is someone using two dead animals to create a sense of terror in the victim. And terroristic acts are certainly frowned upon in the USA.

Matt, I don't think you understand US law. The 9/11 operator would give you the number of the police, if you were lucky, and tell you to stop tieing up the line. As far as it being terrorism, I think that is a stretch. It could be a deranged person or ex trying to scare the OP or it could be a Halloween prank by a kid who had access to a skull and found a dead bird. Ypu need to be in immediate danger to call 9/11 in the US. If you are not, you call the police department at the non emergency number. That is the way it is done here.

your area. The rules for 911 are NOT the same everywhere.

this describes a scene in Clive Barker's Lord of illusions. Not to a T, but close. look it up on internet.

Hubby wouldn't watch those kind of movies, but his best friend, who is rather odd, does. (Former tunnel rat in Vietnam - with all kinds of well earned baggage from the war.)

I looked the movie up on Wiki and saw a pretty detailed plot. It's available on Netflix (streaming). I don't usually watch movies like that. Would it be worth watching, or would it likely scare the crap out of me.

i don't watch that kind of stuff either, but found an article about it online. About the second page gave a description of a gutted bird and a skull on a pile of rubbish. Thought the similarity was interesting. I didn't keep reading :) just looking it up for your situation. I didn't read enough to even know what the story line is.

If it was santeria or related, it would probably involve a chicken not a cardinal. I know a fair amount about santeria.

sounds like your ex is trying to freak you out.