Top 10 instances of animals which exhibited paranormal phenomena

by Joan Seth

Fresh on the trail of Paul the psychic octopus predicting World Cup results, we at Asia Paranormal have compiled a list of paranormal phenomena that are attributed to animals. Some of these animals have become celebrities in their own right. Can this effectively prove that animals have paranormal abilities? Or are these just clever hoaxes?

1. Lady Wonder


Lady Wonder in the stables

Lady Wonder was a horse who was famed for making psychic predictions, ranging from helping police to locate missing persons to results of boxing matches. She even helped to discover oil deposits in the ground.

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2. Sandy the winged cat


Picture of a winged cat

Just as the title says, cats have been found to have 'wings' growing out of their backs. Medical experts have speculated that these 'wings' are either: 1) matted fur growing out of the back, 2) skin disorders or 3) extra limbs which are mutations.

In 1950, a tortoiseshell cat called Sandy with "sizable" wings was exhibited at a carnival in Sutton, Nottinghamshire. Sandy had not previously grown wings, so this seems a case of matted fur.

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3. Greyfriars Bobby

Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier who was famous in the 19th century for allegedly guarding the grave of his owner for 14 years. His owner, John Gray had passed away after owning Bobby for 2 years. It was said that Bobby spent the rest of his life at his master's grave, till he died. The local people erected a status of Greyfriars Bobby as a tribute to his unnerving loyalty to its master.


Statue of Greyfairs Bobby

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4. Clever Hans

Clever Hans was a horse that was claimed to have been able to perform arithmetic and other intellectual tasks. Hans was said to have been taught to add, subtract, multiply, divide, work with fractions, tell time, keep track of the calendar, differentiate musical tones, and read, spell, and understand German.

In 1907, psychologist Oskar Pfungst demonstrated that the horse was not actually performing these mental tasks, but was watching the reaction of his human observers. Pfungst discovered that the horse was responding directly to involuntary cues in the body language of the human trainer, who had the faculties to solve each problem. The trainer was entirely unaware that he was providing such cues.


Clever Hans

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5. Mike the Headless Chicken


Mike the Headless Chicken

Although there has only been ever one documented case of a decapitated animal who managed to stay alive, I feel that this is so much of an oddity that it must be included in this list.

Mike was a chicken who managed to live for 18 months in 1945, after his head was cut off. He was supposed to have been cooked for supper. He managed to exhibit usual chicken behavior such as preening itself and crowing. His owner fed him through a eyedropper. Mike choked to death in 1947.

Post mortem, it was determined that the axe had missed the carotid artery and a clot had prevented Mike from bleeding to death.

[Video of Mike the Headless Chicken]

6. Tiggy the talking cat

There have been cases of animals, especially dogs and cats, mimicking human speech. (Parrots are not counted!) How could such animals have managed to form human speech? Human vocal cords are different from animals, that is why we manage to talk; parrots have similar vocal cords.

Skeptics consider the results to be a form of mimicry and the observer-expectancy effect, not true communication. Nevertheless, check out the video of the famous Tiggy the talking cat below and many others available on the internet and form your own conclusions.

[Video of Tiggy the talking cat]

7. Animal predictors

It has been postulated that the reported animal behavior before an earthquake is simply their response to an increase in low-frequency electromagnetic signals. The University of Colorado has demonstrated that electromagnetic activity can be generated by the fracturing of crystalline rock.

Such activity occurs in fault lines before earthquakes. According to one study, electromagnetic sensors yield statistically valid results in predicting earthquakes

There have been so many instances of animals such as birds, cats, dogs, toads, horses, pigs able to sense a impending earthquake, that I have not narrowed it down to one single animal.

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8. Bobbie the wonder dog

Many cases have showed dogs and cats travelling great distances to find their lost owners. Bobbie, a Collie was one of them.


Bobbie the Wonder Dog

In 1923, Bobbie was separated from his owners and lost in Indiana. His owners failed to find him and returned home to Oregon. Six months later, Bobbie appeared on their doorstep, mangy and scrawny with feet worn to the bone; he showed all the signs of having walked the entire way back alone.

During his ordeal he crossed 2,800 miles of plain, desert and mountains in the dead of winter to return home.

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9. Ol' Rip the Horned Toad


Ol' Rip the Horned Toad

Ol' Rip was a horned lizard (or commonly known as a horned toad) whose supposed 31-year hibernation as an entombed animal is believed by some and doubted by others. His name is a reference to the fictional character Rip Van Winkle.

In 1897, a horned lizard was placed in a cornerstone of the Eastland County Courthouse in Eastland, Texas along with other time capsule memorabilia. When the courthouse was torn down 31 years later, the cornerstone was opened on February 18, 1928, a live horned lizard was produced, allegedly from within the time capsule.

This is just one example of animals entombed in rocks or trees and surviving without any viable source of food, water and air for long periods of time.

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10. Koko the gorilla

Koko was a gorilla who, was able to understand more than 1,000 signs based on American Sign Language and understand approximately 2,000 words of spoken English.

Dr. Hashalaba believes that Koko's use of signs and her actions, which are consistent with her use of signs, indicate she has mastered the use of sign language. Other researchers argue that she does not understand the meaning behind what she is doing and learns to complete the signs simply because the researchers reward her for doing so.

This is just one case of animals developing almost human-like intelligence. Can we safely say that humans are the only intelligent species on this planet?

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