Cat in the Hat incident reported in Ledegem, West Flanders, Belgium
AI-generated Cat in the Hat street images circulated in Ledegem, Belgium, prompting the mayor and Grensleie police to ask residents to report alarming local posts rather than spread them.
What happened?
On September 22, 2026, public reporting connected Ledegem, West Flanders, Belgium to the 2026 Cat in the Hat social-media trend. AI-generated Cat in the Hat street images circulated in Ledegem, Belgium, prompting the mayor and Grensleie police to ask residents to report alarming local posts rather than spread them.
CatBeacon includes this entry because it describes a specific, location-based public report rather than a general warning about the trend. The map uses city or region-level coordinates and does not publish private home locations or identify private individuals.
Why this report matters to the trend map
The Cat in the Hat trend has appeared in different forms, including staged or AI-generated sightings, costume incidents, school-related posts, police investigations and arrests. CatBeacon separates those reports by location and links back to the public source used for each entry.
This incident is categorized as public report. New public reports are added to the live map as they are verified, so the overall picture can change as the trend develops.
Original public source
This CatBeacon entry is based on reporting from VRT NWS / Krantenkoppen.
Read the original report ↗