Wampus Cat on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The wampus cat is a
Henry H. Tryon's humorous 1939 book ''Fearsome Critters'' describes the wampus cat as being native to Idaho, and having an "amazing right forearm" that "works like a folding pruning hook on the pantographic principle". He gives it the
Leesville High School - Home
''Catawampus'' on Wiktionary
Map of Wampus Cats High School Mascots
{{American tall tales Fearsome critters Tennessee culture Mythological felines Fictional cats High school mascots Cat folklore Cat mascots
cat
The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...
-like creature in American folklore
American folklore encompasses the folklore that has evolved in the present-day United States mostly since the European colonization of the Americas. It also contains folklore that dates back to the Pre-Columbian era, Pre-Columbian era.
Folklor ...
that varies widely in appearance, ranging from frightful to comical, depending on region.
Description
Early references from theAmerican Dialect Society
The American Dialect Society (ADS), founded in 1889, is a learned society "dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it." The Society p ...
described the wampus cat as "a creature heard whining about camps at night," "a spiritual green-eyed cat, having occult powers," or "an undefined imaginary animal." Writing in 1951, folklorist Vance Randolph
Vance Randolph (February 23, 1892 – November 1, 1980) was a folklorist who studied the folklore of the Ozarks in particular. He wrote a number of books on the Ozarks, as well as '' Little Blue Books'' and juvenile fiction.
Early life
Randolph ...
described the wampus cat as "a kind of amphibious panther which leaps into the water and swims like a colossal mink
Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...
."Randolph, Vance. ''We Always Lie to Strangers: Tall Tales from the Ozarks.'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1951.)
The wampus cat was mentioned in newspaper accounts of the 1930s in the Piedmont of North Carolina, where the creature was accused of killing livestock.
Henry H. Tryon's humorous 1939 book ''Fearsome Critters'' describes the wampus cat as being native to Idaho, and having an "amazing right forearm" that "works like a folding pruning hook on the pantographic principle". He gives it the binomial nomenclature
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
''Aquilamappreluendens forcipe''.
Use as a school mascot
The wampus cat is the mascot of the following schools: * Clark Fork Junior/Senior High School,Clark Fork, Idaho
Clark Fork is a small town in Bonner County, Idaho. The population was 536 at the time of the 2010 census.
Geography
Clark Fork is situated on the Clark Fork River, on the eastern shores of Lake Pend Oreille. in the northern panhandle of th ...
* Conway High School, Conway, Arkansas
Conway is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Faulkner County, Arkansas, Faulkner County, located in the state's most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area, Central Arkansas. The city also serves as a regional shopping, ...
* Atoka High School, Atoka, Oklahoma
Atoka is a city in and the county seat of Atoka County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,195 as of the 2020 Census, a 2.4% increase over the 3,107 reported at the 2010 census, which was itself an increase of 4.0 percent from th ...
* Itasca High School, Itasca, Texas
* Leesville High School
Leesville High School is a school located in Leesville, Louisiana, United States. The 9-12 school is a part of the Vernon Parish School Board.
School uniforms
This means that students can wear clothing that conforms to the Vernon Parish Dress ...
, Leesville, Louisiana
Leesville is a city in, and the parish seat of, Vernon Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,649 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Fort Johnson South, Louisiana, Fort Johnson South micropolitan area and is additionally serv ...
See also
*Underwater panther
An underwater panther ( () or () ), is one of the most important of several mythical water beings among many Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands and Great Lakes region, particularly among the Anishinaabe.
translates into "the Grea ...
References
External links
''Catawampus'' on Wiktionary
Map of Wampus Cats High School Mascots
{{American tall tales Fearsome critters Tennessee culture Mythological felines Fictional cats High school mascots Cat folklore Cat mascots