The idiom “bats in the bell tower” means someone is crazy or eccentric, originating in the late 19th century. The bats symbolize foggy mental activity or illogical thoughts. The phrase appeared in print in the late 1800s and gained use in the 20th and 21st centuries. It is recognized in both the US and England. Other similar expressions include “mistaken in the upper floor” and “the lights are on and no one is home.”
Having “bats in the bell tower” means that a person is crazy or eccentric; this idiomatic expression originated in the late 19th century. The disorganized flight of the bat is comparable to a somewhat chaotic mental energy, and the bell tower is a metaphor for a person’s head. In fact, bell towers are upper parts of buildings or towers in which bells hang.
From a symbolic point of view, the bats in the bell tower can be synonymous with foggy mental activity or enthusiastic but illogical thoughts. The term, batty, has also often been used to mean a little crazy or not in the sanest sanity. Saying someone is a bat can also disparage that person’s sanity.
There is some controversy as to when the expression first appeared in print. Some etymologists and word enthusiasts date it back to the last decade of the 19th century. In 19 at least two printed quotations are known. One use of this phrase occurs in William J. Kountz’s novel Billy Baxter’s Letters, and another appears in a book by Elbert Hubbard, which purportedly mentions the artist, James Whistler. In Hubbard’s book, Little Journeys to the Homes of Eminent Painters, he writes that Whistler dismissed a fellow artist as one with bats in the steeple.
Mention of the expression occurs during the 20th and 21st centuries. Most early references are American, and word enthusiasts believe the phrase originated in the United States. It certainly gained use in places like England in just a few decades, and associating bats with madness isn’t uniquely American. For example, when Agatha Christie was writing her stories about Miss Marple, she regularly used the term batty to describe characters, especially older women. It was this dismissal of old ladies as not all there that she often played to Miss Marple’s advantage and enabled her to make a successful inquiry.
JK Rowling has certainly continued that tradition of associating bats with madness with her Harry Potter books. Many critics argue that it is highly significant that Professor Snape’s animagus was a bat, as he was not the most mentally balanced or happy individual. Interestingly, although the bats in the steeple are likely American in origin, the word “batty” is a much more common slang term in England.
It is likely that both forms of the idiom are recognized in both countries. The ongoing American usage of the longest sentence can be found in many examples. For example, a popular 1940s Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon, Bats in the Belfry, features three singing bats. Much later, Overkill, a thrash metal band, wrote a song with this title.
There are a number of similar expressions. Among these they are mistaken in the upper floor, which again connects the headboard to the top floor of a building. Alternatively, the lights are on and no one is home, he conceives of the person as a home, lacking some formal element required for sanity. These are not particularly polite ways of referring to others, although they can be humorously applied to oneself.
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