Cats can get stuck in the strangest places, but that isn’t the reason people sometimes find a dead one in their wall. It’s actually intended to keep you safe.
There have been numerous reports of finding dried, dead cats in walls. Not only there, but also beneath floorboards, above doorframes, and in chimney breasts. You would be forgiven for thinking some horrific turn of events left the poor moggy trapped there, but you may be wrong.
It turns out that many of these dead and dried cats had been specifically prepared before being hidden away in the walls. They were mummified to remove the smell and put into poses. Many of these positions imitated an attack. This got historians wondering, and they think they have it figured out.
Nothing Like A Dry Cat To Keep The Witches At Bay
According to Curiousities From The 5th Corner, the dried dead cats in walls and under floorboards may have been used to ward off witches. These dead felines were used “to protect the household and its inhabitants from a range of supernatural, psychic, and occult threats, as well as sometimes being placed in there for more positive reasons like aiding fertility.”
It is believed that because of a cat’s ability to detect the supernatural, they would protect a home. The added attack pose just aided in the protective abilities. Sometimes, they have been found with other animals such as rats and birds, too.
The act of putting a dead, dried cat in your walls would be considered a blood sacrifice. Their death would safeguard the home and keep everything from witches to their familiars from entering. The tradition is believed to have been carried over from folk magic practice.
These cats have been found all across Europe and even into the Americas. It was believed that the practice was originally brought to the continent by the Romans. Europeans, still wrought with superstition, then took it with them to the New World.
So, if you happen to be doing some home renovation and find a dead cat in your walls, I suggest you leave it there. You think termite invasions are bad. Just try witches.