The Murders in History blog shares the story of Agnes Bowker, a 27-year-old woman claimed to have given birth to a cat.
This happened in England in 1568, when presumably a woman claiming to give birth to animals would be considered a witch. Perhaps not the wisest confession. One midwife told of a supernatural being that would visit Agnes, but the other women attending the birth said they saw nothing. The women were sent to get supplies for the birth and found the cat when they returned.
Locals were suspicious, especially after someone noted that Agnes had tried to borrow a cat and that a local cat had later disappeared. They believed Agnes had killed and skinned the cat, not given birth to it. Agnes’ motives for the lie are unknown, but contemporaries believed she had actually been pregnant. No one knows whether Agnes lied about the pregnancy, miscarried, or killed or abandoned the baby.
