Whitey the Talking Cat

08/27/2026

Gef the talking mongoose has a special place in my heart. It was the first topic I ever did for this show and was part of our test episode that we've never released.

The tale of Gef was a strange one, it occurred on a farm on the Isle of Man in the early 1930s, where a family swore up and down that a supernatural talking mongoose lived in their house. People would come from all over for a chance to hear or maybe even see Gef, but only a handful were lucky enough to have had such an experience

To this day what Gef was is a mystery. The father swore that Gef was real until the day of his death. The most common theory was that Gef was not a mongoose, but a hoax, that it was the teenage daughter who was the voice of Gef.

Other theories are that Gef was a poltergeist of sorts and some people buy what Gef said, that he was just a talking mongoose.

There is no hard evidence that Gef ever spoke the words that were accredited to him, hell there was no hard evidence that there was ever even a mongoose (mongoose aren't native to the isle and Gef claimed to have come from India)

Whitey and the Deems

Episode: File 0162: Talking Vampire Cats Panic of New England

Release Date: Aug 28 2026

Researched and presented by Cayla

You can easily google "talking animals" and find hundreds if not thousands of stories, but few as thoroughly documented as Gef.

So when I came across the story of Whitey the talking cat I was hit with a dose of nostalgia.

Whitey wasn't a magical mongoose from a far off land. He was just a regular old cat from Florida and plenty of people saw him, he was definitely a real cat. But could he actually talk?

The Beginning

To talk about Whitey, we need to talk about the people that found him: Ruth and James Deem

James had been a coal miner in West Virginia from the age of 9, up until WW2. He retired and had been on disability since then. For the 15 years leading up to the discovery of Whitey in 1963, Ruth and James had been living in Florida for his health. The couple were well respected about town, James having taken on the role of lay preacher at the location Free Methodist church he and his wife attended

They were living outside the city limits of Lake Hamilton, in a rural area called Hillside Acres when on Jun 7 1963 they would have their fateful encounter

Ruth had heard faint meows coming from some tall grass near their home. It had been raining and the weather terrible so she asked James to see if he could find the creature and he returned with a sopping wet kitten that looked no more than a month old.

They had no idea how long the cat had been out there, but it was shaking and dirty. Ruth cleaned and dried it and fed it some warm milk, but she could tell the kitten was not in great shape and she spent the next two nights sitting up with it. When it seemed his condition wasn't improving they brought him to the vet who managed save the cat's life.

At the time they found Whitey, they had one other cat, a black one called "Blackie". Naturally since Whitey was all white, his name was decided

For the first six months of his life there was nothing unusual about Whitey until one day while Ruth was lying in bed that Whitey walked right up to her and said what every cat is always trying to say "I'm hungry". She was flabbergasted and couldn't believe what she heard

"I thought I was hearing things,[..] A cat can't talk." - Ruth Deems, Fate Magazine

She looked at the cat who spoke again "Mama, I'm hungry"

Bewildered she asked "What did you say?"

"I'm hungry" Whitey said

She got up and fed the cat, because what else do you do when your pet suddenly in clear english makes such a declaration? She thought for sure she was losing it so chose to say nothing to her husband

It was only two or three days later that James would have his first conversation with Whitey. Whitey had jumped into his lap and he said to the cat "You are a bad cat" teasing him

To which Whitey responded "I am not a bad cat," and then added "I want out.". Mr Deem was so astounded he called to his wife and asked if she had heard that and she was just relieved that she wasn't the only one

Once he started talking he became all but fluent within a year. The more impressive incidents were infrequent, but he was said to have spoken at least one word or sentence daily.

According to Ruth one of the first words Whitey spoke was "trailer." she suspected that was in reference to his first home, and that his family had lived there but moved away leaving the kitten behind.

The Deems reported many examples of Whitey's unusual behaviour during this time:

Whitey was said to be quite clever, able to identify when the Deems were returning from the market and quickly come running to investigate the bags they brought with them, finding the cans of cat food and nudging them with his nose while saying "Open"
Whitey liked chocolate and the Deems discovered that when that was what he was looking for he would say "What did you bring me?" so Ruth began to counter with "Do you love me, Whitey?" which he would respond with "I love you, mama, what did you bring me?"

I do want to note that chocolate is toxic for cats, so you probably shouldn't give it to them no matter how much they beg and plead

Whitey was a fan of television so the Deems often left it on for him. They describe one time where a dog appeared on screen and Whitey said "he is not real" and another when during a tv show a man was shot, Whitey asked "Was he hurt?" Mrs Deem assured him that he wasn't, but the cat didn't buy it "Don't lie to me, mama"
One time Ruth heard Whitey yelling from the yard "Come! Come!" so she went to find him sitting, looking intently at something under the house. "It's a big one!" he said, so she bent to look only for a large black snake to crawl out, causing her to scream. Whitey responded with "Mama's a coward"

The couple would mention these incidents to their neighbours and would receive only polite smiles in reply, no one seemed to believe the stories. That was until the couple had to go on a week long trip, leaving the cats behind, they asked their neighbour Mr Ferguson to check in on the cats. Mr Ferguson was a carpenter, painter and picked up whatever other odd jobs he could find. He too had been completely incredulous about Whitey's alleged gift

"I thought Ruth Deem was having hallucinations the first time she told me about the cat talking. I thought she was dreaming it up" - Mr Ferguson, Fate Magazine

But one day while Ferguson was cat-sitting he was on the back porch and he noticed that Blackie was chasing Whitey toward the house. As Whitey ran near him, Ferguson plainly heard him cry out "Hey ma!"

Somewhat stunned Ferguson told Whitey that "Ma isn't home"

When the Deems returned home the following week Ferguson came by for coffee and while James and Ferguson were in the kitchen, Whitey was in the bedroom with Ruth, where he told her "Mama, he hit me,"

She asked who and he referred to Ferguson whose voice could be heard from the kitchen.

"What did he hit you with, honey?"

"Newspaper" answered Whitey

Ruth went into the kitchen and asked Ferguson if he had any trouble with the cats while they were gone. He said not much to which she asked "Did you hit Whitey?"

"Once" he said recalling that Whitey and Blackie had been fighting so he had struck at them to get them to stop.

Ruth asked if it was with a newspaper and stunned Ferguson confirmed that it had indeed been a rolled up newspaper.

"There is only one way she could have known. That darn cat told her." - Mr Ferguson, Fate Magazine

Whitey would first be exposed to the world in a Jul 24 1964 issue of the Orlando Sentinel for Polk county. The paper had received an unusual letter from a Reverend Bennett William Palmer of Haines City

It said the following:

I thought I would give you a lead on what seem to me to be a remarkable newspaper story. The story has to do with claims for a remarkable cat which allegedly speaks in human language, and quite appropriately and rationally

The people who own the cat are good Christian people and are incapable of deceit. Also the cat has been heard to speak in human language, it is claimed, by a neighbor and when the owners were away, and by a veterinarian in Winter Haven and by a helper in his office and by the owners at the same time

Four persons it is claimed, heard the cat say "I want to go home" a neighbor who took care of the cat during the owner's absence once hit the cat with a newspaper

When the owners returned they claim that the cat said with reference to the neighbor "he hit me". The neighbor admitted doing so. The cat calls the woman in the family "mama" and allegedly has done so many times

Every week there is some new story about the cat's talking. So far the story has had no publicity and I am writing this on my own because I think the story should have publicity and perhaps be investigated "scientifically", It might rank with the famous story of the talking mongoose - Orlando Sentinel

The reporter then put a plea out to the owners of the cat to contact her for an interview, though it's not clear if the Deems ever did.

It would seem there is more the veterinarian story which Palmer later expanded on. The story goes that Whitey had been at the vet and the helper was in the room alone, and he heard Whitey say "I want to go home!". The helper dismayed, ran to get his boss and the veterinarian accused the helper of trying to "fool somebody", but the vet went and check anyways, while at the carrier Whitey said nothing, but as the vet turned to leave the vet heard "I want to go home!" the vet looked accusingly at the helper who claimed he didn't say anything that it was Whitey. The vet would later tell this story to the Deems who were not surprised

The next update came on Aug 12th 1964 a little over two weeks after the first article was published

The journalist reports that the same man Reverend Bennett William Palmer, has contacted her again to tell her that the cat's owners were Mr and Mrs Deem of Lake Hamilton

The reverend also shares some more details

Often The Deems could encourage Whitey to speak if they withheld his food until he said something, or James could often prod Whitey into talking by calling him a bad cat, which nearly always got an immediate indignant response of "I am not!", but like a petulant child sometimes nothing they did could get the cat to comply, no matter how desperate his audience was

After several stories ran about Whitey, he became quite the celebrity and the Deems reported that people began to spy on the cat and them "sometimes in a very rude fashion". They said reporters would sometimes drive down the back dirt roads to get sneak onto the property to see the cat and one time someone even stuck a camera in the window and took a picture of the cat inside its home.

The Deems decided to move to Winter Haven to get away from the sensation seekers.

There a travelling preacher sought them out because his curiosity about the cat, being deeply religious the Deems invited the man in. After some time Whitey decided he'd had enough of the man and said "Why don't you go home?" while all stared on horrified and dismayed, Whitey added "He's a stinker"

Ruth said "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

Which Whitey proudly denied. "I am not!"

Another story occurred when the family was on a trip to North Carolina with both Whitey and Blackie. They had trouble finding accommodations with the two cats, so chose to spend the night in the car parked alongside a curb. They were deep asleep when a passing police officer heard a voice from the car crying "help! Help!"

The officer rushed to the vehicle, shining his flashlight inside and what he saw was a sleepy couple and Whitey standing at attention who then spoke calmly and distinctly "I want out please," before adding "No one loves me,"

And just like any cat, Whitey had the flare for the dramatic sometimes saying he was mad or complaining that "nobody loves me!" though it is quite clear that the Deems love him, and he in turn loves them, frequently heard to say "I love mama," referring to Mrs Deem

With how much he acted like a human sometimes you would expect he'd spend his nights in front of the tv or relaxing, but Whitey was a tomcat through and through and one that also had outside access, which meant that Whitey liked to prowl the night, get into fights with other cats and get into all manner of trouble

Shortly after the North Carolina trip Whitey had been catnapped from the porch of his Winter Haven home. He was gone for 27 days but eventually turned up back and their old house in Hillside Acres in very poor condition and even had a mark that the Deems think indicates he had been shot at

Despite living four miles from their old Hillside Acres home, Whitey still liked to go visit the old house on occasion, which often meant he'd disappear for days leaving his owners sick with worry. They would try to keep him insides but he would beg and plead until James didn't know what else he could do but relent.

Things would be quiet the next four months though, the next article coming Dec 2 1964

Whitey's poisoning was a bit of a turning point, he had become very ill and there seems to be no suggestion of who might be responsible or if that person was caught. Or if there was any evidence that actually suggested poisoning or if the cat just got sick. Whatever it was, the illness was severe and vet feared he might not ever fully recover

This event was seemingly so traumatizing that it left him speechless.

But his voice did return

Joe Rhodes, a contractor who runs trucks for citrus picking and who lived in Hillside Acres once came across Whitey. He thought the cat had run away again so got out of his vehicle to try and got get the cat so he could bring him home. He walked slowly trying not to spook Whitey, but before he could even get close Whitey said "You can't catch me" and dashed off.

Mar 19 1965

Susy Smith of Fate Magazine is probably the journalist that has looked into this most deeply. Fate was an American magazine about paranormal phenomena that ran from 1948 until 2001. Susy's story was include in Fate's Nov 1965 issue and she would later reprint it in her own book "Susy Smith's Supernatural World"

Susy is a character of interest in her own right. Born in 1911 in Washington DC, much of her childhood was spent moving from one house to the next. Her father would die in 1933 and while she was married for a period, that relationship ended in divorce and she moved in with her mother up until her death in 1949

Up until this point Susy had led a pretty normal life working in newspapers, until 6 years after her mother's death, she managed to make contact with her through a Ouija board, and this sparked her interest in the paranormal. She got a job at Duke University's Parapsychology Lab for a period before moving onto to full time paranormal journalism. Since 1965 she has been living on her writing and lectures alone.

Susy was unfortunate to have this story assigned to her during Whitey's "silent era" so she herself was never able to confirm whether or not the cat spoke, she did interview many witnesses that claimed they had

This is the story of a search that Fate Magazine and this writer began more than a year ago. It is a strange quest—for evidence of a cat that not only talks, but talks sense—and our results are inconclusive, for we have by no means proved the facts. Nevertheless, I interviewed several persons who attest that they have indeed heard a soft voice issue from a tomcat named Whitey, and that this voice spoke clear and sensible English.
[..]
In January, 1965, Fate sent me to Florida to meet The Reverend Mr. Palmer, to interview Mr. and Mrs. James Deem, Whitey's owners, and to hear the animal talk—if I should be so fortunate. I was also asked to obtain as much verification of the strange facts as I could.

[...]

When I was taken inside to meet Whitey I admit I hoped passionately he would greet me with "How do you do." But he never said a word. The large white cat looked at me steadily and seriously with his pale green eyes, but he never said a single word.

[..]

However, I have talked with two of their neighbors, who have signed statements that they, too, have heard Whitey speak. There are two other women whom I did not have the opportunity to meet, who are said to be willing to give me their statements if I can go there at a time when they are home.

As I have said, I did not hear Whitey speak. He uttered nothing more startling than "Meow" in my presence. But it was explained to me that he had been ill and had spoken almost nothing for some time, so I was not being discriminated against. I liked the cat, and he seemed to like me. At least, he endured my caresses with less disdain than cats usually show to strangers. - Fate Magazine

Susy interviewed everyone she could get her hands on and she found no reason to find their statements dishonest, or to be suspicious of their character. She came away certain that they were telling the truth as they knew it. But it didn't give her any answers

I have discussed this case with the well-known parapsychologist, Dr. Hornell Hart, Professor of Sociology at Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Fla. Professor Hart says: "I should entertain as my primary hypothesis that the alleged remarks by the cat could be explained'under three main categories: (1.) ventriloquism, (2.) sincere misinterpretation of a normal cat's mewlings and meows, and (3.) the development of a fad under which it became stylish for individuals to report having heard the cat make various remarks. I know of no psychical phenomena which create any plausible precedent for expecting a cat to make intelligible vocal sounds, conveying conversational meaning. I doubt very much whether the structure of the cat's vocal cords and mouth would permit any such thing." - Fate Magazine

Among the many people that Susy interviewed was the Reverend Bennet William Palmer, the man that first reported the story to the newspaper. Even after having been around for nearly three years, the Reverend has still never heard the cat talk, but is a steadfast believer of the tale

The Reverend met the Deems when he invested in some lots at Hillside Acres in Jun 1963, around the same time Whitey would first be found. He was one of the first outside the home to hear the tale and he became fascinated. He thought it such a wondrous and amazing thing that he collected the stories and sent them to the newspaper.

The Reverend does make a curious comparison, noting that Whitey reminds him of the story of Gef of the isle of man, the mongoose I mentioned at the beginning that this story also reminded me of.

In the story with Gef, dozens of people had come from all over to try and determine what Gef was if anything. Nandor Fodor, probably the most invested and diligent of researchers that tried to prove or disprove Gef's existence spent over a week on the island and never experienced Gef's presence himself, but he interviewed everyone else that had and he came away with the only conclusion he deemed fit, that Gef had to be real, concluding Gef was a poltergeist-like manifestation.

Both Gef and Whitey allegedly spoke in simple, almost childlike terms, were petulant and flighty, like you would expect of a child, and that's what a poltergeist is thought to be, the manifestation of teenage or child angst so strong it takes on shape and form of its own

Just as I was finishing this article word arrived that Whitey has started talking again. He said to Mr. Deem, "Come on," when he wanted to go for a walk. And he said to Mrs. Deem, in front of Mrs. Sharon, a neighbor in Hillside Acres, "Mama, I want out." The concensus of opinion at Lake Hamilton is that I should come-on-down to Florida again to hear the cat now that he has resumed talking. That's the concensus of opinion right here, too. I'll never be satisfied until Whitey speaks to me. - Fate Magazine

It would seem that Susy never got to hear Whitey speak

In Nov 1967 two years after Susy's article was published, the Reverend Bennett Palmer would write his own article for Search Magazine, another publication with a focus on the mysterious and unknown

Much of what the reverend describes matches what we've already been told but he did have a few new updates

By this point the Deems now had 19 cats and Whitey's bouts of verbaciousness have become fewer and further between, said to now only speak about once a week. It would seem after his various accidents, the poisoning and even an operation, the cat just is much less interested in expressing his thoughts and opinions, perhaps taking an early retirement, he has had a very busy life afterall

The Reverend finishes his article, saying that the story is not yet finished

We believe this story to be the most remarkable of cat stories, and to be as reliable as human testimony can make it. We also believe that it will still be so regarded a hundred years from now.

Whitey the Talking Cat

The Beginning

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