CAT FACTS, SUPERSTITIONS AND BELIEFS THROUGH THE AGES

Superstitions

In some parts of the old world, the cat was placed in the empty and waiting cradle of a newlywed couple in the belief she would quickly grant their wish for children. The Pennsylvania Dutch continue that time-honoured custom today.

In the eerie mountains of Transylvania and other Eastern European countries, it was common wisdom that if a cat jumped over a dead body, the unfortunate corpse was doomed to be a vampire forever.

Immigrants from Eastern Europe surrounded the coffins of their dearly departed loved ones with hundreds of blazing candles to keep the curious cat from leaping over it and preventing the spirit from resting in peace.

Scottish immigrants believed a cat that entered a room where a body was awaiting burial had to be killed at once. If she was not, the next person the cat touched would be struck blind.

Funeral processions were commonly rerouted on the trip to the cemetery if the procession encountered a black cat. If such a precaution were not taken, some other member of the family would soon perish.

The fear of the cat was so great that it was believed evil consequences would strike down anyone who needlessly harmed a cat.

A person who kicked a cat was certain to develop rheumatism in that leg.

A farmer who killed a cat could expect a mysterious illness to kill off his cattle.

A person who drowned a cat would someday be a drowning victim himself.

Some especially nervous persons who wanted to dispose of a cat went so far as to hire professional feline hit men, afraid to risk the wrath themselves.

To snuff out even one of a cat's supposed nine lives was to risk being haunted by that particular cat for the rest of the murderer's life.

Imagine the stress this dilemma caused the early American colonists: They believed that a broth made from boiled black cat had the power to cure tuberculosis. However, what horrible evil might happen to the person who killed the cat and made the soup?