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Posted By: MissGuided 400-year-old mummified cat found in wall - 24th Apr 2009 8:55pm
A 400-year-old mummified cat has been found in the walls of a house that was being renovated.

The cat, which is in recognisable shape and still has its claws and teeth, may have been placed in the walls of the house in Devon, to ward off evil spirits.

Richard Parson, a funeral director, who owns the house in Ugborough, near Plymouth, said: "The builders were stripping one of the bathrooms upstairs and this little fellow came to light.

"It is quite scary looking and is a lot bigger than a normal domestic cat.

"I cannot throw it away so we plan to put it back on completion of the building work. But my wife is not all that keen on it, as she says she will have bad dreams."

He added: "Apparently 400 years ago people put cats behind walls to ward off witches. It clearly works as, since we have lived in the village, we have not seen sight or sound of any witches."

Mr Parson said neighbours have told him the cat was previously found behind the wall 20 years ago, but was put back by another resident.

He added: "There has been a local myth, a legend, that there was a cat buried in the house but of course we had no idea where that was.

Read it here
Posted By: Anonymous Re: 400-year-old mummified cat found in wall - 24th Apr 2009 8:59pm

WOW!!! Thats mad omg

[Linked Image]
Posted By: Wench Re: 400-year-old mummified cat found in wall - 24th Apr 2009 9:04pm
Quote
He added: "Apparently 400 years ago people put cats behind walls to ward off witches. It clearly works as, since we have lived in the village, we have not seen sight or sound of any witches."


Oh the temptation to get a few friends together for a visit in Ceremonial Dress raftl I'm so evil raftl
Posted By: RUDEBOX Re: 400-year-old mummified cat found in wall - 24th Apr 2009 9:07pm
Whoah! Interesting- was it preserved in some way. And i fink it should be put bk in the wall despite the mrs having nightmares-ìt was there way b4 her and its the living she should be scared of-humans not cats!
Posted By: MissGuided Re: 400-year-old mummified cat found in wall - 24th Apr 2009 9:12pm
What I want to know is - from the look on its face - was it alive when it got put in the wall? frown
Posted By: Wench Re: 400-year-old mummified cat found in wall - 24th Apr 2009 9:15pm
If she didn't have nightmares before then what makes her think things will change? Dozy bint!

Looking at it, from its posture and the "look" on its face, MissG, I think you may be right in your assumption that it was indeed alive when placed in the wall frown
Posted By: Anonymous Re: 400-year-old mummified cat found in wall - 24th Apr 2009 9:22pm
i would say it was put in the wall alive. frown
Posted By: _Ste_ Re: 400-year-old mummified cat found in wall - 24th Apr 2009 9:42pm
excellent find smile
Awww poor moggy
Posted By: Wench Re: 400-year-old mummified cat found in wall - 25th Apr 2009 10:49am
Looking at this again, it appears to be too big to be a domestic cat as we know it. I wonder if it was a "wild" cat? Maybe they should take a sample of DNA before they put him back so that they can find out just what kind of cat it was. I hope they will give him a bit more dignity and wrap him perhaps, or even a tiny box.

People also used to put clothes (like coats), witch bottles (which are also known as "bellarmines" or "bartmann bottles", they are beautiful. **), and shoes into walls and under floorboards for good luck and warding off harmful spirits; some old pieces of clothing have been found preserved this way.

On the animal front, chickens and geese have also been put into walls or even foundations for the same reasons as cats.

** Witch Bottles

Cats in walls
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