Local man Jason Miller was just trying to keep the pesky birds away from his front lawn. Little did he know, he would soon become the accidental creator of a new deity – the magpie god.
Miller, a self-proclaimed lover of all animals except for those with wings, was fed up with the raucous noise and unsightly droppings that the common magpie was leaving on his prized lawn. So, he did what any normal person would do – he set up a scarecrow.
However, it seems Miller took his scare tactics to the extreme. He dressed up the scarecrow in elaborate, feathered attire, complete with a shiny necklace made of birdseed and a papier-mâché beak. It wasn’t long before the magpies caught on and began to treat the scarecrow with reverence.
The first indication that something strange was happening came when a group of magpies gathered around the scarecrow and began to dance in a circle around it. Miller thought it was a fluke, but as the days went on, he started to notice that more and more magpies were flocking to his lawn – not to eat the seed or drink from the birdbath, but to worship at the feet of the scarecrow.
At first, Miller was amused by the sight of the magpies bowing and cooing at the scarecrow. However, as the days went on and the numbers of birds grew, he began to feel increasingly uneasy. He reached out to local bird experts for advice, but they were all stumped. None of them had ever seen anything like this before.
However, the plot thickened when Miller realized that not only were the magpies worshipping the scarecrow, but they were bringing him gifts as well. Miller came home one afternoon to find the scarecrow adorned with shiny trinkets and offerings of dried grass and twigs. One magpie even left a small gold ring at the scarecrow’s “feet”.
As the number of worshippers grew, so too did their devotion. Miller reports that the magpies now gather at the scarecrow every morning and evening for a religious ceremony. They start by singing a haunting tune, then bow their heads in prayer before feasting on the birdseed necklace.
Experts are baffled by this strange phenomenon, with some speculating that the scarecrow has taken on some qualities of a traditional totem. Others argue that the magpies aren’t actually worshipping the scarecrow at all, but are just using it as a meeting place.
Meanwhile, Miller is at a loss for what to do. He doesn’t want to disrupt the magpies’ newfound faith, but he also doesn’t want to be responsible for inadvertently creating a new religion.
For now, the magpies have taken over Miller’s front yard and transformed it into a place of worship. And Jason Miller, the man who was just trying to keep the birds away, has become the accidental creator of a new deity – the magpie god.
