Vault: This cat has predicted 50 deaths

Summary

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The Bert Show – Vault: This Cat Has Predicted 50 Deaths

Episode Date: June 18, 2026
Featured Hosts: Bert, Kristin, Abby, Cassie, Tommy, and The Bert Show Cast
Theme: The Mystifying Case of Oscar the Death-Predicting Cat

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the curious story of Oscar, a cat living in a Providence, Rhode Island nursing home, believed by staff and families to predict residents’ imminent deaths. Oscar's extraordinary accuracy—and the listener reactions it sparks—leads to both heartfelt and humorous discussion among The Bert Show cast and callers. The show explores the lengths animals' senses go, how humans interpret these phenomena, and whether there might be a simpler explanation for Oscar's uncanny abilities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Oscar the Cat’s Story

• [01:33] Host D introduces the news story about Oscar, who has lived in a nursing home for five years and is thought to have correctly predicted 50 deaths.
  • “He'll go into the room…and curl up in bed with them, slept with them, and then that person has pass[ed] away.”
  • Even closed doors don’t stop Oscar—he scratches until let in.
  • Staff only recognize the prediction after the fact; often, even they couldn’t see it coming.
• [02:36] Host C points out the story's resemblance to a “House” TV episode, and another co-host mentions similar stories about dogs.

2. Why and How Animals Might Detect Death

• [03:03] The team humorously debates whether they'd welcome a “death cat” into their own deathbeds.
  • Host D: “I'm not going to not die because I keep the cat outside the door.”
  • Host E: “Maybe he’s, like, helping your family members that are already passed find you.”
• Discussion takes a humorous turn with debate about whether people want a cat, of all creatures, guiding them into the afterlife.

3. Nurse Interview: Oscar’s Habits & Accuracy

• [03:59] CBS News Audio Clip with Oscar’s Nurse
  • Oscar will enter a patient’s room 2-4 hours before death and often purrs beside them.
  • “He’s not a cat that’s wrong very often.”
  • Over the past year and a half, he’s made about 25 correct predictions.
  • “For the most part, with patients that are here, he’s been pretty accurate. I know actually of no event where he wasn’t at the bedside. So he’s got 100% predictable accuracy.”
  • Host D: “That is so fascinating to me.” [05:13]

4. Listener Calls: Other Cats and Animal “Sense”

• [05:23] Caller Lori from Columbia, SC, shares her experience:
  • The veterans’ hospital in Fort Jackson has a cat named Lucky with the same predictive behaviors.
  • “Within 24 to 48 hours of going into someone's room, they pass.”
  • She speculates: “Maybe it's an extra sense they have.”
• [06:49] Host D reflects, “We as humans have detached ourselves from nature … animals haven’t done that.”

5. Skepticism—and Comic Relief

• [07:11] Listener April calls with a hilarious alternate theory:
  • “Why doesn’t anybody think this cat’s a serial killer?”
• Hosts and another caller Allison riff on the comic idea that Oscar is the killer, making jokes about cats suffocating babies or wielding tiny syringes.
  • Host C: “Nobody looks, but Oscar's got a tiny little syringe.” [07:50]
  • Host D: “Oscar's claws must be right because they're kind of hollowed out.” [07:57]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [02:16] Host D: “They say that in five years that the cat has lived at this nursing home, that the cat has predicted 50 deaths of people.”
• [03:13] Host E: “Maybe he's, like, helping your family members that are already passed find you.”
• [03:35] Host C: “I don't want to be welcomed into heaven by somebody who cleans its own ass with its tongue.”
• [04:22] Oscar’s Nurse (CBS Clip): “Usually anywhere from two to four hours before somebody might expire, he enters the room … oftentimes, he'll purr. … I know actually of no event where he wasn’t at the bedside.”
• [05:48] Caller Lori: “They actually have a cat there named Lucky, who within 24 to 48 hours of going into someone's room, they pass.”
• [07:17] Listener April: “Why doesn't anybody think this cat's a serial killer?”
• [07:50] Host C: “Nobody looks, but Oscar's got a tiny little syringe.”

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Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------| | 01:33 | Oscar the Cat story introduction | | 02:16 | Oscar’s accuracy details: 50 deaths in 5 years | | 03:59 | CBS News clip: nurse shares inside account of Oscar | | 05:23 | Listener Lori calls in: “Lucky” the similar cat | | 06:00 | Discussion: Animals and intuition | | 07:17 | Listener April suggests the “serial killer cat” theory |

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Conclusion

The Bert Show crew offer a lively, skeptical, and sometimes irreverent look at the story of Oscar the death-predicting cat, mixing genuine fascination with humor and a dash of the macabre. Listeners chime in with their own stories and theories, while the hosts consider the possible explanations—from animal intuition to the supernatural, to, ultimately, a perfectly ordinary but deeply uncanny aspect of nature. Whether you see Oscar as a feline angel, a scientific marvel, or just a very weird cat, this episode is a lively blend of curiosity and comic relief.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[C]

The Bird show so there's a news

[D]

story we haven't had a chance to get to in the past couple days, but it's Oscar the Cat out of Providence, Rhode Island. Now, he's been in the news before because he's the cat that's in that nursing home that can predict the deaths of the patients. So what he does is he'll go into the room of the patient. And again, what fascinates the staff is because they may not necessarily know that that patient's going to die, but this cat has gone into the room and curled up in bed with them, slept with them, and then that person has pass away and so he's back in the news, because I believe they're starting to really kind of go back and see how accurate this cat has been. And they say that in five years that the cat has lived at this nursing home, that the cat has predicted 50 deaths of people.

[A]

50.

[D]

50. And so. And they said, you know, even if the patient has the door shut, that Oscar, the cat will scratch at that door until he is let in that room of the person and who hours later actually passes away. So I'm fascinated by that.

[C]

That was an episode of House, wasn't it? Isn't there an episode of House where there's a cat?

[E]

Maybe there used to be a schnauzer that did it, too. At a nursing home, the dog would go and sleep in the bed of the person who then died the next day.

[C]

Do you think it's like a psychic where you force yourself to believe what the psychic says? So the old people are like, oh, God, the schnauzer's here.

[D]

Well, there's a part of me that's like, you know what? Let him in. Because it's like, maybe he's. Maybe they're helping. You know, you don't know what goes on.

[C]

They're not.

[E]

But I don't want.

[C]

What do you mean, let him in?

[D]

I don't want a cat to. It's not going to my door if Oscar's scratching at my door. Oscar's trying to tell me something. I mean, I'm not going to not die because I keep the cat outside the door.

[E]

Yeah, exactly. Maybe he's, like, helping your family members that are already passed find you.

[D]

Maybe there's a transition because cats may have an ability that other people don't realize they have.

[E]

I just finished reading the Lovely Bones, and you never know what your heaven's going to look like.

[D]

I didn't read the book.

[E]

Oh, my God.

[F]

So good.

[E]

But anyway, I just think that maybe it's like a. I don't know, a welcoming committee.

[D]

Yeah, maybe. You don't know.

[C]

I don't want to be welcomed into heaven by somebody who cleans its own ass with its tongue.

[D]

If you like a little.

[C]

Some angels or something cleaner than yours. I want. Yeah, but I don't want them doing it.

[D]

If you could reach down there, you'd be down there all the time.

[C]

Here's.

[D]

Oh, my God.

[C]

How did we really go from nursing home?

[D]

I don't know.

[E]

I don't know.

[D]

She made a butt joke.

[C]

Here's some audio that Josh found of the nurse, Oscar, the nursing home cat from CBS News.

[G]

When did you first notice that there was something about Oscar. Well, we noticed about a year and a half ago that he was a rather amazing cat. That's when he sort of first started to make some of his visits. Since that time, we've kept very close tabs on him. And he's not a cat. That's wrong very often.

[B]

So what does he do?

[C]

Tell me.

[G]

Usually anywhere from two to four hours before somebody might expire. He enters the room, and often, if the family doesn't object and they're in attendance, he'll jump into bed with the resident and curl up next to them. Oftentimes, he'll purr. How many times has he done this? We figured that it was about 25 times over the course of the last year and a half or so. Has he ever been wrong? To my knowledge, some patients obviously leave the nursing home and go to the hospital, so those types of patients he doesn't get. But for the most part, with patients that are here, he's been pretty accurate. I know actually of no event where he wasn't at the bedside. So he's got 100% predictable accuracy. Very accurate.

[D]

That is so fascinating to me.

[E]

It is so fascinating. I think it's cool. I would want him. I would be one of those family members, be like, come on in. Let's hang out.

[C]

Hey, Lori, welcome to the show.

[F]

Hi. How are you guys?

[C]

Good. How are you?

[F]

Wonderful. You know, I wanted to call in, and it's funny that you guys are talking about this, because my grandfather was in a veterans hospital for about 10 years in Columbia, South Carolina, and they actually have a cat there named lucky, who within 24 to 48 hours of going into someone's room, they pass.

[A]

Really?

[F]

Yes. Wow.

[E]

And where was this?

[F]

Columbia, South Carolina. Fort Jackson. And I thought it was very weird. And this is the first time I'd ever heard of another cat doing this. So maybe it's an extra sense they have.

[D]

I mean, I am fascinated by that. And then with Oscar, in the story that I have, they talk about how the nurses at this facility assumed that this one patient was going to. To pass away. And then so they brought Oscar into the. Like, they brought. They brought Oscar into the room thinking, well, okay, we'll see. And Oscar charged out of that room and actually sat outside another patient's door. The patient the nurses thought was going to pass away did not pass away, but the patient that Oscar went to did. And they didn't expect that person to die.

[F]

I mean, you know how animals. I mean, they can pick up when you know you're not feeling well or when you're sad or I even, like, I'm a dog girl. Like, I, you know, I have my baby and everything, and I almost believe that, you know, they can see angels. It's not like they can tell us, you know, they've got an extra sense, and I think they know something that we don't.

[D]

Well, my thing is, I always feel like we as humans have detached ourselves from nature so much. I mean, I do believe that, you know, we always talk about, you know, psychics and, you know, we're fascinated about the ghosts and everything. But I think as humans, we have detached ourselves from nature and our own instincts so much that we don't pick up on all this stuff. But I think animals haven't done that.

[C]

You know, I appreciate Bird show listener April, who is very much aware of what's going on here. Go ahead, April.

[F]

Why doesn't anybody think this cat's a serial killer?

[C]

There you go. The cat is killing them.

[F]

Cats end up getting in a crib with a baby and then they end up suffocating the baby. How do you know it's not something that this.

[C]

You're not the only one, Allison. Welcome to the Bird Show. Hey, how are you?

[F]

The cat is killing those people.

[C]

The cat is. Yes, Oscar, the killer cats are insane.

[F]

Seriously, he's climbing into bed and he's sucking the air right out of those poor people.

[D]

These are people that are afraid of cats. I think that's hilarious.

[C]

The. The. The Oscar. Oscar. Nobody looks, but Oscar's got a tiny little syringe.

[D]

Actually, Oscar's claws must be right because they're kind of hollowed out.

[E]

Yes.

[C]

Hey, the Bird Show.

[G]

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