The Wampus Cat

The origins of the Wampus Cat trace back to Cherokee legend, though the story spread and evolved as settlers pushed into the Appalachian frontier.
Most versions agree on one thing — the Wampus Cat was once human.

In one of the most told tales, there was a Cherokee woman who suspected her husband of being unfaithful. He was a hunter who often vanished into the mountains with other men of the tribe, staying gone for days at a time.
Women weren’t allowed on these hunting trips, so one evening, driven by jealousy and curiosity, she disguised herself by wrapping a mountain lion hide around her body and followed them into the forest.

But she was discovered — and the punishment was severe.
The tribe’s medicine man cursed her, binding the hide to her forever, transforming her into a half-woman, half-cat creature doomed to wander the woods.
From that day on, people whispered of seeing a large, cat-like being walking upright, its golden eyes glowing with human intelligence — the first Wampus Cat.

The Witch of the Mountains

Another version of the story, popular in the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah regions, tells of a mountain witch who could shapeshift into animals to steal livestock from nearby farms.
She would entrance farmers with a hypnotic stare, then slip into their barns under the cover of darkness. For years, her trickery went unnoticed — until one night, she was caught mid-transformation.

As punishment for her dark magic, she became trapped forever in her cat-like form — half woman, half cougar — her screams echoing through the hollows whenever she tries, and fails, to regain her human shape.

Virginia Sightings Through the Years

Over the years, the Wampus Cat has been blamed for everything from cattle mutilations to missing pets across the southern Appalachians — but Virginia has more sightings than you might think.

The Abingdon Encounter — 2017

One of the most recent reports came from Abingdon, Virginia.
A man and his wife were walking near their property one night when they noticed a pair of enormous yellow eyes staring at them from between their porch stairs.
When the man called out, the creature hissed — not like a wildcat, but like something trying to sound human. It then bolted across the yard, running on its hind legs before vanishing into the woods.
They described it as “a huge cat with a face almost human-shaped.”

The man later said he’d hunted his whole life and never seen anything move like that.

The Wise County Predator — 1960s

Back in the 1960s, farmers near Wise County began finding livestock mutilated, their animals half-eaten but not dragged away.
Locals at first blamed wild dogs or bobcats, but one night a man claimed to have seen something standing at the edge of his property — “as tall as a man, but shaped like a panther.”
When he fired his rifle, the creature let out a high-pitched, humanlike scream and fled on two legs. The next morning, he found paw prints the size of dinner plates pressed into the mud.

The Saltville Screamer — 1988

In Saltville, a group of teens camping near the river reported hearing what they thought was a woman crying in the woods.
When they went to investigate, they saw a dark shape crouched by the water, its eyes reflecting green in their flashlight beam.
The shape stood up — nearly seven feet tall — and bolted through the brush with a sound like claws on stone.
Police later searched the area, but all they found were tracks resembling a large cat with an oddly humanoid stride.

Blue Ridge Parkway Sightings

Park rangers along the Blue Ridge Parkway have quietly shared stories of seeing what they call “the mountain cat-walker” — a massive feline figure occasionally spotted crossing the road near Roanoke Mountain or seen perched on rocky overlooks at night.
One ranger said it wasn’t the size that frightened him, but the way it moved — “too smooth, too deliberate — like it knew I was watching.”

The Legend Lives On

Across Virginia, the Wampus Cat has become a sort of Appalachian legend — part monster, part warning.
Parents used to tell children not to stray too far into the forest at night or “the Wampus’ll get you.”
Hunters still whisper about glowing eyes in the trees and the sound of heavy breathing just beyond the firelight.

Some believe it’s a supernatural being, the result of an ancient curse. Others think it’s a rare, unknown animal native to the mountains — perhaps a surviving prehistoric predator or a mutation of the Eastern cougar thought to be extinct.

Whatever it is, the Wampus Cat is still out there.
And if you find yourself driving a lonely backroad in the Virginia mountains at night — especially near Abingdon, Saltville, or the Wise County woods — keep your eyes on the treeline.
Because if you see those glowing yellow eyes staring back, it might already be too late.

Source: Monsters of Virginia: Mysterious Creatures In The Old Dominion by L. B. Taylor Jr.