| What do you do if you are trying to introduce your cat | | | | stand by my belief that there is no "bad luck" |
| to your household - and your house is haunted? How | | | | associated with a black cat, but I do have to admit one |
| do you introduce your new cat to the ghosts who, | | | | thing. |
| well, may be part of your family? | | | | My black cat acted very strangely on Halloween. |
| Yeah, I know, most people will probably lift a disdainful | | | | Granted, the Santanas (hot California winds) were |
| nostril at this. I suspect that the majority don't believe in | | | | blowing through the house, and there were a lot of |
| the Supernatural, and to tell you the truth I shouldn't | | | | strange noises and movements that came about |
| either. | | | | because of the wind. |
| I've got a scientific background, having graduated in | | | | But still... |
| Chemistry and worked as an Industrial Chemist for | | | | It was as if he was sensing something else going on. |
| many years. As such, I'm fully aware that Science | | | | Something that wasn't there. |
| doesn't recognize the Supernatural. | | | | Well, a lot of people think cats are psychic. Bill Murray |
| Now, I have to qualify that. In the 1970's there was an | | | | encountered a psychic cat in "Broken Flowers", when |
| ongoing movement on the part of the scientific | | | | he visited an ex-flame who was a "Cat Whisperer". |
| community to investigate supernatural phenomena, and | | | | Her cat sat and stared at him unblinkingly for the entire |
| an entire issue of the magazine Science was devoted | | | | duration of his visit. He asked his ex-girlfriend about the |
| to it. After several years of investigation, the | | | | cat, and she replied, "He says you have a hidden |
| community concluded that the Supernatural does not | | | | agenda". |
| exist -- primarily because supernatural phenomena are | | | | Cats seem to have some kind of special knowledge |
| not reproducible. | | | | or perception of the world that we humans lack. Many |
| For a fact to be established by the Scientific Method, it | | | | cat owners testify to the experience of having their |
| has to be reproducible - identical results must be | | | | cat arch her back, growl and spit at something that |
| obtained under identical conditions by all researchers | | | | "isn't there". |
| repeating the same experiment. Because of this, | | | | So, if this is indeed the case, that at least some cats |
| Science concluded that the Supernatural doesn't exist. | | | | are sensitive to the Supernatural, and by implication, |
| Results of experimentation were not repeatable. | | | | sensitive to ghosts, perhaps ghost hunters like the |
| It wasn't amenable to the Scientific Method. | | | | TAPS people ("Ghost Hunters", the SciFi Channel), |
| But the nagging question remains: if a phenomenon isn't | | | | might consider identifying these cats and carrying them |
| measurably reproducible, does it mean that it's not | | | | into the haunted places they investigate. Sort of like |
| there? | | | | miners carrying caged Canaries down into mines as |
| Modern Quantum Physics has reopened the possibility | | | | indicators of poison gas. |
| of other realms we can neither measure nor perceive. | | | | Who knows? These "Feline Ghost Detectors" might |
| Stephen Hawking has suggested that the reality we | | | | be more reliable than some of the high tech Infrared |
| find ourselves in is merely a statistical summation of all | | | | devices and sound recording systems TAPS uses to |
| possible parallel realities - none of which can be directly | | | | provide indications of wayward spirits. The latter |
| measured -- which come about because of choices | | | | instruments sometimes give false readings due to lazy |
| that, well, we have made. | | | | homeowners who fail to fix their malfunctioning |
| Now, I'm not a Quantum Physicist, but to me this would | | | | transformers and fuse boxes. |
| indicate that there are indeed other realms beside the | | | | Perhaps a black cat, who won't arch his back |
| one we live in that we cannot perceive. | | | | because of electromagnetism leaking from a defective |
| But maybe your cat can. In particular, there is a | | | | fuse box, might reliably "spit" at a real ghost. |
| mystique surrounding the black cat, which I tried to | | | | Who knows? |
| debunk in my article "A Black Cat is Only a Cat". I still | | | | © 2006 John Young, All Rights Reserved. |