The Ghost Kitty

Back in the year 2000, we bought a cute little 1960's bungalow that sits atop a hill, with a magnificent view of the Mississippi River. We closed in October, on Friday the 13th. On our final walkthrough of the home, we found a cat hiding in the basement ceiling. We were pretty disturbed by this, and called the realtor, asking if the (soon to be) former owners had abandoned their cat. It turns out they hadn't. The cat hid during the move, so they figured they'd come back for her later, after she had calmed down. (which they did)

After we closed, Amy and I scrubbed the house from top to bottom. Every wall and doorway, floors and ceiling got touched my my hands. I was removing any energy from the old occupants, and replacing it with my own. When we finished, I had more than a home. I had a brick rectangle of dragon treasure. :)

Now, I like ghosties. That's one reason I wanted to live in the Carondolet neighborhood. There are houses here from the early 1800's. My next door neighbor has a garage that was a blacksmith's shop 150 years ago. The history here is amazing, and with history comes ghosties. I've woken several times at night because a ghostie has walked through our front window and come straight down the hallway then disappeared. They don't enter our bedrooms. It's as if their ability to materialize ends with our hallway. They don't see us. They probably don't even see the house. They're just passing through. The first year we lived here, a barge worker fell overboard and died in the river. His spirit used our hallway on his way to the afterlife. Freaky but cool.

Anyway, about a week after we'd moved in, I saw a cat in the kitchen. Our cat was orange, this cat was grey. It had manifested so thoroughly, I thought the cat in the ceiling had returned. It sat in the kitchen for a few seconds, then just faded away. When Hubby-man came home, I excitedly told him all about it. He thought it was cool, and regretted that he couldn't see it too. The ghost kitty came and went over the next few weeks. Once he brought a friend, thus in early November I had 2 hypo allergenic cats in my kitchen! It was great. Then the ghost kitty stopped coming around.

I figured, "Well, that was neat, but I'm glad he moved on. I'll miss him," and forgot about it. The next October, I'm still pretty messed up over 9-11. I've shut down my empathy, and probably wouldn't notice a ghost freight train if it passed right through me. I hear "maow!" from the kitchen. I glance at Yellow Kitty's usual sleeping spot, and both he and Friday are curled up asleep. Hmm. I hear "maow!" again, and think perhaps there's an injured cat outside. The voice sounded rather insistent. I go out the front door and walk all around the house, listening for the distressed cat. I tally our finances in my head, trying to find money in our budget for a trip to the vet. There's no cat outside.

I know I heard it, so I enter the house and decide to check the basement. Maybe the cat got inside somehow? I go into the kitchen and practically walk through the grey ghost kitty that's between me and the basement door. He stared at me for a few seconds, then faded away. Cool! The ghost kitty has returned! He made sporadic appearances throughout October and November, and then he was gone. 2002 saw him again, along with an assortment of other ghostly felines. Our house had become a gathering place for the kitty dead, and I was loving it. He always came in October, but this spring he reappeared. He stalked the hallways and laid in the sun. One day I spend nearly 40 minutes watching him fade in and out of this material world as he slept in a patch of sunlight. I could always feel him, but I couldn't always see him. He's been appearing for my Hubby with some regularity since Yellow Kitty died. (-sadness-) He jumped up on the bed once, right where Yellow used to sleep. For a second, I thought it was Yellow Kitty, but it wasn't. It was just our usual ghost kitty.

It just occured to me that I sound like I'm someone special. I don't think I am, beyond that I can see things. I do however, consider myself blessed that the ghost kitty chooses our house as the place-to-be a few months out of the year.