December 8, 2025 • 9 mins
Cats weren't always seen as bad luck, once upon a time they were treated like royalty. In this episode of IDKMYDE, B Daht breaks down how cats, especially black cats, went from sacred symbols in Ancient Egypt to "witches in disguise" during Europe's spooky era. You'll never look at a black cat the same again.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I welcome back to it.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
As to another episode of the most anticipated podcast on
the Black Effect Podcast Network entitled I Didn't Know, Maybe
you didn't either, I'm your host b Dot and just
a reminder. Season five kicks off February first, twenty twenty six.
We have twenty eight specifically curated Black history episodes that
(00:24):
will drop once a day in February on the Black
Effect Podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Which is free on our Heart Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Now. Outside of those twenty eight black history facts that
we drop in February, over this past year, this platform
has grown.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Man, We've been rocking since March every single week, sharing
different things that I didn't know maybe you didn't either.
We talked about Grio's and how they started stand up comedy,
where Dejah Fool came from the death pits.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
That was at the Dreamville Festival.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
We've been educated on Loopus, how important bees are. When
I about died in the Dominican Republic and they had
to siphon gas from my motorcycle and put it on
my open wounds. You remember that episode, how the black
dollar only circulates in our neighborhoods for six hours, the
beef between Lamborghini and Ferrari. Remember when the Pentagon designed
(01:15):
that bomb there was supposed to turn people gay. We've
been talking about it all and that ain't gonna start.
Because the transparency of this podcast is I'm really sharing
things in real time, as I'm experiencing them, as I'm
learning them.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
They're literally things that I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Maybe you didn't either, And that's why the podcast is
so anticipated from week to week because they're entertaining, digestible
episodes that come from a place of transparency, which is
my life. And many times you're just a shocked that
you didn't know that you just gotta share it with
somebody else. So in the spirit of that transparency and
vulnerability of my life, I would like to share with
(01:54):
you today that I think I'm about to purchase a cat.
And no I don't mean it hell cats, I mean
a feline.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
And I never thought I would be that guy.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I mean, growing up, I was educated just like the
rest of my black friends. You get a dog, dog
is man's best friend. In the nineties, you got you
a Rottwilder or a child. You remember the child's child's had
them purple tongs. I had a child, but then transition
into two thousand, everybody was getting them pit bulls, red
nose pits, blue pits. I've always wanted a German Shepherd.
(02:26):
That's always been my favorite dog. Both of my granddads
had German Shepherds. They never knew each other, and both
of their German shepherds.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Were named Lady. Ain't that crazy?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
You probably know somebody that had a dog named Lady too.
But I never saw myself as the cat guy, like
cats were always sneaky, and you know you had a
weird crazy cat ladies and cats licked themselves and cough
up hairballs. But recently I've been thinking I want a pets.
I've wanted a pet for a couple of years. It
actually started with me, want another kid, but the wife said, hey,
(02:57):
we got a nineteen year old and a thirteen year old.
The hell when we start that process over again. And
she's got a point, But I want a pet. But
dogs are too needy. Man. You gotta walk dogs, you
gotta teach dogs, you gotta play with dogs, like they
just always follow you around. What we're doing today, boss,
What we're doing today? Owner?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
What we're doing today? Owner? Or we're doing today? Owner?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Owner?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
You want to do something. Hey, owner, you want to
do something? Hey owner, you want to do something? Hey
what we're doing today?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Owner?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Like gone somewhere, Like I want a pet that can
be a pet when I wanted to be a pet,
and then like it can go in and do its
own thing, and like rabbits are boring gerbils and hamsters.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
My daughter has.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Two fish sleep and one of my partners, Tony Baker,
he's a comedian and he just always talks about how
smart cats are and how he's a cat guy. So
I start looking in the cats, and it made me
start thinking, why do we hate cats so much?
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Why don't we.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Call them sneaky? And God forbid it be a black cat?
They bad love? And then, in the spirit of I
didn't know, maybe you didn't either, I could hear my
ancestors saying.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Bought a black cat, gotta be bad.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Thus starting my deep die. But to kick off this episode,
I would first like to start with three of the
most useless facts you'll never need, not a day in
life about cats.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Your first useless facts.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
In ancient Egypt, killing a cat, even by accidents, could
be punishable by death. Cats have more legal protection than
some people your second useless facts, black cats are considered
good luck in Japan, Scotland, and by sailors. Yeah, for
the sailors, if your boat had a black cat, you
(04:36):
felt like you was Poseidon's cousin. Poseidon was the god
of the water. Keep up, folks, and your third useless facts.
During the Black Plague, Europeans them good old Europeans killed
all the cats because they thought that the cats was
causing the disease. And all that did was made the
plague worse because the rats, who were really carrying the
(04:59):
disease a law with fleas, basically took over. Those have
been your three useless facts. In ancient Egypt, killing a cats,
even by accident, could be punishable by death. You just
out there with your charriot, a cat jump out in
the middle of the road, and there's your funeral. Second,
(05:19):
black cats are considered good luck in Japan, Scotland and
by sailors. And third, during the Black Plague, the Europeans
killed all the cats thinking they caused the disease. Meanwhile,
the plague got worse because the rats took over. Yeah,
the Europeans like, hey, let's remove Earth's anti rats system.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And see what happens dummies.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
So here I am contemplating being a cat dad, and
I've looked up different cats, and I say, you know what,
I think. I want a black cat. And some of
the best black cats are bombay cats. They look like
baby panthers. But then I started thinking, like, do you
even know that history of cats and how black cats
became to be synonymous with luck?
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Because I didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know. I
didn't know.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I didn't know, all right, So listen, cats didn't start
off as sneaky and evil or bad luck.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Cats used to be up.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Let's rewind back to ancient Egypt, or as I like
to call it, the Golden Era of feline appreciation. Cats
were so beloved that they weren't even considered pets. They
were spiritual protectors. There's a god that's basted, and you've
probably seen the god that's basted. They had the head
of a cat. She controlled music, fertility, joy, home protection,
(06:44):
basically everything that makes a house a home. She was
the original house cat energy and in ancient Egypt, cats
were superstars. They was like the Michael Jackson of the animals.
If your house caught on fire, the cat got saved first.
If somebody disrespected your cat, made meat bastet in person.
Early Egyptians saw cats as protectors against snakes. They were
(07:06):
the hunter of mice and other rodents. They were guardians
against evil spirits, and they were the og baby monitors
because they slept near the kids. Cats had elite status,
royal regal respected.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Then the Greek saan. The Romans pulled up like okat
cool an them. Old body doesn't fetch, that's still useful.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
They didn't worship cats, but they appreciated the pest control game.
Still no hate, no superstition, cats still doing their thing.
Now fast forward to medieval Europe, good old Europeans, and
this is where the pr team for the cats failed
them tremendously. See, people got super religious. They were scared
of everything that they didn't understand. Wouldn't I say they
(07:50):
feel what they don't understand, hate what they can't conquer.
I guess it's just the theory of man God.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I mean. Cats were different.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
They were nocturnal, they were independent, Their eyes reflected in
the dark. So folks said that animal gotta be working
with the devil. And of course they went after the
black cats first, because we all know history loves the
villainize anything that's black first, and women who lived along
with cats or instant witch They even believed that witches
(08:23):
could shape shift into black cats at night. I mean,
imagine the police questioning you, like, were you a woman
at five pm and a cat by midnight? We have witnesses.
So now cats is linked to witchcraft. People start eliminating them,
and then the black plague hit. The Europeans get rid
(08:44):
of the cats.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
They're evil. They're evil.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Cats disappear, rats flourish please on. Those rats spread the
plague like wildfire, and that's when humans realized, hold up,
we might have messed up, might have needed the cats.
But superstition stick man hard, so that black cats are
bad luck. Myth that travels from Europe to America. And
(09:09):
suddenly a cat that once got treated like royalty in
Africa now getting judged like it's on trial. Meanwhile, Japan
is like black cats bring love. Scotland is like a
black cat at your door or that means money coming.
Sailors is like black cats protect the ship. So it's
not black cats bringing bad luck. They just got caught
(09:30):
in the crossfire, superstition and bad decision making, and we
brought bad luck to them.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
So give black cats some respect.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Man. They walked, so hello, kiddy merch Karun. They survived superstition, flander,
and a whole plague. Black cats deserve their crown back.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either,
I welcome back to it.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
As to another episode of the most anticipated podcast on
the Black Effect Podcast Network entitled I Didn't Know, Maybe
you didn't either, I'm your host b Dot and just
a reminder. Season five kicks off February first, twenty twenty six.
We have twenty eight specifically curated Black history episodes that
(00:24):
will drop once a day in February on the Black
Effect Podcast Network.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Which is free on our Heart Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Now. Outside of those twenty eight black history facts that
we drop in February, over this past year, this platform
has grown.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Man, We've been rocking since March every single week, sharing
different things that I didn't know maybe you didn't either.
We talked about Grio's and how they started stand up comedy,
where Dejah Fool came from the death pits.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
That was at the Dreamville Festival.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
We've been educated on Loopus, how important bees are. When
I about died in the Dominican Republic and they had
to siphon gas from my motorcycle and put it on
my open wounds. You remember that episode, how the black
dollar only circulates in our neighborhoods for six hours, the
beef between Lamborghini and Ferrari. Remember when the Pentagon designed
(01:15):
that bomb there was supposed to turn people gay. We've
been talking about it all and that ain't gonna start.
Because the transparency of this podcast is I'm really sharing
things in real time, as I'm experiencing them, as I'm
learning them.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
They're literally things that I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Maybe you didn't either, And that's why the podcast is
so anticipated from week to week because they're entertaining, digestible
episodes that come from a place of transparency, which is
my life. And many times you're just a shocked that
you didn't know that you just gotta share it with
somebody else. So in the spirit of that transparency and
vulnerability of my life, I would like to share with
(01:54):
you today that I think I'm about to purchase a cat.
And no I don't mean it hell cats, I mean
a feline.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
And I never thought I would be that guy.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I mean, growing up, I was educated just like the
rest of my black friends. You get a dog, dog
is man's best friend. In the nineties, you got you
a Rottwilder or a child. You remember the child's child's had
them purple tongs. I had a child, but then transition
into two thousand, everybody was getting them pit bulls, red
nose pits, blue pits. I've always wanted a German Shepherd.
(02:26):
That's always been my favorite dog. Both of my granddads
had German Shepherds. They never knew each other, and both
of their German shepherds.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Were named Lady. Ain't that crazy?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
You probably know somebody that had a dog named Lady too.
But I never saw myself as the cat guy, like
cats were always sneaky, and you know you had a
weird crazy cat ladies and cats licked themselves and cough
up hairballs. But recently I've been thinking I want a pets.
I've wanted a pet for a couple of years. It
actually started with me, want another kid, but the wife said, hey,
(02:57):
we got a nineteen year old and a thirteen year old.
The hell when we start that process over again. And
she's got a point, But I want a pet. But
dogs are too needy. Man. You gotta walk dogs, you
gotta teach dogs, you gotta play with dogs, like they
just always follow you around. What we're doing today, boss,
What we're doing today? Owner?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
What we're doing today? Owner? Or we're doing today? Owner?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Owner?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
You want to do something. Hey, owner, you want to
do something? Hey owner, you want to do something? Hey
what we're doing today?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Owner?
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Like gone somewhere, Like I want a pet that can
be a pet when I wanted to be a pet,
and then like it can go in and do its
own thing, and like rabbits are boring gerbils and hamsters.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
My daughter has.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Two fish sleep and one of my partners, Tony Baker,
he's a comedian and he just always talks about how
smart cats are and how he's a cat guy. So
I start looking in the cats, and it made me
start thinking, why do we hate cats so much?
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Why don't we.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Call them sneaky? And God forbid it be a black cat?
They bad love? And then, in the spirit of I
didn't know, maybe you didn't either, I could hear my
ancestors saying.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Bought a black cat, gotta be bad.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Thus starting my deep die. But to kick off this episode,
I would first like to start with three of the
most useless facts you'll never need, not a day in
life about cats.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Your first useless facts.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
In ancient Egypt, killing a cat, even by accidents, could
be punishable by death. Cats have more legal protection than
some people your second useless facts, black cats are considered
good luck in Japan, Scotland, and by sailors. Yeah, for
the sailors, if your boat had a black cat, you
(04:36):
felt like you was Poseidon's cousin. Poseidon was the god
of the water. Keep up, folks, and your third useless facts.
During the Black Plague, Europeans them good old Europeans killed
all the cats because they thought that the cats was
causing the disease. And all that did was made the
plague worse because the rats, who were really carrying the
(04:59):
disease a law with fleas, basically took over. Those have
been your three useless facts. In ancient Egypt, killing a cats,
even by accident, could be punishable by death. You just
out there with your charriot, a cat jump out in
the middle of the road, and there's your funeral. Second,
(05:19):
black cats are considered good luck in Japan, Scotland and
by sailors. And third, during the Black Plague, the Europeans
killed all the cats thinking they caused the disease. Meanwhile,
the plague got worse because the rats took over. Yeah,
the Europeans like, hey, let's remove Earth's anti rats system.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And see what happens dummies.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
So here I am contemplating being a cat dad, and
I've looked up different cats, and I say, you know what,
I think. I want a black cat. And some of
the best black cats are bombay cats. They look like
baby panthers. But then I started thinking, like, do you
even know that history of cats and how black cats
became to be synonymous with luck?
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Because I didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know. I
didn't know.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I didn't know, all right, So listen, cats didn't start
off as sneaky and evil or bad luck.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Cats used to be up.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Let's rewind back to ancient Egypt, or as I like
to call it, the Golden Era of feline appreciation. Cats
were so beloved that they weren't even considered pets. They
were spiritual protectors. There's a god that's basted, and you've
probably seen the god that's basted. They had the head
of a cat. She controlled music, fertility, joy, home protection,
(06:44):
basically everything that makes a house a home. She was
the original house cat energy and in ancient Egypt, cats
were superstars. They was like the Michael Jackson of the animals.
If your house caught on fire, the cat got saved first.
If somebody disrespected your cat, made meat bastet in person.
Early Egyptians saw cats as protectors against snakes. They were
(07:06):
the hunter of mice and other rodents. They were guardians
against evil spirits, and they were the og baby monitors
because they slept near the kids. Cats had elite status,
royal regal respected.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Then the Greek saan. The Romans pulled up like okat
cool an them. Old body doesn't fetch, that's still useful.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
They didn't worship cats, but they appreciated the pest control game.
Still no hate, no superstition, cats still doing their thing.
Now fast forward to medieval Europe, good old Europeans, and
this is where the pr team for the cats failed
them tremendously. See, people got super religious. They were scared
of everything that they didn't understand. Wouldn't I say they
(07:50):
feel what they don't understand, hate what they can't conquer.
I guess it's just the theory of man God.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I mean. Cats were different.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
They were nocturnal, they were independent, Their eyes reflected in
the dark. So folks said that animal gotta be working
with the devil. And of course they went after the
black cats first, because we all know history loves the
villainize anything that's black first, and women who lived along
with cats or instant witch They even believed that witches
(08:23):
could shape shift into black cats at night. I mean,
imagine the police questioning you, like, were you a woman
at five pm and a cat by midnight? We have witnesses.
So now cats is linked to witchcraft. People start eliminating them,
and then the black plague hit. The Europeans get rid
(08:44):
of the cats.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
They're evil. They're evil.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Cats disappear, rats flourish please on. Those rats spread the
plague like wildfire, and that's when humans realized, hold up,
we might have messed up, might have needed the cats.
But superstition stick man hard, so that black cats are
bad luck. Myth that travels from Europe to America. And
(09:09):
suddenly a cat that once got treated like royalty in
Africa now getting judged like it's on trial. Meanwhile, Japan
is like black cats bring love. Scotland is like a
black cat at your door or that means money coming.
Sailors is like black cats protect the ship. So it's
not black cats bringing bad luck. They just got caught
(09:30):
in the crossfire, superstition and bad decision making, and we
brought bad luck to them.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
So give black cats some respect.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Man. They walked, so hello, kiddy merch Karun. They survived superstition, flander,
and a whole plague. Black cats deserve their crown back.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either,
Host
Brian "B Daht" McLaughlin
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