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Have you ever seen a scary movie where the dog or cat reacts to something no one else in the room can see? In both movies and real life, animals have an uncanny ability to sense danger, emotions, and things we as humans don’t fully understand or perceive.
Which begs the question: Can cats see ghosts? Can they access a spirit realm beyond our human abilities?
Apart from communicating with their owners, cats have a strong connection with each other and to the world around them. Let’s unpack some of the lore around cats and ghosts, including their association with paranormal activity, mythology, and more.
Cats and Paranormal Activity
Cat parents everywhere have noticed their feline’s strange (possibly paranormal?) behavior. Some cats stare continuously at a particular spot—a spot that was later discovered to have a story behind it. Others watch the stairway, like someone is walking up and down the stairs, or a wall in the house, as if someone is hiding behind it. Sometimes, after staring for a while, the cat’s face looks as if they are trying to fight something off.
Are these examples of cats being cats—simply playing, or sensing a bug or something to play with? Sometimes, there’s additional evidence that makes us wonder.
For example, in one story, a cat was fixated on an unoccupied room. Their owner later reported that he could hear unusual sounds coming from the room, despite the fact that it was empty. He wondered: Did the cat see something that was not visible to the human eye?
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Can Cats Sense Evil in a Person?
There’s no confirmation that cats can judge good versus evil. However, they can sense negativity coming from certain people, and they tend to either stay away from such people or hiss at them. Likewise, cats are able to realize danger when it threatens them or their owners.
There’s also evidence that cats can sense when their owners are anxious and depressed. Given this amazing perceptiveness, it’s understandable why many believe cats can sense unearthly beings, too.
Cat Mythology
We can trace these paranormal beliefs about cats back to several sources, one of them being ancient Egypt, where cats were beloved and thought of as divine. They chased away snakes and other pests and served as great companions. Ancient tomb paintings depict cats in households, showing their high importance in the family. Egyptians even believed in a goddess of protection, Bastet, who had a cat head.
It’s reported that ancient Egyptians kept cats closeby so they could communicate with the spirit realm; they thought of cats as mediators between humans and spirits. If we take this as true, it may explain the long cat stares and unexplained sounds and activity.
Are Cats Protectors From Spirits?
Many mythologies and folklore tales assert that cats ward away evil spirits. These stories contradict the classic superstition that black cats bring bad luck.
While there’s no confirmation that cats protect you from spirits, there are plenty of anecdotes of cats communicating with their owners about disturbances—like a guest at the door, or something else that their human has yet to notice. So it’s possible that your cat may warn you if anything bad or disruptive is about to happen.
What Do the Experts Say?
People love to tell ghost stories about cats, especially around Halloween. If you talk to certain animal experts, you may come to believe that the idea of cats seeing and maybe interacting with ghosts is more than myth.
Jackson Galaxy, a cat behavior and wellness expert along with the host of Animal Planet’s My Cat From Hell, agreed to an interview with Madeleine Aggeler, a journalist for The Cut.
When asked if cats could really see ghosts, Galaxy explained, “Cats have evolved to sense things that we, as humans, can’t. Their eyes can see perfectly with the smallest bit of light, they can hear six to eight times better than we can, and their whiskers are designed to detect everything from temperature changes to air current changes.”
While these adaptations may not be proof that cats can see the spirit world, Galaxy notes that he’s had his own experiences with odd cat behavior. His cats are always picking up energy in the house, and he himself admits to being a believer in the spirit world.
To further explore the subject, Aggeler spoke to Katherine Bozzi, an animal communicator who uses meditation to communicate with animals both living and dead. In an email, Bozzi commented, “Animals in general are more open to experiencing spiritual connections than humans… because they’re not culturally conditioned to dismiss these moments as pure imagination.”
So, Do Cats Really See Ghosts?
Whether cats possess supernatural powers or not is entirely up to what you believe. However, what we all know to be true and can agree on is that cats are amazing, curious communicators, and observing their behavior can lead to some very interesting questions.
Mallory Crusta – https://cats.com/can-cats-see-ghosts