Return of the bullbeggar

A few months back, I had mentioned Virginia's traditions of the English goblin known as a bullbeggar and the presence of Bullbeggar Creek in the northernmost part of Virginia's eastern peninsula.

Now there come reports of what may be cougar on the eastern peninsula. Could these actually be the bullbeggars reported further north? Melfa isn't that far south of Bullbeggar Creek and besides, I can't see any reports where the witnesses actually claim beyond a shadow of a doubt that what they saw was a cougar. It's "a big cat-like thing".

It's interesting that Melfa, again, is right up the road from the town of Painter, 'painter' being a colloquial term for what would otherwise be called a panther. Also in a bizarre bit of synchronicity, the town of Exmore (which conjures up parallels with a certain English big cat) is nearby also.

Chad Arment's The Historical Bigfoot contains an account of the 'Bogey of Craddock Marsh', which seems to be likely situated about 7 miles west of Painter along Craddock Neck Road. However, as written the account is apparently of cries of 'yahoo' heard in the marsh and no description of the actual beast. Could it have been a 'cougar' as well?

The name Painter seems to suggest a previous knowledge of cat-like beasts. It should also be noted that some of the more southerly sightings are from just outside a sizable wildlife refuge.

Mountain lions in the Poconos

The Pocono Record has recently run two articles on the mountain lion in Pennsylvania here, and here.

The 1874 extinction date is a bit odd, as there's no less than 22 cougar kills after the Hawk Mountain (Berks) kill that year, placing the date at 1917 at the earliest.

The Suscon Screamer

Pennsylvania has many urban legends which may be based upon cryptozoological phenomena. One of these is the legend of what is called the Suscon Screamer. The screaming thing is reputed to haunt the area around where the Susquehanna Railroad once crossed over Suscon Road south of Wilkes-Barre. The former bridge is also known among locals as the Boo-Boo Bridge or, more ominously, the Black Bridge.

Unearthly screams have been heard reverberating through the forests near the little town of Suscon for generations and some residents have even phoned the Pittston Township police to complain of the shrieks.

Some versions of the story, in traditional ghost story fashion, have it that a ghostly female haunts the area, whether it be a victim of a car crash, a love-crossed suicide, or one of the ubiquitous phantom hitch-hikers.

One of the more popular versions has it that the tiny town is haunted by a porcine swamp monster that emerged from one of the surrounding bogs. In the 1970s, the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader reported that a local hunter heard something tramping around through the trees. Through his binoculars, he saw something

...about 6' long with a long snout. It weighed about 200 pounds and was gray in color. It had webbed feet with long claws and had a huge head...the ground was clawed up as if 100 turkeys had gone through.

This sighting was actually investigated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, although the hunter refused to take the investigators to the area due to fear of the monster. The hunter did, however, say that the creature he saw was neither bear nor coyote.

The Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society has recorded that in May of 1976, there was a sighting of a group of four 6' brown humanoids at one of the lakes south of Suscon. There were also sightings recorded from Harveyville, also in Luzerne County (1984), and also from Dickson City immediately north of Scranton, in neigboring Lackawanna County (2003).

Another popular version has it that the Screamer was actually a panther that escaped from a circus train; although the specific date of this supposed crash is unknown, older residents of Suscon still remembered it, at least as of 1995 (when Pocono Ghosts, Legends and Lore by Charles Adams III and David Seibold was published). If this identity of the Screamer were true, by this late date it would doubtless be the cat's restless phantom.

Couple catches a cougar - or is it? - on film

WPXI reported that in October of 2007, Bill and Mindy Shearer of South Buffalo Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, spotted what they believed was a mountain lion near their home. They said that the creature was lying and rolling on its back and they were certain it was a cat, not a dog or deer. The explanation, of course, was offered that it was an escapee pet.

Unforttunately, my computer won't run the associated video of their sighting, so I can't offer any opinion on it. Interested readers can find the video at the above link.

Montie the Monster

In November of 1945, residents of Pottstown, Pennsylvania reported sightings of a bizarre creature in the Sheep's Hill area. The monster was dubbed Montie. The beast raided hen houses, and frightened children with his growls: it supposedly "cried like a baby", by one account. Others attribute screams, barks, wails and hyena-like laughs to the creature. Although likewise described physically in many ways, most seemed to agree that it was black with a long tail. This appearance, along with the sounds it made, make it likely to have been one of the typically-seen black cougars.

Laying the Fisher cougar attack to rest

It's an older story, but just in case you missed it: the Eastern Cougar Foundation and other websites reported in late October, 2008 that the Pennsylvania Game Commission had released a report stating that the blood found on a knife that Samuel Fisher of Sadsbury Township, Lancaster County claimed to have used to fight off an attacking cougar was human. Fisher's supposed attack had taken place on October 9.

Gray cougars

The Fort Myers (FL) News Press (August 22, 2009) has reported on the discovery by Mark Lotz of Florida Fish & Wildlife of two gray-colored male Florida panthers. The panthers were healthy otherwise. Eastern cougar researcher John Lutz notes that gray-coated cougars are not unknown.

Once again, not a Pennsylvania story but relevant to the erratically-colored cougars often seen.