The Demon Cat of Washington D.C.

THE DEMON CAT OF WASHINGTON D.C.

     Washington D.C. seems always to have been a hot bed of paranormal activity. From the ghosts of dead Presidents and foreign leaders, to revolutionary and civil war soldiers whose spirits are forever doomed to roam the earth, there seems to be (like political promises,) no shortage of ghosts in our nation’s capital. But there is one earth bound spirit in particular that I am going to write about here today and that’s the Demon Cat of Washington D.C.

     We know that the “DC” in Washington D.C. stands for “District of Columbia”, but it also is the nickname of what the regular visitors to the White House refer to when speaking of the Demon Cat.When looking at the long history of DC the demon cat, we can look all the way back to the history of the city of Washington DC itself. Cats were commonly employed to keep the rat population down. It wasn't uncommon to see dozens of cats in the streets living off of their prey and darting in and out of the shadows even in some of the larger buildings. But while most of these cats were eventually gathered up and deported from their original duties, there was one that was spotted several times and never successfully caught. Some say it was descended from a cat who could trace its lineage all the way back to the sacred cats of Egypt. Others say it appeared long after the others and terrified all employed to catch it to the point of quitting. While accounts of just where DC the demon cat came from vary, there is much agreement among believers on one thing - it was very different and most certainly supernatural.

     Over the years, DC has been seen on numerous occasions at the White House, the U.S. Capitol Building and a number of other locations throughout the city which are government related, usually before a national crisis or tragedy, and often during the changing of Presidential leaders. It’s appearance has spooked security and baffled witnesses. When first sighted, the animal appears to be a normal stray cat, but as it approaches, it’s said to have glowing red eyes and it grows larger in size, almost to that of a lion or bear before vanishing into thin air. Security guards seeing it have shot at it only to discover that they’re shooting at an empty hallway.

     It has been seen just before the assassinations of President Lincoln, President Garfield, the assassination of Kennedy and the attempted assassination of President Reagan. It was also spotted just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and it was seen wandering the halls of the White House on the night prior to the death of President Franklin Roosevelt. There is even an account of it being seen on the night of September 10, 2001, hours before the Twin Towers attack, and some claim it was spotted just prior to the stock market crash of 1929.

      Some of the stories which are spoken in hushed whispers about DC say that most who have seen the cat have reported feeling a sense of paralysis and dread. Back in 1898, two guards claimed to have shot a black cat that had grown before their eyes to the size of a tiger, the shooting taking place in the basement of the Capitol building, and one of the guards it’s said, died of a heart attack after seeing it. It has been spotted outside of congress, with a visitor to the Capitol claiming he was following a black cat when he saw that it was acting as though injured. He was stopped by two officers who approached him saying he wasn’t allowed in the area and when he mentioned the cat and went to point at it, the cat was no longer there. And although I’ve never seen them, it’s said that there are paw prints of a cat cast in concrete of the Old Senate Rotunda to remind people that the Demon Cat might be waiting just around the corner for you.

      I cannot help but wonder that with our next Presidential elections so close at hand, if DC will make it’s presence known. This is for me, certainly one of the most interesting stories on paranormal phenomena I’ve heard about. I cannot say why DC was given the name it has - Demon Cat because in my opinion, I really don’t think it’s any sort of demonic entity, but instead, a messenger from the beyond, letting us know to expect the unexpected...