Beast Causes Terror
– La Crosse Tribune | March 19, 1908

Eau Claire- A wild beast said to be a panther has been terrorizing residents in the southwestern part of Eau Claire County and the northeastern portion of Pepin County. Some of the farmers upon waking up mornings find that some of their sheep and young stocks and calves have been devoured. A farmer’s son was followed for a short distance. 

Chad’s Take:

    What a timely story! Here we have a case of a strange animal terrorizing Eau Claire County. The newspaper wrote that is was thought to be a panther (also known as a cougar, mountain lion, or puma depending on the region of the US). For years I have been receiving reports from witnesses who claimed to have seen a cougar in WI. Witnesses have sent me photos of tracks, hair, and photos of blurry animals all claiming to be cougars. Of course every time I talked to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources they scoffed at me and I was informed that cougars are no longer roaming in WI. Their position has changed a little now that a cougar was recently treed in Wisconsin and shot with a tranquilizer (it escaped) and numerous definitive photos of it were published in the media. We can now rest assured that at least one cougar is roaming the countryside of Wisconsin.

    However, what if the creature from the article was not a cougar? What could it possibly be? Well believe it or not I have received many reports of strange animals still terrorizing Eau Claire today. My first report came from a woman driving home at 11pm from her shift as a nurse at a local hospital. She was traveling along on Highway 37 heading south when she noticed a large wolf like creature on the side of the road. She said it was the size of a very large dog but it moved more like a bear. What bothered her the most was the fact that the creature’s eyes were glowing red. She was quickly overcome with fear and sped off for the safety of her home.

    A few years later I received another report of a strange cougar-like animal inside of Eau Claire. Again this report came from a woman traveling home during the evening. This witness was traveling along Highway 53 toward the south when she spotted a large black dog-like creature roaming the side of the road. The woman described the creature as a large black heavily muscled unknown animal. She too took off out of the area as fact as she could.

    An even more bizarre creature has been reported near the boat landing of Meridean near Carryville (right outside of Eau Claire). This area is cursed by the legend of the Hellhounds of Meridean. The dare warns that if you visit the old Meridean boat landing near Carryville and if you set foot outside of your car, you will encounter the hellhounds. I spoke with an eyewitness of the hellhounds who was a large biker guy, the kind of guy you didn’t think would be scared of anything. He told me that he was out at Meridean with a couple of fellow bikers when they noticed several large black dogs off in the woods. As these “dogs” moved closer the group noticed that the animals were nearly transparent. Unfortunately the men got frightened and hopped onto their motorcycles and sped off as fast as they could, they finally stopped once they had reached the safety of Chippewa Falls.

    What these mysterious creatures are is still unexplained. Even though the first reports started in the early 1900s we still are baffled. Until one is captured or killed we may never know. My advice is to strap on your hiking boots, grab your biggest cage, and start out in search of discovering what mysterious beast has been terrorizing Eau Claire for over 100 years.

    Keep an eye out.