Читать книгу Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside - Brad Steiger - Страница 21

My friend and colleague Tim R. Swartz grew up in Indiana and he recalls that mountain lions have also been recorded in that state over the years, even though these large cats are believed extinct in the state.

“It is not unreasonable to suppose that some mountain lions could still live or migrate through some of the more unpopulated regions,” Swartz said. “However, Indiana has had sightings of what appeared to be maned lions, animals indigenous to Africa, not the Midwest.”

Here is an account of one such sighting that Swartz shared with me:

On August 5, 1948 Deputy Sheriff Jack Witherby received a phone call from a man who reported that he and his family were fishing along the banks of Elkhorn Falls, in the extreme eastern part of the state. Suddenly, a large cat came running at the family, chasing them into their car. The cat lunged at the car, but then ran away along the stream bed. The cat was described as looking like an African lion with a long tail and a bushy mane around its neck and head.

Deputy Sheriff Witherby examined tracks found at the scene and said they were “like nothing I have ever seen before in this area.”

A few days later two brothers, Arthur and Howard Turner, spotted two strange animals that they said looked just like African lions: “They were large headed, shaggy and brown in color.”