Mary Allen
Cats are legendary animals that are often said to have supernatural abilities. But what is actually true of these myths?
Hardly any other animal is surrounded by as many myths as cats. Historically, they were associated with the gods, but also with the devil. They were considered sacred, seen as a bringer of good luck or as a messenger of evil. They were also said to be able to see into the afterlife.
Since cats sometimes behave strangely and inexplicably from the human point of view, they are sometimes still associated with supernatural abilities. But what about the myths about cats seeing ghosts and having spooky premonitions?
The Cat Sees Something That is Not There
Many cat owners know it: Out of nowhere, the cat stands rooted to the spot and stares at a certain point, for example, a white wall, the door, or out of the window. She may meow or hiss at the same time, or she may stay very still. Then when people want to check what their cat is seeing, they see nothing.
It is therefore often assumed that cats have psychic abilities and can see things that are invisible to humans, such as ghosts.
This assumption is partially correct. In fact, cats can perceive things that humans don’t even notice. However, this is not because cats can see ghosts, but because they have completely different sensory perceptions than humans. For example, they smell and hear three times better than their owners. Therefore, when a cat stares at a wall, it may simply have heard something behind the wall.
In addition, cats are able to see ultraviolet light. humans can’t do that. A plain white sheet of paper can therefore look much more exciting and colorful to cats than to humans.
Can Cats Predict Natural Disasters?
Again and again, we hear stories of cats sensing volcanic eruptions or earthquakes days or hours in advance and warning their owners about them. Other domestic and wild animals are also said to have this ability. But do cats actually have psychic premonitions?
It is difficult to scientifically verify whether cats or other animals actually “sense” natural disasters in advance, because most of the time, animal behavior is not documented, only told. This is not a basis for a fact-based study.
However, scientists at the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) in Potsdam tried to study the strange behavior of animals in connection with earthquakes. They came up with the following possible explanations:
- Animals respond to seismic waves from foreshocks.
- Animals react to gases such as helium or radon released by foreshocks.
Apparently, cats and other animals are more sensitive to changes in the air or groundwater and vibrations and are therefore often more aware of earthquakes or volcanic eruptions than humans. Therefore, in this case, too, the sensitive perceptions of cats have something to do with their apparently supernatural ability.
However, that doesn’t mean that cats can see clairvoyantly or use psychic abilities to predict natural disasters.
Can Cats Predict Death?
Stories of cats that sit with people and then die within the next few hours or the day after are downright scary. In 2007, for example, the story of the cat Oscar fascinated countless people. In a nursing home in the USA, he roamed the rooms of the patients and always stayed with those who then died in the hours that followed. The whole thing happened 25 times in two years. By 2015 there were said to have been over 100 terminal patients.
Other stories are about cats that suddenly repeatedly lie down on a certain part of their owner’s body or lick it. Later it often turns out that the people in these areas had an illness, for example, cancer.
The fact is: that cats do not bring bad luck and are not the reason that the people they sit with die soon afterward! Rather, it seems that cats realize that death is near. It is not clear where they got this ability from. However, scientists and veterinarians assume that this has to do with the animals’ sense of smell. The same applies to diseases. For example, it is also known that dogs are able to smell cancer and detect epileptic seizures before they occur.
Ultimately, however, humans will never know exactly how cats perceive the world and what abilities they actually have. Anyone who would like to believe that cats do have supernatural abilities can of course do so. One thing is certain: cats perceive the world very differently than humans and often react much more sensitively to smells, sounds, or other changes.