Well I know lots of the ol' folks who still call them painters around here. Lots of stories about them, i've only heard one reference to "black cats". most are mountain lions. I have found some cat tracks I've showed to TWRA officers here in East TN. I have also had a couple respectable people i know who have said they've watched them distantly from their stands. When I was younger we had a big scare up towards the Kentucky line about a big cat on the loose killing some animals. I don't know whatever happened to it but it was the talk of many people awhile. Now the other story of the black cat was involving one of my close friends who lives near the state line. He lives out in the sticks with only a few nearby houses. One day his parents went to the door after hearing someone yelling and trying to knock the door down. The person on the other side was a frightened neighbor who said he was out for a jog and spotted a large "black cat" in a pasture across the road(roughly 125 yards). His mom said she saw some large cat looking thing moving into the woods when she looked but said she wouldn't want to say for sure what it was.