Students at Hinton James Residence Hall, a first-year dorm at UNC nicknamed and called “HOJO,” faced an oddly unique obstacle this fall semester. A brown owl was on the prowl — swooping at those who dared to step in its path.
First-year UNC student Nicholas Byers was attacked by the infamous HOJO owl when it swooped towards his head in what he described as a “dive-bomb.” Byers recorded the owl’s attack on his phone in October, shouting, “Alright, good night y’all, I’m out! Bye!”
“I screamed. I don’t scream loudly, but it was like a high-pitched six-year-old scream,” said Byers in an interview.
Byers, like many of his peers, encountered the owl on several occasions.
“It’s like the worst-case scenario, because owls are capable of anything — it could have clawed at me… it could have clawed at anyone there,” said Byers.
In October, Delaney Santre was sitting with a group of fellow first-years outside of HOJO observing the owl. When she and her roommate stood up to leave, her roommate accidentally made a loud noise.
“She tripped on something, I think, and the owl just swooped for my head,” Santre said. “He just went right at me. I screamed so loud. Some guy was like, ‘Yeah, I heard you screaming all the way from Craige.’”
Craige Residence Hall is another student dorm on campus. Santre described the owl as “fluffy,” but said its looks are deceiving.
“When he’s staring you down, he’s kind of scary. It’s like you’re having a staring contest with the owl,” said Santre. “It doesn’t look all warm and fuzzy anymore.”
First-year student Jack Morrissett, who lives in HOJO, stumbled out of bed after hearing shrieks from outside.
“I heard people screaming around midnight,” Morrissett said. “And it was kind of, like, dive bombing people.”
A week later, Morrissett was walking up the HOJO stairs to his room on the 7th floor.
“When I got to the sixth floor, it was just hanging on the balcony, looking down,” Morrissett said. “It flies towards me to the actual staircase railing. This is the only time that I actually kind of screamed. I just closed my eyes because I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is happening.’”
Although Morrissett was spooked by his close encounter with the owl, he attempted to “befriend” it by feeding it a protein bar.
“I held the crumbled-up protein bar in my hand,” said Morrissett. “I extended my hand out, but it only tried to eat my fingers.”
Many students have speculated about where the owl originated from and why it has stayed on South campus for months. UNC student Izze Steinke said she found the answer toward the end of October. After parking outside of the Rams dorm, she noticed an older woman cradling the owl. Curious, she approached the woman.
“The whole time she’s holding this owl and I was like…what? And so she pulls a dead mouse out of her pocket and feeds it to the owl,” said Steinke. “The owl was choking it down and she’s explaining that she raised this owl and she escaped, and that’s why she was terrorizing campus.”
According to Steinke, the woman said she had raised the owl from an egg at her home and it had gotten away. She was essentially “looking for her child,” Steinke said. Since that encounter, the students say they haven’t seen the owl again
“Basically, this owl had just escaped from her mom,” Steinke said. “So her mom was like, ‘Yeah, like I think she really just wanted a hug from someone. She’s so social. Like, she’s my girl.’”
Although Morrisett said some students were wary of the owl, he said it gave South Campus residents a sense of community and pride, and was a bonding experience for many students.
“The owl would always bring a crowd of 20 to 30 odd people across HOJO,” said Morrisett. “It gives a reason for people who would never interact in the first place a reason to talk, because it’s like, if you’re with 20 people watching this owl, you’re going to talk to them and be like, ‘Hey, wow, look at that. Oh, my gosh, that’s crazy?’”
This story was originally published on Carolina Connction, the UNC Hussman School of Journalim and Media’s student-run radio program.
Photo via Izze Steinke.
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