David Bowie, owls and Labyrinth

Owl enters during a bedroom abduction

The barn owl looks very much like a gray alien

There is a curious set of events that play out in the 1986 film Labyrinth. Early on in the story a child is taken from his crib by small beings. There is a white barn owl watching through a window during this "bedroom abduction" scene. That owl later transforms to David Bowie.

Labyrinth was a fantasy directed by Muppet creator Jim Henson, with George Lucas as executive director. Teenager Jennifer Connelly confronts Jareth the Goblin King (Bowie) in a puppet filled dream realm. Bowie certainly resonates an alien after Ziggy and The Man Who Fell to Earth, and he does so again as an owl "watcher" in the bedroom abduction scene.

Enter Bowie

1986 was also the year that Whitley Strieber wrote the book Communion. This book is the first popular reference to owls out a window at the moment of alien abduction, that is is if you don't count Labyrinth. And Bowie also stared in the film adaptation of Strieber's book The Hunger (1983). Strieber has speculated that the vampires in The Hunger were his own subconscious metaphors for gray aliens.

Both Connelly and her little brother could be seen as UFO abductees. Both transported to another realm against their will. There is ample evidence that these experiences run in families.

The movie, including its title, is awash in mythic imagery and names—and this was obviously intentional by the filmmakers. In the tradition of the quintessential myth, the heroes journey, Connelly is tested by Bowie in a puppet filled giant maze. Like Jennifer Connelly, there is another J.C. who gets tested in a mythic book, this time by the Devil while alone in the desert.

What seems unintentional was the association of the owl and UFO abduction. I feel strongly that this arose out of the script unconsciously.

movie poster with owl and Bowie

image from a satirical site

The final scene shows Jennifer Connelly back home in her Muppet filled bedroom, with the David Bowie owl looking into her window. This is a somewhat creepy way to end a children's movie. The image above comes from a site that urges the viewers to turn Labyrinth into an audience participation event like The Rocky Horror Picture Show (another movie, according to Bruce Rux, with a metaphoric theme of UFO Abduction).

More about Labyrinth and its (rather accurate) depiction of the Fae Folk from author Joshua Cutchin, HERE.

Also of note: David Bowie has an album titled LOW.

_________________________________________________