A Thinking Man's Ponderings

Supposedly a cat named Oscar has predicted 50 deaths in a Rhode Island nursing home. When he senses a resident’s impending death, Oscar hops on the resident’s bed and curls up with the resident. A few hours later, it’s lights out for the resident. The cat is so renown at predicting death that when he curls up with a resident, the staff notifies the resident’s family.

You could say, “Yeah, but that’s no big deal. People are dying all the time in nursing homes. So the cat curls up with some that die later. The averages are in the cat’s favor.”

Good point, and one I arrived at myself until I read the cat only curls up with residents he senses death approaching. The rest of the time, the cat doesn’t bother with the residents.

Here’s a spooky take on this. Years ago I was involved with a meditation group that warned us about letting cats sit on us when we meditated. “Cats steal your life energy,” the group leaders claimed. I never believed that … but it’s not too far a stretch to presume Oscar somehow benefits from a resident’s release of life energy at the time of death. Meow.