For thousands of years, humans have been obsessed with cats. Did humans domesticate cats? Or did something inside cats domesticate us? This episode we’re talking ancient Egypt, witch trials, plague hysteria, brain parasites, and even ancient aliens. TIME STAMPS 00:00:00 HOOK & INTRO 00:01:38 ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CAT WORSHIP 00:12:16 BETTER HELP AD 00:13:50 CAT MUMMIES  00:28:00 CAT GODDESSES SEKHMET & BASTET 00:43:55 THE BLACK DEATH AND CATS  IN THE MIDDLE AGES 00:56:30 WITCHES AND CATS 01:00:40 TOXOPLASMOSIS AND EFFECTS 01:12:00 PEOPLE WITH TOXOPLASMOSIS RATED HOTTER  01:17:00 ANCIENT ALIENS (YES, REALLY) 01:30:00 SECRET PASSWORD AND DONOR SHOUTOUTS! THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED!! Find out more about this week’s advertisers below! Betterhelp- Sign up and get 10% off at https://BetterHelp.com/gethaunted #ad READ & LISTEN TO NAT’S BOOK! Amazon Kindle https://a.co/78hzQn9 Spotify Audiobook http://bit.ly/44DuQ90 *CHECK OUT ALY’S SOLO PODCAST!*:  https://instagram.com/frightsizepod Other Important Stuff: Join the Patreon today! https://patreon.com/letsgethaunted  LGH Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/letsgethaunted Buy Our Merch: https://www.letsgethaunted.com    Check out the photo dump for this week’s episode: https://www.instagram.com/letsgethaunted   Send us fan mail: PO BOX 1658 Camarillo, CA 93011 Send us your listener stories: www.letsethaunted.com *SPECIAL THANKS TO RYAN FOR HELP WITH EDITING~ SLAY* —— SOURCES: [1]https://medium.com/illumination-curated/did-pope-gregory-ixs-hatred-of-cats-lead-to-the-black-death-327d163adfb2 [2]BUBASTIS, CITY OF THE CAT GODDESS BAST (Part III) [3] https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-egypt/ancient-animal-mummies-found-in-egypt/ [4] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306987720300311 [5] https://peerj.com/articles/13122/ Borráz-León JI, Rantala MJ, Krams IA, Cerda-Molina AL, Contreras-Garduño J. 2022. Are Toxoplasma-infected subjects more attractive, symmetrical, or healthier than non-infected ones? Evidence from subjective and objective measurements. PeerJ 10:e13122 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13122 [6] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Higher-perceived-dominance-in-Toxoplasma-infected-Hodkov%C3%A1-Kolbekov%C3%A1/0fcf4559a122b80eef64231ff040522499f29862/figure/1 VIDEOS [1] Is Bastet Calling You? Signs of the Egyptian Cat Goddess [2]Toxoplasma parasites busting out of their human host cells - YouTube [3]The bizarre mind-controlling parasite you contract from your cat [4]Toxoplasmosis: Truth, Fiction, and Crazy Cat Ladies? 13. Toxoplasmosis in the news [5] Sekhmet, Lady of Flame, Eye of Ra: An Introduction to the Ancient Egyptian Goddess of War [6] Brain Parasite Makes Mice Fearless - by Scientific American MUSIC: [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6UU2FyLHiw KEYWORDS :ancient egypt cat worship, bastet goddess, egyptian cat mummies, history of cat worship, medieval demonization of cats, black cats and satan, pope gregory ix cats, vox in rama cats, witches and black cats, cats and witchcraft history, black death and cats, cats and the bubonic plague, were cats killed during the plague, church and black cats, satanic cat rituals, kissing the devil cat, toxoplasma gondii explained, toxoplasmosis in humans, toxoplasmosis personality changes, parasite mind control theory, toxoplasmosis and risk taking, toxoplasmosis and mental health, cats and brain parasites, how cats change human behavior, parasite conspiracy theory, ancient aliens and cats, cats as alien surveillance, extraterrestrials and ancient egypt, cats in mythology, haunted cat history, occult symbolism of cats, satanic panic animals, feline conspiracy theory, did cats domesticate humans, conspiracy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices