- "Home -- that blessed word, which opens to the human
heart the most perfect glimpse of Heaven, and helps to carry it thither,
as on an angel's wings."
- --Lydia M. Child
-
- The term "heartwarming" is a platitude that
has been cheapened by its overuse. Whenever I see a critic implement that
word in a movie review, it causes me concern, because films given that
label are often anything but. But "heartwarming" is the only
appropriate word to describe 1943's classic tearjerker, Lassie Come Home.
The flick tells the tale of a loving collie who makes a difficult and
prolonged journey home after her poor family sells her to a rich nobleman.
The story is simple but not dumb, sentimental but not cloying.
-
- But what really makes the film resonate with viewers
is its psychological truth. Although science has long regarded animals
as little more than eating, breathing "machines" functioning
on instinct, anyone who has experienced the love of a pet knows better.
And surprisingly, the seemingly far-fetched plot of Lassie Come Home is
closer to reality than one might think.
-
- For hundreds of years, reports have existed of lost pets
somehow returning to their original homes and/or owners, sometimes covering
hundreds or even thousands of miles on foot. The current paradigms of mainstream
science cannot account for this peculiar ability of domesticated pets.
-
- Perhaps the easiest and most obvious explanation for
this phenomenon is an inherent psychic ability in animals. The research
of Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, author of the book "Dogs that Know When Their
Owners are Coming Home..." seems to indicate that pets have intense
psychic connections with their owners. In controlled experiments, Sheldrake
has demonstrated that animals are able to anticipate when their owners
are returning home at a rate considerably higher than chance. (Link: http://www.sheldrake.org/papers/Animals/dogvideo_abs.html)
-
- The evidence of pets finding their way home over enormous
distances may be anecdotal, but the sheer NUMBER of reports is powerful.
I decided to explore this phenomenon by searching through a database of
newspaper archives with keywords such as "animal traveled" and
"cat/dog journeyed." One surprise for me was the number of reports
describing the improbable journeys home of CATS. (Of course, the tale of
the wayward dog returning home has been made a cliché by Lassie
Come Home.) It is also worth noting that some pets seem more attached to
places than to people.
-
- Here now are some of the more intriguing newspaper accounts
I have found of lost pets finding their way home.
-
- News Journal, Sunday July 25, 1971, Mansfield, Ohio
- From The Family Weekly
-
- The Love Cats Feel For People...The Journeys Their Love
Inspires
-
- By Felica Ames
-
- What built-in cat radar led Clementine through endless
miles of unknown country to the one house and one family in the world she
was looking for?
-
- How long would it take to walk from Dunkirk, N. Y., to
Denver, Col.? A cat named Clementine could tell you. It took her four paw-bruising
months to make that 1,600-mile trek. But then, Clementine didn't know the
way.
-
- When Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lundmark moved from Dunkirk
to Denver, they left their pet black cat with neighbors because Clementine
was in the family way. Once the litter was weaned, however, Clementine
abandoned her brood and hit the road. Four months later an exhausted female
cat appeared on the Lundmark's doorstep. There was no doubt it was Clementine,
for this amazing animal was unique in another way. She had seven toes on
each front paw, two white spots on her stomach and a scar on her left shoulder.
-
- (snip)
- ------------------------------
-
- The Ames Daily Tribune
- Ames, Iowa, Friday, March 25, 1955
- GRAFTON, ILL. (UP) - Fluffy, a Persian cat, journeyed
750 miles back to the mistress who had given it away.
-
- Miss Cora Lofton said she gave the eight-year old cat
to a relative in Roseau, Minn., last August, but that Fluffy somehow made
its way home.
-
- Miss Lofton, who said she had tried unsuccessfully once
before to give Fluffy away, said she won't try again.
- -----------------------------------------
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- The Reno Evening Gazette, November 16, 1953
-
- Claim Cat Came Home 1500 Miles
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- FRESNO, (UP) - Mr. and Mrs. James P. Huffman, jr. think
their black cat, Delilah, is quite a navigator besides being a lucky omen.
-
- They reported the animal traveled more than 1500 miles
all alone in order to return to its Fresno home after being lost in Tulsa,
Okla.
-
- They said Delilah - a male despite its name - jumped
out of the family car in Tulsa Sept. 25 and returned here exhausted 47
days later.
-
- "I just can't believe it," Mrs. Huffman said.
"We had joked about watching for Delilah but we never thought it would
happen. Who says black cats aren't lucky?"
-
- The couple said the cat, whose identity was confirmed
in their minds by faint bald spots above its eyes, has slept roundly for
two nights and a day since its homecoming.
- ------------------------------------
-
- The Vidette Messenger, Valparaiso Indiana,
- Wednesday, November 6, 1940
-
- CAT WALKS 100 MILES
- BOSTON - (UP) Mrs. Thompson Boyd's cat journeyed 100
miles in nine months to return home from Mystic, Conn. Its paws were swollen
and raw from the long trip.
- ---------------------------
-
- The Elyria Chronicle, Elyria, Ohio
- Thursday, February 5, 1903
-
- AND THE CAT CAME BACK
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- This Animal Traveled 100 Miles to Live Up to the Tradition
- Of Its Species.
-
- Walter B. Post, an insurance agent of Utica, N. Y., moved
to that city from Slaterville Springs, near Ithaca recently, and among
the family possessions brought to Utica was a cat. The feline did not take
kindly to her new surroundings, and ten days ago disappeared. Every possible
means was adopted in an effort to recover the pet, but without result.
The other day a letter was received by Mr. Post from former neighbors at
Slaterville Springs announcing the safe arrival of the cat at their home
in that place in an emaciated condition. The distance from Utica to the
place where the cat returned is over 100 miles by rail, and the manner
in which it made the journey is a mystery.
- ----------------------------------------
-
- The Washington Post, Sunday, January 22, 1905
- Washington, DC
-
- DOG TRAVELED FAR ALONE
-
- From the Kansas City Journal
-
- The remarkable attachment for its home place is shown
in the case of Carlo, a fine water spaniel belonging to James Dingman,
who several weeks ago left Stroud, OK, for Idaho. Carlo was tied in one
of the cars with the stock. He stood the trip for 800 miles, but the desire
to get back to the old home place evidently grew upon him. Mr. Dingman
thought it was safe to untie the dog, but no sooner had the animal been
loosed than it jumped out of the car and made a bee line for Stroud. It
never stopped until it had traveled the whole 300 miles and reached home
almost starved. Others on the place who knew the dog cared for it . It
is said that Carlo was the happiest cur in Stroud when he saw and recognized
his old chum, J C Manning.
- -----------------------------------------------------
-
- The Gettysburg Times, Thursday, July 29, 1920, Gettysburg,
PA
-
- DOG ON LONG HIKE
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- Animal traveled 900 Miles in Eight Months
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- Albuquerque, N.M., July 29 -- Two years ago Roy M. Coe
and his family moved here from Fort Scott, Kan., bringing with them the
family pet, Bud, a collie dog. Last Nomember, Bud disappeared from home
and, although Mr. Coe advertised and offered a substantial reward for the
dog's return no trace of him was found.
-
- The other day Coe received a message from his brother-in-law,
an employee of the Fort Scott Gas Company, reading: "Bud, somewhat
tired, walked into the gas plant and lay down." The dog apparently
had consumed about eight months making the trip of approximately 900 miles.
The trip to Albuquerque was made by train, consequently on his eastward
journey, Bud had no familiar landmarks to guide him, unless he followed
the railroad.
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