Macabre 18th Century mummified cat ward against witchcraft This species is a large

This species is a large member of the Auk family with circumpolar distribution of the sub-species in the Northern waters

These are made by the Bena Bena people of the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea

This example was part of a collection that came from a medical college

The colour and stringing of the bones indicate that these were probably prepared in the first half of the 20th Century

As this repair is plaited in the same way as the rest of the strap this seems to have been repaired in the village

Macabre 18th Century mummified cat ward against witchcraft This species is a largeThe practice of putting sealing up dead animals into the walls of houses has been going since the middle ages in Europe. The belief seemed to be that a dried cat or dog would protect against witchcraft and scare a witch's familiar away from the house. It might have also been believed that the presence of these mummified animals also scared away rats and mice. This cat was discovered behind the plaster when the owner was renovating a house that dated