At Halloween you always see lots of pictures of black cats because people think they are scary. But this is just a dumb superstition, and it is not true that black cats are scary. Mostly, black cats are as nice as any other color of cat, and it's not their fault that they were born black. In fact, black is a very excellent color for an animal, as I have mentioned several times before, and if the black is trimmed with white, that is even better!
So how did all this stuff about scary black cats get started? Well, it didn't start with the Egyptians, because the Egyptians pretty much worshipped all cats, no matter what color they were. And when the family cat died, everyone was very sad, and they wrapped the cat up like a mummy and buried it very lovingly.
But later on, in Europe during the Middle Ages, people started getting nervous about cats, especially black ones. And this seemed to be because cats were very independent and sneaky, and also they made tons of kittens, so there were cats everyplace. And old, lonely ladies sometimes felt sorry for the cats, and they fed them. And then people started thinking the old ladies were witches and that they could change themselves into black cats and sneak around at night and do bad things. So these nice old ladies and their cats got burned at the stake.
In France, thousands of cats were being burned up because people were afraid of them, but finally in the 1630s, King Louis XIII made them stop doing that. But people in other parts of Europe killed off their cats, too, and then guess what happened. There started being lots more rats! And then the rats brought the Plague, and a bunch of people died. Which seems to me like it was sort of a punishment for killing the cats.
Anyway, in America, even today, there is a superstition that if a black cat crosses your path, you will have bad luck. And some gamblers believe that if you are on your way to the casino, and a black cat crosses in front of you, there is no point in gambling that day because you will lose. The Irish have an old superstition that if a black cat crosses your path in the moonlight, you will die in an epidemic.
But some people actually have
good beliefs about black cats. In Japan and Britain, people think that black cats bring good luck, not bad luck. In Scotland, if a black cat comes on your porch, you will have prosperity.
Sailors have always thought that cats are lucky to have on their ships, and black cats are especially good to have. Fishermen's wives will sometimes keep black cats in their homes because they think the cats will bring their husbands home safe from the sea.
In the 19th century, pirates believed that if a black cat walked onto a ship and then off again, that ship would sink on its next trip. And they also thought that a black cat walking toward you was bad luck, but a black cat walking away meant good luck.
Most people nowadays won't admit to believing any of these superstitions about black cats, but the sad truth is that when black cats are in shelters, they have a harder time getting adopted than cats of other colors. So maybe, somewhere in the back of people's minds, they are still thinking about black cats and witches and bad luck and evil stuff. Or maybe it's just because black cats are harder to get a good picture of to put on Petfinder. And it's not that black cats never get adopted. It just takes longer for somebody to adopt them. Which is also true of black dogs, I am sad to say.
Anyway, if you want a black cat of your very own, you can find one at the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, where my mom volunteers. Or if you don't live in Kansas City, you can probably find a black cat at your own local shelter.
Here are a few of the black cats at the
Humane Society. If you adopt any one of these cats, I promise that you will have very, very, very good luck.
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| Ralphie |
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| Sophia |
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| Hilary |
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| Jack |
