8 Craziest Myths About Cats Throughout History

Since time immemorial, civilizations across the world have been devising myths about these curious creatures, ranging from superstitions about their supposed luckiness to stories of them playing fiddles, hanging out in cradles, or sailing the sea with owls in pea-green boats. Here are some of the more curious beliefs different cultures have held about felines throughout history.

Posted by taloringer

1
They live in the sea and cost storms

Superstitious fishermen in the British Isles might throw a bit of fish back into the sea "for the cat." This mythical cat was a woman who "knew more than a Christian should" (a.k.a. a witch) who went sailing with her fiancé, a fisherman. On the voyage, she cursed the whole fleet by calling up a storm to wreck the ship, as revenge upon the crew members who thought it was unlucky to have a woman on board and wanted her to be drowned. She was turned into a four-eyed cat who haunted the ocean, and the fishermen still throw her a morsel of food to appease her, lest she try it again. Many sailors and fishermen also think that if a cat falls overboard, a storm will show up and the ship will be capsized.

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2
They'll Steal Your Baby's breath

For centuries, folks in England believed that a cat is liable to climb into an infant's crib and "suck" the child's breath until it suffocates and dies. (In some versions of the tale, the cat is jealous because the newborn infant has suddenly deprived it of attention; other versions say it's not jealousy but the scent of milk on the baby's lips that inspires them.)

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3
They can predict the weather

Or, rather, by watching them, you can. It's said in England that a cat who claws at the curtains or the carpets is predicting windy weather, and the Welsh believed rain was coming when a cat's pupil broadened. Rain is also foretold if a cat busily washes its ears. As well, if a cat continually looks out a window on any day, rain is on the way, and some say that when a cat sleeps with all four paws tucked under its body, it will rain. A rainstorm is coming if the cat sleeps on its back too. Basically, if a cat does anything, it's gonna rain.

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4
They caused the black death

In the Middle Ages, cats were commonly thought of as sinister beasts with basically the same powers as witches and warlocks, obviously in cahoots with Satan. A cat's bite was poisonous, as was its flesh, and if you breathed its breath, you'd be infected with consumption (also known as tuberculosis). They could As such, when bubonic plague swept the European continent in the 14th century, killing up to 60% of the population in some regions, it was naturally assumed that the Devil was responsible, and his handiwork was attributed directly to his feline minions.

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5
They steal the souls of the dead

In ancient Scottish and Irish folklore, an oversized black cat with a trademark white patch on its chest, called the Cat Sìth, skulks around at night looking for souls to steal. At wakes and funerals, to protect the poor deceased's soul from the wily Cat Sìth, various distractions were supplied to deter or distract it, such as catnip or loud music. A fire was also never burned in a room with a corpse, since every cat loves to curl up by a warm fireplace.

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6
They Can affect the way your baby will look

In a few different areas of Europe, it was thought to be ill-advised for a pregnant woman to pick up a cat or let it sleep in her lap. In Portugal, it was once said the cat will afflict the baby with a wart or mole, usually a hairy one, and in England, it was thought the baby will either be born with a cat-shaped birthmark or with the face of a cat. This is sort of not fair, because another English folk tale says that black cats are lucky as a wedding gift, as is a cat (of any color, apparently) who sneezes within earshot of the bride on her wedding day.

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7
They work for the devil

Medieval people thought that cats were the Devil's personal soul courier, ferrying spirits to Hell. The three hairs on the tip of a cat's tail were said to be "the devil's hairs," which compelled the cat to stay up all night, prowling, when all Christian creatures should be asleep.

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8
They're basically living urns for human souls

A certain sect of Buddhism once practiced in the former kingdoms of Siam and Burma believed that when you die, if you're holy enough, your soul is transferred to a cat for safekeeping. In this way, special souls lived in a sort of feline purgatory, and when the kitty died, the chaste soul would ascend to paradise

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