Are Bats Good Luck?

Is it considered good luck to have bats living in your eaves/attic? Just wondering, because we've got them. We've known for years bats lived up there, somewhere. We don't have a mosquito problem, so we can sit outside at dusk and enjoy our bug free, bat swooping yard. And one time, one came in and was on the upstairs wall. The kids found it, my husband wasn't home, so I came up with a plan to capture and release it. Beating it to death seemed so terribly wrong.

Then I got close to it and saw how furry it was. It's leathery wings didn't faze me, but it's furry body sent me running down the stairs to call my brother in law. He used my plan of putting a Tupperware container over it, then sliding the lid under it very carefully, and letting it go outside.

So two nights ago I was on the couch with my husband, watching our new favorite show (Hoarders on A&E) when I saw a giant moth fly through the room. I scrunched down lower on the couch and was about to say, "yikes, a moth," when I noticed my husband was also scrunching down. Must not be a moth. He's not afraid of moths.

Then he said the words that had me reaching for a blanket to cover myself from head to toe. "That's a bat!" Yes. A bat was flying around our living room. It circled and circled then flew to the dining room. My husband got up to follow it, I laid frozen in my blanket cocoon, and the dogs continued to snooze like it was no big deal we had a bat in the house.

It flew upstairs and made laps around the landing. Our luck was good in that all three doors to the rooms upstairs were closed, so it had a contained space. But what to do? This time I said whack it to death, while I stood at the bottom of the stairs, wrapped in the blanket with only my eyes showing, but my husband wanted to shoo it out one of the three downstairs doors that were currently standing wide open, inviting more bats to come on in. He tried to gently guide it down, but the bat wasn't having it.

So he tapped it lightly with the broom and it fell to the ground. He used the Tupperware method of trapping it, and took it outside to let it go.

When he came back in he was upset. He said it was just laying there, he thought it might be dead. I said don't let it fool you. That's what we thought about the other one, but when my sister and I went outside to see the almost dead bat, it made an amazing recovery and swooped around the yard making us scream like little girls. I said in the morning you'll see, it will be gone.

And it was. I just hope it wasn't gone because a cat came upon it.

So back to the original question. Are they good luck? Because we've got them, and apparently, if we leave all the outside lights off and the back door open, bats will just fly right into our house. Needless to say, I'm thinking the screen door might be used a bit more than it was from now on. Looking like a crazy blanket lady on a warm summer night is not my idea of a good time.