Teacher’s Pet

best versions of themselves they could be. But in Echo Park, California, in n a stranger wandered into the classroom at Alyssian Heights Elementary and changed lives in a very different way. He didn't have a name, just a white and gray fur coat on his back, and he barely spoke. He just kind of napped around the classroom wherever and whenever he liked. The stranger left the school the day after he'd arrived without a word, and then came back the

following morning as though nothing had happened. No one had hired him. He wasn't a substitute teacher, and he wasn't part of the administration staff. He simply walked up and down the school's hallways as he pleased, poking in and out of classrooms, sleeping in random areas of the building like he owned the place. He practically moved into the school. Then, Surprisingly, nobody had any problem with it. They even gave him a name. The students called him Room eight because that

was the classroom that he first appeared in. When the school year was over, Room eight would go off and find somewhere else to live for a few months until class resumed the following September, and like clockwork, he'd be there waiting for the teachers to open their rooms to him again. By now you probably realized that Roommates wasn't a strange man who had started hanging out a bunch of kids. He was actually a cat. He had come in through an open window, and for the next sixteen

years he became a fixture within the schools. Kids didn't care about being student president or hall monitor. They wanted the job of cat feeder, the person responsible for making sure that Room eight was taken care of each and every day. Although he often ate from the student's own lunches, nibbling on sandwiches and snacks, that they had brought from home, and when an outgoing group of six graders was having their class picture taken, Room eight was there ready for

his close up. But as social media and internet memes have shown us today, there is nothing people enjoy more than cute animal stories. And the days before the term viral was used to describe anything other than an infection, newspapers and magazines love to publish heartwarming stories about our furry friends. Room eight became a national sensation. A documentary was made about him titled Big Cats, Little Cat. Look magazine did a three page feature on him, pictures taken

by Richard hewitt. Hewitts was a noted photographer who would go on to take iconic photos of stars like Jodie Foster, Andy Griffith and Betty Davis. And here he was snapping pictures of a classroom cat. But Cats also had a children's book written about him, titled a Cat called Room Eight by Virginia Finley and Beverly Mason, which was published in nineteen sixty six, and he appeared on an episode of the television variety show House Party alongside host Art

link Letter. He was everywhere, but little was known about Room eight. He was born in nineteen forty seven and had run away after being abused in his house. When classes at Elysian Heights Elementary were not in session, he was known to stay with the Nicano family who lived nearby. Sometimes he sought shelter with students as well. Roommates story resonated with many people, and he received over ten thousand fan letters from all over the world, which were answered

by the children at the school. Over time, Room Eight's returned to school each September became a major event. Children, parents, and local reporters would line up outside the building to welcome him back with open arms, and they did this until his tragic passing in nineteen sixty. Room eight died at the age of twenty one, a good long life for an outdoor cat who made friends everywhere he went. He's remembered to this day thanks to a square of

cement outside the school burying his pop prints. They had been preserved, along with a portrait drawn by Valerie Martin, the illustrator for the children's book that was written about him. Roommates remains are buried in Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park, about thirty five minutes west of the school. He's interred near other famous animals like Humphrey Bogart's cocker spaniel Droopy,

as well as the MGM lion Tawny. He may have been a world famous cat, but to the kids of Echo Park, California, in the nineteen fifties and sixties, he was just there, cuddly per mascot. It's hard not to panic when we see it, those eight hairy legs crawling across the ceiling, the jumble of eyes staring at us as the creature weaves its delicate web. But despite the fear they create, spiders served very real and necessary purposes. They eat the bugs that bite and infect us like mosquitoes,

and they prevent the spread of disease. They also helped keep crops safe by removing the pests that destroy them. But that doesn't stop us from freaking out whenever we catch one where it doesn't belong. After all, arachnophobia is the third most common phobia in America. But one man did not fear the spiders in his presence, and as a result, he managed to save his own life and secure a military victory in the process. It happened in

sevent eight years after the Prussians had conquered Holland. The Prussians had gone up against the Dutch patriots, who were trying to install a democracy against the authoritarian Orange stadholder it. The Netherlands had found themselves in a bad situation. Constant war had shredded their economy, and the people were tired of living under the Prince of Orange is Thumb, so

they revolted. The Dutch Patriots were soon founded and battle ensued, but the Patriots lost the fights against the Prussian and Orange forces. Holland fell under new leadership until a few years later. The Dutch patriots then discovered that they had comrades in France. French revolutionaries were just getting underway with their own revolt against their leader, so the Patriots went over to assist. They joined in France's fight for liberty and eight years later were able to capitalize on their

alliance to take it back to the Netherlands. What ensued was the creation of a new states called the Batavian Republic, and in the battle to create the Batavian Republic, one soldier consulted with a very unusual tactician in order to help the innch win. The soldier's name was Katramare de gen Val. He had been the adjunct general with the Dutch Patriots fighting in Holland during the first Prussian invasion

in seventeen eighty seven. As soon as the Prussian army arrived, though, they imprisoned him in a dungeon in you Trecked, about twelve miles west of the city. He was sentenced to twenty five years in that dungeon, rotting away as the Stadtholder took over. But during that time he got to know his fellow inmates. No, not the other people, the spiders the only companions he had. He would watch them and study their behaviors, noting how they moved about the cell,

especially when the weather was about to change. Dijon Val had a similar ability. He knew when an atmospheric shift was due to occur because he'd get hit with a massive headache. You could say that it was his version of a spider sense. He recognized that certain spiders, the kind who would weave large ornate webs, would flee the dungeon whenever his head started to throb, and when those two events occurred together, a bad storm wouldn't be far behind.

Days would pass as the rains beat and battered the city, and dejon Val would endure the headaches that plagued him the entire time. Eventually, as the weather abated, the spiders would return and his pain began to subside. De gen Val put two and two together, and before long he was able to predict a severe weather event up to two weeks in advance. It wasn't the most useful skill to someone in captivity, but he figured that it might

help his brothers in arms on the outside. In the winter of seventeen ninety four, as snow fell over Holland, the rivers froze beneath the feet of the invading French soldiers, and this allowed them to advance toward you Tricht with ease. But an early December thaw was predicted while they were en route. Clearly that was bad news, because if the rivers were to unfreeze, the troops and their artillery would be lost. The French generals considered withdrawing completely, but de

gen Val couldn't let that happen. He believed that if he helped them in their mission, they might get him out of prison, so he wrote a letter and managed to get it to one of the French generals in January of sev According to volume seven of the Anglo American Magazine from eighteen fifty five, he pledged himself from the peculiar actions of the spiders, of whose movements he was enabled to judge with perfect accuracy that within fourteen

days they would commence a most severe frost. And sure enough, after only twelve days that frost arrived, and the rivers and canals solidified. They were strong enough to hold the French soldiers and their artillery who entered You tricked on January, and Katamer de gen Val, the man who had used his amazing friends to help them, was freed from his incarceration. He had developed a keen power to predict the weather, and as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility.

I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Scribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com and until next time, stay curious. Yeah,