The whip-poor-will has been an omen of death for centuries. What happened to this iconic bird of American horror?

In one of the most haunting scenes of Stephen King's 1975 novel "Salem's Lot," a gravedigger named Mike Ryerson races to bury the coffin of a local boy named Danny Glick. As night approaches, a troubling thought overtakes Mike: Danny has been buried with his eyes open. Worse, Mike senses that Danny is looking through the closed coffin back at him.