Odd sources for things with possible HP importance/OT cats

[Susan McGee]

No: HPFGUIDX 7114

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Scott " <harry_potter00 at y...> 
wrote:
> Ok, I know these don't sound exactly like good HP sources but on 
> second thought they can't be more off than the Beecham (sp?) book...
> 
> I was looking through a Christmas catalogue the other day and saw a 
> little factoid about elves which stated that at one time all (or 
> most) magical creatures of the sort were called elves. Does that 
make 
> sense? (I can no longer find the catalogue.) Anyway there was some 
> discussion a while back that the House elves of HP seemed more like 
> brownies, and under the above classification they technically could 
> be. Right?
> 
> Also in another book, strangely enough one about the breeds of 
cats, 
> I found a caption that read-
> 
> "During the Middle Ages, cats suffered terrible persecution at the 
> hands of superstitious people who believed that witches could 
change 
> themselves into cats and back again at will. So many cats were 
burned 
> alive that the species was almost extinct in Europe in 1400.  
These  
> witches are depicted accompanied by a cat, a dog, a mouse and an 
owl- 
> their 'familiars', or demons in the form of animals.
> 
> I thought that was interesting, esp. the last sentence...not sure 
how 
> reliable either of these sources are though. Anyway it's something 
to 
> chew over.
> 
> Scott
> 
> 

yes, cats were persecuted at the same time witches were burned..and 
in a college town, we all knew to keep our black cats and white cats 
(particularly) at home lest they fall victim to the frat boys (the 
descendants of the witchburners)