November 21, 2012

Illinois’ Phantom Panther Invasion: Location Updates

Of course, the reality is that they aren’t too “phantom” anymore.

Author Brad Steiger passes along the news that “two more cougars were confirmed in Illinois. That makes four in different areas in the last month.”

Here’s a montage of the trailcam images:

“All four of Illinois’ confirmed cougar sightings this fall: Clockwise from top left: Jo Daviess County, Morgan County, Pike County and Calhoun County. Photos courtesy of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Brett Charlton and Mark Cobb.” Source.

Cobb’s photograph is one that has received a good deal of press. The date stamp is 10/28/2012, and the photo was taken in the woods of west central Illinois, 30 miles west of Springfield near Jacksonville.


This cougar was captured by a trail camera in northern Calhoun County. Ironically, the photo was taken on a road named Wildcat Hollow, not far from Panther Creek. Photo courtesy of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.


Eureka High School teacher and coach Brett Charlton captured this picture of a cougar on a trail camera he uses to monitor wildlife on hunting property he owns in Pike County. Photo courtesy of Brett Charlton.

Loren Coleman 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 Breaking News, CryptoZoo News, Mystery Cats