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1. The Lumbermen Who Worshipped a Black Cat

   Seattle initiates into the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, a new fraternal society for lumbermen, complete with black robes, mock titles and a banquet.

   May 30, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMasonic Temple, Seattle, King CountyLocal Legends · Strange But True

2. The Dueling Tomcats: A Hunter’s Tale of Feline Fury in Spring Brook

   A local hunter witnesses a violent territorial battle between two male wildcats, fought over the affections of a female observer, before intervening with his shotgun.

   Mar 5, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSpring Brook, King CountyStrange But True

3. The Great Cat Heist: How 'Old Tom' Became Seattle's Most Wanted Feline

   A market cat’s affection for stolen kittens turns a quiet afternoon into a scandal of the highest order.

   May 16, 1877The Daily IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

4. The Black Cat Hoodoo: How a Rodent and a Number Stopped Seattle’s Streetcars

   When a black cat crossed the tracks and a streetcar number matched a fatal prophecy, Seattleites stopped riding—not because of safety, but because of superstition.

   Mar 8, 1899The Seattle Star7th Street, Seattle, King CountyStrange But True

5. The Cat Who Saved Himself from the Fire

   A young Everett boy's pet cat makes a daring escape by leaping into a water tub as the family home burns down.

   Jul 14, 1904The Tacoma TimesEverett, Snohomish CountyStrange But True

6. The Dentist and the Cat

   After a cruel beating left a local cat unable to feed itself, a sympathetic neighborhood dentist crafted a set of false teeth to save the animal.

   Oct 12, 1893Aberdeen HeraldAberdeen, Grays Harbor CountyStrange But True

7. The Valley Sixty Miles From a Railroad

   In 1892, the Big Bottom settlers of Lewis County had no road, no sawmill and no rail line — just hand-hewn homes, packhorses, a tobacco-chewing cat, and a Fourth of July party for 160 neighbors.

   Jul 25, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMorton, Lewis CountyStrange But True

8. The Neighborhood Vigilante Cat of Howard Avenue

   An aggressive, property-owning tomcat is terrorizing the chicken coops of Seattle, prompting fed-up neighbors to organize a vigilante committee.

   Jul 28, 1899The Seattle StarSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

9. The Great Cat Deception

   A lonely Seattle resident is duped by his friends into believing a stray kitten arrived by express from Massachusetts.

   Oct 26, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerColumbia Street, Seattle, King CountyStrange But True

10. The Bachelor’s Secret: Why He Loves a Crying Baby

    A humorous anecdote from the May 5, 1877, *Seattle Daily Intelligencer* reveals the cynical charm of a local bachelor who finds comfort in infant noise because it clears the room.

    May 5, 1877The Daily IntelligencerSeattle, King County

11. The Unlikely Peace of the Port Townsend Wharf

    A cat known for its hunting prowess inexplicably raises an enormous rat alongside her own litter of kittens.

    Feb 22, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerPort Townsend, Jefferson CountyStrange But True

12. The Pied Piper of Seattle: The Policeman Who Controlled Animals

    Before Seattle became a sprawling metropolis, a local officer reportedly possessed a magnetic, inexplicable influence over stray dogs and wild creatures.

    Mar 7, 1872Puget Sound DispatchSeattle, King CountyLocal Legends

13. The Miracle of Dido the Blind Cat

    A remarkable account of a house cat who, after going blind, mastered his home environment and displayed an uncanny homing instinct.

    Feb 8, 1883Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

14. The Midnight Burglar of C Street

    A steamboat captain's home defense operation turns into a musical misunderstanding involving a cat.

    Mar 2, 1904The Tacoma TimesC Street, Tacoma, Pierce CountyStrange But True

15. A School Girl Takes a Stand

    A local student writes to the paper to challenge the community's hypocrisy regarding the treatment of animals.

    Jun 18, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyExclusion & Resistance

16. Tragedy in a Scratch: Local Business Leader Lost to Infection

    A minor injury from a cat scratch leads to a fatal case of blood-poisoning for a prominent grocery wholesaler.

    Apr 9, 1904The Tacoma Times313 North I Street, Tacoma, Pierce CountyStrange But True

17. The Queen Anne Scandal: A Tramp’s Slander and the ‘Black Paws’ of Seattle

    When a wandering journalist accused a local girl of plunging her cat into flour dough, it sparked a chaotic street confrontation on Queen Anne Hill that revealed the raw tensions of early 20th-century Seattle.

    Mar 28, 1899The Seattle StarQueen Anne Hill, Seattle, King CountyScandal

18. The Midnight Parlor Shootout

    A bank bookkeeper’s frantic, armed response to an 'imaginary burglar' leaves a piano shredded and a cat terrified in Colfax.

    Oct 17, 1903The Evening StatesmanNorth Mill Street, Colfax, Whitman CountyStrange But True

19. A Railroad Depot's Unlikely New Recruit

    A stowaway cat found at the Northern Pacific depot secures a new life as a mouser after surviving a dangerous journey on the trucks of a Pullman car.

    May 25, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

20. Into the Black: A Descent into Bellingham Bay Coal Mines

    An intrepid traveler documents the perilous journey down an 800-foot incline to explore the workings of the Bellingham Bay Coal Company in the late 19th century.

    Jun 24, 1876The Northern StarBellingham, Whatcom CountyWork & Pay

21. The Jailhouse Mimic

    A soft-hearted jailer is driven to madness by what he assumes is a distressed feline, only to find a prankster in a cell.

    Jan 30, 1909The Tacoma TimesCounty Prison, Tacoma, Pierce CountyStrange But True

22. The Unlikely Mother of Orting

    An affectionate feline in the town of Orting defies nature by adopting a brood of chicks as her own.

    Apr 19, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOrting, Pierce CountyStrange But True

23. The Miracle Bologna That Fought a Cat

    A local man tests a dubious 'elixir of life' on his lunch, with shockingly violent results for his sandwich.

    Nov 1, 1889The Mason County JournalShelton, Mason CountySnake Oil

24. The Power Struggle for Seattle’s Future

    As the city council investigates the Cedar River water rights dispute, a fierce corporate war erupts between the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company and the Union Electric Company, threatening to monopolize the region's energy supply.

    Apr 19, 1899The Seattle StarSeattle, King CountyFollow the Money

25. The 'Pompous Autocrat' of the Sound

    A Seattle newspaper lashes out at a revenue cutter captain who refused to aid a vessel in distress, claiming his uniform shouldn't be 'rubbed the wrong way.'

    May 29, 1887Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall · Disasters

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