The story of Phantom is pretty cool... Last winter in February I started noticing paw prints in the snow leading up to my doorway. And since my 2 current brother cats Zorro and Sombrero are strictly indoor cats this seemed surprising to see the prints.
Anyways this happened for a few weeks but no sign of the "phantom" cat, just the prints. Well one night I had put trash out early, something I almost never do and in the morning I found a section of the bag ripped open and the cat had try to eat a piece of pizza but it was so frozen the poor thing only managed to get a couple of scrapes. It was then I decided I would put out water and food nightly and also put out a cat carrier with blankets just in case it needed some kind of shelter.

The "phantom" cat would eat the food nightly and this happened for a few months still with no sight of the cat. Then in July I started to capture brief glimpses as I put up a security light and this enabled me to see this elusive creature.
Then one night I came home and he was in the carrier, which he promptly vacated like a "cat out of hell" and took off. This happened for a month or so and then he would allow me to watch him eat as long as I didn't make any sudden movements or try and open the door. And then he started to sleep the night in the carrier and one day I slowly opened the door and he would move down the steps but not run away. A few weeks later he let himself sniff my finger and a few DAYS later he let me pick him up and pet him if only briefly.

One night shortly after this I opened my door wide open and he would stick his head in the door and look at my 2 cats who were un-phased by this and dart off into the dark. 2 night later I opened the door and he walked in and my big ole' cat Zorro proceeded to walk over to him and give him a welcoming head butt which surprised the $#@$ out of me!! After a few mins he took off. Finally 2 nights later I opened the door again and he came in headed for the couch and proceeded to lay down and that was it, he adopted me!! Well at least I had him for 3 months.

R.I.P. Phantom!!!!