King of the Cats
North East
“Johnny was the sexton at the church in his village, and his cat was black with one white paw. It seemed to be just an ordinary cat – until one night when something very strange occurred…” - Melanie Warren
Cats have captured human attention for eons, being the foundation of internet memes, worshipped by Ancient Egyptians, but folklore from the North East claims that cats are also fairies in disguise…
This particular story takes us to the Newcastle area, where one Johnny Reed lived as a sexton for the village church. After a parishioner died rather suddenly, Johnny spent one cold night digging a fresh grave. On his journey home after a long day, he came to a field gate, through which he could see a number of little flickering, dancing lights. As he approached to investigate, he noticed the lights were actually the blinking eyes of nine black cats.
Taken aback by the sight, given it was the middle of the night, Johnny reached down to grab a stone to throw and scare the gang of cats away. He stopped in his tracks, however, when a voice called ‘Johnny Reed!’. Only one of the cats could have spoken, no one else was around. Frightened, Johnny asked the cats what they wanted, to which one of the cats answered: “Tell Dan Ratcliffe that Peggy Poyson’s dead!”.
Despite not actually knowing who those people were, Johnny promised the gang of cats that he would indeed spread this news. Upon replying, apparently satisfying the cats, they then scarpered. Johnny continued his way home, confused.
As he returned home, he asked his wife who Dan Ratcliffe and Peggy Poyson were, to which his wife also did not know. Johnny relayed the events of his evening to his wife, all the while their own black cat, with one distinct white paw, slept soundly by the fire. However, as Johnny got to the part of the story featuring the gang of speaking black cats, who relayed the message of Peggy’s death, their sleeping cat sprung up exclaiming: “Peggy Poyson’s dead? Then I must be gone!”.
printed for A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall-Street, 1822
Johnny’s cat ran through the open door and never returned.
There is a similar tale that originated from Durham to a man named John Bonner who lived at Beggar Bush near Easington. On his journey home from work, John was approached by a cat who exclaimed: “Johnny Bonner! When you get home, tell your cat Catherine Curley’s dead!”.
John Bonner rushed home, terrified, his wife asked him what had happened. “Something awful.” he told her. “As I was coming home, a huge cat jumped on my cart and said: “Johnny Bonner, when you get home, tell your cat Catherine Curley’s dead!” John’s cat then jumped up from his resting place by the fire and shouted: “I must be away!”. She ran out of the house and was never seen again…
But that is not it! There’s another version of this story originating from Staindrop involving a farmer that was called… well… Johnny Reed. In this story, Johnny was crossing a bridge one night, probably on his way home from work, when a cat jumped up, exclaiming: “Johnny Reed! Johnny Reed! Tell Madame Momfoot that Mally Dixon’s dead!”.
As you can probably guess, Johnny returned home frightened half to death. Upon explaining what had happened to his wife, their black cat suddenly shouted out ‘Is she?!’ and ran away from home. In this particular tale, many say that Johnny the farmer’s cat was actually a fairy in disguise, and the sudden disappearance was her running to attend her sister’s funeral, the Mally Dixon in question.
The extent of these stories seem to be that cats know more than we think, and that apparently they can talk and just choose not to! Other than cats alerting other cats to deaths, there’s not much more to these folklore stories.
Sources
