The Wampus Cat | Ep. 128

The Wampus Cat is a large, cat-like entity that is connected to Native American folklore. Also known as the Cherokee Death Cat, this beast is known for its six legs and terrifying cry.

But, is it real? Listen now!

What screams at night in the heart of the Appalachian mountains?

Does a dark curse still stalk through the blue hills?

Have you ever seen a cougar bigger than a horse?

What is up, Bizarros?! This week we dive into the strange tale of the Wampus Cat.

This cat isn’t your mundane mountain lion.  The mysterious animal is thought to be responsible for livestock deaths that roam the Appalachian Mountains, terrifying the locals.

What Is The Wampus Cat?

A creature notably found in the mountains of Appalachia. The Wampus Cat is not your normal mountain cat.  It is a unique creature that is deadly and devastating. Unlike a normal mountain lion, this cat-like creature is said to look like a mix between a wolf and a big cat.

The Wampus cat is said to vary in height from that of a gorilla to a large miniature pony. It said to walk on its hind legs but has been seen walking on all three pairs of legs.

It is said to have front legs, middle legs, and back legs.

People that have seen said it looks like a black panther or a cougar, or a mountain lion, but on steroids.

The howl of this feline creature is a scream that rips through the forest. It sends terror to the hearts of those that hear it.

This creature is sad to hunt in the mountains of Appalachia found in Eastern Tennessee, Western Virginia, and Southern Kentucky states that border the Appalachian mountains. However, there are other reports from Florida, New York, California, and possibly even the UK.

The mythology of this mythical creature is somewhat unknown, but it is said to be a native American legend of the Cherokee nation. 

Those that know some lore about the wizarding world of Harry Potter may also recognize the name as one of the 4 wizarding houses. Wampum represents the body and warriors.

The Cat Creature Comes From Cherokee legends.

The first goes like this.

There was an evil sprite outside of the village of Etowah that was tormenting the people and children in their dreams. It was Ew’ah, the demon of madness.

The tribal elders met and decided someone would have to take on Ew’ah. A brave warrior was chosen to fight. As he left, the council decided to grant him weapons and blessings to fight.

For several weeks they did not hear from the brave warrior. Then one night, he ran back into the village screaming and clutching his face. His wife knew that he would be changed forever after this. Not able to do anything. She was angry and wanted revenge.

She went to councils and was given a mask (a taxidermy bobcat face) and a special black paste to hide her scent. The voiceless said the only way to win against the Ew’ah was to surprise it.

After days of stalking, she found the spirit walking upstream. She saw it at a fork of the pure mountain springs drinking Hungrily.

She crept closer and closer, and she sprung on the creature. The Ew’ah was so startled, and the power of the mask made the creature tear itself apart. The woman ran as soon as she saw that she had triumphed.

The legend is that the woman still inhabits the spirit of the Wampus Cat and protects her people’s land.

Another Native origin story goes like this.

There was a woman who was married to a hunter. Occasionally the woman’s husband and her husband’s friends and other hunters would go into the woods for long periods of time.

They will be gone for weeks hunting, or at least that’s what they said. Do you know, so curious she said one day to follow of them?

When she fell, she disguise herself with cougar skin. She wrapped it around herself as she walks in the woods.

Finally, she came across the men’s fire. They were there dancing, practicing dark Magic that was forbidden from the tribe, and telling old stories.

She was so enthralled she kept creeping closer and closer to the men’s circle until finally she was discovered by the firelight.

The men chased and dragged her back into the circle. As a punishment for her spying on them, the tribe’s medicine man cast a spell or curse upon the woman, and the cougar skin she wars in disguise wrapped around her, and she became the curse of the Wampus cat

Encounters With The Wampus Cat

r/Thetruthishere • 6 yr. ago Wampus Cat of North Carolina

I am a mentally well, moderately successful young wife and mother in the deep south, on the edge of the coast, and have been in this beach town my whole life.

You get a few miles west from the beach, and you’re immediately in the country.

My mother’s side has lived here as far back as memory serves, and my father is a Sioux whose mother moved him here as a child away from the rez.

Since I can remember, my mother’s side of the family has had run-ins with the Wampus Cat.

Legends vary depending on where you are, but commonly around here, it’s said she was a Cherokee woman who snuck into the woods to listen in on a males-only meeting that included the chief and their medicine-man (not sure if it’s the correct term for this tribe.)

She wore the skin of a cougar as a disguise, but she was found out, and the medicine man cursed her to forever wear the cougar skin. She now stalks people for what reason, I don’t know.

But it follows me. And my family. Always has.

We’ve gotten so used to the Wampus Cat we just expect her when we move to a new house,

or the seasons are changing, or we find ourselves in a moment of emotional weakness.

When my mother had a rough day being bullied in middle school back in the 80s, she was crying and riding her bike home down a country dirt road.

The sun is setting, but it’s not dark out yet. Behind her, she hears this shriek. I’ve heard it before, and it sounds like when an eagle screams, but with that gurgling gutturalness of a cougars roar.

So she turns around, and she sees a huge creature, dark matted fur, in a stance like a gorilla stands in when it walks on its knuckles (back legs crouched a bit, chest and head up and supported by the arms on the knuckles.)

She turns around and races on her bike all the way home. She told her mom what she saw, and she calmly says, “That’s a Wampus Cat.

They’ve never hurt us; they just like to spook you.” And that was that.

So I grew up with a Native father, superstitious as all hell and practically jumping under the bed to hide when we heard the Wampus Cat

scream in the backyard some nights, while my mom and grandmother just kind of acknowledged, “oh, it’s the cat again.”

And I have gone my whole life with this as completely normal.

Even when I got married, and my husband was out by the woods with me, we’d hear that scream, see the leaves on the forest floor kick up as it stalked us,

Never coming to close, and have to realize that to people who didn’t grow up in my town, this was a terrifying experience. To me, it’s like when you occasionally see a Cardinal in the trees.

A bit different than the day-to-day, but nothing life-changing.

My closest encounter was one night in high school; my friend and I and her bf were sitting on the front porch enjoying the nighttime salt air and the lightning bugs.

A huge, gorilla-sized, extremely hairy animal runs up to the front of the porch and screams like hell opened up. Now I’m semi-used to the critter, but I don’t want it 5ft from me.

We go to her bedroom and, for about an hour, hear it stalking back and forth under her window, about 10ft down (coastal towns have raised houses on stilts in case of hurricanes.)

Growling, spitting, screaming, rolling around in the foliage. Just being pesky and grumpy. Finally, it wanders off, all is quiet, and we fall asleep.

Every once in a while, I’ll still hear it. It’s just life here.

This town is extremely haunted. I’ve grown up a few miles from the Fort Fisher battleground and many historic and tragic places.

I have too many unnatural encounters with all sorts of things to put in one post.

But that’s it.

This is really long, jumbled, confusing, and probably a bit boring compared to other posts.

But it’s my experience with a not-so-talked about creature that is just a part of life to me.

Hope y’all learned something, and don’t go out too late in coastal NC if you’re easily scared!

Another encounter with the evil creature.

I’m from PA, and I swear I saw one up there in my neighbor’s field. Had a long tail and leaped over a five-foot fence with ease.

Only saw the back of it, but we looked at the trees nearby where it was for scale, and the thing was definitely mountain lion size.

I talked to some old timers, and some said that mountain lions, very rarely, can be born very dark or black. As far as my own research goes, it seems that there has never been a scientifically documented black cougar or catamount.

Is There A Mythical Creature That Roams The Mountains At Night?

What do you think Bizarros?

Is there a loose beast that pays night visits to unfortunate livestock?

Could it be a mix of a cougar and another animal that people are exaggerating?

Or is it a common mountain lion that might have been a little bigger than usual?

Let us know if you find the Wampus Cat #Believable or #Unbelievable.