Black Panthers in the smokey mountains????

[Erik88]

OhShoot, by your skeptical tone, I guess your gonna downplay the existance of Skunk Apes and Woolybuggers as well as the black panther, not sayin I've ever seen one but would it not be a more interesting world if they did exist...Just Sayin..

don't forget Bigfoot....

[Oh Shoot]

OhShoot, by your skeptical tone, I guess your gonna downplay the existance of Skunk Apes and Woolybuggers as well as the black panther, not sayin I've ever seen one but would it not be a more interesting world if they did exist...Just Sayin..

Yes, human nature craves strange, wonderful and magical things whether they be earthbound or beyond -- hence yetis and religion.

- OS

[Mike.357]

Yes, human nature craves strange, wonderful and magical things whether they be earthbound or beyond -- hence yetis and religion.

- OS

now this thread is delivering

[JAB]

Everybody knows that if there hasn't been an example of something either captured or killed in an area in several years then that animal must not be there. The next thing you know, some crackpot will try and tell us that the *coelacanths aren't really extinct.

Oh, wait - you mean they aren't?

*Coelacanths are a species of fish which were believed by scientists to have gone extinct around the time dinosaurs died out - that is MILLIONS of years ago and HUNDREDS of years of recorded history with no record of one existing - until one was caught in the 1930s. Since then, several examples have been seen/photographed. They are rare and extremely endangered but by no means extinct - so just because you haven't seen one in your neighbor's tropical fish tank - or run over by a car on I-40 - that doesn't mean they don't exist.

[Guest BEARMAN]

Everybody knows that if there hasn't been an example of something either captured or killed in an area in several years then that animal must not be there. The next thing you know, some crackpot will try and tell us that the *coelacanths aren't really extinct.

Oh, wait - you mean they aren't?

*Coelacanths are a species of fish which were believed by scientists to have gone extinct around the time dinosaurs died out - that is MILLIONS of years ago and HUNDREDS of years of recorded history with no record of one existing - until one was caught in the 1930s. Since then, several examples have been seen/photographed. They are rare and extremely endangered but by no means extinct - so just because you haven't seen one in your neighbor's tropical fish tank - or run over by a car on I-40 - that doesn't mean they don't exist.

EDZACHARY!...........Just like those melanistic blind cave deer over at Bone cave. Where did they come from????

Don't know, said the cave owner...all I can tell ya boy is...."we have no-eye-deer".............

[Guest Bluemax]

I wondered when someone was gonna play the Coelacanth card as that species is the cryptos ace in the hole. I would really love to believe that some of these off the wall critters exist but if you can't produce at least some hair or scat then I have to remain skeptical. Don't get me wrong I was brought up on my Grandmother's tales of such beasts but being older and wiser I ignore such things. With that being said, I will itry and ignore the cackling of the chickens and the way my dogs run under my chair as the clouds cover the moon and that scratching starts at the door around midnight......

[Guest Jamie]

With that being said, I will itry and ignore the cackling of the chickens and the way my dogs run under my chair as the clouds cover the moon and that scratching starts at the door around midnight......

Yer wife's gonna be PISSED if ya don't let 'er in after her night out on th' town...

[Guest mosinon]

Everybody knows that if there hasn't been an example of something either captured or killed in an area in several years then that animal must not be there. The next thing you know, some crackpot will try and tell us that the *coelacanths aren't really extinct.

Oh, wait - you mean they aren't?

*Coelacanths are a species of fish which were believed by scientists to have gone extinct around the time dinosaurs died out - that is MILLIONS of years ago and HUNDREDS of years of recorded history with no record of one existing - until one was caught in the 1930s. Since then, several examples have been seen/photographed. They are rare and extremely endangered but by no means extinct - so just because you haven't seen one in your neighbor's tropical fish tank - or run over by a car on I-40 - that doesn't mean they don't exist.

I think the coelacanth story is a bit off. The coelacanth was sparsely caught by by folks in Mozambique and Madagascar. Except those people weren't scientists or trained to look for that particular fish.

When you're talking black panther in TN you're talking about something trained folks are actually looking for. Heck, they are interested in a regular cougar in TN. You've got biologists and rangers monitoring this stuff. You didn't have a ton of people looking for the coelacanth actively. And a weird fish isn't all that unusual for a fisherman to haul in. They even had a name for the thing. Probably a recipe as well.

Gorilla or Okapi might be a better analogy but even then it would fail.

Don't get me wrong. I am all for the idea that black panthers are running loose in the smoky mountains, it would be pretty cool. I just haven't seen any evidence other than supposed sightings. You'd think a farm animal or two would be taken by the beasts in they were there.

[Guest Jamie]

Maybe they're black panthers with an I.Q. of 200 or so, and the sense to stay out of the way of people... Well, and a mean streak too, since they obviously like to tease folk, by letting themselves be seen every now and then.

What? Stop looking at me like that. It could be true.

Got as much chance as the Bible being true....

[Guest mosinon]

I, for one, welcome our new big brained feline overlords.

[JAB]

I wondered when someone was gonna play the Coelacanth card as that species is the cryptos ace in the hole. I would really love to believe that some of these off the wall critters exist but if you can't produce at least some hair or scat then I have to remain skeptical. Don't get me wrong I was brought up on my Grandmother's tales of such beasts but being older and wiser I ignore such things. With that being said, I will itry and ignore the cackling of the chickens and the way my dogs run under my chair as the clouds cover the moon and that scratching starts at the door around midnight......

I am not even talking about bigfoot, etc. I am talking about more 'mundane' creatures existing where and/or when they aren't supposed to exist. Also, for the record, I am not even saying that I believe there are panthers, cougars or what have you in East Tennessee. I'm simply saying that I don't discount someone's claim of having seen one simply because I haven't backed over one in my driveway, yet. To me, as it is impossible to prove a negative, acting as if one knows for sure that someone couldn't possibly have seen something that they may very well have seen shows just as much ignorance as believing that Sasquatch has been borrowing your car without your permission.

[Guest Bluemax]

Yer wife's gonna be PISSED if ya don't let 'er in after her night out on th' town...

OK Thats freikrn hilarious !!!!:D:D

but be glad the warden's ire is focused on the Shi Tzu beater in Knoxville at the moment cause when she reads this she may start construction on two more of those hoo doo dolls with the removeable parts and the open orifices. ( those open mouthes and startled expressions haunt me ) just funnin!!!!

Edited April 19, 2011 by Bluemax

[Guest Bluemax]

I am not even talking about bigfoot, etc. I am talking about more 'mundane' creatures existing where and/or when they aren't supposed to exist. Also, for the record, I am not even saying that I believe there are panthers, cougars or what have you in East Tennessee. I'm simply saying that I don't discount someone's claim of having seen one simply because I haven't backed over one in my driveway, yet. To me, as it is impossible to prove a negative, acting as if one knows for sure that someone couldn't possibly have seen something that they may very well have seen shows just as much ignorance as believing that Sasquatch has been borrowing your car without your permission.

Please don't mistake my comment for total skeptisim, I would be thrilled to death if someone came foward with proof of existance of any of the afore mentioned creatures, none on which I consider mundane. The world would be an even more excitiing place with them in it

[Guest J.D. Skull]

The thing stalking the bike rider was obviously a behinder. But I would'nt go hikeing in those mountains becouse they are infested with HOOPSNAKES! Better to be gangprobed by aliens then to cross paths with a HOOPSNAKE!

[Lumber_Jack]

Dong forget the ivory billed woodpecker, believed to be extinct until spotted (videoed) in an arkasas swamp

[Guest Jamie]

OK Thats freikrn hilarious !!!!:D

Glad it was taken in the spirit it was intended.

but be glad the warden's ire is focused on the Shi Tzu beater in Knoxville at the moment cause when she reads this she may start construction on two more of those hoo doo dolls with the removeable parts and the open orifices. ( those open mouthes and startled expressions haunt me ) just funnin!!!!

No worries... I'd let her in.

( I learned a long time ago that there are certain things that you just don't not do. )

Edited April 20, 2011 by Jamie

[Guest mosinon]

I am not even talking about bigfoot, etc. I am talking about more 'mundane' creatures existing where and/or when they aren't supposed to exist. Also, for the record, I am not even saying that I believe there are panthers, cougars or what have you in East Tennessee. I'm simply saying that I don't discount someone's claim of having seen one simply because I haven't backed over one in my driveway, yet. To me, as it is impossible to prove a negative, acting as if one knows for sure that someone couldn't possibly have seen something that they may very well have seen shows just as much ignorance as believing that Sasquatch has been borrowing your car without your permission.

That's kind of the point, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, right? So if people are claiming bigfoot or black panthers in east tennesse I'll need to see some decent evidence of it. There are pictures of bigfoot, there are pictures of the Loch Ness Monster and so on. But there are no pics of the rare east tenn black panther.

What wee do have is eye witness accounts. Those are notoriously unreliable. People tend to see what they want to see and we they see something unexpected the force fir it into what already fits. I'll give a personal example. A few days ago, maybe a month I was walking with a buddy near a cow pasture. We saw an all black thing darting amongst the cows. The conversation went a little like this:

"Is that a dog out there with the cows?"

"Can't be a dog, the cows would be freaking out"

"Maybe it's a farm dog they're used to or something"

"Yeah, it moves like a dog. Guess it is just having some fun"

Since we are walking our dogs we freaking know what dogs look like, how they move and so on. But as we got closer we learned it was a little black calf running around and having fun.

I'd say it is entirely possible that I'd miss identify a bear as a panther, a bobcat as a panther or even a cougar as a black panther in the right conditions. But I am a stooge.

Still, I wouldn't set up Jimmie's black panther hides emporium with just a few visuals.

[1morethan8]

This is my first post to this forum...

The way I found it was a Google search with the words... "Black Panther Tennessee".

My name is Wayne Brantley and I live east of town, which is Cleveland, TN

Well, I haven't seen Bigfoot yet... but as of Thursday night just before midnight...

I can cross "Large Black Cat" off my list!

Oh well... if the Rubicon didn't have four-wheel disc brakes... I may have gotten you the proff!

[Lumber_Jack]

This is my first post to this forum...

The way I found it was a Google search with the words... "Black Panther Tennessee".

My name is Wayne Brantley and I live east of town, which is Cleveland, TN

Well, I haven't seen Bigfoot yet... but as of Thursday night just before midnight...

I can cross "Large Black Cat" off my list!

Oh well... if the Rubicon didn't have four-wheel disc brakes... I may have gotten you the proff!

Haha, well welcome to the forum, and next time, hit that damn thing!

[TN Outlaw]

dang dude i posted this topic like a month ago and just noticed how many views and post it has this is crazy

[TN Outlaw]

This is my first post to this forum...

The way I found it was a Google search with the words... "Black Panther Tennessee".

My name is Wayne Brantley and I live east of town, which is Cleveland, TN

Well, I haven't seen Bigfoot yet... but as of Thursday night just before midnight...

I can cross "Large Black Cat" off my list!

Oh well... if the Rubicon didn't have four-wheel disc brakes... I may have gotten you the proff!

welcome to the forum and to bad would have been great to have a photo

[1morethan8]

To this date over the last 20 years, I've had 4 friends who have seen big cats...

1) A multi-brown in Rutherford County, NC

2) A multi-brown at Signal Mountain, TN

3) A solid black, Hawassee River, Polk County, TN

4) A solid black on Carter's Mountain near Winchester, TN

None of the four know each other, all know the outdoors, and are very truthful.

[TN Outlaw]

To this date over the last 20 years, I've had 4 friends who have seen big cats...

1) A multi-brown in Rutherford County, NC

2) A multi-brown at Signal Mountain, TN

3) A solid black, Hawassee River, Polk County, TN

4) A solid black on Carter's Mountain near Winchester, TN

None of the four know each other, all know the outdoors, and are very truthful.

i think a bunch of people had them as pets and let them loose and they have multiplied thats just my opinion tho

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

Good Grief.. is this still going?

Its really odd.. ALL these people and friends " see " the big cats..

And with everyone having a cell phone.. least you think they can snap a picture of it.. or at least a tail or paw print..but ..alas.. No pics.. no proof..

Eyesight goes bad when you get older or when drunk..

Oh and if you would like to see a big cat.. come to my house.. My Main Coon will

beat up your panther

[TN Outlaw]

Good Grief.. is this still going?

Its really odd.. ALL these people and friends " see " the big cats..

And with everyone having a cell phone.. least you think they can snap a picture of it.. or at least a tail or paw print..but ..alas.. No pics.. no proof..

Eyesight goes bad when you get older or when drunk..

Oh and if you would like to see a big cat.. come to my house.. My Main Coon will

beat up your panther

take a cell phone picture? so you think there going to be within 5 feet thats how close you would have to be to take a picture with a cell phone....