The Black Cat Bane of Winneshiek County

Winneshiek: The image of the black cat is one that often calls up ancient superstitions. A black cat crossing one's path is an ill omen, and witches are said to use black cats as familiars, or animal companion/spirit guides. Here in Isted, a certain black cat may be doing more than fishing through garbage cans and leaving muddy prints on car hoods.

     On February 12th, Johnson Salisbury, a young bachelor bank teller, awoke at 11:13 that night to see a black cat of large size sitting in his bedroom windowsill. He couldn't figure out how the cat could have gotten in since the house was tightly sealed for the winter. Though Johnson worried that someone might have broken in during the night, it still seemed unusual to him that a cat could have gotten in.

     He got out of bed, put on his robe, and walked toward the cat. Letting out a sharp cry, the cat leaped to the floor and ran out of the bedroom. Johnson followed.

     "After it went down the hall and turned toward the living room, I couldn't see hide nor hair of it," he says. "I tried calling out to it, but it was clear that it was trying to play some sort of hide and seek game. I went to the fridge to get some chicken for bait."

     Still, Johnson couldn't find the cat. After an hour of searching, he headed back to bed, hoping that hunger would bring the cat to him in the morning. As soon as he started walking down the hall to his room he smelled smoked, and soon saw it gouting from his bedroom doorway. He ran forward hoping the fire was containable, only to see the entire bedroom was engulfed in flame.

     Johnson quickly exited the house and ran to a neighbor's house to telephone the fire department. By the time the trucks arrived, the house was already too far gone, but the fire was at least contained so that neighboring houses only suffered smoke damage. Johnson remembers seeing the black cat again, wandering around the fire trucks. He felt that the cat must have been a good sign, and that it probably saved his life.

     Other sightings of the cat indicate a different story, however. A few days later, Josephina Andresen, 50, was returning from the town grocery along Feldspar Road when her car began sliding on ice. "I got everything under control pretty quickly, and I figured I needed to drive slow. So I go real careful and I'm maybe a mile from home out there driving past them empty fields when I hear a noise come from the back seat. Now, my Impala's pretty old, and the rearview fell off a while ago, so I turn around to make sure the groceries aren't spilling eggs onto the floor mats. And I see this cat! It's all black, and pretty big, with bright green eyes. It meows and jumps over my shoulder to land in my lap. I don't know exactly what happened next, but the cat made me turn the wheel all of a sudden, and I went sliding on the ice.

     "The next thing I know, I'm at the bottom if a ditch and there's barbed wire across the windshield. Impalas are supposed to be tough, but the front of my car was all smashed in, and I could feel my legs were broken. I passed out then, and when the emergency crew came to get me, I was in too much shock to feel much pain. I asked them where the cat was. They didn't know what I was talking about; there was no cat in the car. It must have gotten out one of the side windows that broke. But I just don't know how it got in there in the first place."

     Disaster seems to follow quickly on the heels of Isted's black cat. The latest and most dramatic visitation occurred on March 1st. The Bible Study Group at Isted First Congregational Church was meeting to discuss the Exodus while minister and part-time handyman Thomas Croon was in the basement, patching some damaged water pipes.

     "I've been minister at this church for twenty-five years," he says. "And one thing I've learned is that our House of God needed remodeling. But what can I say? I managed to keep everything running fair enough, and even picked up enough skills so that I never even have to call a plumber when there's a problem."

     Thomas was hammering an elbow joint into place when he heard a cat meow. He looked, and there was a black cat, rubbing its flanks on the boiler. Thomas finished his hammering and went to give his regards to the cat. He didn't know how it had gotten into the church, much less the basement, but he thought he'd take the cat upstairs to the study group. "I wanted to say 'Look who else wants to know about Moses' flight with the Hebrews.' After what else I've heard around town about that black cat, I'm glad I didn't have the chance. That is not one of God's creatures."

     He was unable to catch the cat as it clambered deeper in the basement, hiding behind boxes, tables and chairs. Thomas went upstairs to get help in retrieving the cat. At the top of the stairs, he caught a whiff of natural gas. He ran immediately to the Bible Study Group and urged everyone to get out of the building. They all had just made it out the front doors, when the church rumbled and belched out flame and stained glass. No one was killed, but several parishioners were impaled by flying debris. Bethany Albright lost sight in one of her eyes, while Gregory Haversham lost his right hand when a searing steel fragment lodged itself in his wrist.

     Once again, Itsted Fire Department responded. Shivering in the cold, Thomas Croon watched his beloved church burn away. Several days later, he saw the black cat , prowling around in the ashes. This time he did not try to go near it.

     "It looked bigger now, almost the size of a border collie or Shetland sheepdog. Its eyes were a fiery green, even from a distance," Thomas reports. "And I almost felt sick to my stomach just looking at it. There is something evil about that cat, and I pray that I never see it again. And that no-one else will, either."