Sunday, July 1, 2012

Cat Ghosts


I have two black cats - Salem and Phoebe.  I realize as a psychic medium I qualify, for all intents and purposes as a "witch" under historical definitions.  So, having these two black cats - or "familiars" as the superstitious folks in the Middle Ages referred to them - is sort of appropriate.  Familiars were considered witches' helpers in concocting their magic or reborn witches.   Historically, black cats have been deemed to have special powers, and to be either good luck (in Asia and England) or bad luck (United States and Italy).  However, I have basically inherited them from my kids.

We went to see a lady in the neighboring rural town who had over 100 wild cats living in the stables with her 6 horses.  My kids each picked out one cat.  My daughter picked out Salem, an exceptionally friendly male cat who greeted her in the barn.  Salem snores and is often unaware that his tongue is hanging out of his mouth.  My son picked out a very sweet, delicate and handicapped female cat who had been rescued from the top of an oak tree when she and her litter mates were abandonned by their mother.  Phoebe is the only cat I know who actually talks in a very sweet girl-voice and says with perfect diction "Me-ow!"  Despite her sweetness, she is highly vindictive.  She pees on things to express her displeasure - including on us!  She has one bad eye and one ear that was chopped by a veterinarian for ferile cats to show they were spayed. 

After months of trying to coax them out of tool chests, from under the car, from behind the furniture, and even from underneath the indoor foundation of the house, they finally began to acclimate to us and our house.  We decided to keep Salem in my daughter's bedroom and Phoebe in my son's bedroom.  Just so they would have a safe place to go.  That seemed to work out fine, except that it soon became clear the two cats couldn't stand each other.  At first, Phoebe terrorized Salem. She chased him all over the house when Salem was afraid of his own shadow.  But as the months rolled by, the roles reversed.  Salem gained self-confidence.  He began to attack Phoebe until she retreated into the only safe place in the house - a small space behind my son's bed.  Usually at 4:00 AM in the morning, there would be horrific cat wars - hissing, thumping, running, fur flying, hideous meowing and yowling.  They still don't like each other much.  There is now a kind of uneasy truce.  My daughter went off to college and I inherited Salem.  He now sleeps on my bed.  Phoebe sleeps on my son's bed.

One night about two months ago, I was sleeping when I was gently awoken by what I believed was Salem who jumped up on the foot of my bed and walked around my feet.  I could feel the indentation of the small cat feet in the mattress as he carefully avoided my feet.  I moved my legs and  - to my great shock - suddenly bumped into the "real" Salem.  He was sound asleep, curled up in a ball, in the crook of my knees.  When I looked down by my feet, there was no cat!

"Well then," I thought suddenly wide awake, "Who the heck was the cat walking around my feet?"

It was not Phoebe.  She refuses to enter my room because she recognizes it as Salem's territory.  Moreover, there simply wasn't any cat by my feet!   I considered the implausible idea that it might have been the ghost of a cat!  As a psychic medium, I decided early on to law down the law, and I banned all spirits from entering my bedroom.  I don't mind if they go elsewhere.  But it never occurred to me to include the spirits of animals. 

I told one friend about this unusual experience, but didn't mention it anyone else.

Three days ago, my son, who is 13 years old, casually mentioned that he has recently had the experience of what he called a "ghost cat" in his bed.  He said that while he was sleeping, he felt the footsteps of a cat walking on his pillow behind his head.  He thought it was Phoebe until he realized she was sleeping near his stomach.  If it had been Salem, Phoebe would have immediately run behind the bed.  But more importantly, there was no cat on my son's pillow.  I had never spoken to him about cat ghosts or the spirits of animals.

Apparently, we have attracted a ghost cat in our house.  It likes walking around while the other cats are curled up and sleeping on the beds.  Maybe this is a cat from the barn who knew our two cats when they lived there, or perhaps it is one of the many cats I have had as pets over the years.  I just don't have enough information.  I would love to hear from anyone else who has experienced an animal spirit.

9 comments:

  1. I had an experience like that. I'm a pre-teen, and even though i'm young, i am mature enough to help you. I had a black cat picked on my birthday. On my little sister's birthday, she chose a white cat from the same shelter i did. it seems me and my sister as well as my parents felt a 'ghost cat' walking all over the bed. I'm guessing it's a dead spirit of a cat who DID know the white cat followed it home. Of course, not the black cat since the ghost cat only appeared after the white cat was brought home. It doesn't seem to harm any of us so we ignore it most of the time. This also means you probably have nothing to worry about. I'm not an expert on animal spirits, but i'm pretty sure it will do no harm so i just suggest you ignore it. hope this helped! :)

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  2. I love your story!! Isn't it wonderful to have several other people confirming the same experience (of your ghost cat) and then to be able to logically deduce that it was probably related to your sister's cat? Thank you for sharing your story and your wisdom.

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  3. My cats were the same way! "Tiger Lily" (passed away this June, and she was 20 years old) and "Wendy Moira Angela Darling" are a mother-daughter pair and they never got along. The only time they had anything to do with each other was when they had their litters at the same time once. They literally swapped each others' kids. Lol! And the past few months of Tiger Lily's life we had to separate the two of them because Wendy starting attacking her. (I read it was a 'survival of the fittest' type of thing common with animals, although it certainly did upset me a lot).

    As for ghost cats, we have one in this house too. We've lived here for 7 years and it was a new house when we moved in, yet there's always been a ghost cat here. I was the one first one to see it, and to me it was always a black shadow. It was always outside my bedroom door, on the stairs by my room or inside my bedroom. After a couple years my mother saw it, and then my sister and niece during a visit. This past year it FINALLY was seen downstairs, and even at our neighbor's house. (Nearly tripped her on the stairs). The last time I saw it was probably almost a year ago, and it was so amazing because I didn't see it as a shadow. I was in bed reading, when it walks up just inches from the side of my bed... and I see the literal shape of a cat, tail straight up, and it's completely encased in what looks like thin, swirling smoke. It was the strangest thing to see. It was then that I realized that it was actually a gray cat.

    And just a few nights ago I got on my laptop in my room. When turning on the computer, I just happened to look behind me and for just one short second I could have sworn I saw our old cat, Tiger Lily, entering the room. She looked completely solid, and I even saw the markings on her face. It happened so incredibly fast that I still don't trust that I really saw her. I don't know if that was a trick to the eye or what. All I know is I wasn't thinking about her at that moment, yet for one second straight out of the blue I thought I saw her walking into my room which I had just entered a few seconds earlier.

    Oh, gosh. So sorry for rambling. It's just that I'm a huge animal lover and I could relate so much to your post.

    Kristin

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  4. comment on your blog posting from 1 July 2012 "Cat Ghosts"


    Dear Ms. du Tertre,

    I listened to your segment on "Coast to Coast AM" early this morning,
    and very much enjoyed your message and style of communication.

    While visiting your site today I read your recent blog postings.

    Regarding your experience with the ghost cat:

    When I first moved into my house ten years ago,
    for several nights while in bed, I experienced a cat jumping on the bed
    and walking around my feet, then settling down.

    At first, I thought nothing of it, as I have cats.
    However, when reaching down to stroke it and determine which cat it was,
    there would be no cat to touch.

    Like your Salem, my other cats did not react to the ghost cat's presence
    if they were on the bed as well.

    This happened many nights a week.

    I communicated with it as best I could and was not able to identify it as one of my previous cats.
    It seems to me that it was from a former owner of the house
    or perhaps some unphysical cat passing by that
    recognized a home where it might feel comfortable or be noticed.

    One night I told it silently (and then out loud) that it was welcome to stay, but that it wasn't necessary.
    I told it to find a pregnant cat and become re-born - should it wish to re-experience a physical life.
    From that point on, I have not been aware of any ghost cat visiting.

    I rather missed it, but was certain that it had recalled that it had choices.

    I look forward to reading your book and will keep up with your blog.

    Many thanks!

    Sincerely,

    Kris Koren
    Belleair, FL

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  5. I listened to the podcast of your visit on Coast to Coast. I can't stay up that late. LOL

    I have been visited by ghost animals too. I have been visited by pets who are gone. I would sense them and also hear them.

    Never admitted it to anyone before.

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  6. It's fantastic to know other people are out there with the same wonderful experiences!! Love it!

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  7. Really enjoyed listening to you on Coast to Coast the other night and decided to visit your website this morning to learn more as I have intuition a lot. It scares my employees because they know that I know what they do well and find mistakes that I am not even looking for. Regarding ghost cats, happens to us all the time. We have two cats and one sleeps with us between our pillows most all the time. Whenever they jump up on the bed, it wakes me up. Many times though, I awake to the jumping on the bed and walking around and look down on reach out and there is no cat. I've had cats all my life and one of them for nearly 20 years and 3 lived in our offices for 17 years. We have a shelf in our family room with the ashes of my 20 year old and photos of most all of our other deceased cats and dogs over the years. I do think their spirits linger around and I miss them all dearly and love keeping in touch. My other always had cats too and that was a strong bond we shared. Will buy your book to learn more and improving my intuition. D FL

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  8. I too have experienced a ghost cat. It was actually one of the only paranormal experiences I have ever had and I'm glad I wasn't the only one to experience this. I had just recently saved an orange cat stuck behind a shed at my neighbor's home. I was thrilled since I had wanted a cat for so long. One night I stayed at my friend's house, who's house is rather haunted. I had a very strange experience there that I would rather not speak of. I ended up getting very angry and snarky with this spirit as it was pissing me off after playing with a Ouija board. The next night after that, at my house, as I was trying to fall asleep, I felt my cat jump up on my feet on my bed and walk around a bit. I didn't think much of it until I realized I LOCKED MY CAT IN THE BATHROOM THAT NIGHT. My cat was being naughty and he wouldn't let me sleep. He also wasn't yet potty trained so I had put him in the bathroom for the night. I freaked out, jumped up and turned the light on. Nothing there. Checked the bathroom, cat was still there. I freaked out and told it to go away and prayed a bit. My now fiancé, who has experienced many paranormal things as a child, thought it may have had something to do with the Ouija board and suggested I burn it. Now, I have heard mixed opinions about burning Ouija boards, but I had done it and have not experienced anything since. That is my story.

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  9. My lovely 15 year old cat who Id raised from a kitten died suddenly a week ago. I have been able to hear him walking on the floorboards in my room and I can feel the bed shake as if he is jumping onto the bed.

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