last night - black cat and mysterious lights.

You won't find this to be a particularly spectacular story but it was particularly strange and I am struggling to explain it. It also happened just last night and I want to report it whilst it is fresh in my mind, In the interests of full disclosure there was alcohol involved but not in significant quantities (5 beers and a margarita between 2 people, I can account for 2 of the beers and my companion for the rest) and about 1 and a half hours prior to the events described here.
It is perhaps also relevant that in Scotland there is a wealth of superstition surrounding black cats for reasons associated with witchcraft or just for bringing good luck if they cross your path.
The two of us were in a forested area next to a river, both smoking, when my companion who I'll call S asked me what time it was, I looked at my phone and replied that it was one minute past midnight - "the witching hour" I joked.
No sooner had the words left my mouth than a jet black cat with a small perfectly heart shaped white patch on its chest 'appeared' at our feet and sat down looking at us. I already found this to be slightly unusual as in my experience even tame domestic cats are very edgy at night especially in wild areas where there are a lot of foxes and other predators like badgers and owls.
The cat just sat there looking at us both so I bent down and picked it up and straight away it stretched out in my arms and just relaxed whilst we stroked it but then after about 5 minutes it leaped out of my grip and disappeared, we assumed it had just seen a mouse or something similar but then we noticed a small stationary red blinking light about 15 metres away in the trees which we both stared at but concluded that it must be one of those red lights people put on the back of their bikes although we hadn't seen or heard anybody else and we couldn't see a person or a bike in the gloom.
In the back of my mind I sort of thought it was strange that whoever had the bike was presumably alone out in the woods in the middle of the night and moving very stealthily. Briefly it occurred to me that we were about to be in an attempted mugging situation but the fact that the light seemed to be pointing right at us didn't strike me as particularly sly. Maybe about 3-4 minutes later red blinking light was still there and blinking steadily but I noticed to my surprise that it had been joined by a bright steady green point of light perhaps 8 feet above it in the trees. I pointed it out to S and as we watched the green light faded out gradually then suddenly came back on brighter than before, flashed twice and went out again.
"what the ****" said S just as a much brighter flash of yellowish light came from behind us, we turned around but there was no noise, to give any indication of what the source might have been and no sign of any other people. We turned back to the lone red blinking light just in time to see the green light flash on again and once more a much brighter flash of white light seemed to 'reply' to it from a different direction behind us. At this point it seemed pretty obvious that it was people signaling to each other for some reason but we found it strange as all the lights seemed to be pointing at us, the green had to have been in a tree rather than on the ground and we could hear or see nothing that indicated the presence of anybody else in the forest apart from the lights. As we sat there discussing what might be going on, I joked that perhaps we were about to be part of a police sting as there had been police activity in the area the night before but we concluded that actually it was probably just kids, the only problem being that at no point did we hear ANY noise of people shouting or laughing even just moving around in the bushes. As we sat the lights continued to flash and blink to each other and even the steady red light started going off then coming back on without blinking, then blinking, then going off in apparently (continued)

random sequences and larger 'bursts' of white or yellow light flashed in at least four different locations in the forest including on the other side of the river.
At this point things took a stranger turn as all the lights ceased for a few moments apart from the green and red ones which had remained in their original position the whole time. The red light was glowing dimly and the green one began to do something that can only be described as 'sparkling' before flashing brightly once, there was a short pause and then a bright flash of yellow light in reply to it RIGHT next to us.
Now we were freaked out, we stared at the spot the flash had come from and there quite simply wasn't anybody there, either that or the flash had actually come from US somehow. Suddenly the green and red light started drifting backwards into the forest maintaining their positions relative to each other and then blinked out. Once again we were back in darkness with no strange lights.
We started discussing theories as up to this point we had been fairly transfixed by the lights and hadn't spoken much, essentially we concluded that it was strange but must be kids messing around somehow.
We got up and walked about 30 yards to the edge of the river, sat on some rocks and started chatting and smoking when we noticed that the black cat was back, sitting on a rock about 2 metres away just staring at us "damn it's that cat again" commented S. We coaxed it over and it lay down in S' lap and just chilled out for a while before getting up and moving over to a solitary rock about twice it's size and hiding in it's shadow.
Now, when the cat did this we didn't take our eyes off it for a second and I actually commented on the fact that in the shadow of the rock it was practically invisible and it was no wonder that cat's are such effective hunters. S stood up and leant over to pat it but his fingers only met the shadow and he exclaimed loudly "what the **** it's gone". This was strange as I for one had not taken my eyes off the rock for a second since the cat hid in it's shadow and the rock itself was completely isolated from any other large rocks the cat could have been hiding behind.
As soon as we noticed that the cat was gone a green light appeared in the foliage to our right about 20 meters away and started flashing, it paused and we turned around knowing what would happen next. Sure enough 3 large flashes of white and yellow light appeared at different points further down the river. It suddenly occurred to me that the lights had appeared both times right after the mysterious friendly cat had vanished but I decided it was surely a coincidence, however it was obvious that the lights had followed us and still seemed to be directed at us for some reason and although we both commented that it was "******* strange" it seemed to confirm that it was somebody trying to mess with us somehow so, amused, we decided to sit it out and see what happened.
Again things got stranger, the green light re-appeared slightly lower than before and began 'sparkling' again then spiraled through the air four times, paused, spiraled once more and then shot off through the forest and disappeared. When it shot off it wasn't necessarily faster than a person could run but it didn't bob up and down as i would expect it to and again there was no noise accompanying it. Suddenly a group of six small but bright, sparkling white lights appeared where the green one had been previously and began rapidly rotating around each other for about 7 seconds then flashed out, there was a pause, a large white flash from down the river and then the GREEN light reappeared where it had 'flown' off from previously and where the white lights had been not a moment before, flashed twice and went out. I commented to my friend that this was getting pretty ****** up and we resolved to move again so we got up and walked about 30 metres away, in the direction that the green light had (continued)

moved and AGAIN we found the cat sitting in our path just staring at us. AGAIN it stayed for a few minutes then vanished and the lights having apparently followed us AGAIN began blinking, sparkling and flashing in response to each other and this time the original red light was back.

This happened four more times, we would watch the lights until they stopped then move and find the cat sitting 'waiting for us', it would hang about for a bit then disappear and instantly the lights would start up again, at points flashes even seemed to come from above us and each time the lights ALWAYS appeared right after the cat vanished. Eventually we left and went home but I still can't figure out what was going on this morning.
At no point did we hear or see any other people, only the silent lights and the strange black cat.

Any ideas ATS? I'm stumped. I tried seeing if there was any news about what the police were doing there the night before but I couldn't find anything.

Holy crapola that was a long post, man.

Pretty wild stuff. This morning did you have any odd feelings or anything seem out of ordinary (other than the memories of night before)? Was the wooded area near any military bases?
Perhaps if you went to tthe same area during daylight you might see some signs of explanation for the lights the night before, or even see the cat in the daytime. Maybe it just hangs out there, maybe not.
Weird s%*t for sure though, man.

[edit on 10/4/2010 by Chamberf=6]

With regards to wierd feelings, I thought not until about twenty minutes ago when I realized that I haven't eaten or drunk anything today at all and I'm not even thirsty or hungry. This might not sound that impressive but I usually eat a lot.
It's not near any military bases, I went back this evening before it got dark and didn't see or feel anything out of the ordinary or the cat again.
It's still really bugging me though.

And I still haven't been able to find out what the police were doing although further upriver there are some areas cordoned off with red and white striped tape between posts, not crime scene tape, just red and white high visibility tape.

FWIW.. I don't like telling this because it sounds goofy & cat nerdy.. and like BS... but its about a similar looking cat that's freaky.

A former neighbor of mine had a black cat with a faint white heart shape on it's chest, it was super friendly with my mom... the cat would literally pick its way through the screen to cross the complex to chill with mom. Mom had taken ill when she moved in with me, she had lots of chill time with the cat and eventually let kitty in the apt.

One day mom says the cat woke her up several times annoyingly licking moms temple, purring and pawing at her hair... a day later mom had an aneurysm, broken brain vein that bleeds into the skull, then died a few weeks later.

A month later on a friday the neighbor moves, about 3 miles... but on sat morning the cat on my doorstep meowing. Phoned the neighbor who was distraught, she said the cat bolted from the carrier and out the door of the new place last night... kitty had no collar or ID tag.

That afternoon I drive kitty it to its new home.. she meowed constantly. I never saw my neighbor take the cat and I figured she was embarrassed to admit she forgot her pet... I was impressed with the idea the cat found its way home several miles, but eh, didn't really believe it happened.

Trip meter read 2.7 miles, upon arrival we locked kitty in a bedroom. Inside 5 min we hear a 'thunk', the cat dislodged a screen and was gone. We checked the immediate area for about 20 min to no avail, cat be gone. 40 minutes since kitty took off, I leave, 1/2 jokingly saying "watch, kitty will be there when I get home..lol".

To this day I still don't believe my lying eyes, but sure enough... as freaking internet BS impossible crazy as it sounds.. kitty was on my doorstep when I got home... which to my rational mind is impossible... a cat traversing 2.7 miles of urban blight, traffic and humanity twice in 2 days, the second time in about 1 hour?.. and no, I wasn't intoxicated.. although I felt my grip on reality slipping away and did pound a grip of beers with friends that night.. trying to get my head around WTF just happened.

We decided the cat should just live here.. been here since, about a year, just a regular indoor / outdoor cat.. nothing spooky or special about her other than being super affectionate.

Never figured out the "how" or "why" the cat got here, wrote it off as me seeing things or misjudging time... and the cat just being smart and lucky.

Then had a b-day party, 10 people + my GF brought some crazy lady psychic who threw rocks, read palms / tarot cards and all that... kitty trots in for a bite to eat and crazy lady abruptly stops reading a friends palm and says "your cat has a strong supernatural ora, she's very special and was sent to protect you". I found that odd because I never told my GF the whole cat story.. all I ever said was the cat used to belong to a neighbor, but adopted me... the details sound crazy.

Shape-shifter, alien, moms spirit, guardian angel or supernatural psychic kitty? regular dumbass cat gets extremely lucky? .. or one man slowly losing a grip on reality.. I dunno anymore, cant explain any of it... but I'm glad you posted this, at least I know I'm not the only one running across wicked strange black cats and seeing / experiencing things that probably have totally rational explanations, but seem just a little too weird to actually have happened... lol

Thank you for posting the link to this.. wow your experience sounds incredibly strange..the first thought that pops into my head, also given your location (Scotland) was the Gentry.. but it doesnt just sound like kids playing around, it could be, but kids arent normally that kind of quiet! especially when pulling pranks as i recall.. lots of whispering and giggling lol.. this is very strange and it must have freaked both of you out a bit.. it would have done so if it happened to me.. i such a girl when it comes to stuff like that! Interesting to read as well that your normal appetite has been messed up since the happening..
Another thing i did think of, was something usually called 'soul lights' there are some very old encounters with these strange lights, usually in different shades (i would guess having to do with aura and personal energy fields of the people) and have on occassion been seen and followed from a sleeping partner, in one account it was two women who were vying for the attentions of the same man, while one of the girls slept beside him one night, he watched a light ..small and yellow, leave from her mouth, he ended up following it to the woods where it met with another bright light.. they danced around one another, almost duel like, so his account of it states.. and after awhile of doing this, the second light left all together, 'running' off through the trees.. he does say at the end of the story that he ended up happily with the girl he was in bed with that night, and never heard problems with the other women since this.. so this also comes to mind.. if either are of any help

I had never heard of soul lights before, it had crossed my mind that these might have been will o' the wisp due to the proximity to water. I have since discovered that at almost the exact location that this occured suspected witches used to be drowned in the river on a massive mill stone. Perhaps their soul lights?

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/caf09b3d7dd2.jpg[/atsimg]

So is this black cat some kind of hyperdimensional magic cat?

I'm not sure I would jump to that conclusion, in fact, I clearly am not in a position to reach any conclusions as to what was behind the events i described. It was very strange though.
The only reason I included the cat in the story was because of the strange way in which it seemed to be 'waiting' for us whenever we moved and the fact that the lights always seemed to appear the second that it vanished BUT we must consider the fact that it is possible we only noticed the lights because we had stopped paying attention to the cat. Although I do not believe this to be the case it would still suggest that the source of the lights was persistantly following us, moving through tree's and bushes silently in order to track us. This in and of itself raises many questions. Who? What? Why?
I can't even begin to imagine why several individuals would silently follow us but signal to one another so obviously. The potential for the police being involved seems significant but if we were unwittingly intruding on some covert police operation I would imagine that we would either be re-directed or accosted in some way.
I suppose this will continue to be one of those events that just remains frustratingly mysterious. I'm not necessarily keen to discover a 'supernatural' answer like hyperdimensional magic cats, I suppose I posted the account in case some obvious answer jumped out at somebody with a fresh perspective on the matter.