People believed they were an evil omen and signified death.

BBC: Mystical tales from Transylvania

Death is an evil business at the best of times, but the circumstances and the timing of Phil's passing were just horrific.

BBC: Chick Young's view

Two men have been found guilty of the "evil and cowardly" murder of a man who was stabbed to death in West Yorkshire.

BBC: Joe Church, left, and Arron Smith

John has become a valued friend, but there is this ironic coincidence: He is the father-in-law of my colleague Paul Klebnikov, whose violent death this year testified to his own bravery in the resistance of evil.

FORBES: Front-Page News

At a service following her husband's death, Mr Greaves's wife, Maureen, said she had wept over the "evil that has been done".

BBC: Alan Greaves