Freaky Friday Files: "Demon" Cat

Ash
Aug 15
2 min read

Hello everyone! Happy Friday! For this week's edition of Freaky Friday Files, we are going to explore "Demon" Cat. Please enjoy. It's a bit more silly than some of my other Freaky Friday Files.

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"Demon" Cat

The "Demon" Cat, or D.C for short, is "a ghost cat in American folklore that is purported to haunt the government buildings of Washington, D.C." Allegedly, the cat haunts both the Capitol and the White House. The story of Demon Cat goes back to around the mid-1800s, when cats were brought into the Capitol to catch mice and rats. Legend claims that one of these cats never left. Demon Cat allegedly lives in the basement crypt of the Capitol, an area that was originally intended for the burial of George Washington.

Demon Cat is often spotted by onlookers before presidential elections and also during tragedies. Allegedly, Demon Cat was seen by security guards the night before JFK's assassination and also Abraham Lincoln's assassination.

Demon Cat is described as a black or tabby cat that is normally the size of an average house cat, but it can swell to the size of a tiger. When the cat becomes alerted by something or someone, it would then either explode or jump at the witness and suddenly disappear. One witness claimed in 1862 that he saw a cat with eyes glowing and described it as "with all the ferocity of the headlights of a fire engine".

Around 1890, Demon Cat allegedly "vanished" when Capitol Hill security guards fired at it. However, DC was seen following WWII in the 1940s.

So is there really a Demon Cat in Washington? Well, let's talk about some possible explanations. During the Civil War, the basement of the Capitol was turned into a bakery because people needed to eat, so there would have likely been cats roaming around as they were brought in to get rid of rats/mice. So we know there were cats and probably paw prints lurking around, but how did a cat turn into a demon?

It was a prank by an engineer who wanted to scare his colleagues
It was made up by people who were drunk, especially so much that they would fall down and wake up to a cat licking their face and assume it was a monster-sized cat.
People are easily susceptible, and our eyes can play tricks on us
One President (President Coolidge) owned a cat called Tige, and that cat went missing
Workers wanted time off, so they made up a story about the demon cat

I don't think there really is a demon cat, but maybe there is, who knows? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this silly little Freaky Friday Files edition.

Stay safe,

Ash x

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