As I was walking into work this morning, I heard crows crying out over and over again, and it made me wonder, "how did crows get to be associated with Halloween"? I figured it'd be an interesting story, but really, they're black and sound scary is about it. There was an article that gave another reason or two. Within it, I read that there are Ravens in the Tower of London "protecting" it. Cool. That is a much more interesting story. Thought you might like it.

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Legend has it that wild ravens have lived in the Tower of London for more than five hundred years.

The birds are notorious scavengers and could have been attracted to the fortress by the smell given off by the corpses of those who had been executed.

There are accounts of the carnivorous animals looking grimly on at the executions of Anne Bolyen and Lady Jane Grey - both wives of Tudor king Henry VIII.

Superstitions that the ravens staying at the tower is the key to the nation's survival are thought to have originated around the 17th Century, when reigning monarch Charles II took the legend seriously enough to have the birds protected.

One story tells that the king complained to his Royal Astronomer, John Flamsteed, that the birds were leaving unsightly droppings on his telescope, and that he wanted them removed.

But when he was told of the legend that the ravens were linked to the survival of the monarchy - which had only just been restored after the death of Oliver Cromwell - he declared that the ravens should have their wings clipped and be kept in the Tower to ensure their survival.

As a compromise, he also decided to move the Royal Observatory to Greenwich.

Another account say that Charles II first protected the ravens after the people of the capital began attacking them for scavenging in the destruction left by the Great Fire of London in 1666.

In modern times, the ravens have one of their wings clipped, which means they can fly for short distances but cannot escape the fortress.

The birds are officially enlisted as soldiers in the Army, and there are records of individuals being dismissed from their 'duties' at the Tower for unsatisfactory conduct.

Each raven has a coloured band on its leg to make it easier to identify the birds, which are commonly cited as being the one of the most common reasons for visiting the Tower, second only to the Crown Jewels.

As well as their diet of premium meat, the birds are also feed cheese, boiled eggs, fruit and even vitamin supplements to keep them healthy.

They are also dutifully protected from the outside world - a report from 2005 showed that crows around the Tower were being shot to protect the birds from disease and competition for food - while in the 2006 bird flu scare, they were given a special protective enclosure.

However, some historians claim that the tradition of keeping ravens in the Tower is much less well-established than previously thought.

In 2004 Dr Geoff Parnell, an historian at the Tower, searched the record books for the earliest mention of kept ravens, and could find nothing dating from earlier than 1895.

Also in the records that did exist, it was occasionally stated that 'there are none' of the ravens left - suggesting their fabled link to Britain's destiny may not be as strong as first thought.