Ladies you all might find this interesting as it mentions Oscar/George's family but also a custom for the old days.
Source is a Hawkesbury Historial Society Newsletter
A recent acquisition in the Museum is probably one of
our creepiest. We have accessioned a mummified cat,
a ritual object found under the floorboards, during the
course of renovations, of a house in Day Street,
Windsor belonging to one of our members.
Early convicts and settlers, particularly if they were of
Celtic origin, brought to the colony a belief in folk
magic and witchcraft.
The cat and two
children’s shoes[pictured left] of different sizes, are believed to have been put under the house when it was first built in about 1890. The first owner of the house was a Mr Charles
Clifford, of English extraction, who married a local McMahon girl of Irish background. It may well havebeen at the
insistence of his wife that the ritual objects were
placed beneath the house. Mr Clifford was a
leatherworker at one of the many tanneries in
Windsor. The Clifford’s had five children.
Our mummified cat [pictured right] has been named
Gray Malcolm, after the cat of one of the witches in
Shakespeare’s MacBeth.
Old houses often had concealed ritual objects placed
there as protection against witches, evil spirits and the
powers of darkness. Shoes and boots were the most
common objects used for ritual purposes They were
used as they are the only portion of clothing that
retains its shape once you take it off and bad spirits,
when they saw a shoe or boot, thought that someone
was nearby. Pieces of clothing, bits of lace and cats
were also used. Children’s boots and shoes are oftenused as ritual objects because the children grow out of
the boots or shoes very quickly. In days gone by, an
adult would wear out their shoes or boots. Typically a
single shoe is found, never a pair, and the shoe is
always well-worn.
Typically ritual objects were found in weak points of a
building - the points where witches and evil spirits
could gain access, such as chimneys, the roof or attic
space and under floors. Our mummified cat was found
beneath the entry indicating that it was placed under
the threshold to stop witches or bad spirits from
entering the house. Cats were believed to have an
association with witches and were associated with the
underworld and bad spirits would see the cat and
assume there was a witch nearby and would not enter
the premises and deliver evil upon the occupants.
Another favourite spot to place a ritual object or
talisman was under the hearth.
