The Appalachian Mountains are filled with lore and legends. Legends that originate in places where civilization has only carved a foothold in the wilderness, where the beasts in the woods are a very real threat. When darkness falls they have the upper hand and the forest belongs to them. All my life I've heard about the Wampus Cat, sometimes called a Catawampus. Granny would say "Don't go out at night. The Wampus Cat will get you." Just what is a Wampus Cat? After some research I've learned it possibly came from Cherokee mythology about a Cherokee woman who wore the mask of a mountain lion on her face for protection while she fought viciously and bravely against an evil spirit. This courageous woman was caught between the shift of beast and human and wandered the mountains for all time, lurking around the places where men live but never able to rejoin them. Half mountain cat, half woman who walks upright on two legs and howls in the night.

Of course Maw Regan had many a story about the Wamput Cat. She said, "One lived up on the ridge behind her house, don't you know." Maw Regan lived near the red hill. Now, if you're from around here you know where the red hill is. If not, it's near the intersection of Highway 33 and McLemore Road. Maw said she had heard that thing howl many a night, especially when there was a full moon or when someone was getting ready to die, don't you know. Maw said there was a neighbor across the way near Chestnut Grove on his death bed. His family asked two of his young nephews to go to Hickory Valley and tell the kinfolks there about the coming death. They both uped on the old mule and headed out in the dead of night. When they got to the red hill they both thought about that Wampus Cat and gave that old mule a kick to speed him along a little bit. Well, they made it across the red hill with no sighting whatsoever of the Wampus Cat. On returning from Hickory Valley, it was well up in the morning. Not a thought did they have of the Wampus Cat. Just before they reached the top of the red hill the old mule stopped. They gave him a kick, but the old fellow wouldn't go. There was this horrible smell in the air like an animal that had been laid out dead too long. They felt the wind whirl around them and nearly pull them off that mule, don't you know. Then they saw it lying in the ditch on the right hand side of the road. Tucked in like it was asleep. They thought it was a dead animal. Then suddenly it reared up on two legs with giant yellow glowing eyes and huge wildcat like paws, screeching and howling. It was running straight toward them , don't you know. Just when the thing got to them it took flight and went right over their heads up into thin air. Their hearts were pounding with fear. With a scream of horror they kicked that old mule and fled home. When they got home they learned their Uncle had died just about the time they saw that Wampus Cat.