The Ravens of the Tower of London

Cool superstition about the ravens at the tower of London. They are so protective of the ravens because of that.
It was a fun day at the tower of London

Everything about the Tower of London is awesome and the ravens add to it. it is stated that if the ravens leave the property then the monarchy will fall. Pretty cool backstory at this 1,000 year old fortress. The ravens add to the mystery and general coolness of the place!

There is an old belief that the Tower of London will crumble to the ground if there are no ravens within the castle walls, and that the Crown of England will be lost.
Unbelievable as that may sound, the rulers still believe in this old superstition, and hence there is a law that there must be at least 10 ravens kept within the castle at all times. Their wings are clipped to prevent them from flying out.
But beware though, these birds may not be able to fly, but their sharp beaks can tear through flesh instantly. As our guide recounted his encounter with one of the big, black birds, I slowly inched away from the enclosure.

If the ravens leave the Tower, are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it.
I stood in a queue for the crown jewels when young. It was very hot and I fainted. My dad carried me to a bench and I came round next to a huge raven and promptly fainted again at the sight of it.
A sign was posted: Warning: Ravens Bite. An ominous black raven turned my way, croaked, and then casually picked up a stick in her beak. Mentioning the odd ghost here too.
The Innermost Ward is an enclosed area once reserved for royalty and nobles of the court. The Ward’s crumbling 13^th-​century rampart wall is pierced by gaping holes that once served as embrasures (narrow slits for arrows). Purportedly, a ghostly figure has been observed glaring through the apertures in the wall vanishing only to reappear at each hole all along the deteriorating ruin. It is behind this haunted wall that the ghastly ravens make their nests.
The ravens’ favourite haunt is the Tower Green, the former site of royal beheadingssee why I was scared. In 1536, Anne Boleyn was beheaded here. After her head was severed, the executioner held it up, and for a moment the eyes and lips continued to move.
It is claimed that her bluish, headless ghost still wanders the vicinity. A gruesome shadow of a huge executioner’s axe has also been seen gliding across the Green. Traditionally, ravens are thought to be prophetic birds and are associated with execution sites and graveyards.
The raven coop is placed quite close to the Bloody Tower. In
1483, the Little Princes (12-​year-​old King Edward V and his nine-​year-​old rother Richard, Duke of York) were brought to the Bloody Tower, and subsequently disappeared from history; many assume they were brutally murdered. In 1647, workmen tearing up a staircase found the bones of two
children purported to be the Princes. It is said that on bleak and dreary nights, the ghostly figures of the Little Princes, dressed in white nightclothes, stand silently hand in hand before slowly fading away. At times their soft weeping can be heard after dark near the raven roost.
Sir Walter Raleigh was also imprisoned in the Bloody Tower for 13 years before he finally got the axe. His phantom has been seen floating noiselessly through the various rooms. The Beefeaters from time to time even report smelling the phantom aroma of roast beef in the White Tower after nightfall.
When the Tower ghosts make their appearances, the ravens become unusually agitated and will not settle down. The 1962 horror film The Tower of London, based on Shakespeare’s Richard III, stars Vincent Price as the demented despot haunted by grim ravens and the forlorn
ghosts of his victims.
According to tradition, the curious raven prophecy can be traced back to the Merry Monarch, Charles II (1660 – 1685). On 22 June 1675, the King established the Royal Observatory at the Tower of London, housed in the north-​eastern turret of the White Tower. The Royal Astronomer, John Flamsteed (1646 – 1719), allegedly complained to the King that the birds were interfering with his celestial observations. Charles therefore ordered their demise only to be forewarned by an obscure soothsayer that: if the ravens left the Tower, the White Tower would collapse and a great disaster befall the Kingdom.
There are various similar versions of the legend, but all maintain that a horrible catastrophe would be visited upon the country if all the ravens quit the Tower. After hearing the warning, the King decreed that at least six ravens be kept at the Tower at all times to prevent such a calamity. Now the birds’ wings are routinely clipped so they cannot escape.
Possibly related to the London Tower legend are other raven folktales, superstitions, and legends. According to Cornish folklore, the spirit of King Arthur is said to dwell in ravens, and for this reason it is considered unlucky and even sacrilegious to kill one. An age-​old superstition states if all the ravens in a wood suddenly forsake it, surely disaster will follow. Another Tower raven legend chronicled in the Mabinogion states that upon the death of the giant king Bran the Blessed (bran means raven in Welsh), his head was cut off and buried at the White Hill in London, (usually identified as Tower Hill) with the face turned towards France. This burial is known in the Welsh Triads as one of the Three Happy Concealments of The Island of the Mighty. As long as Bran’s head stays buried there, Britain will be safe from invasion. It is as if these older legends, folktales, and superstitions fused to form the current Tower of London raven legend.
It is claimed that the ravens have been at the Tower of London since the 13^th century, and for the last 400 years they have been protected by royal decree. However, Geoff Parnell, the official Tower of London historian, recently scoured records dating back a millennium and found no reference to the ravens before an 1895 article in an RSPCA journal, The Animal World.