It’s Halloween so it seemed a good time to explore the so-called “Demon Cat” of Washington, D.C.
No! I don’t mean Nancy Pelosi.
Although I could see how you’d get confused.
No, apparently there is a longstanding legend — or maybe that’s rumor or folklore or true history? — about a “Demon Cat” that appears in D.C. and grows to enormous size before vanishing.
Oh, and here’s the kicker…
It only appears before massive catastrophes in our country.
It is rumored to have appeared right before the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and before the Assassination of Kennedy.
Hey, I don’t make the news I just report it!
Take a look:
Elephant-sized demon cat has been predicting calamity at the Capitol for over a century? https://t.co/7ad6jiF40D
— MegLavDC (@MegLavDC) October 31, 2022
Here are more details from NewsBreak:
For more than 150 years a demon cat — some say the size of an elephant — is said to appear near the grounds of the US Capitol before national emergencies, according to the White House Historical Association.
“It’s probably the most common of all the ghost stories in the Capitol,” Steve Livengood, the chief tour guide of the US Capitol Historical Society told Atlas Obscura about the apparition. “Partly because of the physical evidence.”
In 1898, after the Capitol Building was damaged by a gas explosion, paw prints and the initials “DC” — speculated to mean “demon cat” — appeared in the concrete poured to repair the Small Senate Rotunda. While Livengood told Atlas Obscura it was “quite possible” a cat simply walked across the wet concrete, visitors to the Capitol have seen the prints, and news reports of sightings, as evidence of the legend’s veracity.
The ghostly cat, described at times as all black and sometimes with tabby stripes, is said to appear most often to guards of the US Capitol, with sightings reported before the assassination of JFK and just before the stock market crash in 1929, according to the White House Historical Association.
An 1898 Washington Post report about the cat said the creature “swells up to the size of an elephant before the eyes of the terrified observer,” while in 1935 the Post reported after another sighting that the cat’s eyes “glow with the all the hue and ferocity of the headlights of a fire engine.”
Long considered a prophecy of coming tragedy, the first reported sighting of the demon cat was in the United States Capitol in 1862, during the Civil War. A guard was said to have fired his gun at the cat, causing it to disappear. From then on, it was seen in the Capitol building basement before national emergencies, according to the White House Historical Association.
“I can put enough pieces together to know where the legend came from,” Livengood told Atlas Obscura. “The night watchmen were not professionals. They would often be some senator’s ne’er-do-well brother-in-law that had a drinking problem.”
The night watchmen who reported spotting the demonic creature, Livengood said, would often leverage their political connections to avoid trouble for drinking on the job, making up stories of being attacked by the fearsome creature.
Here’s more:
Apparently a recent demon cat sighting in DC #demoncat pic.twitter.com/dfjUIPc5qa
— Dr. Literaleigh A Pheline 🇺🇦🏳️🌈 (@Sarcasmcat24) October 31, 2022
It is sometimes told as a Black Cat and sometimes a Tabby:
#FolkloreThursday The Demon Cat of DC is a phantom black cat seen in the US Capitol and White House. Initially appearing as an ordinary black cat, it grows to enormous size before vanishing. First seen around the Civil War, it's an ill omen that appears before crises. pic.twitter.com/pDkxmPYfWW
— Brad (William)🇺🇦🧦✝️ (@NOVA_Paladin) January 20, 2022
Elephant-sized demon cat has been predicting calamity at the Capitol for over a century? https://t.co/7ad6jiF40D
— MegLavDC (@MegLavDC) October 31, 2022
Many people seem to think it’s real:
I got a news article saying stuff about an elephant sized demon cat that shows up in DC before disasters or something and it was from a legit news site yet the wording was reporting it like it was fact. The Wikipedia article isn't helping me understand either. pic.twitter.com/Ipk00mbAiC
— Snix (@snixthedog) October 31, 2022
Here are the paws indelibly etched into the concrete at the Capitol for decades:
They are conducting at cat census in DC. Unclear if they will count the legendary “Demon Cat” who supposedly lurks around the US Capitol from time to time. Cat paw prints on the floor on the 1st flr of the Capitol by the old Supreme Court chamber pic.twitter.com/bfZXV7RpCs
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 23, 2018
And the “DC” next to the paws which some claim means Demon Cat:
There’s said to be physical evidence of the Demon Cat’s existence. The most famous of these is a group of shallow paw prints in the concrete of the Small Senate Rotunda, as well as the initials “DC” scratched into the concrete pic.twitter.com/6cJWjEk8jn
— Atlas Obscura (@atlasobscura) March 20, 2018
From AtlasObscura:
OVER THE LAST TWO CENTURIES, the U.S. Capitol Building, with its underground passages and echoing side chambers, has amassed its fair share of ghost stories. Whether it’s the specter of a lost Civil War soldier from the building’s brief stint as a wartime hospital, or the ghost of John Quincy Adams shouting his final words in the Speaker’s Lobby, the Capitol Building is a ghost hunter’s dream. But few such stories have captured the public’s imagination like that of the Demon Cat.
“It’s probably the most common of all the ghost stories in the capitol. Partly because of the physical evidence,” says Steve Livengood, the chief tour guide of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.
Tales of a spectral feline known as the “Demon Cat” (initials “D.C.,” get it?!) date back to at least the 19th century. Since joining the USCHS in 1973, Livengood has become an expert on the tale.
The paw prints in the floor of the Capitol are somewhat hard to spot, but they’re there.
“The story probably goes back to the post–Civil War era. The main thing is that the people who would see it particularly were the night watchmen,” says Livengood. The most common version of the legend goes that a guard was on patrol one night when he saw a black cat approaching. In those days, cats were not an uncommon sight in the building, introduced to control the rodent population. However as the cat came closer, it grew in size until it was as large as a tiger. The monster cat pounced on the guard, who fell down and tried to protect himself, but the creature vanished in mid-air.
Like most ghost stories, tales of the Demon Cat have a number of variations. Later sightings are said to have scared people to death. The cat’s appearances have also been linked to national tragedies and presidential transitions.
What’s kept the legend alive all this time? A couple of features in the Capitol Building are said to be evidence of the Demon Cat’s existence. The most famous of these is a group of shallow paw prints in the concrete of the Small Senate Rotunda. In 1898, the Capitol Building was damaged by a gas explosion, and according to Livengood, in some spots the original stone was replaced by concrete. “It’s quite possible that a cat walked across the wet concrete,” he says. “Just enough to leave some impressions. It’s as you come out of the Old Supreme Court Chamber. There may be six or eight pretty clear ones.” In another part of the building, Livengood also notes that the letters “DC” have been scratched into the concrete. “Everyone says, ‘That’s the Demon Cat putting its initials there!’”
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