The cat has been associated with witchcraft since the medieval times, wiping out whole colonies of cats. In Britain, the most superstitious color of cat was white and in the USA it was black. It is believed that one of the primary reasons for ill wishing the cat was because of its "glowing" eyes. While the "glowing" eyes helped make the cat a goddess with the Egyptians, in Europe they were wrongly accused. To the superstitious the cat was believed to be an helper of the devil, or the devil himself.
The first major witchcraft trial was held in England in 1565 and revolved around a group of 3 women that had dangerously called a cat "Satan". They were accused of letting the cat suckle blood from an unnatural teats. It then became a routine to search accused women for unnatural "teats", and a wart was considered condemning evidence. From the records, it seemed that both the accusers and the accused both thought that they did not have any "supernatural" powers before they had the cat. Only a few independent people accepted the cat, although cats were still being burned alive street bonfires. For centuries in Britain and Europe, cats were burned alive, suspended above the flames to make them suffer more, as it was believed that every time you hurt a cat, you hurt the devil.
Bibliography
1. Understanding Cats Their History, Nature and Behavior. Robert Tabor. David and Charles Publishers 1997.
2. The Book of the Cat Editors Micheal Wright and Sally Walters. Pan Books 1980.
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