There are historical accounts of people putting cats in bags and setting them on fire, especially during certain periods in medieval and early modern Europe,.
This practice was a form of animal cruelty sometimes used as a form of entertainment or festivity. Cats were sometimes associated with vanity and witchcraft during this period and were burned as symbols of the devil.
It was particularly prevalent during celebrations around the time of the summer solstice, such as the Feast of St. John the Baptist, where bonfires were lit and objects with magical power, including cats tied up in bags or suspended from ropes, were thrown into the fire. Parisians, for instance, were known to incinerate cats by the sackful.
It’s important to remember that these were practices rooted in superstition and cultural beliefs prevalent at the time and are widely condemned today as barbaric and cruel.
Don’t try this at home.
Thanks, ugly facts but worth knowning. I knew kids (back when I was a kid) who hated cats, and some chronologically adult children who shot cats for “trespassing”. And of course, there are still superstitious nitwits who still regard cats as familiars of the debbil and witches.