There are several versions of the Wampus Cat
Legend. All the stories will make you think twice about walking in
the woods on a dark night. I have chosen the one still told here in
East Tennessee by the local Cherokee Indians. There have been many
sightings of the Wampus Cat throughout East Tennessee, even at the
UT Campus.
A terrible beast had been terrorizing the
Cherokee for quite some time and the most courageous brave decided
to hunt down the beast and put an end to it's rampage once and for
all. He hunted far and wide and found the beast at dusk one evening
and met it face to face. The horrible sight of the Wampus cat drove
the poor brave insane. He wandered until his wife found him and
took him home to care for him.
Becoming angry at the monster that took her
brave husband's fighting spirit from her, she vowed to hunt down
the creature to get her revenge. She donned a horendous mask and
decided to sneak up and scare the creature. She cornered it and
when it turned around and saw her, it shrieked in terror and ran
off into the deep woods, never to be seen again.
But the story does not end happily. When the
Cherokee woman returned home and tried to take off her mask, she
couldn't. It held tightly to her face, fastened forever to her
flesh. Her screams of frustration can be heard in the mountains
even now.
Be careful when venturing out in the East
Tennessee woods at night. The Wampus cat prowls these hills,
walking upright, dripping saliva from it's huge fangs; it's yellow
eyes glowing brightly in the dark night.