The Curse of the Cat God

By Shannon Elliott

The sun hung low in the sky and burned with the purples and oranges of a late summer evening in the rural framing community of Willits. Steve and Woody, two long time childhood friends, sat on the back porch of the small farm house my Woody called home. They where talking of getting ready to move away and go off to college in Santa Rosa when their other friend Willie appeared, walking slowly up the dirt path kicking up rocks and leaving small clouds of dust in his wake. He nodded his greeting to his friends and asked them to go for walk along the dirt path. The friends laughed and talked as they walked along the quiet country lane and up the small curving hill. Just as the sun was about to fall behind the small hill they came along a small lump in the middle of the path. Woody prodded it with his foot and noticed that it was a dead cat, ridged and rotting slowly in the summer weather. Steve looked at Woody and Willie and raised and eye brow as if an idea was dawning on him. You see, our group was amateur film makers, always on the look out for new movie ideas. “Do you guys remember what we where talking about in world history on Monday?” Steve said kneeling down to get a closer look at the cat. “You mean about how many ancient cultures followed cat worship, and all that jazz?,” Wood replied placing a cigarette in-between his lips and lighting, the match lighting up is face in the deeming light of late evening. “Yeah, I think I have an idea for our next film we can call it freeing the cat god…”

The boys had heard a tale of an ancient ritual from the crazy gray haired history teacher who told wild stories of how the Egyptians would go about freeing a cat’s spirit to gain wishes. The boys learned that to free the cat god and gain your wishes you had to burn the cats body and say the incantation “lish mock un took lun ma ra”. This, along with the burning, would free the cat god, and as payment it would grant you three wishes.

So the boys stood silently gazing down at the cat for a long while until the moon rose above them giving an early light to the abandoned path, a light breeze ruffled Woody’s long curly hair which was caped with a top hat. “Well if we are going to do it, let’s do it”. The boys tossed the cat into a sack and went to their perspective houses together with the equipment. They reconvened on top of a small hill. The full moon now high in the sky, Steve set up the group’s super 8 camera and looked for good places to film from places to get interesting shots of the silhouettes of his friends. Willie placed the cats body on a make shift alter and the wind stirred more, though the boys paid it no mind. Woody pored gasoline over the cats body, Steve was very pleased with the way the moon turned his friends into nothing but shadowy figures on the film looming over the alter and the body of the cat. Woody looked at Willie for a moment and took a deep breath as they struck matches at the same moment, dropped them down on the cat’s body, and began the incantation. As they started to speak, almost instantly the cat’s body went up in a burst of green and purple flames licking high into the night sky. Both the boys recoiled quickly as the wind howled, and the flames went so high they looked like they would burn the moon.

Steve set the camera on the ground and ran to the sides of his two friends, and looked up at the flames. The wind grew stronger and there was a loud crack of thunder through the night sky though there where no clouds to be seen. Then all was silent, and a voice from the heavens spoke out. “You have freed my spirit now you shall have your wishes but use them wisely.” Then everything went quiet as death it self and the cats body was gone. The friends did not speak. They did not look at each other. They just picked up the camera and went home, and when the film was developed there was nothing on it, it was completely blank.

A few weeks later Steve tried one of his wishes to see if what had happened to them was true or just some odd group a hallucination. He wished that he had a new car, and he got one- he found a car in a price range he could afford and bought it. He was the first in the group of friends to get and car, and one evening, while Steve was driving to Willies house, he got into a horrid car accident was rushed to the hospital, he didn’t die but he came close he still walks with a limp to this very day.

Now you’re probably saying to your self that this is just a story- its not true. But it is. I know it is. It happened to my father and his friends, Woody is my father and he was there and Steve is my Uncle and he still walks with a heavy limp and a cane to this very day, and my father refuses to say the word wish under any circumstances, so yes the curse of the cat god is true, so beware the curse of the cat god.

The sun hung low in the sky and burned with the purples and oranges of a late summer evening in the rural framing community of Willits. Steve and Woody, two long time childhood friends, sat on the back porch of the small farm house my Woody called home. They where talking of getting ready to move away and go off to college in Santa Rosa when their other friend Willie appeared, walking slowly up the dirt path kicking up rocks and leaving small clouds of dust in his wake. He nodded his greeting to his friends and asked them to go for walk along the dirt path. The friends laughed and talked as they walked along the quiet country lane and up the small curving hill. Just as the sun was about to fall behind the small hill they came along a small lump in the middle of the path. Woody prodded it with his foot and noticed that it was a dead cat, ridged and rotting slowly in the summer weather. Steve looked at Woody and Willie and raised and eye brow as if an idea was dawning on him. You see, our group was amateur film makers, always on the look out for new movie ideas. “Do you guys remember what we where talking about in world history on Monday?” Steve said kneeling down to get a closer look at the cat. “You mean about how many ancient cultures followed cat worship, and all that jazz?,” Wood replied placing a cigarette in-between his lips and lighting, the match lighting up is face in the deeming light of late evening. “Yeah, I think I have an idea for our next film we can call it freeing the cat god…”

The boys had heard a tale of an ancient ritual from the crazy gray haired history teacher who told wild stories of how the Egyptians would go about freeing a cat’s spirit to gain wishes. The boys learned that to free the cat god and gain your wishes you had to burn the cats body and say the incantation “lish mock un took lun ma ra”. This, along with the burning, would free the cat god, and as payment it would grant you three wishes.

So the boys stood silently gazing down at the cat for a long while until the moon rose above them giving an early light to the abandoned path, a light breeze ruffled Woody’s long curly hair which was caped with a top hat. “Well if we are going to do it, let’s do it”. The boys tossed the cat into a sack and went to their perspective houses together with the equipment. They reconvened on top of a small hill. The full moon now high in the sky, Steve set up the group’s super 8 camera and looked for good places to film from places to get interesting shots of the silhouettes of his friends. Willie placed the cats body on a make shift alter and the wind stirred more, though the boys paid it no mind. Woody pored gasoline over the cats body, Steve was very pleased with the way the moon turned his friends into nothing but shadowy figures on the film looming over the alter and the body of the cat. Woody looked at Willie for a moment and took a deep breath as they struck matches at the same moment, dropped them down on the cat’s body, and began the incantation. As they started to speak, almost instantly the cat’s body went up in a burst of green and purple flames licki
ng high into the night sky. Both the boys recoiled quickly as the wind howled, and the flames went so high they looked like they would burn the moon.

Steve set the camera on the ground and ran to the sides of his two friends, and looked up at the flames. The wind grew stronger and there was a loud crack of thunder through the night sky though there where no clouds to be seen. Then all was silent, and a voice from the heavens spoke out. “You have freed my spirit now you shall have your wishes but use them wisely.” Then everything went quiet as death it self and the cats body was gone. The friends did not speak. They did not look at each other. They just picked up the camera and went home, and when the film was developed there was nothing on it, it was completely blank.

A few weeks later Steve tried one of his wishes to see if what had happened to them was true or just some odd group a hallucination. He wished that he had a new car, and he got one- he found a car in a price range he could afford and bought it. He was the first in the group of friends to get and car, and one evening, while Steve was driving to Willies house, he got into a horrid car accident was rushed to the hospital, he didn’t die but he came close he still walks with a limp to this very day.

Now you’re probably saying to your self that this is just a story- its not true. But it is. I know it is. It happened to my father and his friends, Woody is my father and he was there and Steve is my Uncle and he still walks with a heavy limp and a cane to this very day, and my father refuses to say the word wish under any circumstances, so yes the curse of the cat god is true, so beware the curse of the cat god.

All Hallow’s Eve: A history

by Nicole Givens

Attention Halloween hooligans! All Hallow’s Eve has returned, and it is waiting to pull you in.

The one night a year when kids of all ages dress up as princesses or cowboys or some other creative character, grab a pillow case or a plastic pumpkin, and then walk around the neighborhood knocking on stranger’s doors, asking them for candy.

But have you ever sat back and thought about where all the costumes and the candy and the love for all things spooky began? There are quite a few different reasons why we celebrate the holiday as we do. As an avid fan of Halloween, I’m here to fill you in on a little bit of well researched history for what was once deemed “All Saints Eve” by the Catholic Church.

As many of you know, November 1st marks the beginning of the Dia de los Muertos festivities that extend to the duration of a week in a few South and Central American countries. During these family gatherings (yes, that’s living family members, as well as dead), villagers decorate the town with skeletons and ghouls to scare off any unwanted supernatural entities. They bake cakes and pass out candy, and celebrate the death of loved ones. In the evening, families gather around the grave sights and dine with their passed members. It is a time of remembrance, and a way of giving thanks for what they have, and what they treasure- family. Dia de los Muertos is a cultural tradition that has been celebrated for centuries, and is still practiced today.

There is also the religious reasons behind it- (yes, Halloween was at one point a religious holiday, and is still considered so in quite a few practices). Halloween is actually the day before the intended holiday, in which practitioners prepare for festivities. The term, roughly translated, means “All Hallow’s Day” – or “All Saint’s Day”. Halloween is really an eve to the actual holiday in which the Catholic Church put aside as a day of remembrance and observation to the Saints.

Early century Celtics deemed the day “Samhain” pronounced “sow-en”. October 31st on the ancient Celtic calendar marked the last day of summer, and therefore the last day of the year.

What did all three of these cultures have in common, and how is it linked to our annual celebration? Well, the answer is simple. All three of the cultures believed in evil spirits, and wanted to scare away anything that was dangerous and unseen. They believed that by dressing up as a ghost or ghoul, witch or skeleton, or any other seemingly vile creature would ward off bad entities and keep their families and villages safe. Jack-O-Lanterns were carved and left out all night as a kind of “do not enter” sign. Halloween is linked with darkness because the living believed that All Hallow’s Eve was the one night a year that they were most susceptible to becoming possessed by a demon or spirit. The people blew out their candles at midnight to confuse the spirits into thinking that they were no longer around to be inhabited.

There are many different variations and meanings behind Halloween- it just depends on the era and the area of existence. What matters up to now is that the tradition lives on in modern day society, as it allows us to tie us to our pasts, where ever they may lie.

Happy Halloween!

A Killer on Campus

By John Harrison

Fog crept through the campus of Skyline College. It wound through parked cars and slightly swaying trees, filling the gaps in the night. Sick yellow light from dirty lampposts pierced the wispy gray blanket, illuminating empty walkways and half-finished areas of construction. Skyline was deserted.

It was 9:00 when a handful of students was released from their studies. They exited the building in a herd; a pile of exhausted brains enjoying the first breath of fresh air after a long night cooped up in a fluorescent-flooded classroom. Among the downtrodden scholars was a young woman who was as out of place as could be. She wore a Bob Marley t-shirt and a pair of dark blue capris over her olive colored skin. Her dark hair hung in a curtain over her hazel eyes.

“Hey Jeanette,” called a gravelly voice from the dark.

She turned around at the sound of her name. The voice belonged to a gaunt man in her class… an unsavory fellow in her opinion. He was unshaven, long-haired, and dressed in layers of grimy clothing that blended together in the false light of a distant lamp. His name was Kevin, or Chris, or some other name that began with that blunt ‘kuh’ noise. She couldn’t remember.

“You forgot this,” he growled. He was holding out a tattered textbook.

Jeanette took the book from his claw-like hand and did her best to smile at him.

“Thanks,” she said quietly. “Night.”

Jeanette turned and vanished into the gray void in search of her car. She was unaware of the silent pursuer that followed close at her heels.

“Where is it…”

Jeanette knew she was in the right parking lot. She knew that her little piece of junk car was hiding around here somewhere, she was just having trouble remembering exactly where it was. She was so frustrated with the idea of losing her car that she almost screamed. It was then that she literally bumped into it in the fog.

“Thank God. I thought I lost you.”

It never occurred to Jeanette that talking to her car was a little crazy. It certainly never occurred to her that somebody might be listening. By the time she realized someone had been eavesdropping there was already a knife pressed against her back. The tiny prick of pain spread from a point just to the left of her spine. Hot, heavy breathing rammed against the back of her neck.

“You haven’t thanked me properly,” said the owner of the knife. The voice was painfully recognizable; a rumbling growl she had heard mere minutes ago. Images of the greasy, long-haired man from her class flooded Jeanette’s mind. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“T-t-take my money, take m-my car, don’t h-hurt me,” she whimpered, her words jamming against each other in shaking sobs.

“Oh it won’t hurt… for long.”

The breathing on Jeanette’s neck became heavier, more rapid. Her heart thundered in her ears. She could feel the tip of the knife press harder against her skin, almost breaking the fragile cloth of her shirt. She had to act now or she would be dead-just a
nother victim on the front page of the local newspapers. Jeanette took a deep breath and released a scream that echoed in the deserted parking lot. She struggled at first, but soon became quiet in the welcoming shroud of night and gentle fog.

“Oh my God, did you hear about the murder the other night?”

Two young women were strolling through the double-doors into the open quad. They were both blonde, one of them a full foot taller than the other. They were exhausted after a long night of boring classwork and were the first from their class to leave. On the way out they picked up a newspaper and saw the grim headline: ‘Another student slain at Skyline.’

“It says here she was found in a huge pool of blood,” the taller one said. They both shivered and pulled their jackets close to them. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Hey Colleen,” called a voice from the dark.

The girls turned around. Standing there in the shadows was a gaunt man, unshaven and unkempt with a grin on his hollow face. In his claw-like hand was a tattered textbook.

“You forgot this.”