Is there a ghost cat in Taranaki?

By GRETA CLEARY - Taranaki Daily News

Ross and Donna Sowerby don't believe in ghosts but are having difficulty explaining what they caught on video. So is there a ghost cat in Hawera? Watch the video and judge for yourself.

A mysterious apparition in their driveway has a Hawera couple perplexed.

Donna and Ross Sowerby had set up a security camera after a bike went missing from their property recently. But instead of catching the possible culprits, the sceptics believe they've captured something much more obscure.

When Ross returned from work on Wednesday evening, the couple sat down to watch the 40-minute video and were more than surprised by what they saw about 25 seconds in.

"I said 'did you see that?' because I wasn't sure if it was just me," said Ross.

"I was sort of expecting to see nothing."

An orange coloured blurry ball came into view and made its way across the screen and was out of sight 30 seconds later.

"You're going to think we're crazy but I think it's a cat," said Donna.

"You can see its legs."

A ginger moggy that belonged to a neighbour was hit by a car a few months ago.

"It used to walk around out there like that."

Spookily, 18 minutes further into the footage, a real ginger cat wanders through.

"There are always cats around here and I've got two of my own," Donna said.

A video expert looked at the clip of the supposed divine feline for the Taranaki Daily News and said it didn't look the real deal.

"It's so easy to make. I made a similar one to this a while ago ... it looks kind of the same."

He said he didn't think it was a bug crawling across the window and someone wouldn't have to be technologically savvy to make the clip.

"I'm not completely convinced."

But the couple, who don't even have an internet connection, are adamant they haven't edited the footage.

"I wouldn't even know how to," Donna said.

"I'm happy for someone to come and take my computer away if they want to have a look."

They don't believe their teenage son was playing a trick on them either.

"He wasn't even here when we first looked at it," said Donna.

"It's not a joke."

Besides, the couple, who said they don't even believe in ghosts, would much rather there was a logical explanation.

"If that didn't look like an animal, I wouldn't still be here."