Talked to an artist couple of decades ago who painted a mountain lion that was supposedly extinct. Saw it in PA. The “authorities” wanted to know where he saw it but he refused to tell them.
Lived in Jacksonville, NC little bit ago. Was sitting on my front step about 10pm and saw a cat crossing the street where a stream goes under. Didn’t slink like domestics and my rat dog was sitting next to me. It must have smelled her cause it turned to walk towards us. I moved and it stopped. Then it went on to follow the trail along the creek. Figured it was a bobcat. Dog would have been a good snack. Stream runs behind Lejuene motorsports. Heard some weird super loud birds from there a couple of times at night screaming like they were being eaten.
Could be roosting turkeys; I've got lots of them and they can make horrible sounds at night.