Sensing Evil

I worked as a real estate agent on and off from 2000-2005. The following story was told to me by a fellow realtor. She had worked at an Ohio real estate office in the late 1990s and this ominous event involved one of her coworkers.

My agent friend did not know the name of the woman who experienced this unusual brush with the unexplained, so she will be known as “Jane” in the retelling. This encounter was with an animal spirit that Jane did not have a personal connection with. Sometimes, our guardian angels come with whiskers instead of wings.

Jane had been house-hunting for weeks and had been shown many perfectly lovely homes, but none of them were suited for her. She just wanted to cross the threshold and know immediately that she belonged there, which hadn’t happened yet.

Just as Jane was losing hope of ever finding the right place, the realtor contacted her about a property that had everything she was looking for: three bedrooms, two baths, a backyard garden and a fenced-in yard. Excited at the prospect, Jane told her agent to set up a viewing. She couldn’t wait to get a look at what might very well end up being her new home.

When Jane arrived at the house, her real estate agent was already inside. As they walked through the rooms, each one more inviting than the last, her mind was pretty much made up. The home seemed tailor-made for her; from the freshly painted walls down to the new carpets. She was sold.

The realtor had to take a break in order to make a phone call. Since she didn’t know how long she would be, she suggested that Jane go ahead and check out the second floor bedrooms and bath for herself.

While exploring the upstairs space, Jane found a room that she knew right away would make a perfect home office. The view from the window was breathtaking. The house just kept getting better and better. She couldn’t believe her luck.

As she stood at the window admiring the scenery below, Jane felt something brush gently against her legs. She looked down to find a perfectly lovely white cat doing a figure eight between her ankles.

Bending down, she scooped up the unexpected guest. As far as she could tell, the exceedingly friendly feline was healthy and well taken care of. Jane concluded that it was obviously someone’s pet. Her first thought was that perhaps it belonged to the realtor.

Not giving the matter much thought, she put the cat back down on the floor and continued walking through the upstairs rooms. As she did so, her furry shadow followed her everywhere she went, meowing the whole time.

Jane took an instant liking to the cat and decided that if it didn’t have an owner, she would keep it. She had a change of heart when, for no discernible reason, it raised its hackles and began to hiss.

She recalled that the atmosphere in the room shifted with the cat’s sudden show of aggression. In the moments that followed, Jane found herself overwhelmed by a wave of nausea that sent her running for the bathroom.

After the sick feeling had passed, Jane went back downstairs to talk to the realtor. Since the woman was still on the phone, Jane waited for her to finish before sharing the details of what had just taken place on the second floor.

When she had the agent’s full attention, Jane asked if the foul-tempered cat belonged to her. The realtor stated that the animal wasn’t hers and shouldn’t have been on the property. She was puzzled by the whole episode. She had been in the house on a few prior occasions and had never once seen, or smelled, anything that would indicate a cat was inside the residence.

With that, the women started up the stairs in search of the interloper. They had taken only a few steps when Jane was overcome by another spell of nausea, this time accompanied by dizziness that forced her to sit on the landing to keep from falling. She told her agent to go ahead without her; she couldn’t take another step.

When she had enough strength to stand, Jane returned to the living area. Once there, her symptoms seemed to miraculously disappear. A short time later, the realtor joined her. She told Jane that she had looked everywhere and could find no sign of the cat.

Not prepared to give up just yet, they searched downstairs thinking that perhaps it had slipped past them when they weren’t looking. Again, they came up empty-handed.

Jane was flummoxed. There was a cat somewhere in that house that she had not only seen, but held in her arms. For her part, the realtor seemed unfazed by the possibility that an animal was hiding on the premises. Although the events of that day didn’t appear to bother her, they had an indelible impression on her client.

Jane told her realtor that she needed some time to think before moving forward with the purchase. She would let her know when she made up her mind. She went home and mulled over everything that happened that day. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about the place just wasn’t right.

She had loved the house at first sight, but the cat--of all things--had caused her to have second thoughts. Their brief encounter had been so off-putting that Jane didn’t care if she ever set foot inside the house again. After coming to that realization, she phoned her realtor with the bad news: it was a no-go. They would have to keep looking.

Several months past, in which time Jane found the house she had been looking for. The wait had been worth it in the end. She settled happily into her new home knowing that she had made the right decision.

Not long afterwards, she received an unexpected phone call from her realtor that left her shaken and, above all, thankful for her chance encounter with the mysterious cat.

The agent asked her if she had been following a story in the newspaper. Since she didn’t know which story she was referring to, Jane told her that she would have to be more specific. She was in no way prepared for what she was about to hear.

The realtor related that a local couple had been murdered during a home invasion. Investigators determined that the young husband and wife were taken upstairs, tied to chairs and bludgeoned to death. They had not known their killers nor been targeted for any reason. The heinous act had been one of opportunity; they had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jane was saddened by the news of this tragedy, but wasn’t sure why her real estate agent felt the need to share the grim details with her. It turned out that it was the location of the house that she thought might interest Jane. The crime had occurred in the home the agent had shown her months prior; the one in which she had encountered the phantom cat.

After the call ended, Jane replayed the events of that fateful day over and over in her mind. If she hadn’t interacted with the mysterious feline while exploring upstairs, she is certain that she would have bought the house.

She couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if she had signed the contract despite her misgivings. Fortunately, she never had to find out. The cat’s behavior, coupled with her visceral reaction, had deterred her from making the purchase, thereby saving her from the grisly fate that awaited the couple who did buy the house.

Why the cat stepped in to save her and not them was a question that would haunt Jane for years to come. Perhaps it had tried to warn them and failed. If that was indeed the case, no one is around to say. In the end, she believed that a higher power was looking out for her that day, one that appeared to her in a form it knew she couldn't resist.