Newspaper Clipping of the Day

via Newspapers.com

If there's one topic that defines this blog, it would probably be "ticked-off ghost cat." So I am pleased to share this item from the (Bridgewater, New Jersey) "Courier News," November 23, 1910:

Montclair, N. J., Nov. 23. Frederick G. Johnson, who lives at 9 Oxford street, in this town, thinks that the ghost of a pet cat which he owned haunts his alarm clock.

Up to a few weeks ago the clock behaved as well as any good domesticated alarm clock should. On November 13 the alarm clock, which had been set inadvertently for the noon hour, went off. The Johnson cat was dozing near where the clock stood and the noise awakened her. She dashed about in a frenzy. The kitchen door was open and through it the cat ran. That evening Johnson found the cat dead in the yard back of his home.

The next night the alarm clock began its strange antics. The timepiece switched suddenly into the Ananias circuit. The hands would suddenly jump forward for several swings about the face and the alarm would go off at all hours without any apparent cause. Johnson says he does not remember having wound the clock before these untimely capers. The climax came last night. Johnson was sound asleep. He had left the clock on a chiffonier in his room. About 2 o'clock he was awakened by something striking him in the chest. When he got his bearings he found it was the alarm clock. The thing was ripping out alarms. Johnson says that when he went to sleep the clock was at least four feet from the bed. The clock was today relegated to Johnson's cellar. The owner ascribes the strange actions to the transmigration of the spirit of his vengeful cat.

Sadly, I was unable to find any follow-ups to this story.