Scarecrows have been built in fields around the world for centuries. Their sole purpose is to deter birds from stealing seed and feeding on growing crops.
It is also called hayman and consists mainly of straw stuffed into a shirt and trousers.
Sitting atop a tall pole or wooden stick, the wind whips and flaps its arm sleeves wildly, giving it the allusion to life. A large straw hat at the top of the display completes the crude human replica.
To birds, they appear human. To humans, they are downright creepy. While no one is sure who created the very first scarecrow, there is one story as unsettling as the faceless hayman himself.
The ancient Egyptians were once the innovators, using a wooden frame covered with netting to protect their wheat fields from invasive quail. Their tactics were twofold: they hid in the fields and chased the quail into the nets which later provided a meal.
During one season, the crops yielded much less wheat than expected. The Egyptians feared that they had somehow angered the gods and that they would be punished. In the end, speculation fell on the flocks of quail being caught and eaten.
Quail instantly became a protected bird in ancient Egypt and those who hunted and ate them would be sentenced to death.
However, the Egyptians did not pin all their hopes for a fruitful harvest on the kindness of their gods. Now that the quail were no longer hunted, they needed more effective deterrents.
For example, dozens of lifelike scarecrows were placed on frames and above the crop line. The wire mesh draped over the wooden frames was replaced by a saggy body wrapped in human clothing. A head covered in papyrus rested to the side, while two arms and two legs dangled below.
For years, the invasive quail avoided the fields, and the crops yielded abundant wheat. The Egyptian people sang the praises of kind gods when food was plentiful again.
Finally, an Egyptian field worker discovered the terrifying truth behind the quail’s withdrawal from wheat fields and the subsequent abundance of wheat.
On a day with particularly high winds, the wrap around one of the wind-swept scarecrow’s heads fell to the ground. The preserved face of a well-known man known to have been executed for hunting quail to feed his hungry family looked down at him.
The worker looked across the field at the dozens of scarecrows standing in the same position. A sea of death, cloaked in limestone to mask the smell of decay, stretched as far as he could see. He fell on his knees to pray for the haymen and for the gods to have mercy on their souls.
By Gare Allen, the author of the Amazon.com bestseller, The Dead: A True Paranormal Story.
