EDITOR’S NOTE: The Expositor Office learned of this remarkable (and unexplainable) event not long after it had happened and suggested to the people involved that it would be an appropriate submission to Dorah L. Williams column on Island peoples’ experiences with the supernatural. The column, that ran monthly for two years, ‘Mystical Manitoulin,’ was paused by Ms. Williams before this story was written so The Expositor decided to save it until now to be a part of the 2025 ‘Happy Holiday Reading’ offering. In keeping with Ms Williams’ style for the pieces she curated for her column, it is rendered anonymously. Happy reading!
This is a true story from a few days before Christmas 2024. It involves a lost cat, a desperate family and the powers of collective clairvoyance.
We, a family of five with Manitoulin roots, were preparing to head to the Island to enjoy Christmas with family. It was December 21 and we were planning to head up within the next couple of days.
Our two cats, Salem and Binx, brothers from Quebec who were adopted over COVID, would remain at home, under the care of a neighbour.
That evening was brutally cold, -178°C and windy. Still, the cats wanted to go out and we obliged them.
The cats are outdoor cats, but very rarely venturing further than the small, fenced-in backyard. On this cold night we figured they would have a sniff around in the snow then scurry back in minutes later. Salem, the boss cat, did exactly that. But Binx, his highly anxious and neurotic sibling, chose this freezing night to go walkabout. Salem came running back in after 10 minutes, but Binx was nowhere to be seen.
Minutes, then hours ticked by, with no sign of Binx, leaving us panicking about his whereabouts and well-being. Not only was it a cold night, but coyotes had recently been sighted in the neighbourhood.
We went to bed for a fitful rest thinking of poor Binx out in the cold. Where could he be? Was he alive? Was he suffering?
The next morning, there was still no sign of Binx. We picked out a good photo and put together a missing cat poster to plaster around the neighbourhood. Temperatures were still unseasonably cold.
With a cat missing, someone would have to stay back from Christmas on Manitoulin, remaining at home in hopes of Binx’s return. It was not the Christmas we had planned on.
The Psychics
The family mom called her best friend in BC to tell her about the situation. This friend was, and is, highly into esoterica—healing crystals, hypnosis, extrasensory perception, etc. Indeed, she had a close group of friends who shared her interest in clairvoyance and clairsentience. Upon hearing about the lost cat, she immediately offered to enlist her network to collectively search for Binx through the power of their minds. While a bit skeptical, mom agreed. Why not?
While our family fretted and worried, both about poor Binx and the thought of someone staying behind over Christmas, these psychic ladies (they were all women, from across North America) started channeling the lost cat. Calls and texts started rolling in: He’s in the neighbourhood, check out a brick house, under a white porch within 100 metres. He’s on a quiet side street near your home, in a shed near by a small front garden. He’s near a corner house with dark trim or a wooden fence, very close by.
These well-meaning tips were all checked out, with kind but quizzical neighbours wondering why we were snooping around their yards.
Still no sign of Binx.
While appreciated, the clairvoyant clues were not panning out. Gloom descended upon the household—intense worry about the cat and sadness about Christmas apart.
The Rescue
Near midnight on December 22, while our family was packing for a sad Christmas on Manitoulin, with someone left behind in faint hopes for a return by the cat, and getting ready to go to bed, the BC friend called: Binx is very close. Go check again, get down on your knees and check in the backyard bushes.
Mom calls on the troop for one last search before bed. Bundled up, the team goes down for yet another walk around the block to call for Binx. As soon as she opens the door, Binx bolts inside—freezing, but healthy despite his two-night disappearance. We all rejoiced and welcomed our furry boy back home. He was a bit dazed from his experience but obviously happy to be home. We were so grateful for his return, our chance to spend Christmas together and for the efforts of the BC friend’s psychic network who helped us find him.
True story! Weird …or what??
