We don't usually associate vampires with cats, but the feline has a connection to the undead. Bats were often viewed as the popular shape vampires love to take on their nocturnal hunts. In many tales such as Le Fanu's Carmilla, the vampire makes its appearance as a cat. The cat has a long-time connection to magic going all the way back to the Egyptians. The Egyptians even worshipped cats as a deity such as the goddess Bastet. When paganism became vilified by the church, cats became associated with demons. During plague times, when rats were bringing disease into Europe, the cat was an obvious enemy of the rat. So hostility towards cats diminished. But superstitions connected to cats held on. One form of the cat with vampires was the belief that the cat might house a demon or other kind of spirit that might possess a corpse and cause it to reanimate. When a deceased was lying in state, then cats were usually kept out of the house. Here in West Virginia, we hear many tales of a fox or coyote that is killing chickens or other farm animals. People would become fed up and shoot the pestering varmints. Usually the varmint is only injured. The next day the village witch would show up with the exact same wounds as the injured animal. According to local legend the witch was a shape-shifter. In this form the witch could steal chickens, eggs and so on…

Well I once again got into an argument whether Halloween is pagan or Christian when I believe it to be both. All Hallows Eve can be translated as Holy Night. The roots of the festival can be found in the Celtic New Year of Samhain which translates to “summer's end'' which was the time to harvest before blight of winter and according to folklore when the fairies would blight the crops. The Catholic church moved the date Of All Saints Day and All Souls Day on November 1st and 2nd making the dates of October 31st, November's 1st and November 2nd creating what became known as Hallowtide. These come from Irish Catholic beliefs that retained some of the day's more pagan roots. But trick or treating came from the Catholic practice of going door to door to offer prayers for the dead in exchange for food and drink. The jack-o-lantern had a candle which represented a soul trapped in limbo. In some of the folklore souls were permitted to leave purgatory and went to their living loved ones for prayers. But there was a fear that the more angry jealous ghosts might cast the evil eye or blight the crops with their dark magic. In order to avoid a curse from the angry dead one could wear a spooky mask to fool the bitter curse cast on them. Here is the origins of the costumes worn on this spooky night. In some Catholic countries food was left out for the wandering dead to help pacify them. This also gave the wandering beggars some available food in the hopes that they might offer prayers for the ghosts. And so it goes.