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Demon Cat (or D.C.)[1] is the name given to the ghost of a cat which is purported to haunt the government buildings of Washington, D.C..

The story of the Demon Cat dates back to the days when cats were brought into the basement tunnels of the Capitol buildings to kill rats. Legend states that the Demon Cat is one who never left.[2] Its home is supposedly the basement crypt of the Capitol which was originally intended as a burial chamber for President George Washington.[3]

According to legend, the cat is seen before presidential elections and tragedies in Washington DC,[4] allegedly being spotted by White House security guards the nights before the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln.[5] The cat is described as fully black and the size of an average house cat;[6] but witnesses report that the cat swells to "the size of a giant tiger",[1] 10 feet by 10 feet,[7] when alerted. The cat would then either explode or pounce at the witness, disappearing before it managed to catch its 'victim'.[2]

In the 1890s the cat is said to have inexplicably vanished when some Capitol Hill guards fired at it, and another supposedly died of a heart attack after seeing it.[8]
[edit] Explanation

The last official sighting of the Demon Cat was in the 1940s.[4] The U.S. Capitol Historical Society has stated that at this time the Capitol Police force was notorious for hiring unqualified relatives and friends of Congressmen as favours, and that these men would frequently be drunk whilst on patrol.[9]

The society's version of the story states that a security guard was once licked by a cat when he was lying down. Being drunk, the man thought he was still standing at the time and was frightened by the apparently giant cat, thus spawning the 'Demon Cat' legend. As for the rest of the sightings, Steve Livengood of the society said; "eventually the other guards found out that they could get a day off if they saw the demon cat".[9]