If you played The Cat Lady, or in general games from “the Devil Came Through Here” trilogy, you surely know how the afterlife is a central topic in all of them. The afterlife is a scary, chaotic, and incomprehensible place sculpted by complex laws and ruled by the Queen of Maggots. This recently changed when Burnhouse Lane got released as a proper spiritual sequel of Cat Lady. Because while the afterlife in Cat Lady was the final destination, with the exception of the blessed “champions” of the Queen, able to steal other people lives by blowing off candles, Burnhouse Lane follows very different rules. In fact, it is not a proper afterlife, but an intermediate limbo accessible only by terminally ill patients. A place close to the afterlife, but welcoming people still alive. However, those places share very interesting similarities.
These different forms of afterlife have inhabitants, including clueless ordinary people that felt in these realms, guardians and dangerous beings, and of course a ruler. In Cat Lady and Lorelai’s afterlife, the Queen of Maggot is the unquestionable ruler, while the situation is slightly less clear in Burnhouse Lane. But for sure, the Burned Cat is one of the most powerful being there. As you probably realised, while people and buildings shape these surreal environments with totemic landmarks, other creatures are also part of these variegated biomes. And animals, or more often anthropomorphic creatures, are often working as symbolic elements and embodied rules.
Why animals are key elements to describe the afterlife? Especially for ancient cultures, the afterlife was always a place of difficult access, except for some totemic animals. For example, birds are often associated with otherworldly messengers, due to their flying ability, interpreted as a mechanism to bring souls toward the afterlife. Other animals, including cats, for example in Ancient Egypt, were also associated with the afterlife and in general with the divine. Dogs have prevalently a more fierce and aggressive job in classic afterlives, usually acting as tormentors or guardians. After all, the three-headed dog Cerberus is probably the most notorious guardian of Hell.
Cat Lady, Lorelai, and Burnhouse Lane use animal-based creatures and characters as central elements to provide functionality to the mysteries of the underworld. In the following article, I will especially focus on analysing crows, pigs, wolves, and, of course, cats.
The Crow is an enigmatic figure present in Cat Lady’s afterlife. It is deeply connected with Susan, the immortal protagonist of the game, guiding her fate and tricking her decisions. In fact, the name of the Crow is not a random one. As previously explained, in several cultures, birds and especially crows are associated with the afterlife, having the role of psychopomps. More specifically, the crows are guides for the deceased souls, responsible to highlight the correct path for them to the underworld. Also in Cat Lady, the Crow is the guide in the afterlife of Susan, the one knowing the paths she has to follow and the destiny awaiting her. But the Crow is not a trustable guide, nor the totemic animal of the folklore, but a subtle entity playing with fate, life, and secrets. The creepiest detail is that the Crow is represented by a real-life eye inside a television, always moving and scanning around in a very disturbing way. Moreover, the Crow has also two daughters, which are oversized dolls.
I will not extend much the analysis of the Crow because I previously wrote an article about it and its daughters for the section “Creepy Characters” that you can find here: Cat Lady: the Crow and his daughters [Creepy Characters]
There is not much about the Pig in the ancient hell and afterlife. There are only marginal examples of demons with pig head tormenting souls in Asian hell, or the pig employed as punitive transformation for corrupted souls (such as in Naraka for Buddhism). In the Devil Came Through Here trilogy, a pig head is always found, together with other animal heads, on top of the gate welcoming the souls to the residence of the Queen of Maggots. However, in Lorelai, the Pig became a symbol of one of the only deadly and aggressive creatures inside the game. After Lorelai’s family meets a brutal departure, the protagonist will “assemble” the pig from her parents’ severed heads. Once the Pig is assembled, the creature will try to stab the protagonist with a key, the only item able to allow access to the otherworld and the Queen’s house. The Pig here is a proper Hell guardian, an aggressive being that must be defeated, also composed of three heads as the infamous Cerberus.
Also in this case, I wrote an analysis of this creature for “Monster of the Week.” You can read the full analysis and the associated symbolism here: Monster of the Week: the multiple-bodies monster of Lorelai
The Cat is a crucial element for Burnhouse Lane, last game released but also the one with a major shifting in its definition of the afterlife. Because while the afterlife ruled by the Queen of Maggots was a personal and almost definitive place, in Burnhouse Lane, all the terminal ill people are co-living in this suburban area. They can decide how to spend time here: by living isolated waiting for the end (explaining all the locked doors), by giving up to suicide, or by creating their own personal place. Other than ordinary people terminally ill, the only living creature allowed to access Burnhouse Lane are cats. The felines can freely roam the town by switching from the two realities. And not only that, because cats seems more sentient in Burnhouse Lane, guiding trustworthy people and providing them with supernatural gifts, such as controlling dead bodies or asking for an undeniable truth. Cats are guides and messengers of this reality, silent protagonists of the unwelcoming world of Burnhouse Lane. And if ordinary cats can access Burnhouse Lane, the Burned Cat is the closest example to a ruler in this world. Gigantic feline with muscles but skeletal body, the Burned Cat is an intelligent and sophisticated being, able to fluently communicate with humans. The creature is a sort of personal guide, imprisoned in this world and providing ways to the chosen one to escape from their destiny. The Burned Cat is an ambiguous being that plays with fate, providing incomprehensible and disturbing challenges to the ones that aim for salvation. And this task can be really disturbing, including feeding your blood to a cannibal or sending an evil man as sacrifice to Burnhouse Lane. In this regard, the Burned Cat can also act as an executioner, devouring mischievous humans that trespassed in this world. The Burned Cat shows similarities with the Crow in terms of working as cryptic guide and oracle, however, the creature is much more present and humanised than the disturbing Crow, still working inside a gray morality, but with much more transparency. And who knows, if you are lucky enough, in the end maybe the Burned Cat will not be a bad influence.
The Wolf is the last emblematic animal that I will analyse, and probably the most mysterious character in Burnhouse Lane. Wolves are not very connected with afterlife in folklore. Sure, some Nordic civilizations, such as in Canada and Alaska, believed that wolves were guardian of the afterlife, and several wolves appear as fierce otherworldly beings in Viking folklore. However, the connection with the afterlife is very thin. Moreover, the wolf often appears as a dangerous guardian or a savage beast, a constantly hungry devoured. And this is not far from the Wolf in Burnhouse Lane. The Burned Cat will warn you of his arrival, specifically saying to never say a word to him, just to placate his hunger. And you really should never say a word to him, because the consequences could be quite dramatic. The Wolf will come at night, completely mute and emotionless. The only thing that you know, is that you must feed him. And he will eat every edible-ish meal that you will provide him. But his appetite can never be satiate… or it can be, but only after devouring a dead body. After being satiated, the Wolf will guide the chosen one toward their final task. But still during the way, nobody should talk to him.
The Wolf is ferocious and deadly, as the wolves in mythologic afterlife, but it is not working as a guardian in Burnhouse Lane. To be precise, the Wolf is the most coherent guide in this bizarre afterlife. He is not hiding behind riddles, prophecies or half lies. If you provide him the correct food, the Wolf will silently guide you to the final destination. As the deadly ferryman Charon in Greek underworld, if you pay the ride with silver coins he will bring you to the otherside. Just in this case, the silver coins are dead bodies. Moreover, after the night and the travels are over, when the dawn is approaching, the Wolf will change behaviour, speaking very calmly and politely, highlighting a far less aggressive nature.
Cat Lady, Lorelai, and now Burnhouse Lane created a very complex afterlife, full of symbolism and surreal moments, intricated and dreamlike places that will definitively stay with the player after finishing the game. And the mysterious and cryptic characters, in this case linked with totemic animals and psychopomps from myths and folklore, add an additional layer of connection with the our reality.
Surreal and Creepy 