Scary urban legends

𝕘𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝕜𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕪𝕤

As if cats weren't spooky enough, some of them stick around and keep trolling us from beyond the grave. Something about paw prints appearing out of nowhere or an invisible animal brushing against your leg is pretty darn eerie.

I first heard about ghost cats in Jerome, Arizona, a ghost town in more ways than one.

Once the Las Vegas of the Old West, Jerome cleared out when its copper mine closed down after WWII.

A few of the town's old buildings are haunted, and visitors report seeing and hearing ghost cats in both the Grand Hotel (which used to be a hospital) and the Mile High Inn.

No one's sure why there's a spectral feline wandering the third floor of the Grand Hotel, but there's a theory about the cat in the inn.

The building used to be Madam Jennie Banter's successful brothel. That is, until all the less reputable businesses had to leave Main Street.

Later, Jennie met a dark fate at the hands of a client. According to legend her spirit returned to her old stomping grounds, along with the ghost of her pampered cat.

Visitors and inn employees have reported seeing the cat dart around and vanish and hearing it meow and sharpen its claws...

Georgia

Savannah is one of the most haunted cities in the U.S., and the Davenport House there is home to another ghost cat.

This one is a white and orange tabby, which seems a bit cheery, to be honest.

What is pretty spooky, though, is that little kids visiting the museum will often call out to a kitty - one only they can see.

Washington, D.C.

Legend has it that the Demon Cat (AKA D.C. - ah, see what they did there) appears at the White House or U.S. Capital before presidential elections and national tragedies, like Lincoln's assassination.

The White House is pretty quick to dismiss the Demon Cat...but we know better.

Australia

There are ghost kitties...and then there are phantom cats.

All over the world people report seeing big cats where they shouldn't be, but Australia has an especially strong history of phantom cat sightings.

As far as we know, there are no big cats in Australia. The keywords there being "as far as we know."

Hundreds of Australians have seen cougars, pumas or panthers roaming the bush or the mountains. They've got some pretty epic explanations.

The Gippsland phantom cats, for example, are the offspring of two cougars U.S. airmen brought during World War II. They released the cats into the bush, and their descendants still show up here and there.

Usually they show up long enough for an intriguing photograph then disappear as soon as there's an official government search for them.