Tradition / Region: Belgian Mythology
Alternative names: None recorded
Category: Cat
The Myth
The Black Cat of Keerbergen appears as an ordinary but sinister black cat that suddenly leaps onto the shoulders of lone travelers at night. Once it has attached itself, it cannot be shaken off no matter how hard the victim struggles.
According to the legend, a farm laborer was walking home on a summer evening after working late at a nearby farm. His journey took him past a small pine wood when, without warning, a black cat sprang from one of the trees onto his shoulder. Terrified, he tried desperately to throw it off, shaking and striking at it, but the cat refused to let go.
Almost mad with fear, the man ran the rest of the way home. Only after he reached his house did the cat calmly jump down from his shoulder and disappear without a trace.
The laborer went straight to bed, deeply shaken by the encounter. Three days later, he died. According to the tradition, he had literally been frightened to death by the mysterious black cat.
Sources
De Cock, Alfons. Vlaamsche sagen uit den volksmond. Amsterdam: Maatschappij voor Goede en Goedkoope Lectuur, 1921, p. 40.