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Bat
Any of various nocturnal flying mammals of the order Chiroptera, having membranous wings that extend from the forelimbs to the hind limbs or tail and anatomical adaptations for echolocation, by which they navigate and hunt prey.
The common bat is small and insectivorous, but in the tropics some bats are huge. The flying foxes of the Malay region may have a wingspread of 5 feet (1.5 meters). These and other large tropical bats are fruit eaters and do great damage to crops.
Vampire bats are common in parts of Central and South America but are never found in the United States. They puncture the skins of animals and sleeping humans and lap up blood as it oozes out. For some unknown reason this process is painless, and the victim is usually unaware of it.
Some vampire bats spread disease among cattle and horses. These bats get their name from the legendary vampires, which were believed to come out of their graves at night to suck blood from the living.
Perhaps because of their nocturnal habits and the ability to navigate in the dark, or maybe because they seem both animal and bird, bats have been linked with supernatural forces and the occult in many parts of the world.
There are countless superstitions, fallacies and legends about these flying mammals.
There is an Oriental belief that the bat is specially adapted to occult uses, and certain groups in South America believe the Devil appears in bat form. In medieval Europe, it was assumed that witches used the blood of bats as one of the ingredients in their flying ointment and their magic charms and love potions.
Throughout history, bats have routinely been considered to be familiars or even the alter egos of witches, and in 1332 France, Lady Jacaume of Bayonne was publicly burned because 'crowds of bats' were seen about her house and garden.
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-- A Treasury of Superstitions.
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-- Cassell's Dictionary of Superstitions.
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-- Curses: What They Are and How to Break Them.
-- Don't Do It: A Dictionary of the Forbidden.
-- Do's and Taboos Around the World.
-- Encyclopedia of Signs, Omens, and Superstitions (Library of the Mystic Arts).
-- Evil Eye.
-- Evil Eye in the Bible and Rabbinic Literature.
-- Forbidden Fruits: Taboos and Tabooism in Culture.
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-- Golem: Legends of the Ghetto of Prague.
-- Gypsies.
-- Horror File Funfax: Evil Eye.
-- How to Avoid the Evil Eye.
-- Inventing Superstition: From the Hippocratics to the Christians.
-- Irish Popular Superstitions.
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-- Superstition and Magic.
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