There have been many myths and superstitions surrounding cats, but the age old questions remain; can they see ghosts and spirits, do cats have magical powers, and are they good or bad luck?

Firstly, can cats sense ghost and spirits? It’s been said that cats are sensitive to the proximity of spirits. Here’s an account of a stray black-and-white cat that was adopted in the Queens section of New York City. They lived in an old attached house that had no history of strange activity, as far as they knew, but this high-strung kitten seemed to be able to see things humans could not:

“She would look at the stairs, her gaze slowly moving from the bottom to the top, as if she was observing someone walking up the steps. At other times, her green eyes would be transfixed upon a certain spot on the ceiling above me. While I couldn’t see anything, the cat was definitely watching something. After my son went away to college, I decided to put the house up for sale. One evening, shortly after the real estate agent that I contacted had looked at the house; I sat in my favorite chair with my little cat nearby excitedly looking at the ceiling above me. I heard people run down the stairs in the house next door. Maybe the noise triggered what happened next, which was truly horrible. What I heard sounded like the heavy, thumping steps of a big man with real heavy boots walking on my living room ceiling upside down. The cat was absolutely frantic. She looked at the ceiling, hissing and spitting. After about ten seconds of deafening noise, there was silence. The cat stopped looking at the ceiling. I checked the upstairs rooms, but, of course, there was no one else in the house.”

As for whether or not they have any magical powers, no one will ever know, but people seem to have thought so throughout history. Dating back to the Middle Ages, life was no picnic for cats; in the religious fervor of the time, cats, especially black cats, were considered mystical spirits of evil. Witches were said to be aided by cats in their mischief-making. Sometimes a witch took on the shape of a cat to slink around unnoticed. Witch’s cats were also said to have the power of speech and were able predict the future.

Anti-feline hysteria reached a fever pitch and cats were deliberately hunted down and killed. Sometimes cats were formally executed for simply being a cat. The cat was blamed for a multitude of sins, including the encouragement of humans to do wrong. And if the cat’s owner was convicted of witchcraft and condemned to die, there was a good chance that they would be accompanied to the gallows by the cat.

And lastly, do cats bring good or bad luck? Well that would depend on where you are located in the world and what superstitions you believe to be true, here are some of the superstitions about cats found all around the world:

1-     In England, if a black cat crosses your path, evil will soon befall you, however, the evil can be cancelled if you spit right away.

2-     If a cat leaves home while a person is sick and cannot be coaxed back, the person will die.

3-     In the days of the great sailing ships, sailors would always bring a cat on board the boat. On very calm days when no wind filled the sails, they would lock the cat in a cupboard. They believed that this would bring a breeze.

4-     Never leave a cat alone with an infant. The cat will suck the breath right out of the child.

5-     In Great Britain, Tortoiseshell cats are considered lucky.

6-     If a cat sneezes near a bride-to-be on the morning of her wedding, she will have a happy life.

7-     Stroking the tail of a black cat will cure a sty in the eye.

As you can see from this list, cats are considered to be both good luck and bad luck. Which do you believe?