Value:  66¢ 1-ounce First-class rate (Forever)

Issue Date:  October 11, 2019

Printed by:  Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.

Printing Method:  Flexographic, Rainbow Foil

Format:  Pane of 20

When people think of Halloween, a number of spooky symbols come to mind.  One of the most common is the black cat.  In fact, in the United States, it is said that if a black cat crosses our path you will be cursed with bad luck.  At the same time, in other countries, black cats are believed to be very lucky.  So where did our black cat superstition come from?

When the Pilgrims came to America, they brought with them a set of very strict religious belifs.  This led them to condemn anything and anyone even remotely resembling evil.  It was these early Americans who began to associate black cats as being the familiars of witches – firmly believed to be worshipers of Satan.  Anyone found to be the owner of a black cat was severely punished and sometimes even killed.  The cats themselves were also destroyed.

Today, America’s prejudice against black cats is not nearly as severe as it was for the Pilgrims, though the spooky feeling these felines give us still lingers.  This has led many people to avoid black cats, especially around Halloween.  Considering this history, it is only fitting that the black cat was pictured on one of the United States’ 2019 Spooky Silhouettes stamps.