Has anyone ever heard any stories about a phantom black cat that appears in or around the White House just before a national disaster or tragedy occurs? The little bugger supposedly appeared before JFK’s assasination, the Stark Market Crash, etc. Has anyone heard of this, have any idea where the legend got started or know if the little puss has been seen nosing around the White House lately?
OK, let’s look at some facts here. First: Black is a relatively common color for cats, and cats are a relatively common animal in American cities. Second, cats have a tendancy to go where they damn well please. From this we can deduce that it’s probably not a rare occurence for some black cat or another to be near the White House at any given time. This, then, implies that there is often such a cat around the House shortly before a disaster, so the story is superficially true, at least. However, there’s the same high chance that a black cat will be around just before times of prosperity or times of nothing in particular, so it’s not exactly anything interesting.
True, Chronos, a black cat being seen in or around the White House is probably not an especially rare occurence or really even very interesting, much less the augury of some dark fortune for the nation.
But a PHANTOM black cat…
Now that’s interesting! A PHANTOM black cat I bet is really rare around the White House and if I was going to believe that the appearance of a black cat was going to foretell some misfortune, it sure has hell better be a PHANTOM black cat.
I don’t know much about this particular little “legend”, but the version I heard definitely included the word phantom. By phantom black cat I assume it vanishes in thin air or flies around the room or at the very least lives in the bowels of Ford’s Theatre and sings Andrew Lloyd Webber songs.
Has anyone heard this or know of another site that addresses it?
If you are interested in the random postings of people who share supposedly “real life” ghost stories on a message board dedicated to supernatural events, as opposed to the wonderful postings of rational people like Chronos here at the SDMB, you might check out
http://www.theshadowlands.net/ghost/ghost154.htm
About half-way down the page there is a post titled “White House Ghost” that talks about the phantom cat.
There is a mention of a “Demon Cat of the Capitol”, although I don’t know if that is any relation to the “Phantom Cat of the White House” (a possible violation of our checks and balances system, IMHO) at
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/travel/DailyNews/capitol000208.html
And at http://www.hauntedhouses.com/states/wadc/house3.htm
this explanation is offered:
"A demon cat appears and scares late night workers who have to go to the deep, dark parts of the basement of the Capitol Building. These frightening appearances usually take place before a national tragedy happens and when administrations change. This account was reported by a guard and others. It is first seen as a normal, black cat, which purrs happily as it approaches the unsuspecting human victim in the dimly lit hallway. As this cat apparition comes closer, though, its body swells to the size of a tiger, and the sweet purring turns into a vicious snarl. With its claws extended, this huge cat leaps at the human contact, and then vanishes into thin air, leaving the human being terrified, but unhurt.
Why is there an angry cat apparition haunting the basement?
Many years ago, when the Capitol Building was infested with mice, cats were let go in the basement to take care of the problem. All the cats were then caught and given to good homes. However, maybe one cat was left behind. Oops! Sorry kitty."
Thanks Delphica! That’s just what I was looking for. Being relatively new to the Board, I realize now that I should have been more specific. I wasn’t looking for a rational explanation of the story, just the story itself. In the future, when I need a rational explanation, I’ll know to turn to Chronos. 