Eerie owl flies with a stick horse during the Halloween season resembling a witch riding a broom

As we inch closer to Halloween, people are getting ready with their spooky costumes and decorations. This season is absolutely wonderful with a chill in the air, warm drinks, family dinners and children dressed up in clever or scary costumes. Amid this eerie atmosphere, a great horned owl was caught on camera flying with what looked like a "broom" and resembling a witch riding a broomstick, to people's amazement and fright. 

According to Bored Panda, Eric Lind was spending time with his folks in Eureka, Illinois, when he looked up at the sky and was shocked. He recorded the mystical great horned owl on camera as it swooped across the sky carrying a child's stick horse toy, similar to how the famous witch rides her broom. He told Newsweek, "My mom received a call from one of the neighbors telling her to look outside in the backyard at our pine tree. They had spotted the owl as it flew into the tree initially, but couldn't quite tell what it was carrying at first." He added, "We quickly spotted the owl and could immediately recognize that it was carrying a stick horse." 

Eric posted the picture of the owl perched amidst the foliage and a video of it flying across with the stick horse on Facebook captioning it, "Hilldale/Forest Park/Ridge lane neighbors...if your child is missing their stick horse, you'll have to talk to the owl!!" Many people voiced concern for the owl's well-being, believing it had been entangled or attached to the toy horse, but Eric clarified everything. He added to the post, "For those of you questioning if the owl is hurt or "entangled" in the stick horse....we have no reason to believe this is the case as we witnessed the owl moving the horse around and even changing its grip on it at one point." He continued, "This owl is part of a family of owls that have been in the neighborhood for about 6 months now, and this is one of the young owls...if someone sees that the owl is in danger or believes it is hurt, I'm sure the proper authorities would be contacted." 

Eric told the outlet, "We were shocked and very surprised. I posted it because it brought a good laugh and smile to my family—so I thought others would enjoy it too. It has been great to read the comments by others who said it made them laugh or made their day."

The post received more than 19,000 likes and has been shared more than 102,000 times. A Facebook user joked, "Love the film clip. Looks like the owl was up to some horsing around!" Another observed, "How incredible, i wonder if it was a pet at one time and it misses the training toys used." The Halloween-themed picture has been re-shared all over the internet, including on Twitter. One user wrote, "This owl and his stick horse made my day." Another added, "Owl now owns the stick horse. I don't make the rules." A third Twitter user commented, "The second photo reminds me of dubious photos of witch 'sightings' hehe. Maybe the next best use for something that turned out to be inedible."