Wow.

For what it's worth, the ghost critters I and my family have encountered
have all been completely benign, and have actually provided some comfort
at times. My brother still misses the ghost cat that visited him
regularly and left when his senior cat Samantha died.

I'mm second that!

Dan

Oh my gosh! That's a wonderful story. An exercise in Think Like a Cat.

Katz

Doug,  I always cut the loops on shopping bags as soon as I get them in
the house.  There is too much chance of the cat getting caught.  Also, I
dispose of the bags right away to prevent possible suffocation.

                 ---MIKE---

OOOOOHHH     AHHHHHHHHHH
   Jean.P.

Monday morning:  I make breakfast and add sugar to my coffee using a
restaurant-style dispenser jar.

Monday night:  I wake to the sound of an empty soda can clattering to
the kitchen floor.  I get up, yell at one of two cats that's obviously
been on the kitchen counter, and get up to chase them around a bit to
make it clear that the countertops are off limits.

Tuesday morning.  I find my sugar jar is missing.  I look on the
floor, no spilled sugar, and no jar.  I search the trash in case I
tossed it accidentally, and every other room.  It's not to be found.

I check the doors and windows. Still locked, so there wasn't a
sweet-toothed intruder.

Tuesday evening:  While collecting the trash, I notice a plastic
shopping bag on the living room floor next to a wastebasket, just
outside the kitchen, between a floor lamp and the wall.

I pick up the torn bag and find this inside:
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/SugarJar.JPG

Now I'm really puzzled.   The intruder broke the jar, cleaned it up,
and missed the wastebasket while disposing of it?

Then, I realized the position of the bag aloing the wall is the cats'
usual escape route when they're scared, such as when I catch them on
the counters.  This route is out of the kitchen, and a hard left  past
the lamp to a an area behind a chair that's out of my reach.

I figure one was on the counter, sniffing the bag for some remnants of
the take-out meal I carried home in it Monday night when something
startled the cat,  It ran off, getting the bag loop caught around it's
neck, and it scooped the sugar jar into the bag.  The jump to the
floor probably broke it, and the mad dash around the corner ripped the
bag, which was intact when I brought it home.    The cat tore free of
the bag going around the corner, or when it hit the lamp..

I'll choose to believe this, instead of the ghosts..

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