The Black Cat" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843, about an unnamed narrator who descends into madness and violence due to alcoholism. The story details his abuse of his wife and his beloved black cat, Pluto, whom he eventually hangs. After a house fire reveals a ghostly image of the cat, he finds a new black cat that he grows to hate, leading him to accidentally murder his wife when she intervenes. He hides her body in a wall, but the new cat's cries from within the wa