Black Cat Ghost

[BrandonD]

Ok this experience is kinda ridiculous and in the "subjective" realm, but it is at least interesting.

At my old house, several times in the morning or evening when I was awake but hadn't moved yet, I would have the impression of a small black animal in the room. My impression was of a black cat. I don't think it was a black cat, but that's what my mind sort of interpreted it as.

One morning I heard it in the room, I sensed it as sitting on the ground to my left watching me. I tried to get up, but as soon as I would try to move a wave of fear would wash over me and I was unable to move. The strange thing about this fear is that it seemed to be a completely physically-based fear. It seemed like I was somehow separate from it, because at the same time as being afraid I was asking myself, "What reason do I have to be afraid of a cat?"

For whatever reason, it hadn't struck me as strange that there was a cat in the room. I don't own any pets.

After a minute or so I could still hear it moving, and for whatever reason the thought suddenly popped in my head "What the hell is a cat doing in my house?"

After this, the "fear paralyzation" disappeared and I sat up. For several seconds I could STILL hear it moving in what looked like empty space.

On another occasion, I was awake but hadn't moved, and I felt pressure like a small animal crawling on the bed to my left. Then I felt it move around the top of my head, and come down my right side.

Then it crawled on top of my chest. I could even feel what seemed like little cat feet! It was on my chest, and the same process occurred. I had the thought, "Why is a cat in my house?" and the paralyzation disappeared and the sensation of the animal faded away.

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A little addendum for the self-appointed guardians of rationality:

People LOVE to throw around the term "sleep paralysis", but I hope those people realize that this term *doesn't actually mean anything*. No one has yet been able to explain how a sane person can be awake in the waking world, aware that they are awake in the waking world, and yet have totally believable hallucinations, complete with visuals, audio and sensation.

"Sleep paralysis" goes into the same category as "ball lightning", "dark matter", and other such things. All these terms mean essentially the same thing:

"We don't understand this, but it's not a mystery. And it certainly isn't anything supernatural. Materialistic science reigns supreme."

If my mind is able to hallucinate animals, why can't I do it right now?

I'm clearly in at least a slightly altered state in the morning because I don't find the presence of a cat strange. But how does this natural altered state allow me to insert fictional objects into the presumably non-fiction world?

If I'm only daydreaming an object which exists nowhere else but in my imagination, how can this object exist *coherently* for an extended period of time in the waking world for any longer than the fleeting moment when it pops into my head?

When I direct my attention toward something in the real world, if I don't REALLY see it, and I have no desire to see it, then what am I seeing?

I am not assuming that things like this animal are "real", what I'm saying is that I think there is a legitimate mystery here, and using handy catch-phrases like "sleep paralysis" won't make that mystery go away.

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Anway, now that the addendum's out of the way, I'd love to hear other peoples' similar experiences.

I'd also honestly love to hear an explanation which actually means something when you strip away the terminology.

 

[mike]

this reminded me of something, though i had to think twice about posting, but i'll relate the experience as it happened, though even i, 3 decades later look at this and say "nuts"

i was 16/17 years old, and was working a midnight shift at a merchant bank, nursing their HP mainframe through its nightly job run. i was living in a flat in sydneys kings cross, with my 26/27 year old girlfriend.

anyway, as a mental exercise i had been "visualising" two large cats as companions, opening doors for them as i moved, "seeing" them where ever i went, i knew perfectly well these were not real animals, it was simply an exercise of mental discipline in maintaining the visualisation with as much intensity and duration as i was able to muster. the ability to hold a "visualisation" with accuracy and for extended periods being considered a worthy mental "tool" to posses.

anyway one night during my shift, i noticed they were "gone" and that i could not re visualise them, they "returned" an hour or so later, and i was again able to maintain the illusion from moment to moment with no difficulty. i thought no more about it until i returned home that morning. the first thing my girlfriend mentioned was "seeing" my cats come through her bedroom door the night before, the time matched as well.

well there you have it, as woo woo as it gets, i look back on the reality with some sense of derision myself, but i cant deny it happened.

 

[skunkape]

Yep. All too familiar with those creepy bastards.

 

[AnnetteMarie]

on the subject of cats, I felt an urge last month or longer, to ask a buddy for pics of his cat, wifey. what would be the point, as I am allergic to cats, I asked myself, but sent off the email anyway.
today, he gets back to me on the subject and tells me he had his cat put down right about that time, for very debilitating medical reasons.
I was not close to that cat, but I've known my buddy since I was 15.

cats are strange, I think they are extremely psychic. I have no problem accepting that pair of 'imagined' cats accompanying you on the night shift.

 

[thefoundryman]

I think Jeff Ritzman had one of these "cat-ghosts" in his old residence. I seem to remember him mentioning that Mr. Biedny actually witnessed it as well.

 

[dreampsi]

Cat-ghost in my house, too! I had a friend over one night (never have people over) and we were talking about everything in the world and she looks off to the side and says "oh..I didn't know you had a cat" to which I replied "I don't". She said she swears she saw the cat round the corner. I asked what color she just said dark.

Some time later I had a friend come by and drop off something. I stood in the doorway with it open 1/2 way and I clung to the door frame. She was standing a few feet away outside and was walking away but turned as we kept talking about something. She then quickly exclaimed "Oh..don't let your cat out!" to which I replied..."I...Don't have a cat" and she said well one must have ran inside because it darted around my feet. I looked the house over from top to bottom. No cat ever seen.

Quite a while later, I ran across a stray and she was so beautiful and malnourished I took home with me. I kept her outside and didn't let her in. When I opened the back door to feed her in the evenings she would try to run inside and a few times she did slink in as the door was closing. One night I put the food out and closed the glass door (I could see out). I was crossing the room and I saw a piece of paper on the floor and bent over to pick it up. When I bent over, I felt the cat jump onto my lower back, knocking my shirt up several inches from the shirttail onto my back and her claws dig in. It happened so fast I just sort of reacted with a swatting motion and stoop up quickly exclaiming" Damn cat!". I turned and no cat was there. I looked up and my cat was sitting outside the glass door looking at me like "you fool..what are you swatting and cursing at?" LOL it was the most bizarre thing as that was the 2nd time something physical ever touched me. I looked at the "claw mark" area and no redness or anything but I sure felt them!!! Now some might say I have a cat hiding in the house..I assure you there isn't.

That room and the next has had some weird things happen. Once I was at a friend's house and ghost stories came up. My friend's friend was telling about a woman who woke up screaming to see a transparent civil war soldier standing at the foot of her bed. She ran out of the room screaming to her husband but when they came back...of course, it's gone. I thought it was interesting until someone sitting there asked WHERE it occurred. She named my street! LOL The hair raised up on my arm.

 

[skunkape]

I can think of at least 5 people, including myself, who have seen a cat-like dark thing at the house I grew up in. I can remember a few times, as a kid, the thing would jump in bed with me at night. I always pulled the cover over my head and hid in terror until I fell asleep.