I have a REALLY strong memory of a story from childhood, I can remember it terrified me when I read it but I also loved how creepy it was - I’ve tried to Google it and search for years with no luck. I’d love to read it again but cannot for the life of me find it. It’s would have been 90s/00s (very slim chance of it being late 80s but possible) here’s what I remember some of which could be totally wrong.
it was in a horror/scary stories collection book, it was quite a thick book and I think it had a black hardback cover with an embossed creepy castle/mansion with one lit up window glowing orange . I could be misremembering here and this could have been another ghost story anthology.
I THINK it was called the Meeg Owl or something similar-I’m not sure if that was the story title or the name of the creature in it.
In the story the boy finds an egg in the woods and takes it home, he cares for it and eventually it hatches and it’s a monster with an owls body and the head of an old hag. Slowly the boy/man has to continue to care for it, including finding meat, whilst his family see his health and behaviour get impacted etc it’s all very creepy and at some point it talks about owl pellets (he possibly coughs one up).
it had creepy black and white illustrations but wasn’t anything in the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series as far as I can tell.
I cannot remember how it ends or much more about it other than it made me convinced that there was one of these creatures in my bedroom wardrobe as a child 😂
help me find it and retraumatize myself (or prove I was a total wimp scared by a rubbish scary story!)