The Ragdoll cat's origins are filled with wild and bizarre stories. The stories frequently contradict depending on who the storyteller is and much of it borders on the ridiculous. The factual part of the Ragdoll cat's beginnings is that breed was founded in 1960s California. The first Ragdoll breeder was a reclusive woman named Ann Baker that enjoyed telling stories about her cats. The very first Ragdoll was a white cat she named Josephine.

Baker saw a characteristic in the cat Josephine that became the hallmark of the breed. When Ann held Josephine the cat went limp in her arms like a rag doll. Ann Baker named the breed for this limp trait and filed for a trademark so she could collect royalties from anyone to breed her cats. She started a registry for breeding Ragdoll cats but lost control because of wild behaviors and story telling.

The fact that Ragdoll cats all go limp when held is where Ann Baker's unusual claims come into the picture. It begins when her cat Josephine was hit by an automobile. One story told by Baker was that she took Josephine to a University for medical treatment. Baker claims the University modified Josephine's DNA and this is where the Ragdoll trait came from.

Ann Baker made many wild claims about her cats, telling people Ragdolls do not feel any pain whatsoever. She told people her cats were really feline alien hybrids that had been genetically altered for her by aliens of course. An x-file that never made it off the editing room floor; however, according to Baker alien cats have been in California since the 1960s. She also told people Ragdolls were the perfect pet for people with allergies because they did not give off allergens. When it comes to the stories Ann Banker told about her cats, Ragdoll history is a page out of science fiction.