Superstition VS. Reality: Black Cats

Black cats have been called bad luck, good luck, and everything in between, sometimes in the same century and occasionally in the same village.

Cross paths with one in Britain and you have been blessed. Cross paths with one here and somebody will tell you to turn around. Sailors wanted them aboard. Fishermen's wives wanted them at home. Somewhere along the way the same animal became shorthand for the witch, the omen, and the devil, and the story has stuck so hard that shelters still feel it.

This class pulls the threads apart. We will look at where the folklore actually comes from, how much of it holds up against the historical record, and how a creature can be a guardian in one tradition and a warning in the next.

During our time together you will explore:

🐈‍⬛ Where the black cat and witch association began, and how late it actually arrived
🐈‍⬛ Good luck and bad luck traditions side by side, across Britain, Japan, and the sea
🐈‍⬛ Familiars in the trial records, and the distance between testimony and retelling
🐈‍⬛ Which of the most repeated black cat claims hold up, and which do not
🐈‍⬛ What the old reputation still costs black cats today