18th Century mummified kitty falls out of ceiling as house is being renovated

18th Century mummified kitty falls out of ceiling as house is being renovated - Bringing old homes up to scratch is nothing out of the ordinary for property renovators Andrew and George Hartley,

But this professional couple nearly jumped out their skin when greeted by their most recent form of preservation - as a mummified cat fell on them.

The couple got a face full of the ancient feline as they removed ceilings from an 18th century property in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire.

Petrified: George Hartley and the mummified cat found in an 18th century home during renovations

Mr Hartley was removing plasterwork and ceilings, to assess what work was needed, when the strange discovery fell from within the roof.

He said 'It is well preserved, and I think it has very likely been up there over 100 years at least.

'We had a look on the internet and it seems that this sort of find is quite uncommon.'

Mummified: Much like the Hartley's discovery, workers at Woburn Abbey were shocked to discover this mummified cat, believed to have been buried to protect the Abbey.

Evil spirits: A mummified cat hangs over the bar at The Nutshell pub in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, to keep bad punters away.

Although experts are not 100 per cent sure if the cat was dead or alive when it was mummified it is thought that because it was positioned in the roof it was mummified intentionally, whilst alive.

MUMMIFIED CATS: GIFT OR KEY TO FENDING OFF EVIL?

• The mummifying of cats can be traced to ancient Egypt where animals were considered to be the embodiment of certain gods and goddesses.
• Cats were believed to represent the goddess Bastet, the protector of women and childbirth, and mummified felines were often sold or given as offerings.
• In more recent history however mummified cats have been found between cavity walls, in roofs, and even beneath window sills to scare away evil spirits.
• Folklore suggests cats were gifted with a sixth sense and many hoped it could exercise its hunting prowess and psychic abilities in the afterlife.

According to folklore, it is said that cats were often put in to walls of properties as a sort of good luck charm and Mrs Hartley added 'Dead cats were put in houses to supposedly ward off evil spirits.

'During the renovation work, we have also found remains of lots of dried onions around the house, again signs of warding off unwelcome spirits.

'We don’t know if this cat would have been put up in the roof before it died, but it has no teeth which indicates it was an old cat that had died, or perhaps it lost its teeth trying to get out of the space.

'Since we have had it, already the body is starting to change and has started to soften since being exposed to the elements.

'It had obviously been perfectly preserved up there. We’re not sure what we’ll do with it now, but maybe we should bury it back in the foundations of the house where it came from.' ( dailymail.co.uk )