Thread: Black Cougar sighting in Schuylkill County Pennsylvania

Originally Posted by Hektor

Not sure if this is the appropriate place to post about this sighting, but I'm really interested to know if anyone else has seen anything such as this.

Two months ago I was driving home from a friend's house, it was around 1:30 a.m., and on a semi-rural road. I was driving slower than the posted speed limit of 30 mph to 45 mph (it changes in places due to the rather twisty nature of the road), firstly because an earlier storm had dropped a lot of branches on the road, and secondly because this particular road is known for having a lot of wild life activity... mostly deer, possums, skunks etc. As I drive this road frequently at night, I'm well familiar with these possible dangers and made a conscious decision to take it cautiously on the way home. I'm glad I did or I might have missed this, or at least not had as good a look at what I saw.

Rounding a right hand turn sort of had my high beams pointed towards the edge of a field of weedy vegetation on my right side, and illuminated what I could only describe as a black cougar loping through the weeds. It was maybe 4- 4.5 feet long not including the tail and maybe 30 feet from the edge of the road. For those that would say this might be some kind of overgrown black house cat, let me assure you it most definitely not. Even the biggest domestic cats I have ever seen would have been swallowed by the vegetation surrounding it and never would have been seen. The vegetation was probably 2 + feet tall in that place. Plus I saw the head and face of this animal rather well and facially it resembled normal cougars. Size wise it resembled a cougar. I saw it well and it was well lit by my headlights for maybe 2- 3 secs. I should also mention that I am very familiar with the woods and wildlife in this part of PA as I have been a lifelong fisherman, and used to hunt a lot as a teenager, though now I just fish. Now for the weird part.

As if a black cougar was not weird enough, this animal acted even weirder.
Usually, when you drive by a wild animal at night it will look in the direction of the noise and the oncoming lights of the vehicle. Or at the very least shy away from this disturbance. This animal never did. From all outwards appearances it acted as if me and my car were not there. Never slowing, never changing course, never orienting it's head in my direction.

At first sight it was loping on a course that would take it behind me at about a 45 degree angle to the direction of the road and my course, and I'd estimate if it stayed that course and pace it would cross the road about 5-7 seconds after I passed. As far as I know that's what it did as it showed absolutely no sign of doing anything else.

After passing the animal and losing sight of it, I turned around at the nearest opportunity, which unfortunately was far enough away (maybe a thousand yards further down the road) that the odds of me going back and catching sight of it again were not good. I did make the effort to do so... it was long gone. So I continued home and have not seen anything like this since. I now travel that particular stretch of road very slowly and try to always have a camera with a flash with me when I do. Anyway, just really wondering if anyone else has seen anything of the sort.

Welcome, Hector, interesting encounter,

It does sound like, well, a black cougar. I understand there is a cougar population within the U.S., are they supposed to be long gone from your area?

In my mind I call them shy and resilient. There have been very similar reports from the United Kingdom, and near my area, in the Netherlands. Even causing a National Park to be temporarily closed off to visitors after a sighting. Avoiding humans and sticking to forests may be their success formula.

Maybe the big cat passed behind you, seeming to ignore the presence of your car, because it had seen/sensed you already, classified you as not a threat, and confidently set a course allowing it to pass behind you. You just missed the moment of startled observation, catching sight of the animal as it had already dismissed you as irrelevant to its reality.

I am curious. What is the most unusual thing you remember about your observation?

dani

First I'd like to thank you for the welcome : ) And yes ... cougars are to be very long gone from my area... and to my knowledge long gone from any area in the U.S. east of the Mississippi.. let alone this close to the eastern seaboard. I have heard of similar sightings in Oklahoma and Texas, but not in Pennsylvania.
The weirdest part to me was it's apparent singlemindedness of purpose.. not reacting to my prescence at all.. in my experience very odd with wild animals. The other weird thing... and why it would seem odd to me I have no idea.. but it was not completely black.. it did have a white blaze on it's chest... sort of like like a downwards pointing triangle... maybe 3-5 inches wide and slightly more than that long. That just seemed out of place to me for some reason.

I've heard of these. I saw an episode of mosterquest about it (its a show about different cryptids) and I thought it was pretty cool, especially since they've been sited not to far from me. The next day I was in the car with my grandpa, who by the way used to be a hunter and also taught wilderness survival training in the airforce (US), and mentioned it to him that I might try to find one one day. He told me that people see them up in the mountains all the time, he said he'd heard stories about people seeing them and I don't remember but he might've said he'd seen one himself. He's a no-bullshit kind of person too, he doesn't beleive stuff unless he's seen it or he knows someone who definetly saw it. I also think it's interesting that until a couple years ago he thought UFO's were bullshit, then on a trip to sanibel, florida he saw one off the balcony of the condo. He said it glowed and it flew so low you could even see windows. Like I said, he was in the airforce, and would know if this was some kind of plane. Anyways, Hektor what part of the country do you live in? And welcome to the hub by the way!

Since the time I had this sighting a friend of mine pointed out that episode of Monsterquest to me and I made a point of catching a rerun of it since and found it very interesting as well. Glad at least I'm not the only one to have seen what most wildlife experts would tell you are not supposed to exist. I live in east-central Pennsylvania and thx for the welcome : )

Originally Posted by Hektor

First I'd like to thank you for the welcome : ) And yes ... cougars are to be very long gone from my area... and to my knowledge long gone from any area in the U.S. east of the Mississippi.. let alone this close to the eastern seaboard. I have heard of similar sightings in Oklahoma and Texas, but not in Pennsylvania.
The weirdest part to me was it's apparent singlemindedness of purpose.. not reacting to my prescence at all.. in my experience very odd with wild animals. The other weird thing... and why it would seem odd to me I have no idea.. but it was not completely black.. it did have a white blaze on it's chest... sort of like like a downwards pointing triangle... maybe 3-5 inches wide and slightly more than that long. That just seemed out of place to me for some reason.

That actually makes a lot of sense, Hektor.

Here's a pic of a black variety of the big cats:



Black Leopard, popularly referred to as a black panther.


Important here is that 'black' panthers, like jaguars and leopards, are expressing melanism. Gene directed suppression of non black colors, which leave any underlying pattern, distinctive for a species/family, hidden, yet intact. Black on black patterns so to speak, fooling our eyes.

Let's have a look at a cougar, magnificent American beast.



See the white, divided heart pattern on its chest.


It can be expected when this cat is on the move, crossing its front legs rithmically, this will turn into a triangular shape to an observer.


You might have seen the offspring, bloodline even, of a hybrid between panther and cougar. It's black colour hides its continued expression of pattern. The distinctive cougar 'white heart' might have been due to a dominant gene from a cougar matriarch.

Just speculating here, but I enjoy that!

dani

sounds like rather logical speculation to me... the black leopard pic was helpful to me because now after seeing it I believe that is why the white chest marking seemed so out of place to me... I think of a large black feline I think black leopard.. which are usually entirely black... hence the reason the white mark seemed out of place to me.. thx for your insight dani

Originally Posted by Hektor

sounds like rather logical speculation to me... the black leopard pic was helpful to me because now after seeing it I believe that is why the white chest marking seemed so out of place to me... I think of a large black feline I think black leopard.. which are usually entirely black... hence the reason the white mark seemed out of place to me.. thx for your insight dani

Hi there I was hoping to shed some light on this, although I realize the thread is old...

I saw one of these when I was 12 while walking in the woods, it crossed the road in front of me and acted in a manner very similar to how you described. This one was much larger however and North of you, in rural New Brunswick, Canada. We have extremely harsh winters lasting up to half a year and this Black Jaguar as I call it has survived many (at least 2, 3 sightings within 10 years). Anyway it crossed the road, and just paused completely and turned its head and stared at me . I was obviously motionless but this thing had a great deal of energy. Very calm. And then it just kept on prowling at the same pace in the woods opposite. It seemed very dedicated to its cause. I have spent a lot of time in the last 13 years researching this event. I am sure of a few things, 1) the cat, by DNA, is most likely a Black Jaguar with heritage from South America. Black Panther is merely a generic term for melanistic cat, and is not an actual species of animal. A Black Leopard is somewhat smaller and stalkier than the Jaguar, and purely Black Cougars are extremely rare. Dark cougars have a browner tinge. The cat I saw was about 6-7 feet in length and about 4 feet tall. This sounds fucked, but this was confirmed by a biologist working in the area on the presumptions that the Eastern Cougar (a smaller, tawny big cat) is not extinct. These two have been sighted. He found DNA of two big cats, and traced the darker one back to South American ancestry. For the non-geo adepts, that is a huge migration. Almost unheard of. 2) It wasn't hungry. Which means it eats very well. Probably has done so for a long time. The chances for a breeding population increase significantly because of this. It is of the Panthera subspecies, and could mate with a cougar if need be. Point being it could have eaten me. Jaguars also have the ability to paralyze their prey by use of any energy sent from the eyes, prior to pouncing. The energy in this beings eyes was almost gentle (yet overwhelmingly powerful). To give a better idea of the size, when it was in the middle of the road where it paused, it took up about half the width of the road (tail included). 3) There is a general understanding within the Forestry and Science sectors to cover up these out of place cats. I was told that what I saw was a large Fisher, or a Wolverine. (lol) I have seen these in the wild.

There is a theory - that things perhaps not from this planet or dimension have the ability to take control of animals. Move them, use them to their ends. I should also say that after this encounter I had vivd dreams of the cat, being in its head and wandering the woods full of snow. These lasted for years and it seemed were the only dreams I ever had. The jaguar is rooted in spirituality (was also considered to be the ultimate beast) and I was too young to understand such concepts so did not really speak of it. Now, after my many years of strange/paranormal research I see the parallels between my dreams and those who have experienced encounters of the third kind, or perhaps been abducted. I don't believe I was, but I do know there was certainly something otherworldly about that Cat.

In the DC suburban an occasional bear is seen (my neighbor saw one and called police) so anything is possible.

A bear isn't likely to come after you. If a mountain lion or cougar catches you alone - that is a little riskier - out west hikers keep getting eaten.

Hello Hektor! I'm honestly not surprised that you saw a cougar. I live in Pennsylvania, and hunters talk about catching glimpses of them all the time its not big thing out here really. Your sighting was pretty detailed so I'm going to say that itw as probably a cougar you saw. However, always be aware of the possibility of misidentification.