March 18, 2010
As folks who have read Mysterious America know, encounters with large, unknown melanistic cats have a long history in central Illinois.
Now comes breaking news of an extremely recent sighting from a city, which happens to be my hometown. The location is surrounded by corn and soybean fields and farms. The sighting noted took place on the north side of the town of Decatur, Illinois.
This comes in from Cyndie Simon, who was in Decatur for the funeral of her father.
Ms. Simon emails:
I would like to report what appeared to be a very large black panther running across the cul-de-sac and in-between [the houses of 109 and 115 Cambridge Court, in the Windsor Village area] at about 9:30 pm [on March 11, 2010].
What baffles me is how it just seemed to disappear into the dark. We first thought it was a huge black lab [but we] then quickly realized, no this thing is running like a cat and much larger in size. There were four of us that saw it. It was real.
Has anyone heard of other recent sightings from Illinois?
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Filed under Alien Big Cats, Breaking News, Cryptomundo Exclusive, CryptoZoo News, Eyewitness Accounts, Mystery Cats