2010 – concealed mummified cats: X 2 beige and black

Physical description:

2 x dried/mummified cats, 1 x beige, 1 x black,beige has a snapped tail and multiple holes all over body, but teeth and whiskers intact. Black has a rather squashed face and damaged ear with mouth wide open, only front teeth but plenty of whiskers, some holes near tail base and tail snapped but still attached. found together in a house in Bristol dated from late 1800's, below the front door/above bathroom by a builder in 2008.

Museum classification:

protection

Size:

black 240x490x75 beige 265x370x80

Information:

Mummified cats are thought to offer protection against rats & mice, and perhaps also other misfortunes or evil spirits. These cats are a surprisingly common find in old buildings. Often they are posed with dead rats, making it clear that both the cat and the rat were dead before being placed in position. One found at Woburn Abbey, and now in the Natural History Museum, had even had its internal organs removed to help to preserve it. On the other hand, one found in Suffolk had its paws tied together, suggesting it may have been deposited alive, although the binding may have been symbolic, to restrain the cat's spirit. For examples, see 'West Yorkshire Folk Tales' by John Billingsley. A visitor to the museum described seeing one of these cats attached over the door of her uncle's barn in the 1960s. In connection with the use of cats in protection magic, a visitor to the museum told us that there is a Church of England school in Chelmsford, built in 1887, that has two 'cat's paw bricks' used in the walls to protect it from witchcraft. These are bricks with the imprint of a cat's paw on them.

Resource:

Object

Materials:

animal

Copyright ownership:

Treetrunk Ltd

Mummified cats are thought to offer protection against rats & mice, and perhaps also other misfortunes or evil spirits. These cats are a surprisingly common find in old buildings. Often they are posed with dead rats, making it clear that both the cat and the rat were dead before being placed in position. One found at Woburn Abbey, and now in the Natural History Museum, had even had its internal organs removed to help to preserve it. On the other hand, one found in Suffolk had its paws tied together, suggesting it may have been deposited alive, although the binding may have been symbolic, to restrain the cat's spirit. For examples, see 'West Yorkshire Folk Tales' by John Billingsley. A visitor to the museum described seeing one of these cats attached over the door of her uncle's barn in the 1960s. In connection with the use of cats in protection magic, a visitor to the museum told us that there is a Church of England school in Chelmsford, built in 1887, that has two 'cat's paw bricks' used in the walls to protect it from witchcraft. These are bricks with the imprint of a cat's paw on them.