# Whence the Bohemian Grove owl? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 26, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-bohemian-grove-owl/723549 "2015-06-26T18:06:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-bohemian-grove-owl/723549/1 "2015-06-26T18:06:20Z")
I met a nice young man yesterday, and we struck up a conversation about many things. Among them was a question he posed which my best google-fu has been unable to answer: What is the provenance of the 40-foot owl statue at the Bohemian Grove? One would think that such a remarkable work of art should be readily attributable to a known artist or at least a donor. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-bohemian-grove-owl/723549/2 "2015-06-26T18:12:39Z")
According to [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Grove)… Since the founding of the club, the Bohemian Grove’s mascot has been an owl, symbolizing knowledge. A 40-foot (12 m) hollow owl statue made of concrete over steel supports stands at the head of the lake in the Grove; this Owl Shrine was designed by sculptor and two-time club president Haig Patigian, and built in the 1920s. Since 1929, the Owl Shrine has served as the backdrop of the yearly Cremation of Care ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-bohemian-grove-owl/723549/3 "2015-06-26T18:34:04Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > this Owl Shrine was designed by sculptor and two-time club president Haig Patigian [Mr. Patigian in front of his owl.](http://www.oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf7x0nb8m1/?brand=oac4) ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-bohemian-grove-owl/723549/4 "2015-06-26T19:25:16Z")
Oh, how embarrassing … I read the wiki page, but not carefully enough I guess. Ignorance fought! Thanks folks! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-bohemian-grove-owl/723549/5 "2015-06-26T20:00:10Z")
According to his Wikipedia page, here are some of his works: > [@](#): > > Selected public works[edit] > > Entrance of 600 Stockton, San Francisco, the former Metropolitan Life building, now a Ritz-Carlton hotel. Visible behind a decorated Christmas tree are the Ionic columns surmounted by a pediment containing a tableau created in 1920 by Patigian for his client Timothy L. Pflueger of Miller and Pflueger, architects > > Vanity, shown in 1916 at the Palace of Fine ArtsMcKinley statue in Arcata, California, 1906 > Electricity, Imagination, Invention and Steam; four repeated sculptures at the Machinery Palace, Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915) (destroyed)[4] > General John Pershing, San Francisco, California, 1921 > Abraham Lincoln, San Francisco, California, 1928 > Thomas Starr King (1931) > This work resided in the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. as one of California’s contributions to the National Statuary Hall Collection until being replaced by a statue of Ronald Reagan in 2009.Volunteer Firemen Memorial, San Francisco, California, 1933 > > Architectural sculpture[edit] > M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, tympanum, San Francisco, California, circa 1895 (removed) > San Francisco Savings Union Bank building, pediment, San Francisco, California, 1911 > Palace of Fine Art & the Machinery Palace, (now destroyed) Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, California, 1915 > Metropolitan Life Insurance Building, (now the Ritz Carlton Hotel) pediment, San Francisco, California, 1920 > Navigation, Aviation, and Industry, Richfield Tower, Los Angeles, California, allegorical figures, 1928 > when the building was demolished in 1968 the figures were moved to the Art Museum of the University of California, Santa BarbaraDepartment of Commerce Building, pediment, Washington D.C., 1934 He seems to have been a classical realist sculptor, but the Owl looks kinda abstract. > [@](#): > > Patigian was an active member of the Bohemian Club, serving two terms as club president. He designed the Owl Shrine, a 40-foot high hollow concrete and steel structure which was built in the 1920s to have the appearance of a natural rock outcropping which happened to resemble an owl.[1] The Owl Shrine became the centerpiece of the Cremation of Care ceremony at the Bohemian Grove in 1929 > **[Haig Patigian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haig_Patigian)** > > Haig Patigian (Armenian: Հայկ Բադիկեան; January 22, 1876 – September 19, 1950), was an Armenian-American sculptor. > Patigian was born in the city of Van, Ottoman Empire. His parents were teachers at the American Mission School in Van. He was largely self-taught as a sculptor. Patigian spent most of his career in San Francisco, California and most of his works are located in California. The Oakland Museum in Oakland, California, includes a large number of his works in its collection, and more can... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-bohemian-grove-owl/723549/6 "2015-06-26T20:06:55Z")
I have it! The Bohemian Grove Owl is the original inspiration for Batman! [https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;\_ylt=A0LEVwwusI1VMoQAPBJXNyoA;\_ylu=X3oDMTEyYmZ1ZmJzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjAzOTZfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=Bohemian+Grove+Owl&fr=yfp-t-252#id=1&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fold.conspil.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fcreamation\_old.jpg&action=click](https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEVwwusI1VMoQAPBJXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyYmZ1ZmJzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjAzOTZfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=Bohemian+Grove+Owl&fr=yfp-t-252#id=1&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fold.conspil.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fcreamation_old.jpg&action=click) Hey! I wonder if the Bohemian Club has anything to do with the Court of Owls? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-bohemian-grove-owl/723549/7 "2015-06-26T20:20:02Z")
Patigian should have gone with a [ptarmigan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagopus), IMHO. Birds known for hiding, via their lovely plumage.