A bird flying into the house is a sign of impending death

There are a number of variations of this superstition. Some believe that if a bird flies into your house it is bringing important news. If the bird is white then the news will be good, but if it is black then it will be bad and this could mean the death of a family member.

Another version of this superstition is that if a bird taps on your window or accidentally hits your window that too means an imminent death in the house.

Like many superstations it most likely arose with our ancestors trying to make sense of the world by attributing subtexts to both mundane and unusual events.

The actress Lucille Ball was so frightened of birds in the house that she refused to stay in hotels that displayed pictures of birds and tore down some very expensive Japanese silk wallpaper from her house when it became apparent that birds were incorporated into the design. She dates her fear of birds to the day her father died shortly after a bird flew into the family home.