I have several good stories about Southern Cougars/Panthers/Pumas from the 1800s and before. A panther story is a major factor in the biography of N. B. Forrest when one attacked his mother while she was riding a horse. There is one common trait of these big cats in almost every story; when their hungry they are very bold and show no fear of humans, horses, or environment. Panthers were attracted to the smell of newborn infants and would wait on top of cabins for a chance to attack anyone coming out. When farm families all worked in the fields they took the babies with them, and attacks in the open were a common threat. My favorite story is of the panther that climbed into the second story window of a hotel in Westville, Mississippi where a dozen men were sleeping in a big room. The cat escaped but not after it had ruined a good nights sleep for those men. This is why there was a bounty on panthers and they were hunted almost to extinction.

David