• PolPotPie [he/him]
    ·
    9 months ago

    My family adopted two stray black cats that we used to feed outside our back door.

    bird-wat

    cats that we used to feed outside.

    bird-screm1

    cats...outside.

    bird-screm-2

  • DickFuckarelli [he/him]
    ·
    9 months ago

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/10/29/black-cats-halloween-myth/6180277001/

    It's bullshit.

  • AlicePraxis [any]
    ·
    9 months ago

    it's total satanic panic BS. goth teens aren't killing black cats, they like them and think they're cool. like if you're into Halloween why would you want kill off one of the holiday's most iconic symbols, especially when they're so cute?

    • TankieTanuki [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      9 months ago

      Most people I know have heard "animal shelters don't adopt out black cats before Halloween because kids use them in Satanic rituals". But I've never in my life heard of anyone in my peer group saying "let's go slaughter some black cats after school".

      • EnsignRedshirt [he/him]
        ·
        9 months ago

        Basically anything you’ve ever heard that involves something “satanic” is bullshit. A psychiatrist and his patient (who then became his wife, in case there was any doubt that the guy was a fraud) published a book in the 80s where they claimed to use “recovered memories” (a thing that is in no way real) to put together a totally fabricated story about her extensive ritual abuse at the hands of satanists. The book was taken seriously, leading to the Satanic Panic, where anyone who wanted attention could claim that satanists were doing something bad and be taken seriously.

        By the time everyone figured out that the book was 100% fake (and I do mean 100%) there had been thousands of claims from all parts of the world of satanists doing any number of cartoonishly-awful things. It was so widespread that the rumors persist to this day, despite the fact that none of the claims could be substantiated.

        It was basically the precursor to Pizzagate/Qanon. A global cabal of evil (((satanists))) ritually abusing children for a variety of nonsensical reasons, and the Christian right was very happy to indulge in the fantasy because it served their purposes. Wild stuff. Point being, if you hear about “satanic ritual abuse” or anything like it, it is guaranteed to be a holdover from the Satanic Panic and not anything that has ever actually happened.

        • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]
          ·
          9 months ago

          Wasn't there some weird bullshit about secret underground tunnels used to transport their victims to Satanic caverns?

          • EnsignRedshirt [he/him]
            ·
            9 months ago

            Not sure how much of it is easily accessible on the internet, but there are plenty of stories out there that make Pizzagate sound plausible.

          • EnsignRedshirt [he/him]
            ·
            9 months ago

            No, I don’t actually want to learn that much about Qanon or the related conspiracy nonsense, although it is fascinating.

  • SpiderFarmer [he/him]
    ·
    9 months ago

    I've heard this legend but I thought these days everyone fawns over all-black cats if only due to a sense of novelty. I've seen a black cats with the one white patch on the chest, but rarely a typical Halloweeny cat.