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Giant Bipedal Cats

zardozzz said:
hokum6 said:
Star Trek? The Kzin are a Larry Niven creation. /nitpick ;)
Actually you were BOTH correct. The Kzinti were a Niven creation. However in the Animated adventures of Star Trek, the Kzinti did have a story-line.

Noted science fiction authors such as David Gerrold and Larry Niven contributed scripts for the animated series. In addition to a sequel to the famous episode The Trouble with Tribbles, two notable episodes of the cartoon include Yesteryear (a time-travel episode in which Mr. Spock uses the time gateway from the live-action episode City on the Edge of Forever to travel to his own childhood past) and Niven's The Slaver Weapon (adapted from his own short story "The Soft Weapon"). Larry Niven in particular included some elements from his Known Space mythos, such as the Kzinti and the Slavers.

One thing i am pretty sure of though is that Plato never mentioned them. Mayhap you "googled" the word 'Kzinti' and saw the phrase "Plato's step children" which was the title of a star trek episode. ?


Well Spotted! (Although I don't) Google... Might have been the other bloke, Aristotle. :p
 
Perhaps this is a cat counterpart to the other thread's Dogheaded Men?

Of course some big cats (pumas, leopards) approximate in size to a large adult human, but they don't walk on their hind legs, nor come in ginger and white... tho i did think of that guy who lives on an island in Scotland who's had tattoos and surgery done to make him look like a tiger... this doesn't "feel" like a cryptozoological sighting to me...

Did it look to you like a flesh and blood animal, or more like some sort of spiritual/other-dimensional being? Also was it more human-like or cat-like in general proportions, other than bipedalism?

I've seen a (black and white, old) photo of the face of a big cat purported to be (i think) a lion/leopard or lion/jaguar hybrid, which looked very oddly human-like in proportions... it could almost have been a human in a cat mask...

Odd, anyway. Perhaps it was some nutter like the Tiger-Man who thought he was the God of Cats and persuaded cats to "worship" him or something?
 
Also, human size constancy ain't what we think it is cracked up to be (we easily get height wrong) - combine this with the 'fact' that human memory is reconstructed and prone to 'explain' (no matter how far out). Further, once somebody has had an experience, the recall and rehearsal of said memory will add more detail/justification each time. However, I prefer the version where you saw a man/cat/thing perceived in slow motion.
 
Thaks for the wealth of replies guys. The closest way i can describe it's gait would be the Patterson Big Foot footage cats are agile and very deft on their feet this just came into view walking like you or i this was not your god "isis" stylie sleek and black etc...a cross between "Bagpuss" and that " Bungle" thing from rainbow for those in the uk old enough to remember these shows
 
Could it have been a member of the 'furry' community?
Furries are geeky types who do fantasy roleplaying as animals, and they take on the persona of their chosen animal. Some of this spills over into their real life.
A few have had costumes made (fursuits), some of which are quite realistic.
And, of course, they like animals and have pets.
No, I'm not a furry, but I know one or two.
 
I saw a guy dressed as Tigger driving a car on Sunday. (That can't have been very safe.) But why would a 'furry' be hiding up in an abandoned house? And were furries even around in the 70's?
 
It was in the 1970s according to the original poster, which is a decade before furry fandom got started. (And I AM a furry, but we're quite harmless :D )

I've heard of a theory that might be of relevance: Because early humans like Homo Erectus were predated by big cats, we've got a built-in predator recognition system that's prone to the occasional false positive - because a false negative would be fatal. So many of the Alien Big Cat (FT's term) sightings are caused by people seeing dogs and the like in the undergrowth, and the brain fills in the cat details to be on the safe side.

So maybe an old tramp dressed from head to toe in rags, as some do, crawled out of that hole, and the OP didn't see him to clearly because he was running away. However, he was primed to expect cats coming from that hole, and saw exactly that as his predator-recognition did a spectacularly messed-up false positive.

Well, it's a theory of sorts. :?
 
Whats interesting is that ABC sightings that turn out to be big cats are due to people not being able to guestimate size well at a distance without suitable items to provide a scale.

This case can't really be explained that way as they were in doors. What I am curious about is the specifics of the encounter. It sounds like you were actually in the same room as the bipedal cat so how far were you from it? What did it do? How did you feel when you saw it? Did your friend confirm the elements you both jointly witnessed? How long did you look at it before legging it? Also did you ever ask the people who moved into the house if they found a hole?

Equally the strangely dark hole and all the cats are extra elements of weirdness.
 
Mistaken identity

Mighty Emperor wrote:

What's interesting is that ABC sightings that turn out to be big cats are due to people not being able to guestimate size well at a distance without suitable items to provide a scale.

True enough. I have seen a guy who filmed an ABC and was thrilled to have done so. When the film was played back it was quite clearly a fox.

Many people seem to actually have no idea what big cats actually look like and this leads to misidentification in so many cases.

It also seems to be true that within the human brain is a template for BIG DANGEROUS CAT; and a glimpses of a low slung shape in uncertain light is enough to convince the conscious mind that that is what has been seen.

I don't think this accounts for one walking on its back legs, though.

Could it have been a rakshasa?
 
Re: Mistaken identity

Pearl_Knight said:
Mighty Emperor wrote:

What's interesting is that ABC sightings that turn out to be big cats are due to people not being able to guestimate size well at a distance without suitable items to provide a scale.

True enough. I have seen a guy who filmed an ABC and was thrilled to have done so. When the film was played back it was quite clearly a fox.

Many people seem to actually have no idea what big cats actually look like and this leads to misidentification in so many cases.

It also seems to be true that within the human brain is a template for BIG DANGEROUS CAT; and a glimpses of a low slung shape in uncertain light is enough to convince the conscious mind that that is what has been seen.

Indeed - if people are interested in this see this thread:
www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17696

Pearl_Knight said:
I don't think this accounts for one walking on its back legs, though.

Could it have been a rakshasa?

You are right that it wouldn't account for such a close quarters sighting.

Its an interesting explanation but the rakshasa, while a shapeshifter, isn't that well known for adopting a cat-like shape (except in fiction) although with shape-shifters you never know. I've never heard of a were-tabby before so.....
 
There's a similar account in the Bords' Alien Animals of someone being startled by a big cat walking towards them, upright on two legs, out of some forest or woodland area. ISTR that it took place somewhere in the USA, and the witness, or witnesses, understandably, fled at the sight of the thing. Sorry to be so vague, but my copy of the book's over 200 miles away at the mo! I'm afraid I can't cast any light on what your cat-thing may have been, Cookiemeister, but I thought you might like to know that there's at least one other entity of the type walking around and scaring unsuspecting passers-by!
 
There are a couple of ghostly big cat stories in John and Anne Spencer's Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. The first is of the Black Cat of Killackee, which was sighted in the late 1960's in a disused building being renovated and converted into an Arts Centre. The phantom cat - which was as large as a big dog and had glowing orange eyes - kept popping out of thin air and frightening the builders.

On one memorable occasion, workman Tom McAssey and two colleagues saw the shadowy figure of the cat standing just outside the room in which they were working, growling menacingly. The men hastily slammed the door shut, but it immediately opened again to reveal the cat still standing there. It had been joined by a second shadowy figure. "You cannot see me," declared the new arrival in a deep voice, adding "You don't even know who I am!"

The other tale is of the White Cat of Willington Mill, sighted in 1834. A young lad, Thomas Davidson, was courting a local girl one evening when a white cat came strolling up. Irritated by this unwanted distraction, Davidson gave the animal a swift kick. His boot passed straight through it, and it vanished. Shortly afterwards, the cat reappeared, "hopping like a rabbit". He gave it another kick, and again it vanished - only to reappear again moments later. This time, it was the size of a sheep and was glowing brightly.

The swain was so terrified by the apparation that he was literally paralysed by fear and felt his hair standing on end. (The effect on the young lady is not noted, but presumably the incident put paid to the nights romantic dallyings!)
 
Famous cats of yore

Hi Grayalien

Yes I've heard the tales (no pun intended) of the Black Cat of Killackee too, but not of the White Cat of Willington Mill.

I'm glad the insensitive lothario had his evening spoiled for his bad behaviour; serve him right. Fancy kicking a cat, I ask you!
 
Large cat sightings

Many years ago my daughter was watching a show about real UFO sightings. On it a woman was outside looking at some strange lights in the sky when she looked up at one of her upstairs windows and saw a catlike face. It didn't look like either an ordinary cat or human but something in between. I think she was taping the lights and caught a picture of the creature. I know the show scared my daughter and she slept with the lights on for several nights afterward.
 
Catlike face

Sounds a bit like the Hopkinsville Goblin. :twisted: A bit like that in fact!
 
I thought this was relevant from pages 97 and 98 of Jamie Hall's book:
www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 314#599314

American werecat sightings are truly rare, except in places such as traditional ethnic communities. Yet a few werecat sightings. or things that sound much like the werecat folklore of a hundred years ago, get reported by normal, modern Americans. These cases almost always involve the elusive semi-mythical "black panthers" of the eastern United States. One such occurrence happened about 1970, a mile south of Olive Branch, Illinois, on a road bordering Shawnee National Forest. A man named Mike Busby had his car stall along this road. As he was opening the hood, he heard a noise and looked around. He saw two slanted, green eyes glowing in the darkness. In a moment the creature possessing these eyes came into view: a black panther walking on its hind legs.

It jumped on Mike and cut his shirt to bits, scratching him badly on the left arm, chest, and belly. Mike held the mouth away from his neck by sheer force. The thing felt like it had short, wiry fur, and Mike could feel whiskers around the mouth. The creature smelled strongly of wet fur, even though it wasn't wet. It made growling sounds that were unlike the sounds a real cougar would make. In the headlights of passing vehicles, Mike saw the creature a bit more clearly. Its fur was a slick, shiny black like watered silk, and it had a strange tail. The animal seemed frightened by the lights and ran away. Mike Busby was certainly attacked by something. He was treated for minor injuries and got a tetanus shot in St. Mary's Hospital in Cairo. A truck driver named John Hartsworth claimed he saw the struggle on Ihe side of the road; he described the creature as a "big cat."

A Kansas resident named Ray Jones reported another sighting of one of these bipedal black panthers in 1998. He went out late one night to find out why his cows were disturbed, his geese were honking, and his dog was terrified. As it was a full moon, he had a good view of everything he saw. He decided that the animal causing these problems was probably in the henhouse, where the chickens were creating a horrible racket.

When he opened the door, expecting to find a stray housecat, he glimpsed a dark, growling shape nearly his own size. Then the creature jumped out of the door, pushing Ray over with the same motion and pinning him to the ground. As it came out into the bright moonlight, Ray got his first good look at it. It was definitely a black panther (a creature not supposed to exist in Kansas, especially since there has never been a confirmed sighting of a black-phase cougar). Once the big cat had pinned Ray, it seemed uncertain about what it was going to do next. Just then, Ray's dog came out and began furiously barking at the panther. Suddenly, the creature seemed to come to a decision. It let Ray go, eerily stood on its back legs in a very human way, and then dropped to all fours to exit the area.

In a report from 1964, campers in California notified authorities that two "cat people" were bothering them. These creatures were bipedal but rather short for humans, had no tails, spoke to each other with strange sounds that were unlike what either a cat or a human would make, and had heads that seemed to be attached to their bodies in an odd way. They were sighted three times before disappearing forever.
 
http://ksks.essortment.com/wampuscat_rvmr.htm

The mountains of Tennessee, from the hills of West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, are dotted with country folks whose occupations range from farmers to coal miners. Many of these country folks have tales of the paranormal, ranging from coal miner ghosts to legends of the Indians.

Jinx Johnston is one of those country people who had a true encounter of a famous legend. The legend of the Wampus Cat. Jinx was a robust man. He stood about 6 feet high and weighed around 200 pounds. He was the type of man that could not scare very easily. The camp fire would cast eerie shadows on the faces of his audience as he began to tell his story of the Wampus Cat. Below is Jinx Johnston's tale of the Wampus Cat.

There was an old woman who lived by herself in the hills of West Virginia. Townfolk swore she was a witch. People would complain their cattle would be hexed and other farm animals would come up missing. They all blamed the old woman because she lived like a hermit. Supposedly, she would turn herself into a cat and hide until someone would open the door. She would dart into the house and wait for her victims to fall asleep. She would cast a deeper sleeping spell on the farmer and then she would slip out of the window to steal a farm animal. The witch was so good at what she was doing, she was never caught.

One day, the townfolks decided they had grown tired of their livestock coming up missing or dead. They devised a plan to catch the witch in her own act. She snuck into an unsuspecting house and placed the whole family under her spell. She jumped out the window as she had always done and went straight for a cow or sheep. Uncle Jinx always changed the animal this woman was after. The old woman, still in her cat form, went to the barn. She began chanting spells to change herself back into human form. Before it was completed, several people jumped out and surprised her. The poor old woman never had the chance to complete the transformation. It left her half woman and half cat. A ghastly creature to the eye sight. The creature howled with fright and broke down the door. She ran off into the night, never to be seen again. Jinx Johnston said time is important for a witch if she was changing back from an animal to a human again. The spell she had cast upon herself could never be reversed or fixed. The witch was doomed to be the Wampus Cat for the rest of her life.

On nights when the moon is high, and the wind is blowing hard, you can see this creature. It walks upright like a human but has the body of a large cat. It howls and supposedly still stalks the hills of West Virginia. This creature is said to stalk farm animals but prefers young children the best.

Jinx would always finish his story by telling his audience how he used to go raccoon hunting. He and his 'coon dogs would be out looking for raccoons to tree. The moon would always be bright in the sky and the howls of the Wampus cat would ring in his ears. One night, the dogs were way ahead of him. He kept hollering for them to return but they never did. The robust man went on to tell how he tripped over something and his rifle went flying out of his hands. He smelled an awful smell. He said it smelled like a skunk and a wet dog. He looked up and saw this hideous creature. Saliva dripping from its fangs, and yellow eyes that glowed in the dark, and a howl that nearly brought him out of his skin. Jinx looked for his rifle but it was lost in the dark. He got up and slowly backed away from the creature. He turned around and ran as fast as he could towards home. Jinx told how he could feel and smell its breath on his neck. He bolted inside his house and slammed the door. He reached for his bible and began reading out loud. The Wampus Cat howled at his words. Finally, just as the sun peeked over the hill, the Wampus Cat left. He said this was the reason he stopped treeing raccoons at night. Jinx's fear of the Wampus Cat was greater than chasing a raccoon up a tree. Some mountain folktales never seem to die in the hills of the northern territory of the United States.

The second version of the Legend of the Wampus Cat begins this way. According to an old Indian legend, the Wampus Cat was created. It was said a young Indian woman did not trust her husband. It was custom for the men of the Indian tribe to hunt while the women did things around the encampments. The women were forbidden to hunt. One night, she placed the hide of a mountain cat on her body. She snuck out to spy on her husband to see what he did on his hunting trips. As the hunters gathered around their camp fires, the woman watched them. She became fascinated with the stories and the magic that was presented to the men of the Indian tribe. The poor woman was caught and for her crime, she was transformed into what is known as the Wampus Cat. The woman was doomed to be forever half woman and half mountain cat. The ghost of the Wampus Cat is still said to walk the hills of Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. On full moons, you can see the Wampus Cat howling. Is she howling because of her grave mistake and wishes to be transformed back to her humanly body?

But just remember this, when you are camping in the woods, and you hear her wail, she is near and may come to visit you.

And from Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wampus_cat :

A wampus cat is a mythological six-legged cat-like creature known for its nocturnal growls. It is a mascot for some high school football teams. It is legendary in the Appalachian region of the US. It has been reported to walk on its hind legs, and is semi-aquatic.

(Wiki article needs some fleshing out, btw; any volunteers? ;))
 
Time has a habit of magnifying frightening events too. The cat you saw may not have been that big at the time but over the years it has grown in your memory. Maybe.... :D
 
There used to be a busker who wore a cat suit and played trumpet on the london underground. He was famous for scaring drunk commuters who thought he was some kind of subterranien Tube monster.
 
Re: Large cat sightings

elspeth14 said:
Many years ago my daughter was watching a show about real UFO sightings. On it a woman was outside looking at some strange lights in the sky when she looked up at one of her upstairs windows and saw a catlike face. It didn't look like either an ordinary cat or human but something in between. I think she was taping the lights and caught a picture of the creature. I know the show scared my daughter and she slept with the lights on for several nights afterward.
I believe it is the "Gina Jones" episode of "A Current Affair" you're referring to: http://templeoftheinfidel.com/THEGINAJONESTAPE.html
I can't make the creature out very well in any of the footage on that site though.
 
elffriend said:
Time has a habit of magnifying frightening events too. The cat you saw may not have been that big at the time but over the years it has grown in your memory. Maybe.... :D

well as we had alwys kept cats I was well aware of the dimensions of a domestic cat and as i was in the house due to there being a lot of cats congregating there and they all seemed normal to me....except the One which was the size of an adult Human!!!
 
Wampas Cat

Althrough I am a native West Virginian I have never heard of Wampus Cats, but it sounds very interesting. All my life I've heard about black panthers. Just about all older people have a tale of sighting a black panther. Also they are said to make a sound like a women screaming. I can not understand the black part. If there was a slight chance that you would see a American mountain lion in our area, it would not be black. Bob cats are common but not large enough. Maybe these stories are something to do with Wampus Cats.
 
cookemeister,

Could you say more about the hole? I'm having trouble understanding it. It sounds like it was large - large enough for a man-sized creature to climb through. Was it a hole into drywall? A hole through an internal wall? or a hole all the way through an external wall (which is what I assumed by your comment on no light coming through and that being strange)?

If it was that big, and all the way through a wall (internal or external), could you see anything through it? Or was it always cluttered with cats climbing through? Or did it just look pitch black?

Maybe I'm focusing too much on a detail, but I'm curious.

Also, I just wanted to add the comment that I've always thought cats' faces look very human - at least your average tabby. Maybe it's the proportions and dimensions (eg., their eyes are on the front of their face).

When I was a kid in Michigan in the 80s, there was a panther on the loose. It was very elusive, but there were lots of sightings throughout rural Southeastern Michigan. The folk singer Michael Smith (I think he's from Chicago, but I could be wrong) wrote a song about it in the early 90s. There were never any reports that made it sound like anything other than a panther, so most likely it escaped from somewhere where someone was keeping it illegally so never reported it missing or came forward to claim it. I don't think it was ever caught, but the reports died down after a couple of years.
 
decipheringscars said:
cookemeister,

Could you say more about the hole? I'm having trouble understanding it. It sounds like it was large - large enough for a man-sized creature to climb through. Was it a hole into drywall? A hole through an internal wall? or a hole all the way through an external wall (which is what I assumed by your comment on no light coming through and that being strange)?

If it was that big, and all the way through a wall (internal or external), could you see anything through it? Or was it always cluttered with cats climbing through? Or did it just look pitch black .
it was large enough for a man sized creature to walk through it was as if the workmen in the house were going to knock two rooms into one and they had just knocked the centre outta the wall
 
Cat Demon

This is one of my first postings.When I lived in Florida,a neighbor came to our door late at night.My dad was wary about opening the door but the man was so distraught we thought he was in an accident.He was getting off work,started his car,turned onhis lights and looked thru his windshield .A HUGE CAT was dancing on his hind legs on the hood of his car.It was screaming and looking at him with glowing red eyes. Talking to us he calmed down a bit.I said it could have been a siamese cat,they sound eerie and the red eyes could have been reflecting the headlights.He went home but later told us he had nightmares.That creature looked demonic.The cat also urinated all over the hood of the car and ruined his paint job.He still does not like cats.
 
This is all fascinating!

Hi y'all!

This is all fascinating, and they you may think I say it as should not, I hope I see one!

I've only seen something that approached me on four feet then when I looked ran away on two. I've posted this in another forum and they consensus was it may well have been a wallaby (I live in England by the way, but there are some wild wallabies in the county).

Having something of an affinity for cats, I would be interested to see what I would make of such a beast, or what it would make of me - hopefully not a sandwich! :D
 
I'm also fascinated by these sightings, particularly as I'm very fond of cats :) They also remind me of the dogheaded men posted elsewhere in IHTM, where people reported seeing them in cities and other fairly highly populated locations, wandering around mysteriously and so on. Perhaps there's a whole range of animal-headed men.
 
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