I don't know what it is about the South and people seeing "black panthers". I can't count how many people I've met who has "seen" one, even though there is no such thing on this side of he planet. A Mountain Lion's tail can be black at times, so I just wonder if that's all they see is the tail. Or if they only see the mountain lion at night and just assume since they can only see the eyes, the cat is black. Even when you present them with the FACT that there are no leopards in the Western Hemisphere, they still won't believe it.
Now with that said, the South does seem to have a thing for exotic cats, so I'm sure at some point someone has turned loose a Leopard that was a pet and someone saw that. That happened not too far from my house in Arkansas with a full grown Tiger.
