THE PINE BARRENS INSTITUTE

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User Submitted Cryptid Sighting: Large Black Cat

Name: Name kept private at request of the witness

Age: 57

Number of witnesses: First sighting: 1 Second sighting:2

Location of Sighting: Chippewa Falls (and surrounding area), Wisconsin

Date of sighting: 2012

What you believe the creature was: Large Black Cat

Message: “I had two separate sightings, about a month apart and the first was on the left side of the road as I was heading into town from the Lake Wissota area going to Chippewa Falls down Cty Rd J. I was just passing the Chippewa Valley Correctional Treatment Facility and noticed something in the distance moving through the field towards the tree line. I slowed down and watched a large black cat walking away and slightly uphill. I saw the entire length of the body as well as the long tail that curled upwards towards the end. I remember thinking it must be huge to see it so clearly. Honestly, I didn't think much of it after that. I know what I saw and I don't care if people say they aren't in the area. I saw what I saw. I owned a cat and was very familiar with the slinky, fluid way they move and that was exactly how this one moved. I happened to mention it to my son and he knew someone who worked at the facility and this person had mentioned to others there to be aware of their surroundings because he had been finding large tracks around the buildings.

The second sighting was about a month later and my daughter and I were heading into Chippewa Falls. It was dark and we had just crossed Seymour Cray Blvd and we're coming up on the curve by the bar on Park Ave when something pitch black shot out from the hillside on my left and ran across the road to the other side that would lead down to the river. As it went in front of my car it was just beyond my headlights but I distinctly saw the stretched long and low body of a large cat with it's front legs completely outstretched and the hind legs stretched behind followed by a long tail. The last thing I saw was it hunching up as it's legs were coming together to launch itself into another leap across the road. My daughter saw something as it went to her right and into the shrubby area across the street but didn't see what it was. I had never heard of the Beast of Eau Claire until a half hour ago and I found it very interesting considering what I had seen.”


User Submitted” articles are shared by actual witnesses and posted without edits. The purpose is not to try and explain or prove/disprove the events which the witness experienced above, but allow them to share their story as a way for others to become knowledgeable on the strange subjects within our weird world. The PBI makes no claim on the validity of the encounter above, but allows you, the reader, to decide for yourself.

-The Pine Barrens Institute

Image Credit: National Geographic


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