The Cat from Hell
short story by Stephen King
"The Cat from Hell" is a horror short story by American writer Stephen King, first published in 1977.
Plot summary
Halston, a professional hitman, is offered $12,000 (equivalent to $64,000 in 2025) to take out an unusual target—a cat. He accepts, despite being told that the cat was implicated in the murders of three people. He soon discovers that the cat is much more than it seems—the employer reveals that his company tortured and destroyed thousands of cats in the name of research, and he believes this cat is a feline emissary of revenge.
While the hitman is driving toward a desolate place to kill it, the cat escapes confinement and eventually attacks him—crawling inside his body to finish the job—after he is temporarily paralyzed in the resulting accident. After killing the hitman, the cat leaves on "unfinished business" to go after the hitman's employer.
Publication
King initially published the first 500 words of the story in March 1977 in Cavalier, and the magazine held a contest for readers to finish the story. The winning entry, as well as King's complete story, was published in the magazine in June of the same year. It also appeared in Gent Vol. 18 #6 (December 1977), credited to King and Marc Rains.
The public source identifies “The Cat from Hell” as short story by Stephen King. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Hell, short and story.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Cat from Hell”, the useful work is to connect “short story by Stephen King” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4235908. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1977 and 2025.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Cat from Hell”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Cat from Hell primary sources, The Cat from Hell archive and Hell research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Cat from Hell”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Cat from Hell” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.