The Panther Project

  Scotty Eller of Pottertown, Watauga County, North Carolina, reports that in the summer of 2002 or 2003 his father saw a panther. It was about 6:30 to 7:00 pm (still daylight) and he was sitting on his deck when he saw it walk across the yard below him about 20 feet away. His dog went after it and it turned around and “squalled,” causing the dog to quit chasing it and hunker-down and whimper in fear. Scotty saw paw prints near the creek as big as his hand. The next night Scotty and his wife heard it scream about 11:00 pm, which he said sounded “freaky” and would make “your hair stand on end.” Around 2014, Scotty’s son, who was 11 years old at the time, saw a long panther tail extending above a log, flicking back and forth like it was ready to pounce.  

  Jay Presnell reports that his grandmother’s aunt went to the store in Heaton, Avery County, North Carolina, to sell her herbs. On her way back home a panther started following her. She had bought a couple of tin cups at the store, so she began beating them together in an attempt to scare it off. But the cups eventually became crushed and it wasn’t scaring the panther anyway. She took off her bonnet and threw it at it. The panther stopped, dug a hole, and buried the bonnet. So, she began removing pieces of clothing one at a time and throwing it at the cat. Each time it would stop and bury the clothing before moving on. She was able to hold off the panther this way until she reached home with only her underwear on.

 Hi -  I moved to Boone in 2004 and had grown up in a very rural area of Mississippi.  It was not unusual for us to hear panthers/cougars at night or to find remains of cattle or deer that had been attacked by them.  I recall very clearly coming home late from a night class and seeing one stroll in no hurry across our road in the light of my headlights.   We moved to Snaggy Mountain Boulevard in Boone in 2005 after renting elsewhere in the county for a year.  We were frequently visited by bears and coyotes and would occasionally see a portion of a track in the mud or snow that didn't quite look like a canine paw print.  In about 2010/11, our neighbors got a miniature donkey to help "mow" their yard and kept it in the back yard with a pretty sizeable old metal building as its shelter.  One winter afternoon I returned from work to find the neighbors and a representative from the state there examining what was left of the donkey ins...