A daimonic sister

The author of "Mystery Big Cats", Merrily Harpur, is the sister of Patrick Harpur, the author of "Daimonic Reality". It shows. In many ways, Merrily attempts to apply her brother's spiritual-philosophical insights on the strange phenomenon known as phantom cats, phantom panthers or ABCs (Alien or Anomalous Big Cats).

All across Britain, people are seeing anomalous, feline creatures which simply shouldn't be there. Often, they are described as "black panthers". Sceptics consider it a piece of modern folklore, perhaps triggered by misidentifications of real animals (large domestic cats or black dogs). The British black panther would therefore be something similar to a ghost, an UFO or Nessie, which sceptics don't believe in either. Escaped exotic pets or a relict population of an unknown feline species are other attempted explanations. The British authorities (in contrast to American and Australian ones) often take the reports of "black panthers" in the countryside seriously enough to organize search parties. Once, the Marines were sent to catch the elusive Beast of Exmoor! So far, no Alien Big Cat has ever been caught.

Merrily Harpur strongly doubts that ABCs are real, flesh-and-blood animals. She points out that most reports don't match a known species of big cat. For instance, the ABCs are often jet-black, but with no visible spots - on a real black panther (a melanistic leopard or jaguar), the spots (rosettes) are still visible. Even stranger, ABCs which aren't black can come in all shapes and sizes. One eye-witness saw an anomalous big cat which looked like an enormous Siamese! Another reported a creature similar to a King Cheetah, an obscure subspecies of the Cheetah, not likely to be on the loose in Britain, not even as an escaped pet. Harpur also notes that virtually no regular leopards have been reported by eye-witnesses. Yet, in real life, regular leopards are much more common than black panthers, including in zoos, circuses and menageries. If the ABCs are escaped exotics, England's greenest hills should be littered with leopards, not panthers... Another interesting fact is that most ABCs until the 1980's were tawny, with the black version becoming dominant afterwards. This suggests some kind of cultural process at work, not an actual population of escaped big cats. The author has even found consistent reports of big black cats on the small Isle of Mull west of Scotland, which takes over an hour to reach by ferry. How did the panthers get there and establish a breeding population?

Other things also suggest that the ABCs aren't physically real. They have an uncanny ability to appear and disappear at will, run incredibly fast, jump incredibly high, disappear with no problem trough the thickest bramble bushes, etc. People attacked by phantom cats do have scares, but they don't match those of an actual cougar or leopard. Indeed, the real thing would probably have killed the witnesses, or mauled them beyond recognition! Other animals react in unnatural ways towards ABCs. Several witnesses have seen black panthers strolling around sheep, with the sheep not noticing anything out of the ordinary. Conversely, dogs often react to an unseen presence before (or after) the phantom cat shows itself. The reactions of the human eye-witnesses are also peculiar. While many are scared, many others feel privileged and awed by the jet-blacks mega-cats, as if seeing a numinous being. The Oz effect has also been reported. Witnesses with cameras handy forget to use them, and most photos of the "panthers" seem to show domestic cats. (A few are harder to explain away, including a bizarre photo of a *White* big cat!)

Merrily Harpur eventually reaches the conclusion that the phenomenon is paranormal or "daimonic", to use her terminology (borrowed from Patrick Harpur's book). After painstakingly looking for some kind of pattern in the ABC sightings, Merrily Harpur believes that the mystery cats are associated with railways, ditches, caves and golf courses (sic). She speculates that railways radiate yang energy, which is somehow balanced by the cats (which are yin). By contrast, mystery dogs are yang and associated with rivers, which are yin. However, in a later chapter it seems that Harpur gives up all attempts to classify the phenomenon, with the argument that the daimonic cannot be classified in the first place. The Anomalous Big Cats are products of the World Soul standing in between Man and the Divine, challenging our Imagination. They are both objective (out there) and subjective (in our minds). Indeed, the daimons are, in a sense, real creatures inside us... At this point, the book becomes about as difficult to understand as Patrick's "Daimonic Reality". Merrily is sure of one thing, though. By repressing the daimonic inside us, it will simply become more robust and perhaps more threatening on the outside. She ends by pointing out that mysterious black felines have been spotted in Germany, Netherlands, Sweden...

The daimonic reality is bursting through. Where it will all end, remains to be seen.

"Mystery Big Cats" is a good read, and recommended to cryptozoologists, folklorists, monster-hunters of all persuasions and even New Age believers.