This wasn't originally what I was going to post today, but I figured I'd share it before the memory fades to the back of my mind again. It's also one of those experiences that unfortunately did not happen to me, so I can't substantiate much more then assuming that my family was telling me the truth.
About ten years ago we were staying at my grandparent's condo in Neskowin, OR, when my mom and my brother decided to take a trip into Lincoln City, just south of Neskowin on Interstate 101. Upon reaching the city, they took a short cut along NE E Devils Lake Rd, which goes along Devil's Lake obviously. Being a coastal community, this section of Lincoln City is only contains scattered houses and wilderness, the main part of the city being located almost mainly along Interstate 101.
Somewhere along their way to the factory outlet stores that lie on the other end of NE E Devils Lake Rd, my mom and brother saw what they took to be a mountain lion. There was one odd thing about it however. They described as being very dark, which may have been partly due to the amount of shade from the trees that hang over the road, but they insisted it was very dark and not just the shade.
From their description the only things I could figure was that it was either a large black dog that they thought was a large feline, or perhaps it was a mountain lion in in the shade. However, there are two other possibilities, which although unlikely may perhaps have been the case.
The first is that it was a melanistic (black) mountain lion. Interestingly, melanistic mountain lions, from what I understand, have yet to be confirmed as being real. That doesn't mean they don't exist, just that they have yet to find one to confirm they do. Unlike the mountain lion however, both jaguars and leopards have confirmed melanistic variants. That of course opens up the possibility that someone in the area happened to have a black leopard or jaguar for a pet (Last I checked, those guys aren't native to Oregon.) that managed to get loose.
Like I said however, I did not witness it, and for all I know, it may have nothing more then a average mountain lion or perhaps someone's black lab that got away. If it was indeed a lab or other type of dog, well my family needs to learn their animals.
9 comments:
Very cool story Naveed. I know exactly the area; I've driven there many a time! I'll be sure to be on the look out next time I'm out there -- well, I always am anyway of course, hoping to spot Bigfoot and such. :)
Same here, I'm always looking out for odd things while traveling through wooded areas. One time I thought I saw Bigfoot, but it we passed by so quick that I'm about 99% sure it was a tall tree stump. Of course you never know.
Hello, I lived in Port Orford for several years and heard quite a few stories about people releasing various large Cats in the area, including black panthers, jaguars, and even a lion etc.
Doesn't surprise me. People sometimes release large cats when they get to big for them to handle.
Perhaps then it could have been one of these released cats. There is also a small chance a few have mated and produced some offspring that roam the area. With a small enough population it could be years (or decades) before they are seen by people, especially with how thick the forests are in our part of the world.
interesting, I'm living in rockland county NY. (about 30 minutes from NYC) and we are having large mysertious black cat sightings here as well. It's been going on for a few months now, and park rangers and the authorities are finally starting to look into it. Perhaps these black cats have migrated north. Last I read, there were some panthers living in TX/AZ (the furthest Northern point). They are common in South America.
The ones in TX/AZ and South America are more then likely black jaguars. There are no true "black panthers" just black individuals of jaguars and leopards (mainly jaguars).
As for your area, perhaps they are black cougars/mountain lions. The jury is still hung on whether black cougars exist, since no specimen has ever been found.
There is also the chance that they are released exotic pets as well.
well this is not panther-related, but we just moved to devils lake rd a week ago (west side) and have seen multiple ufo's almost every night. these include orange orbs glowing in the trees and blue and red (i think -they're pretty high up) ufo's (not ruling out military, satellites, etc... if they too move at light speed) hovering about and zipping to and fro. i could go on.... this place is sooo strange. there's apparently lots of paranormal activity around here, so a large black cat would be no surprise.
I just did a search for info on the lake itself, particularly the name and found (on wikipedia) that it's named after a Native American legend. Apparently a giant fish like creature would surface and scare fishermen. Looks like the strange happenings go back a ways.
Post a Comment