Why are black cats considered unlucky if they cross your path?

Kainantu

Lots of reasons: One king of England, Charles I, owned a black cat. His fear of losing it was so great that he had it guarded. The day after it fell ill and died, he was arrested (Radford 1949, 40). Black cats were often witches in disguise or witches' familiars (Potter 1983, 29). There were also many cat charms relating to ships and the sea. Fishermen's wives would keep a black cat at home to prevent disaster at sea, consequently the cats became very valuable and were often stolen. If a cat ran ahead of a sailor to the pier that would bring good luck, but if the cat crossed his path it means bad luck. For luck, cats were often kept on board ships. If a sailor was approached by the ship's cat it meant good luck, but if the cat only came halfway and went away again it meant bad luck. The worst possible cat-related act, guaranteed to raise a storm and bring bad luck of all sorts, was to throw the cat overboard (Radford 1949, 40). Cat superstitions were also common in medicine. Fur and blood drawn from various parts of the cat's anatomy cured everything from shingles to St. Anthony's Fire (Radford 1949, 40). All of these superstitions today boil down to 'Black cats cause bad luck.' A cat crossing your path will adversely affect your luck. This can easily be verified or disproven with only a person, a cat, and a situation that can be affected by luck. http://www.liii.com/~nyask/cat-report2.html Read the rest of the article if you are really interested...... Oct 13 02, 6:00 AM

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