Mummified moggie goes under the hammer for charity

Published Date: 13 May 2009

By Joanne Ginley

A MUMMIFIED cat discovered in the ceiling of a Victorian building in Bradford is being auctioned on the internet.

Graham Hall, a partner in city-based property auctioneers Harry Hall & Co, decided to cash in on the gruesome find by holding an online auction on eBay – and donating the takings to the RSPCA.The remains were discovered in Dale Chambers in the city centre while the building, a former warehouse, was being converted into flats.

Mr Hall said: "I was quite sure people would bid for it. It isn't decomposed at all, it's just dried out.

"It's horrific when you look at it – it looks like a gargoyle."

On the auction site, Mr Hall says: "It is certainly a gruesome beast, and a real talking point. Even if you haven't got a morbid fascination, you cannot fail to be intrigued by it.

"The fur has completely gone, but the whiskers, teeth and claws etc are intact."

Mr Hall does not know how long the cat had been lodged between the ceiling and floorboards on the third floor but thought it could have been trapped when the building was constructed in the 1840s.

The cat, which originally was put on the site with a starting price of 99p, has since attracted bids topping £100. The auction runs until Friday.

It is advertised as "Mummified cat – Damien Hirst eat your heart out."

Marion Gibson, a witchcraft and folklore expert from Exeter University, said: "Cats and occasionally other animals were sometimes placed in the walls of buildings to keep away bad luck, evil influences such as witches and vermin.

"It was a strange and cruel practice, and people must have believed very strongly that the dead animal would protect them."

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/localnews/Mummified-moggie-goes-under-the.5262434.jp