Tower of London Raven

A superstition holds that if the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the English Crown will fall and Britain with it. According to folklore, wild ravens are thought to have inhabited the Tower for many centuries, supposedly first attracted there by the smell of the corpses of the executed enemies of the Crown. Allegedly, at the execution of Anne Boleyn, “Even the ravens of the Tower sat silent and immovable on the battlements and gazed eerily at the strange scene. A Queen about to die!” The ravens of the Tower supposedly behaved much worse during the execution of Lady Jane Grey, by pecking out the eyes from the severed head. Another legend says that the ravens were originally brought in to dramatize the executions at the Tower. Since, Charles II ordered it, six birds have been kept at the Tower. In captivity the ravens can live to be 40 years-old or three times their normal lifespan, but last week when we visited, they were down to just five birds.