Phantom Cat/jaguar

By sheld999
(14 stories) (74 posts) (the author is a young adult)
Date: 2016-12-07
Country: New Zealand
Paranormal Category: Pets / Animals

This story took place when I was 5-6 years old. It was weekend and summer, I was outside playing with a friend of mine (who I no longer talk to). The day was quiet and still. Warmish breeze. I was outside with mate playing then I stopped for some reason. I then went to the gate by the footpath. To what got my attention was a Jaguar, a big black animal like cat (way too big for a house cat) sitting on a triangular traffic island looking left to right with its long tail wagging in happiness. Behind the cat is the graveyard. My friend at the time was saying do you see that it's massive. It was strange seeing it so being young and silly, I choose to say Woof Woof at it, Which then got its attention. When it looked into my direction it started to leap towards me and my friend.

When I noticed it leaping towards my path I automatically fled down to the side door and hid in the tent. My mate soon followed after and came into the tent by the side door and said its getting closer. After that I don't got much memory of what happened afterwards. But it wasn't the last I seen of it for a few weeks I was getting nightmares of a black cat trying to drown me in a water drain and I'm screaming and people beside me not listening. The bad dreams ended after a month or two. Shortly after in the newspaper there were reports of people in same town seeing the large cat walking or being in their paddocks. From memory it even hit the news media on late night. Not sure if they both connected or not.

So has anyone experience Phantom encounters or close to it?

Other hauntings by sheld999

Hauntings with similar titles

Find ghost hunters and paranormal investigators from New Zealand

Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, sheld999, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will participate in the discussion and I need help with what I have experienced.

sheld999 (14 stories) (74 posts)

7 years ago (2016-12-16)

Benny_Lundon yeah exactly its still in my mind fresh even tho its almost been 20 years since the encounter. I even remember the exact color of tent also another thing is the had/face of the panther like animal was different than a normal panther you see

Benny_Lundon (2 stories) (33 posts)

7 years ago (2016-12-12)

That should be sheld, My poor aged eyes playing up at this silly hour, oops. 😁

Benny_Lundon (2 stories) (33 posts)

7 years ago (2016-12-12)

Hi Shield,
As mentioned by [at] Tweed, there have been a number of reported sightings of "Big cats" in Australia over the years. Strange to think they're seen in N.Z also but it stands to reason. Could it be an actual Panther etc? Or perhaps a phantom cat of sorts, your guess is as good as mine.
Perhaps these spectral cats are an omen of some type. I'm wondering if anything out the normal occurred afterwards? And the following bad dreams, enough to give anyone the willys.

roylynx (guest)

7 years ago (2016-12-12)

The location is different but my grandmother used to say to me that she has saw spiritual panthers in the forest where her tribe is. She believed that it was a lost spirits from the Mayan ruins. Yes, seldom they can be aggressive just like a normal panther but less harm, said my grandmother.

Can I ask is there any historical evidence to follow up what that black creature is?
I know New Zealand used to have tribal culture too, do you think it is related at all?

Blessing from São Paulo
E.Lynx

Tweed (35 stories) (2494 posts)

7 years ago (2016-12-12)

Hi Sheld,

I don't know what this thing was. But there were similar large black cat sightings in Australia in the 90's. Occasionally it made the news if someone had some shaky footage. No idea what that was either. I would do some research into any news you can find from the time of your encounter. The links provided by Lady Glow are quite informative. In fact the second article points to a very reliable explanation, which also explains all the fuss about large black cats in Australia.
As for the cat wagging its tail, Curly's right. They're different to dogs, if a cat wags its tail it's expressing stress.

sheld999 (14 stories) (74 posts)

7 years ago (2016-12-12)

ladyglow it was shingle road but the island had dirt/mud in it with plants. And they way it leaped made no sound on the ground. Kind of like gliding through the air like. From memory it was slow motion like to me. It was way skinny like like no meat on it (no food source in my area for a large like cat, if it was a real animal) only food would be dogs/cats/birds but thing is they can't find these cats no matter how hard they look as its phantom like.

Just down the street is a busy main road (roughly 60-80meters)

Curly_1lack other witness sightings were one other near the beach but that one was in someone garden resting on hedge. But they reported it as a mountain lion color animal, (not sure if they thought was a ghostly like anomoli or not)

lady-glow (16 stories) (3154 posts)

7 years ago (2016-12-12)

Sheld: it would be very helpful if you could provide more information in your story.
Personally, I find difficult to understand the following statements:
"... What got my attention was a Jaguar, a big black animal like cat (way too big for a house cat) sitting on a triangular traffic island looking..."
And:
"...it was could been a demon/sprital as there was no tracks of it or any footprints or anything found to support a real life animal sighting."
Was the street paved or was it only a muddy road? The fact that there was a traffic island makes me assume that it's paved and it would be impossible to find tracks or footprints on the asphalt.

I found this interesting links in Google:
Http://www.investigatemagazine.co.nz/Investigate/3400/cat-people-the-hunt-for-nzs-big-cats/
Http://www.investigatemagazine.co.nz/Investigate/3395/house-cat-the-size-of-a-panther-caught-in-nz-wilderness/

I'm in no way trying to convince you that you and your friend didn't see a large cat that day, but there is not enough evidence as to consider it a paranormal experience or, even worse, an encounter with a demon.

Thanks for sharing.

Curly_1Lack (2 stories) (21 posts)

7 years ago (2016-12-12)

Hi Sheld,
Thanks for sharing. Several things in this story jump out at me.First,black jaguars, or panthers, are pretty rare.Secondly,you're not going to see very many as pets due to the hassles encountered with permits. Then there is the tail wagging.There's a huge misconception with the public that an animal wagging it's tail is a good thing. Many times it is just the opposite, especially with large predators like jaguars.Anyway,anything is possible. Please let us know more. Were their other witnesses. If there were, how were they reacting to this big cat or whatever it was?

sheld999 (14 stories) (74 posts)

7 years ago (2016-12-12)

Hi lady-glow very unlikely to be a pet in nz,

Coolan - there was heaps of sightings in nz too around 90s mostly down south tho if south island.

Blackwidow- I think the paranormal thing of it was could been a demon/sprital as there was no tracks of it or any footprints or anything found to support a real life animal sighting.

Blackwidow93 (1 stories) (7 posts)

7 years ago (2016-12-11)

I'm with ladyglow on this one. I am glad no one got hurt and hopefully the animal who was probably wrongfully held captive by someone didn't get killed. But I'm not sure what the paranormal problem is here. Please clarify and maybe some of us can help you. At any rate thanks you for sharing.

lady-glow (16 stories) (3154 posts)

7 years ago (2016-12-11)

I bet the jaguar was someone's exotic pet and it escaped and it was roaming the area searching for food.
I'm glad no one got hurt and, hopefully the jaguar didn't get killed.

Sorry, I don't see anything paranormal in this particular story and do not understand the kind of help are you expecting from the members of the forum.😐

coolan (1 stories) (11 posts)

7 years ago (2016-12-11)

Hi there! I live in Scotland, Dundee to be precise. Have a google of the black cat/panther sighting from the 90's in this area. Sounds extremely similar. Not just limited to Dundee either but all over fife and the surrounding areas! My father had be pleasure of witnessing it one day.

Take care

To publish a comment or vote, you need to be logged in (use the login form at the top of the page). If you don't have an account, sign up, it's free!

Search this site:

Latest hauntings: