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Black Cat
Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
130 posts | 120 read | 15 to read
"The Black Cat" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the August 19, 1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post. It is a study of the psychology of guilt. A murderer carefully conceals his crime and believes himself unassailable, but eventually breaks down and reveals himself, impelled by a nagging reminder of his guilt. The story is presented as a first-person narrative using an unreliable narrator. He is a condemned man at the outset of the story. The narrator tells us that from an early age he has loved animals. He and his wife have many pets, including a large black cat named Pluto. This cat is especially fond of the narrator and vice versa. Their mutual friendship lasts for several years, until the narrator becomes an alcoholic. One night, after coming home intoxicated, he believes the cat is avoiding him. When he tries to seize it, the panicked cat bites the narrator, and in a fit of rage, he seizes the animal, pulls a pen-knife from his pocket, and deliberately gouges out the cat's eye. From that moment onward, the cat flees in terror at his master's approach. At first, the narrator is remorseful and regrets his cruelty. "But this feeling soon gave place to irritation. And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of perverseness." He takes the cat out in the garden one morning and hangs it from a tree, where it dies. That very night, his house mysteriously catches fire, forcing the narrator, his wife and their servant to flee. The next day, the narrator returns to the ruins of his home to find, imprinted on the single wall that survived the fire, the figure of a gigantic cat, hanging by its neck from a rope.
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Susanita
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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Happy #blackcat appreciation day!

Ruthiella ❤️🐈‍⬛❤️🐈‍⬛❤️ 4mo
vlwelser 😻😻😻 4mo
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 Is it then okay on this day to let one cross your path? 😂 4mo
Susanita @dabbe It‘s okay every day!😸 4mo
dabbe @Susanita #amen Especially the lovely one in your photo! 🖤🐾🖤 4mo
45 likes5 comments
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HotMessJess
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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Yet mad, I am not. Throwback to Visiting Edgar Allen Poes house 🐦‍⬛

Tamra Did you hear anything beating behind the walls? 💔🖤 6mo
Librarybelle So cool!!! 6mo
19 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Leftcoastzen
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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happy #NationalBlackCatDay this is Boo Boo who will still smack me if the idea pleases her!

dabbe Hello there, Beautiful Boo Boo! 🖤🐾🖤 14mo
AnnCrystal 💕😸😻💝. 14mo
LeahBergen 😆😆 So cute! 14mo
batsy She looks like an adorable handful! 🖤 14mo
Leftcoastzen @batsy she‘s a small warrior queen , just ask her !😁 14mo
53 likes5 comments
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AmandaBlaze
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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Lizpixie
Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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#HalloweenPoetryMatters #Day14 #Cat A great quote from one of my favourite gothic writers. #Scarathlon #SpookyGhostClub 6pts

TheSpineView 🖤🐈‍⬛🖤 1y
Clwojick 🖤🖤🖤 1y
27 likes2 comments
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dabbe
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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#ScarathlonPhotoChallenge #Scarathlon #Black

I see the word BLACK, and I think of “The Black Cat“ by EA Poe. I'll be reading a book of his selected stories (one of which is TBC), so I'll earn 15 more pts. for team #HHC. 🖤🐈‍⬛🖤

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BeckyWithTheGoodBooks
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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1. I am Beyoncé always (The Office reference ?). Really I just wanted a punny name and my friends call me Becky With The Good Hair because of my curls.

2. Thrillers/horror and literary fiction

3. Definitely Autumn

4. I‘m a BIG skeptic, but open to the possibility

5. US of A

6. I‘m a single mom of two and a lead engineer at Boeing, active in the PTA, and make my kids‘ Halloween costumes every year!

#scarathlon #blackcatcrew

BookwormAHN Fantastic 🐈‍⬛ 1y
21 likes2 comments
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Kimberlone
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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#Scarathlon #TeamSlaughter #DailyPhotoPrompt #Day26 #BlackCat

Legitimately a disturbing Poe story! I once visited the Poe house in Baltimore that has the basement that allegedly inspired this story.

vivastory This is one of my favorite Poe stories. So grim. I bet that was a great tour! 2y
46 likes1 stack add1 comment
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TheSpineView
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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#ScarathlonDailyPrompt #Scarathlon2022
@StayCurious
#Black Cat

This classic is the first book that came to mind.

LiseWorks My pick as well 2y
TheSpineView @LiseWorks Great minds! 2y
54 likes2 comments
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LiseWorks
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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IndoorDame
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Panpan

Wow. This WAY exceeded my tolerance for gore and cruelty, but since it‘s the original #skeleton in a closet story I felt like I had to read it. #OminousOctober #Scarathlon2022 #TeamMonsterMash @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs @StayCurious

Eggs 🖤🩸🔪🖤 2y
42 likes1 comment
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jen_hayes7
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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Happy spooky season, littens!!! Hurray for Halloween month!! #ominousoctober #lennox #catsoflitsy

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Beautiful 🖤😻 2y
Eggs Great cat 🐈‍⬛ ! And pillows! 2y
21 likes2 comments
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JuliaTheBookNerd
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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Back at it for October 😊

#Cat 🐈‍⬛🖤 #OminousOctober 🎃👻🐈‍⬛🧡🤍🖤

#BookNerd 🤓💙📚

Eggs Love that cat 🐈‍⬛ 🎃 🖤 2y
60 likes1 stack add1 comment
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AmandaBlaze
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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Pickpick

This is still a thrilling revenge tale. Poe is the master of dread.
#OminousOctober #cat #Scarathlon2022 20pts
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@StayCurious

Eggs Perfection 🐈‍⬛ 2y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Great choice 🖤 2y
JudeCC I LOVE Poe!!! 2y
27 likes3 comments
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hopebeths
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
Mehso-so

Quite horrific in its animal cruelty. Poe's talent for creating suspense and tension is clearly done. A man clearly with a penchant for violence

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Susanita
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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He had a hard day sleeping under the bed, so he had to spend the evening napping on the arm of the loveseat. #beginswith #black

AlaMich 😹 3y
julesG 😻 3y
Smrloomis 😹 3y
See All 6 Comments
BookBabe 😸 3y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 🖤 🐈‍⬛ 3y
Eggs 🖤🐈‍⬛🖤 3y
49 likes6 comments
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Readergrrl
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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My package is on its way for #AllHallowsReadSwap and I hope it brings more treat than trick!! 🎃👻🧛🏼‍♀️🧟‍♀️ It should arrive by October 21st!!

Crazeedi What a great picture ❤ 3y
MaleficentBookDragon Oh that looks like my Harpy. Awwww. 🐈‍⬛ 3y
Readergrrl I love black cats!!! 3y
49 likes3 comments
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Nazgul93
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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Been chilling with my spooky cat Darth who loves his candy corn tent! My weekly points 10,263! #Scarathlon #TeamHarkness @StayCurious #LittenListen @aperfectmjk #Screamathon @4thhouseontheleft #spookoween @TheSpineView #wickedathon

TheSpineView Adorable! 🖤🐈 3y
AmyG Too cute. 3y
StayCurious Amazing job! 3y
11 likes3 comments
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alisiakae
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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Pickpick

Started the month off with a short story from my Chilling Ghost Short Stories compilation. My reading buddy is well suited to the story. 🐈‍⬛ 🙀

The animal brutality in this one is horrendous. Think Dr. Doolittle gone mad. There is a whole lot of self-delusion and attempts at justification here, and I always love the supernatural elements Poe throws on top of his explorations of human behavior.

#screamathon #catsoflitsy #HelloKitty

DivineDiana Love Poe and your cat! ❤️📚😻 3y
alisiakae @DivineDiana Poe was a favorite of mine in high school and college, but I haven‘t read him in years. It‘s like discovering him all over again! 3y
RaeLovesToRead Beautiful kitty 🥰 3y
See All 8 Comments
DivineDiana Perfect! 👏🏻📚👍🏻 3y
ravenlee I read that story earlier this year. So disturbing! 3y
ShelleyBooksie Beautiful cat! 3y
78 likes1 stack add8 comments
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Cazxxx
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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🐈‍⬛ One of my favourite short stories 🐈‍⬛

Yuki_Onna This cover... Wonderfully creepy! 4y
Cazxxx @Yuki_Onna it‘s amazing 😻 4y
27 likes2 comments
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K.Wielechowski
Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Happy holidays!

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Rehesina
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Pickpick

Short stories are a beautiful form of art in their own right and Poe is absolutely wonderful. Not gonna lie though, this was pretty horrible.

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Rehesina
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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I‘m halfway through the black cat and I swear I gasped out loud when he told us what he did to that poor kitty.

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Jadams89
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Pickpick

I finally finished all the prompts for the Basic Witch level of #ReadLikeHellathon. In the Black Cat, a man kills his cat, and it comes back to haunt him. In a moment of rage, he commits another murder and hides the body in the wall. The cat gives away the location of the body and seals his fate.

+16 #TeamHarkness #Scarathlon2020 #ReadLikeHellathon

StayCurious Awesome progress! 4y
23 likes1 comment
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Susanita
Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Kili being Kili. I hope Maya feels better soon.

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WhatThePuck
Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Help me name our new baby girl.

BarbaraTheBibliophage Vivien Leigh! We are watching the new Netflix series called Hollywood and she just popped to mind when I saw your sweet girl. 🤪😻 5y
BookishBelle Warning: if you name her Beelzebub (like my sister named my cat), she will live up to it. 🤪 5y
xicanti I think she looks like a Spooky. That‘s totally a Halloween face. 5y
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Jemgirl2014 She looks like an Iris to me. She has such pretty eyes. 😍😍❤️ 5y
Sleepswithbooks She‘s beautiful 🥰 O-Ren. 5y
Butterfinger I like Baby Girl, but I endorse Vivien Leigh. 5y
BookNAround She‘s gorgeous so I‘d probably name her George. 5y
Grrlbrarian Grace O‘Malley after the pirate queen! 5y
StaceGhost So lovely! I recommend Nyx, Queen of the Night or Lucia, Silky Rockstar Princess 5y
Clare-Dragonfly She‘s so beautiful! I don‘t think I can beat Vivien Leigh as a suggestion. 5y
limada @BarbaraTheBibliophage I have a (Clark) Gable at home because he's dark, handsome and roguish... lol
5y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @limada That‘s awesome! 5y
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick Shadow or, since you tagged Poe, Annabel Lee. 5y
65 likes13 comments
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K.Wielechowski
Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Shelf inspector approves of the new bookshelf #shelfie #blackcat

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Cat approved! 5y
10 likes1 comment
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ladym30
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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This is a classic from 1934. It is one of my favorite horror films!🙀🙀🙀

31 likes1 stack add
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Emma3
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Pickpick

A short but creepy book

Zelma That illustration is horrifying! 😱 5y
26 likes1 comment
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LouBeth
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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This has to be one of the most disturbing stories about a #blackcat

#ScreamathonPhotoChallenge @4thhouseontheleft

alisiakae 😵 😲 5y
32 likes1 comment
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RainyDayReading
Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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I love this print by LornaLaineArt over on Etsy! All their prints are gorgeous but this one was especially suited for today‘s #chillingphotochallenge prompt #blackcat and it was just too pretty to not share. #teamslaughter #scarathlon @Clwojick

kamoorephoto 💓💓💓 5y
CoffeeCatsBooks So pretty! 😻 5y
Nute Nice! 5y
43 likes3 comments
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Chrys
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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The neighbor‘s almost #blackcat who comes over and throws himself down for pets when he sees us come home. #TeamStoker #ChillingPhotoChallenge @TheReadingMermaid
1 point

BeansPage 🧟‍♀️ 5y
17 likes1 comment
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MoonWitch94
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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I am not a cat person, HOWEVER, I do think #BlackCats are gorgeous and fabulous. #ChillingPhotoChallenge #October4th #BlackCat #TeamSlaughter

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night_shift
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Pickpick

This is by far my favorite Poe story. I've read through a good chunk of this book, but it's so much. Dude was weird lol (2 pts. 1 for read, 1 for post)

#BlackCat #ChillingPhotoChallenge #TeamStoker #scarathlon @TheReadingMermaid

bookful He use really amount of big words, that there ones you have to look up in dictionary for the meaning lol 5y
night_shift @bookful sometimes! 5y
BeansPage 🧟‍♀️ 5y
55 likes3 comments
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InkedBookworm13
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Day 4 of #ChillingPhotoChallenge is #BlackCat
I told the story of our family cat in yesterday's post for the other photo challenge I'm in but here is a recap. This is our cat that is now our grandparents cat.
#Scarathlon #TeamSlaughter @Clwojick

Clwojick 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 5y
33 likes1 comment
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JacqMac
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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41 likes1 comment
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Sarahreadstoomuch
Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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#chillingphotochallenge #blackcat I would love to have a kitty again, but our dog is just too high energy puppy still. Hopefully in a couple years! #teamslaughter #scarathlon @Clwojick

Caroline2 Ahhhhhhh!!! 😍 5y
19 likes1 comment
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Kimberlone
The Black Cat | Edgar Allan Poe
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I recently read this story with a student I was tutoring over the summer, and it is actually pretty creepy! The narrator is obsessed with a #blackcat.

Fun fact: I have visited several of Poe‘s residences in Baltimore, Virginia, and Philadelphia. According to the tour guide, Poe‘s basement in this Philadelphia house was the inspiration for this story!

#ChillingPhotoChallenge #Scarathlon #TeamStoker #Poetober @TheReadingMermaid

BeansPage 🧟‍♀️ 5y
27 likes1 comment
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Skygoddess1
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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The Poe Museum in Richmond, VA has two black cats that reside on the property, named Edgar and Pluto (Pluto is the name of the cat in his short story The Black Cat). I was able to get a picture of Edgar enjoying the beautiful fall day in the gardens. #Scaratlon #TeamStoker #ChillingPhotoChallenge Day 4: Black Cat (+1 pt earned)

BeansPage 🧟‍♀️ 5y
MidnightBookGirl I work at Fountain Bookstore and we do events at the Poe Museum quite often. Edgar is super friendly. 🖤🐈 5y
Skygoddess1 @MidnightBookGirl I know. He kept trying to rub against me and I had to keep backing away since I‘m allergic. I will have to look for you at Fountain next time I‘m in Richmond 5y
13 likes3 comments
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FantasyChick
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Nothing quite says "creepy" like an EAP story

#blackcat #chillingphotochallenge #teamslaughter #scarathlon

@Clwojick

Clwojick ☠️☠️ 5y
37 likes1 comment
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jb72
Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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#Scarathlon #TeamStoker #chillingphotochallenge
#blackcat
My black cat Mallie! I rescued her in 2015. She is the best cat ever. I‘m super lucky to have her in my life.

LauraJ Black cats are the best - especially when they‘re rescue cats. 🖤 5y
jb72 @LauraJ I agree! She is such a sweetheart. And she liked to play with my dog. 5y
Clwojick 🖤🖤🖤🖤 5y
See All 9 Comments
brit91 Awww so cute reminds me of my Dixie!😍😻 5y
CoffeeCatsBooks She‘s adorable!!! 😻 5y
AmyRebecca What a beauty 5y
BeansPage 🧟‍♀️ 5y
REPollock I have a rescue black cat, too! His name is Riley. 🖤 5y
28 likes9 comments
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Kappadeemom
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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TheEllieMo
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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I‘ve had not one #BlackCat but two. Sadly, I have no photos of either, having lost many of my old photos a while back. So you‘ll have to make do with my torties in silhouette instead. They almost look black!

#FallisBooked
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Beautiful 😽🖤 5y
OriginalCyn620 I thought they were black! 🖤🐱 5y
45 likes2 comments
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InkedBookworm13
Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Day 3 #FallIsBooked and #BlackCat
This is our family cat. I adopted her 9 years ago for a Valentine's gift for my husband (he was my boyfriend back then) When he decided to go away for college, we asked his grandparents to watch her for us. They fell so deeply in love with her and her with them that she became their cat. ❤️
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Beautiful 🖤😽 5y
OriginalCyn620 What a beauty! 🖤🐱 5y
38 likes2 comments
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Ash.on.the.line
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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I vividly remember reading this in m my creative writings class and can still recall that creepy feeling while reading about that #BlackCat
Poe‘s writing always has a lasting effect. 🖤🖤🖤
#FallisBooked

OriginalCyn620 👌🏻🖤🐱 5y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 🖤🖤🖤 5y
44 likes2 comments
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EadieB
The Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Day 3 - #BlackCat #EdgarAllanPoe #FallisBooked

Meet Blackberry, my black cat!

OriginalCyn620 So cute! 🖤🐱 5y
CoffeeCatsBooks Aww! 😻😻 5y
58 likes3 comments
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Jen_Reads
Black Cat | Edgar Allen Poe
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Not book related, buuut tomorrow is my little cats 5th birthday 🙀. She‘s not the most affectionate member of my family (my shadow yes, but affectionate nope). Though she does hang out while I read and listens to my problems when I come home from work after a hard day. I honestly don‘t know what I would do without her.

#catsoflitsy #flour

That-Bookish-Hiker What a cutie! Happy 5th birthday! 6y
Leftcoastzen Happy Birthday sweet kitty!😻 6y
Amiable We have a black cat who is exactly the same —shadowy but not snuggly! Wonder if it‘s a black cat trait? 🧐 6y
34 likes3 comments