Spooky True Stories

My encounters with a ghost cat

Happy Halloween! Today, I’m sharing a true ghost story that happened to me recently, and I’d like to invite you to share a spooky or paranormal encounter you’ve experienced—a true and creepy story, something you can’t explain. Share your spooky tale with us in the comments, as a note, or with me as an email, whatever you prefer.

GhostStories, by @horror_dan on X

Here is my favorite scary music album to get you in the mood:

I believe there is more to life than we see, and the supernatural occasionally occurs.

Also, shout out to the folks who stuck with me through the entire 31-day Chaturanga Challenge! You rock! Today is the last day! My arms feel stronger for sure! 24 Chaturangas was my best day of the month. If you did the challenge, let me know how it went for you.

Now, without further ado, here is my true ghost story.

(You need not feel sad for me, as I’m fine, though it did involve the death of our cat, BB, AKA Big Baby. The death was expected (cancer) but the rest of the story was not.)

I’m sure it can be explained, but…

** TRIGGER WARNING ANIMAL DEATH AND PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

Ghost Cat

BB in his healthy times

On October 15th, our 13-year-old cat BB, a white and gray long-haired feline from Toronto, Canada, passed away in the night after a protracted battle with throat cancer. BB outlived the vet’s prediction by more than two months, but alas, it was time for him to depart.

BB was my boyfriend’s cat and we’d lived together for nine years. At times I loved him and at times, I hated him, as I’d developed extreme cat allergies over the course of our living together and would sometimes have supernova sneezing and wheezing histamine reactions that would send me to bed suffering for an entire day. For me, his passing was one of mixed emotions—sadness, but also relief. The amount of conflict this cat caused in my relationship was far from zero, and now there would be no more arguments about the cat’s appropriate turf, or his whereabouts, and no more last-minute Claritin runs or Benadryl sleeps, but also no more sweet meows or funny cat behavior.

On the night of his death, along with our two dogs and my boyfriend, I said goodbye to the cat as he lay on his pet bed dying. His head looked shrunken to half its size and the dogs, a mini-schnauzer and a morkie, were both unnerved and acting schizophrenic. Both refused to go to bed. Both kept barking and following us around. I didn’t really want to see the cat like this, so sick. I wanted to remember him healthy, but I knew the goodbye pleased my boyfriend. This, I thought, would be the last time I saw the cat, but I was incorrect about that…

After the sad goodbye, I went to bed and my boyfriend stayed with BB through his final moments.

Then, as I slept, sometime after midnight he buried the cat under the almost full moon in our backyard, wrapped in one of his favorite old sweatshirts, and lit a few large candles in glass jars on the cat’s grave.

An image my BF made of his cat’s shrine.

The next morning, I woke up alone in bed, a rare occurrence. It took me a while to find my BF. He wasn’t in the guest bedroom or his office, nor was he outside. At first, I thought maybe he’d gone to the ocean or something, somewhere private to grieve, but I eventually found him kind of hidden on a couch, all balled up under blankets. I’d walked right by him without realizing it. He’d fallen asleep after crushing a bunch of beers, something he never does, but it seemed reasonable to me, given what had happened, given that he’d buried one of his best friends.

I didn’t cry. I looked at the grave and felt weirdly unmoved, like it wasn’t even a real grave, like the cat wasn’t actually dead. I was not expecting this feeling. When our Bearded Dragon lizard had died a year prior, I’d balled like a tired baby.

The entire morning was weird. Sunny, but hazy. The dogs still behaving strangely. One not wanting to come downstairs. The other being extremely clingy.

And then I saw the cat again. I swear I saw him. He was right by the refrigerator door meowing at me as I got milk out to put in my coffee. Then I blinked, and he disappeared. But it had been so real. The creepy, crawly feeling sped up my spine. You know the one. It happens when you’re alone, but feel like you aren’t alone, like someone is watching you, like a ghost is watching you.

I went about my day. Some part of me still didn’t accept the cat’s passing and I waited quite a while to tell my teenage daughter it had happened. She just assumed the cat was still upstairs resting. When I finally did tell her, she also reacted minimally, saying that it “didn’t really feel like he’d died.”

The day passed. I found myself not wanting to go near the cat’s grave. An image of the cat’s little face kept flashing across my mind, his nostrils caked in blood. It wasn’t nice. It was creepy. I told my partner that I sensed the cat was haunting me. He thought this was funny. He was never quite pleased with my level of acceptance of the cat. I probably deserved to be haunted by it. That was a fittingly ironic outcome in his eyes, but one I’d never considered.

Then the ghost cat came to me again. This time I was sitting in bed the next evening reading. I looked over and there it was, by the bed hissing at me in a threatening manner. I wish I was joking. It meowed like I wasn’t giving him his treats fast enough. It was the meow that seemed to say, “I hate you, you useless moron.” It was a hostile encounter.

But again, I kind of blinked, looked harder, and he disappeared. But the room stayed haunted, eerie. I felt like something was there. I’m aware this sounds totally crazy, but this is what happened.

Then that night, I had the final encounter. The cat was again by my bed as I slept, in the same location, but looking even more sickly, angry, and afraid, meowing and hissing at me in an aggressive, pissed-off manner, like a final fuck you. (I know, I know, it’s crazy.)

A ghost cat image my BF made with Midjourney. @AgologistART on X.

I woke up immediately from this frightening nightmare and felt super weirded out. Indeed, like I’d had a terrible dream. And again, the room felt like the veil was thin, like everything looked weird, like something was off, haunted, like horror movie vibes.

But then, on the third day after the cat’s death, the weirdness seemed to dissipate, to break. I decided the spirit had finally departed. The cat’s ghost who had lingered for days had finally left.

That day on the cat’s grave the animal activity increased. We saw three blue jays right by where we buried BB, which we never see. Later, I saw more blue jays, two giant woodpeckers, and a hummingbird. This was the first time I’d ever seen a woodpecker or a hummingbird in our backyard.

BB with the Three Blue Jays, made by my BF, Agah Bahari, @AgologistArt

In some native American cultures, blue jays are considered messengers or symbols related to communications from the animal, natural, or spirit world.

My partner believed the birds came because they were drawn to BB’s peaceful and wonderful spirit, who lingered in the backyard, but to me, it was more like the birds came because the evil ghost cat was gone and so the birds could visit the garden in peace, without fear of the feline enemy.

I believe the cat’s ghost stuck around for a few days, maybe not to haunt me, but maybe because it didn’t know where else to go, or wasn’t ready to move on. I don’t know, but it was so freaking weird and nothing I’d ever expected. I’ve had dogs die before and did not experience this.

So, yeah, that is my Halloween ghost story of the year.

Now You

Have you experienced the spirit of a deceased animal or loved one?

How much paranormal activity do you believe in?

Have you encountered ghosts or benevolent or evil spirits in real life? Things you can’t explain? Spooky things?

Do you believe in the Bardos? Or a passage to the afterlife? An afterlife that would account for ghosts?

Please feel free to share a true Halloween story in the comments.

I still haven’t cried for the cat and though I thought we were friends, I now sense that he had quite a bit of animosity towards me, but then again, maybe it’s all in my crazy head…

P.S. — After writing this I went on the ol’ TikTok to check for similar ghost cat stories and searched “paranormal cat.” I found a bunch of people who believe cats can see ghosts, including famous cat influencer Jackson Galaxy, who has 1.8 million followers and believes his cat chased another dying cat’s departing ghost.

Life—we don’t know what’s happening, nor do we know in death.