Tradition / Region: American Mythology
Alternative names: —
Category: Bird
The Myth
The Belled Buzzard is a legendary bird of American folklore, remembered as a harbinger of disaster. It appears as an ordinary turkey vulture except for a bell fastened around its neck, whose eerie ringing announces misfortune. Its appearance was said to foretell calamities such as epidemics, death, war, or other disasters.
The legend became especially famous after the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 in Brownsville, Tennessee. The strange bird was reported shortly before the outbreak, and many came to believe that the tolling of its bell warned of approaching tragedy. As stories spread throughout the Southern United States, sightings of the Belled Buzzard were repeatedly linked to impending doom, earning it a fearsome reputation.
Although many different buzzards were said to have been fitted with cowbells or sleigh bells over the years, popular tradition gradually treated the Belled Buzzard as a single mysterious creature that wandered from state to state for decades. Numerous people claimed to have captured, released, or even killed it, yet reports of its ghostly bell continued to appear, strengthening the belief that the bird could never truly be accounted for.
The Belled Buzzard became one of the best-known “fearsome critters” of American folklore, its mournful bell serving as an unforgettable omen that disaster was near.
Sources
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Belled buzzard. In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belled_buzzard