Do cats see ghosts: history of the issue
People have endowed cats with special abilities since the moment the Egyptians first managed to tame them. It is not for nothing that this animal, whose initial task was only to protect grain barns from mice, over time turned into an object of worship in Egypt. There has been a cult of cats for a long time, and they continue to be revered today.
In ancient times, it was believed that cats have magical powers, in particular, they can relieve pain from the owner (if they are friendly with him), and also see another world hidden from people by a layer of reality. This was partly due to the mysterious ability of cats to see in pitch darkness, something that people have always been deprived of. In addition, the cat's eyes glow in the dark and in photographs. Although a scientific explanation was found for this, the mystical also did not lose its power - well, an animal with such unusual vision cannot help but see something unusual.
Did the dog see the spirit?
One evening, three young girls gathered in Vicki's apartment to practice spiritualism.
We did everything as expected: we drew a circle and lit a candle. The saucer began to move, and the letters formed the first sentence: “Remove the dog from the room.” Vika took the dog out. A strange dialogue began. The spirit answered the girls' questions quite intelligently. One of them asked: “Where are you now?” The answer was: “Here. I'm sitting in a chair." Everyone looked at the chair. Naturally, there was no one there. At the end of the session, the friends sat down at the same table and began to drink tea. The girls were cheerful and did not experience the slightest fear, until Gina ran into the room barking joyfully. But suddenly the dog suddenly braked, pressing all four paws into the carpet, like a horse that saw a wolf on the road. She stared at the chair indicated by the spirit, the hair on her back stood up, the dog growled. Vika tried to take her by the collar and, calming her down, lead her to the chair so that Gina could make sure that no one was there. But she seemed to have gone mad: always kind and affectionate, the dog, breaking free from its owner, almost bit her. From then on, Gina did not like to go into the room where that same chair stood by the window. And if, after all, the dog crossed the threshold of the mysterious room, strange things began to happen to it. She stopped at a distance of no closer than one and a half meters from the chair, stretched her neck towards it, rested her front paws on the carpet, looked closely, moved her nostrils and suddenly shuddered and burst into hysterical barking. Each time after such a “concert” Gina had to be locked in another room. The dog behaved this way for a very long time. Two years have passed. During this time, the owners cleaned the upholstery of the chair more than once, even replacing it with something else. The chair was moved to the opposite end of the room, replacing it with exactly the same chair. However, in spite of everything, the dog continued to avoid the exact chair on which the “spirit was sitting,” unmistakably distinguishing it from two identical chairs. She did not even dare to approach the owners who were sitting in this chair. Maybe the dog still sees a ghost on it or smells someone else's scent? Cats have lived alongside humans for almost 10,000 years. But during this time the animal did not completely become domestic; it remained as mysterious as before. There are many signs, beliefs and superstitions associated with them. They say they see the supernatural. Indeed, sometimes an animal looks where there is nothing and tries to catch it. What's the big deal here, what do cats see? Let's try to figure it out.
How to tell if cats are seeing ghosts
Observing their pets, people, century after century, have noted changes in their behavior. Based on these observations, we can conclude that when a ghost or brownie is near a cat, it begins to behave unusually. In particular, you may notice how she:
Arches its back, raises its tail straight up and snorts, turning to a place where no one is there;
Looks at one point for a long time, making no attempt to approach it;
Suddenly he begins to hiss and runs headlong out of the room;
Never approaches a specific place in the house - this could be some corner or piece of furniture, for example, a closet or a sofa.
How should cat owners behave in this situation? Since it is difficult to make out who exactly the cat is seeing, a brownie or a ghost, it is not recommended to take any action. Try not to go to a place that the cat doesn’t like; don’t place furniture there. And in order to appease the brownie, put a saucer with treats for him at night.
Wanting to take advantage of the cat’s unusual abilities, some owners take the animal to a session of communication with spirits or a fortune-telling ritual. Should not be doing that. Either the cat will scare the spirit away with its behavior, or the spirit will scare the cat to death. In any case, it will only distract you from the session.
Discussion of the question of whether cats are able to see objects of the other world has become a fashionable Internet trend relatively recently. However, the topic of the supernatural abilities of cats, in particular, their ability to observe ghosts, has a solid history. In any case, at least a hundred years ago - already in the century before last, the version that the sometimes strange behavior of cats is due to the fact that they see something that we do not see has already arisen.
Ghost cats, ghosts and cats...
In general, the topic of ghosts and cats can be easily divided into two. The first is frequent reports of people seeing the ghosts of their deceased pets. There are no special statistics, but the number of cases where people see ghosts of cats is much more than 50%. Cat ghosts have been reported to appear to people in a variety of ways.
Thus, at the end of the 19th century, in the English town of Congleton, located in the county of Cheshire, there was a legend about the ghost of a white cat that once lived with one of the local housewives and was once killed by a pack of stray dogs. This ghost had the ability, when people approached him, to slowly disappear into the air, as if melting. Many literary scholars see in this legend the source of one of the most mysterious images in world literature - the Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carroll's fairy tales about the adventures of Alice. In addition, you can often find stories about how the ghosts of dead cats come to the houses of their former owners or appear to them in mirror images.
The second part of the ideas about the connection of cats with the supernatural concerns the opinion that cats can see ghosts and other guests from the other world.
Stories about this almost always come from cat owners and in almost all cases develop according to the same pattern: the cat is in some room or near the house, while looking intently and warily at a point where, from a human point of view, there is nothing interesting, and then takes inappropriate actions. Inappropriate actions in this situation are a sudden stampede, taking a defensive position (arched back, hissing, etc.), strange jumping in one place, somersaults, various sounds, and so on. From this it is concluded that cats' attention is focused on something that people cannot see, and their reaction relates to the same thing, invisible to humans. What can't a person see? That's right, ghosts - hence the final conclusion, cats see ghosts.
What if you think about it?
Of course, there is no reason to say that cats cannot see ghosts, the other world, people and the like - there is simply no clear evidence that cats are not capable of all this. However, if we think logically, then there is also no clear evidence that cats can see ghosts. In any case, there are definitely no reasonable arguments. First of all, we need to look at the history of the issue. Firstly, cat vision in itself is something amazing and mysterious for people. Because it’s no secret that in low light conditions cats see much better than people. From a scientific point of view, there is no secret in this: cats have a visual field of 200 degrees (we have only 180), and besides, they have a special layer behind the retina that reflects additional light - the tapetum. This means that given the same weak light source, a cat's eyes perceive more light than we do. At the same time, in complete darkness, cats do not see in the same way that we do not see, and besides, bright light worsens their vision compared to ours.
Secondly, for thousands of years cats were perhaps the most mystical animal that coexisted with humans. We know very well from school that cats were especially revered in Ancient Egypt, where they were considered the personification of the goddess of female beauty, hearth and fertility, Bast. Cats were, without exaggeration, sacred animals. Cats also had mystical significance in other pagan religious systems, where they often served as guides to the world of the dead or companions and servants of powerful spirits and gods.
In the Middle Ages in Europe, this did cats a disservice - their veneration in paganism was perceived by the Christian consciousness as evidence of closeness to devilish forces. Cats, especially black ones, began to be perceived as the embodiment of demons and servants of witches, which led these animals to almost complete extermination in European cities. By the way, there is a version that it was the destruction of cats that became one of the causes of the disastrous medieval plague epidemics: there was no one to destroy rodents, the main spreaders of the infection.
So, in the end we get two ideas - about the peculiarities of cat vision and about the mystical nature of cats themselves. They are superimposed on one another, and there is a “knowledge” that cats have supernatural vision.
The same cases when the behavior of cats seems inappropriate to people, when there is no obvious object of the cat’s attention or reaction, began to be explained by the fact that the animals saw ghosts or “something like that.” In fact, for the most part, these cases are explained simply - cats pay attention not to what they see, but to what they hear. For example, cats hunt the same mice by ear, when they initially determine where the sound of moving prey comes from . Therefore, when cats hear a sound that is too quiet for our ears, their hunting instinct is triggered. In addition, cats are known for their penchant for play and the desire to have fun in those moments when they get bored. Therefore, inappropriate jumping can be just such a playful cat element.
Alexander Babitsky
Many people are interested in the question of whether cats see ghosts. Even modern people have enough reasons to think this way, not to mention our ancestors who are far from science. Cats have been associated with otherworldly forces since time immemorial. Where did she get such a reputation?
A few facts and figures about cats
Well, cats really are fantastic animals. Even in Ancient Egypt they were considered deities and were worshiped. So each of those who are the proud owner of this furry lord can be considered a little Egyptian at heart.
Of course, this is just a joke, but let's study what the results of official and reliable studies conducted by scientists around the world for many years say. So:
- The cat's eye is capable of distinguishing objects that are as much as seven times further than the limits of human vision.
- The viewing radius of a cat's bulging eye reaches almost three hundred degrees, which is approximately two and a half times greater than that of a human.
- With the onset of darkness, the pupil of a pet expands almost to the size of the eye itself, due to which the illumination of its retina increases almost fifty times.
- The normal frame rate of a cat's eye is 50 per second, which is twice the human frame rate.
- The number of photoreceptors in a cat's pupil is six times greater than in a human's pupil.
- The vision of all cats is complemented by phenomenal bonuses - a well-developed sense of smell and amazing locator whiskers that continuously scan the surrounding space.
Needless to say, emptiness in the understanding of a person and a cat are completely unrelated concepts...
Transparent bowl, glass, pebbles: everyone admires my “overseas” bathroom
2 stories about children's ingenuity: my daughter was playing and the ball hit the table
Freezing Peaches: Drizzled with Lemon Juice Will Keep Peaches Longer
Historical reference
Cats have always been distinguished by their independence. It turned out to be not so easy to tame them, unlike, for example, dogs. When this finally happened, and the cat entered the man’s house, she still behaved in a special way, demonstrating her love for freedom at every step.
She did not fetch a stick like a faithful dog, did not wag her tail, begging for food, but walked on her own, wherever and with whomever she wanted. Of course, such behavior alarmed a person who thought that there was some kind of secret in this animal, something unknown and mystical.
The ancient Egyptians, who were the first to domesticate the cat, made a huge contribution to the creation of the cat’s special reputation. Having lured the fluffy beauty out of the wild for the sole purpose of catching mice, the inhabitants of the land of the pyramids soon began to endow the animal with miraculous abilities and worship it, considering it almost a deity. Ancient Egyptian figurines in the form of cats or pictures with her image are still found. How were these animals treated?
:
- People, accustomed to explain any natural phenomena as something supernatural, considered the ability of a cat to see in the dark to be a gift from the gods or evil spirits (ghosts or Satan himself).
- Also, a person was haunted for a long time by the glowing eyes of the animal, which plunged some into horror, and made others fall on their faces.
- During the Middle Ages, when Christianity was firmly rooted in Europe and the church pursued an aggressive policy, the cat was recorded as an accomplice of the devil precisely because of these properties. People massacred tailed fluffies: they hung them on poles and publicly burned them.
The Egyptians and medieval Europeans believed that cats could see ghosts. Only the former treated the animal with respect, while the latter killed it. I wonder what gives modern people, armed to the teeth with scientific discoveries, the basis to attribute some kind of supernatural abilities to cats, including communication with ghosts?
Experiments by Luciano Boccone
Wait a minute to swear, romantically minded people! Of course, cats are absolutely divine animals, and therefore there is a lot of mysticism and the otherworldly in scientific circles. In particular, back in the 80s, the Italian research scientist Luciano Boccone gathered a whole team of enthusiasts and built a laboratory on a hill near Arenzano, about the mystical properties of which the residents of the surrounding villages composed entire legends. Using a large amount of photographic equipment filled with infrared film, as well as sound recording and geophysical instruments, he and his fellow scientists for three years, several hours a day, recorded readings from those places and at the time where and when cats began to behave strangely , including looking into space and being afraid of something invisible to the human eye.
A simple underground cooler for drinks from water pipes: instructions
Juicy sandwich cake for tea: carrot sponge cake and a layer of airy cream
“The same facial expression”: Krutoy spoke about plastic surgery lovers
Luciano Boccone obtained truly stunning results: in the vast majority of cases, in the resulting images one could see certain entities whose nature was completely unknown to science. With their outlines and shape, they looked like ghosts and even some kind of fantastic animals, and their sizes could vary from a small coin to an entire stadium.
Impressive, isn't it? And this is by no means REN TV.
Unexplained cat behavior
Today everything is clear with the cat’s ability to see in the dark, as well as with its glowing eyes. Scientists have long found explanations for these phenomena, as it seemed before, ghosts have absolutely nothing to do with it. However, something in the behavior of cats still seems mysterious. Surely, every owner notices from time to time that:
- the cat sits for a long time and looks at one point, like an idol (as if it really sees something that others do not see - for example, ghosts);
- the animal suddenly breaks down and jumps out of the room, as if stung, although there are no obvious reasons for such behavior;
- the cat plays with something invisible for a long time, rushes around the house, has fun and it is clear that she has company (perhaps some kind of energetic entity, which can be attributed to ghosts);
- the pet stubbornly avoids some corner of the room, and if you try to bring it there, it begins to get nervous, hiss and struggle;
- the cat at one moment becomes frightened (fur on end, tail like a pipe), although in the visible space there is nothing visible that could frighten him.
Of course, observing such behavior, willy-nilly you will begin to wonder if the cat sees ghosts? Perhaps the Egyptians and other peoples were right when they considered this animal special, unearthly. Scientists have their own point of view.
Why are cats dangerous?
Furballs can cause trouble. First of all, these are dangerous diseases : rabies, helminthiasis, lichen, toxoplasmosis. They can be transmitted to humans in certain cases, some of them are deadly.
In terms of energy, well-being in the home, and good luck, animals sometimes bring trouble, as evidenced by the following beliefs:
- Drowning kittens means a dead person will appear in the family;
- Killing a cat, even a sick one, means endless trouble;
- If you drive away a cat that has come into the house, there will be no luck for 7 years;
- Dousing an animal with water means you won’t live to old age;
- Hit an animal - go to jail;
Thus, the cute animal can cause trouble. Believe this, do not have an animal at home.
Scientific evidence behind cat oddities
So, do cats have supernatural powers? Scientists say yes. However, they are supernatural only for us, and for many animals they are the norm. First of all, we are talking about
:
- hearing;
- smell.
Cats are actually able to hear sounds and smell much better than humans. After all, they once lived in the wild, and no one brought them food on a plate. To hunt, you had to have good ears and nose.
Therefore, when a cat sits motionless for a long time and it seems to us that she sees a ghost, the animal simply listens to the rustling of a mouse somewhere in the basement or attic. If he suddenly takes off and runs somewhere, perhaps it is just a chase after game, the smell of which has reached the sensitive nose of the furry predator.
Mystical signs have absolutely nothing to do with it. At least so far, scientists have not found evidence of the ability to see them (as well as evidence of the existence of ghosts).
Emptiness and wall
Let's try to imagine what kind of thought processes occur in the heads of our pets when they look at an empty wall or even into the distance, through space and time.
Cats are quite compact creatures. And if you deprive them of fur, they will become even smaller. And the brain of these animals is also small, no larger than a walnut. But at the same time, all cats think, and sometimes no less than people. Just look at the ballistic calculations of the next dizzying jump. True, cats don’t tell anyone about this, because they are above such “little things.”
In the thought processes of cats, there is only one master - their hunting instincts. And these furry hunters can stare at the wall for hours, since absolutely any point on it for cats can mean hidden prey. The cat has plenty of time, so she can wait for hours for her imaginary trophy.
The same applies to a cat's admiration of emptiness. True, in fact, no one can accurately explain whether the animal really sees or hears something at that moment; the vision and hearing capabilities of a cat are too different from those of humans. What if she’s just dreaming and frozen, as happens even with people?..
The granddaughter of Mikhail Ulyanov and Alla Parfanyak grew up to be a spectacular woman (photo)
Children love my signature fish soufflé cupcakes with cheese (recipe)
A neighbor made a modern, beautiful TV stand from an old chest of drawers
Another opinion
Despite the fact that a scientific basis has been found for most of the cat’s oddities, people still cannot clearly explain some things. That's why thoughts about ghosts creep in.
Many true stories testify to a cat’s ability to sense and see the dead. For example, one elderly woman had a cat for a long time, and then this lady died, and children and grandchildren moved into her house. Time passed, and relatives began to notice that every year on the day of the old woman’s death, the pet sits at the door of her room and stares at one point for a long, long time.
The rest of the time the cat behaved absolutely normally, without anything special. This was the only oddity. Relatives of the deceased woman began to think that the animal was seeing her ghost, who came to visit the family once a year.
Many people are simply sure that cats communicate with the dead, because they notice: in the first days after the death of a person, you literally cannot kick the animal out of the room where he lived and died. Despite the fact that before this it could almost never appear there. Although, according to the Christian religion, the soul does not immediately leave the earth.
People don’t see her, but cats feel the presence of a ghost and communicate with him in some special, unknown language. You can also recall the ability of fluffies to anticipate various disasters: fires, hurricanes, earthquakes. There are many real cases recorded around the world where cats managed to warn their owners about danger and save them.
Scientists explain this again by the good functioning of the senses. They say cats simply hear the roar of an approaching hurricane, or smell the smell of wiring that has begun to smolder long before the fire. However, many people believe that these are ghosts, caring for their loved ones, transmitting information to them through animals.
Everyone has the right to think as they want. Cats are actually very difficult. Most likely, the question of whether they see ghosts will remain open for many, many years.
Do cats see ghosts or not? In fact, the answer to the question depends not so much on the cat, but on your belief in ghosts and the supernatural. But first things first.
What allows cats to see ghosts?
If we assume that ghosts/brownies/poltergeists, etc. exist, then cats definitely have all the makings to establish a connection with them.
Extrasensory perception, translated into Russian, is supersensitivity. If we take this term literally, then cats, of course, are born psychics; their senses are developed much better than human ones, and even much better than similar organs in many other animals.
A cat hears sound waves from 45 to 65,000 Hz, distinguishes sounds in a range of 10 octaves, with a difference of 0.1 tones. At a distance of up to 3 meters, a cat is able to determine the location of its source with an accuracy of a centimeter. Thus, these animals distinguish between infra- and ultrasound, and hear sounds at a considerable distance. Therefore, the strange reaction of a cat, which is sometimes mistaken for a reaction to the presence of a ghost, may be dictated by the appearance of an unusual sound that is inaudible to our ears. On the other hand, these can be truly otherworldly sounds.
In addition to hearing, cats also have a very developed sense of touch. In fact, we can't even begin to imagine how a cat's sense of touch works, because not only is it significantly different from ours, but it is actually a completely different sense. Thanks to sensitive hairs (vibrissae), cats pick up the slightest vibrations in the air, and by analyzing this information they create a three-dimensional map of the area in their heads, similar to what we see with our eyes. Any “ghost” is a distortion of space, which will inevitably be recorded by the sensitive apparatus of the cat’s sense of touch. But this device can also detect a draft or slight movement of furniture.
A cat's vision is somewhat worse than a human's; they hardly distinguish colors, they see poorly both near and far (they see optimally at 1-6 m). Although they have a wider field of vision and better peripheral vision, the main thing is that they see ultraviolet light, because this is how their marks glow in the dark. It is unknown whether ghosts glow in the same way as cat urine, but cats' vision is also extrasensory.
Another interesting fact is that the pineal gland of cats contains the largest number of neurons of any vertebrate. This body, also called the “epiphysis,” is located in the midbrain and generates hormones and hormone-like substances, in particular melatonin, which is responsible for sleep and wakefulness. Perhaps the pineal gland in cats is so “saturated” due to the fact that they sleep a lot and are nocturnal, or perhaps this feature speaks of their extrasensory abilities. After all, medieval scientists called the pineal gland the “third eye” and the “seat of the soul.”
It has long been known that our smaller brothers are more susceptible, compared to people, to natural phenomena. The supernatural abilities of pets allow them to sense the approach of natural disasters, changes in weather, and relieve pain. How many cases have there been when a cat warned its owner, for example, about an impending fire or bombing!
But is it true that cats see ghosts? Discussion of this issue has recently become truly an Internet trend. However, the topic of paranormal abilities of felines has a solid history.
Who lives in the corner?
Lidia Pavlovna Semenikhina from the city of Dnepropetrovsk has a parrot named Kesha. He does not speak by imitating people, but constantly chatters in an incomprehensible language. Immediately after Kesha was bought, he was placed in the room where Lydia Pavlovna’s old, paralyzed mother lay, so that she would not feel lonely when the household went to work. Kesha probably liked this neighborhood. When someone entered the room, he began to beat his wings and squeal, as if expressing dissatisfaction with the intrusion of strangers. Mother died. Kesha was missed. At first he sat with a ruffled face and was silent, then he suddenly took a dislike to the far left corner. Something scared him there: Kesha looked there, screamed and even rolled his eyes in fear. However, the parrot did not want to move out of its mother’s room. As soon as his cage was moved to another room, he began to rush around and make noise. Returned to his original place, Kesha immediately calmed down until he turned his gaze to the left corner of the room. Lydia Pavlovna pulled a rope in the corner and hung a sheet on it. Kesha calmed down. The experiment was repeated. And again - the same result. Deciding that some object was frightening the bird, they removed all the furniture from the left corner, but the parrot continued to worry. It was assumed that Kesha saw something terrible on the wallpaper, the design of which was shifted in this place. The wallpaper was re-pasted, but that didn't help either. To somehow distract the parrot, they bought him a girlfriend, but she also began to behave like Kesha. I had to block both sides of the cage with paper so that the parrots could not see the unfortunate corner. The birds immediately stopped worrying. For unknown reasons, they refused to move out of their room. What is hiding in the left corner of the old woman’s room and why do parrots see it, but people don’t notice?
Excursion into history
Representatives of the cat family have been endowed with supernatural abilities since the Egyptians managed to tame them. Initially, cats were bred for the purpose of exterminating rodents, but subsequently cats turned into objects of worship. Cats were reputed to be the personification of the goddess of beauty, hearth and fertility. Their cult still exists to some extent in Egypt.
Special vision
In many religious systems, these animals served as guides to the world of the dead or were companions of spirits and deities. Since ancient times, the magical ability of cats to see not only ghosts, but also, in general, another world hidden from us by a layer of reality, was explained by the peculiarities of vision of these animals - the unique ability to see in the dark and the magical glow of their eyes. After all, an animal with such unusual vision cannot help but observe something irrational!
However, from a scientific point of view, this phenomenon is explained quite simply. On the surface of a cat's eyes there are special photoreceptors, much larger in number than in humans - they are what allow the cat's eyes to see in the dark. The glow is due to the presence of a special “reflector”, thanks to which the light is used with maximum benefit, and is not absorbed by the retina, as in humans.
In the Middle Ages, Christians perceived the cult of the cat as proof of its closeness to dark forces, so animals, especially black ones, began to be destroyed.
As a result, ideas about the peculiarities of a cat’s vision and the mystical nature of the “sacred animal” traditionally overlap one another. However, at some point even ardent skeptics who are directly related to science may believe that their cat saw a ghost.
Other superstitions associated with cats
If you take a pet into your home in order to protect it, or want to get a reliable guard against diseases, troubles and ill-wishers, choose the right kitten.
In Rus', animals were selected according to the color of the owner's hair. Now experts recommend relying on the color of the animal itself, depending on the following characteristics :
- Redhead is a solar messenger. Such a kitten will bring health to children and wealth to parents;
- White - will cleanse the house of negative energy, help fight serious illnesses, and relieve physical stress;
- Gray - will bring long-awaited love, restore understanding to the family, strengthen relationships;
- Black is a strong protector, will save you from family curses, remove the evil eye, drive away ill-wishers from the house, reward the owners with wisdom;
- Siamese Tan - attracts wealth, honor, respect;
- Tricolors are a symbol of longevity;
- Two-colored ones – impart common sense and wisdom.
When you bring a kitten into the house, pay attention: he does not sleep, does not play, refuses to eat, which means he is not welcome. It’s better to return the baby back, take another one, he will be of little help.
Why do they think cats see ghosts?
All owners from time to time notice absurdities in the behavior of their pets. Some are inclined to explain the strangeness precisely by the fact that the cats saw a ghost. “Inappropriate” behavior of animals, when there seems to be no object of attention, manifests itself in the following:
- They arch their backs, snort, raise their tails straight up, and jump;
- look intently at one point without moving;
- they begin to hiss and run out of the room as fast as they can;
- they play happily with something, running around the room, but there is no toy in their paws;
- they get scared, look around or run away as if someone is chasing them;
- avoid a certain place in the house (corner, piece of furniture, etc.).
Are you familiar with such situations? Don’t rush to immediately look for reasons for cats’ behavior in the otherworldly realm. Modern science tends to explain the overwhelming number of such cases quite simply and logically.
Smell and hearing
If you are sure that your cat sees ghosts, what we categorically do not recommend doing is immediately contacting psychics. Remember that in addition to her unusual vision, she has very acute hearing. When hunting for mice, a cat relies primarily on sounds from the movements of its intended prey. The human ear is unable to detect this faint sound, but in our smaller brothers the hunting instinct is triggered.
In addition, our pets are endowed with an amazing sense of smell. In addition to the nose, cats, as scientists have proven, have a so-called “Jacobson's organ”, which is located on the palate. With the help of this “device” our pets sense odors at a great distance. In most cases, this explains the seeming oddities in the behavior of pets.
The third explanation for the “strange” actions of felines lies in their character. Even adults are prone to games and the desire to have fun in those moments when it becomes boring. Therefore, jumping, snorting, hissing, etc. may be just a game element.
Maybe it really is the ghosts
The son of the famous director of the Cat Theater Yuri Kuklachev, Dmitry Kuklachev, does not wonder why cats see ghosts, but he does not doubt their paranormal abilities. The artist spoke about his confidence in an interview.
Once on tour with Dmitry’s cats, an amazing thing happened. During the rehearsal, the animals did not look at the artist giving commands, but at a completely different point. It turned out to be an ordinary white column, next to which, at first glance, there was nothing unusual. During the performance the situation did not change, and the performance was almost disrupted. Later, Dmitry Kuklachev was told that one day a crow flew into this hall and died near that same white column.
There is also a famous story about a grandmother and her cat. The woman lived with her pet for a long time until she died. Her grandson and his family moved into the apartment. The cat behaved friendly and quiet with its new owners. But when the next anniversary of the death of his beloved owner came, the animal sat for hours at the front door and looked at her.
From time to time the cat meowed, as if he was having a conversation with someone. The new residents noticed the pet’s unusual behavior and, thanks to this, never forgot about the anniversary of their grandmother’s death.
However, there is no evidence in modern science that cats see ghosts, and it is worth noting that all these cases may have completely natural explanations. Therefore, it’s everyone’s personal choice whether to believe mysticism or not. Perhaps a video will help you confirm your opinion and answer the question of whether cats see ghosts.
The spirit of a cat in the apartment - how to explain this?
In addition to the fact that cats see spirits, they themselves can turn into ghosts. This happens on the same principle as with people: the pet was too attached to the house (to its inhabitants) and does not understand why it should go somewhere after death. Sometimes such a phantom can be seen more or less clearly, but more often spirit cats make their presence known through tactile sensations (for example, rubbing against a leg).
- This does not bode any dire omens.
Purrs are curious and can “run into the light” into their home just to check how their owners live without them?
Amazing world
It has long been known that our smaller brothers are more susceptible, compared to people, to natural phenomena. The supernatural abilities of pets allow them to sense the approach of natural disasters, changes in weather, and relieve pain. How many cases have there been when a cat warned its owner, for example, about an impending fire or bombing!
But is it true that cats see ghosts? Discussion of this issue has recently become truly an Internet trend.
However, the topic of paranormal abilities of felines has a solid history.
Unusual cat pupils
Cats are nocturnal animals. They see at night 6 times better than us. This opportunity is given to them by a “mirror” located on the wall of the retina. The light absorbed by the pupil, which is significantly dilated at night, hits the “mirror” and is reflected and transmitted to the nerve fibers. This is how cats get a high-quality night picture. It is because of these reflective abilities that the animal's eyes glow in night photographs.
A person does not have such an opportunity, but during the day we see better. Since daylight is bright, the predator’s pupil turns into a narrow strip so as not to damage the sensitive retina and the animal distinguishes objects blurry.
The vision features of cats have always attracted attention. Not only from a scientific point of view. Their ability to see what is invisible to us has created many myths, legends, and horror stories, which we will discuss below.
Despite this, in Rus' these animals were considered an expensive gift: cats saved the harvest from rodents, served as a symbol of well-being, and protected the house from otherworldly forces. They became the heroes of many fairy tales, nursery rhymes and proverbs.
This video records a case where a cat clearly saw a brownie, look at her reaction:
How do psychics see the souls of the dead?
Many people believe that cats have supernatural abilities: they can heal people, warn about various events (this is why there are so many signs associated with white and red cats).
Probably every owner of such a fluffy pet has noticed that sometimes the cat freezes, begins to look at one point, in which there is essentially nothing interesting, and then begins to perform inappropriate actions. For example, an animal may take a defensive position or suddenly become very frightened and run away.
If the animal arches its back, hisses, moving towards a certain point, this may indicate that the cat sees something that is inaccessible to the human eye, and is trying to attack it, to protect its owner.
Psychics also insist that these mystical animals, revered since ancient times, are able to see the souls of dead people and creatures from other other worlds. Indeed, since ancient times, these animals have served as guides to the world of the dead or companions of powerful spirits and gods.
Objective reasons why cats sometimes behave strangely, as if they see something
Meanwhile, cat behavior may not have a mystical background at all. Pets' senses are much more sensitive than humans . Cats are naturally gifted with extremely fine hearing, so they often freeze and simply listen to very faint sounds and rustles made by insects or rodents, which are not picked up by human ears, but are perfectly perceived by animals. Wariness or aggressiveness may arise due to unknown or incomprehensible odors. The vomeronasal organ (Jacobson's organ) found in cats, located in the mouth (on the roof of the mouth), allows one to detect even weak and diffuse odors at a considerable distance.
All cats are predators, but not all representatives of this glorious tribe can hunt real prey necessary for food. Domestic cats are sometimes forced to be content with little and choose small flies, mosquitoes, or even fluff and dust particles flying in the air as potential victims. All this moves and sways excitingly, but is not always visible to the owner’s eye.
It was for the ability to see in the dark that the cat was endowed with mystical qualities
The vision of domestic mustaches is arranged in a unique and surprising way, because they are able to see in pitch darkness. This is explained by the presence of a special additional layer behind the retina, which reflects even the weakest light.
Finally, naturally playful murkas and murziks can get bored. In an attempt to entertain themselves, they perform incredible somersaults in the air, hiss, snort, and also rush randomly around the rooms.