Do you think that domestic cats can see ghosts? Do you believe in ghosts? I am quite a scientific person and I like to see hard evidence but despite that when you hear sensible, reasonable and plausible people talking about their encounters with ghosts you can’t help but begin to believe that they might actually exist.
I couldn’t sleep well last night. I called out to Charlie. I asked him to come to me; to lie next to me. That was just an emotional situation which passed. It was about 2 am. I turned on the radio and the presenter was discussing ghosts and callers were calling in with their own experiences.
The telephone call of one plausible caller caught my attention. His name was Grant. He had lived in a semi-detached house with 3 cats. One day he noticed that his cats were at the foot of the stairs looking up towards the top of the stairs. Above the landing was a hatch to the roof space. There was a light in the roof space and the light switch was within the roof space safe so you had to go into it to turn it on.
The cats were meowing and growling while looking up and Grant wasn’t sure what was going on so he went up the stairs. He noticed 2 things. Firstly, the air just below the hatch to the roof space was very cold. Secondly, he noticed that the light in the roof space was on but nobody had been in it for a while. He found this very strange and couldn’t account for it.
Clearly, he thought that it was some sort of supernatural event which is why he telephoned the radio show to discuss it. What is particularly interesting is that he also said to the presenter that after he had moved home having lived there for several years, on one day, he bumped into the new owner (I presume he didn’t move that far away as most people don’t). They got talking. The new owner also looked after cats and without being prompted the new owner said that his cats went to the bottom of the stairs and looked up and started to growl and meow.
I’m not sure whether you can call that hard evidence. You probably can’t. But it is a very strong coincidence that two sets of cats years apart had the same reaction to some sort of event that was taking place within a house.
We know that cats have highly tuned senses. There are stories of cats predicting an oncoming earthquake. There are stories of cats knowing when a person is about to die in a hospice. There is probably a scientific reason for both these things.
As yet we do not know whether ghosts exist or not but sometimes you hear highly plausible, first-hand experiences with suggest that they do. However, despite that evidence it is very hard to believe them. However, if any creature is able to sense that ghosts exist it is probably the domestic cat because of their extraordinarily finely tuned senses.
There is one aspect of ghost spotting that seems odd to me. We never hear of companion animal ghosts. Or am I mistaken? If I am correct it would indicate to me that ghosts are a figment of our imagination. They are about people for people.
I experienced a human ghost at my first vets job. The retired partner of the practice had died just months before, I hadn’t known him at all and knew nothing about him.
But one day working in the cattery I smelled cigar smoke and looked around to see who had come in.
There was no one!
Having a vivid imagination I thought I must have imagined it as after a while the smell had gone.
Later on, talking to the receptionist who had worked for the practice for years I told her about it, thinking she would laugh. She didn’t! She said ‘Oh Ruth that would be Mr Bartholomew, he often smoked a cigar, he comes around sometimes to check the hospital wing and cattery out’
Maybe he’d come to check the new girl…..me…out too lol
I believe cats sense something but quite what I don’t know. All of my cats have regularly stopped and stared at the doorway from the lounge to the stairs as if someone had just walk through or was standing in the doorway.
When I volunteered at a local rescue I would visit cats and new families a month after they had been there making sure all was well and that they had settled.
One time I got a call from the coordinator of the rescue; could I go out and pick up a newly homed cat he is freaking the family out!
I went and they said the cat was fine one end of the lounge yet try to take him to the other end and he would tear you to shreds trying to get away. Sure enough I picked him up and he lay casually in my arms. Took him towards the other side of the lounge and I didn’t even get there when his eyes grew huge and his hackles went up. Next second he was clawing his way over my shoulder and down my back!! I took him back to the rescue that day and I haven’t seen anything like that before or since.
I like that explanation too very plausible
Nice comment Ruth. I like that. Even though I struggle with God and ghosts I see something in them both.
No one can look into the eyes of a cat and say they don’t have souls!