Black cat
A cat said to bring bad luck in the United States and parts of Europe and good luck in Britain and Japan.
Also: black cat superstition, witch's familiar, cat lore
Beliefs about black cats differ by place. In the United States and much of continental Europe, one crossing your path is feared as a sign of bad luck, while in Britain and Japan a black cat is lucky, and sailors' wives once kept them to bring ships home. The Egyptians honoured cats, and the goddess Bastet is often drawn as one. In witch trials of England and Scotland, cats, along with dogs and toads, were named as familiars, the spirits said to serve a witch, and cats of all colours suffered. The idea that medieval Europe killed cats because of a papal order of 1233 is often repeated, but historians dispute it. Some animal shelters report that black cats are adopted less often.