MY DAD AND THE WAMPUS CAT

MY DAD AND THE WAMPUS CAT

As a child and even into my teen years I remember my dad sometimes saying to me and/or my sisters:  “Don’t let the wampus cat get you!”  He usually said this to us as a warning when we were ready to do something away from home.

I had no idea then where my dad got that term, and generally felt that he made it up himself, for he was good at things like that.  Some dads probably say to their children such phrases as, “Don’t let the boogie man get you,” or “Don’t let the devil get you!”  For dad, though, it was just, “Don’t let the wampus cat get you!”

Though I confess that I often wondered what a “wampus cat” looked like, I never really thought there was such a creature.  I could imagine a large ferocious-looking cat with glowing red eyes, sharp fangs and claws.  And, I also confess that there were times (and still are) when in some scary situation or walking by a cemetery at night that a chill runs down my spine, and I think of dad’s warning, “Don’t let the wampus cat get you!”

Even now as a senior adult, 60-70 years removed from those warnings, I sometimes fear the wampus cat.  Recently I had to go into our woods at night to retrieve one of our dogs which had fallen into a ravine.  In those dark woods with only a small flashlight, I had a feeling that the wampus cat was watching me.

Recently I did a Google search for “wampus cat” and to my great surprise I discovered that the wampus cat is part of the folklore coming out of the Appalachian mountains of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.  Even before the Irish and Scottish settlers arrived there the Cherokee Indians passed along stories of those who had seen the creature.  Of course, they had an Indian name for the monster.  Among the Indians and the settlers farm animals would sometimes be found mutilated or missing, and the wampus cat was blamed.  Written records exist of actual sightings.

The men in and around Cade's Cove in Tennessee used stories of the wampus cat as an excuse to go hunting the monster.  They would tell the women-folk that they were going hunting for the dangerous wampus cat, but instead would gather somewhere to drink moonshine.  The wampus cat was a convenient way of their getting away from home to drink with their buddies.

I don’t know much more about the illusive creature, but it still seems to live in my imagination, thanks to my dad!   All I can leave you with is what dad left me with when I was going on some adventure:  “DON’T LET THE WAMPUS CAT GET YOU!”