This is the month for spooky tales.
Appalachians are natural born storytellers. Most of the stories are connected directly to family members. But the ones that give you a fright are also common.
A few weeks ago Fred McPeek sent me the following question.
“I enjoyed hearing the old “scary” stories today as well as the many superstitions in your part of Appalachia. We share several of them.
Regarding the stories the adults would tell to frighten the children I have one that was was common in my Dads family. My Grandma Jessie, my Dad and all his siblings would scare me, my siblings, cousins and anyone else they could frighten.
It would be dark and maybe one of us would want to go outside. Or, living in the country, any strange noise we would hear in the night would elicit the same reaction from the McPeek adults. “Don’t go out there, the Cat-a-ra-ball will get you” or “Did you hear that? There’s a Cat-a-ra-ball out there”.
We never got a clear explanation of what exactly a Cat-a-ra-ball was. When I was older I often wondered if it was another name for a Catamount. I’m curious if you have ever come across the Cat-a-ra-ball.”
I’ve never heard of a cat-a-ra-ball, but if you have please leave a comment and tell us about it.
The thing used to scare children in my area was the boogey-man. The boogey-man might get you if you went outside at night. You also had to watch out for the boogey-man if you were stirring up meanness.
Last night’s video: 96 Year Old Appalachian Woman Discusses Medicinal Remedies from Childhood.
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It was the summer of 1938, my Mother was pregnant with me, and my Dad was leading the local doctor across Stinking Creek and up the side of a ridge near Habersham, TN to our shack on the side of the ridge. He told me that they put a lot more energy in their step when they heard a wild cat scream. My Dad thought it was a panther that they’d seem and heard in the area before.
A person told me the other day that he has a friend that says he is not “super”stitious but is a “little”stitious.
Caterwauling I’ve always heard of and it meant, just as others have written, loud screaming or hollering. The boogerman aka boogeyman was used to discourage me from going outside in the dark, etc. No wild black cats or black panthers, around Kennesaw in the 60s and 70s as far as I know.
Everyone have a blessed day.
Hi Tipper. Somewhere in one of your posts today I was reading about the wild apricots, or “apercots,” as we called them. I remember that when they got ripe, we could easily pull them apart. The insides looked white, and we would eat everything in there. I’ve also heard that they were delicious in fried pies.
Thanks for bring back old, old memories of hunting and eating wild apricots.
up in the hills and hollers where i was from in sw va a caterball was another name for the “painter” aka panther ( or mountain lion even though they say there ain’t no such in these parts anymore i know better i’ve heard them scream)…
i remember my old great aunt telling me i needed to be quiet so the caterball wouldn’t hear me walking along the road and come get me…
Looks like Fred stumped us.
We had the wampus cat in the flatlands of Wake County, too.
Never heard of cat-a-ra-ball, we were always told the Sack Man would get you, put you in his sack and carry you off.
Scared us kids.
Our closest neighbor was a painter.
My granny would always tell us, “If you get caught out after dark, a ‘Black Painter’ might get you.
My little boy’s mind pictured a black man with a pail of paint abducting little boys.
It was years later when I realized she called a panther, ‘painter!’
I so wished that someone out there would have heard of a Cat-a-ra-ball. I’m not giving up hope.
I do have a true story that I think is appropriate for the Halloween season.
When I was about 17 years old myself and my older sister Linda had been at a friends late one night playing cards. When we started for home I was driving. I’d only been driving a short time so of course I jumped at every opportunity. We decided we would take a shortcut from our friends home in Weirton to our home in Colliers. It was only about 10 miles. So the shortcut was a gravel road that happen to cut the Weirton City Dump in half. The dump was piled high on each side of the road. We were going out the ridge thru this straight stretch and because of the conditions I was driving slow. All of a sudden something came out of the dump on our right side and crossed over into the dump on the left side. Now, describing it will sound odd but this is exactly how we remember it. It was a black cat. A huge black cat. It was stretched out like a cat would be if it were creeping up on a bird. The cat including it’s tail had to be well over 6 feet long. I remember thinking it was so shiny black that it looked as if it were wrapped in plastic wrap or covered in vasoline. I immediately stopped the car and It scared me so bad I was shaking. It was right there in the headlights and didn’t seem at all startled by us. Linda was shook up too but she asked me if I wanted her to drive the rest of the way home. We switched places in the car rather than open the doors and come around. The thing that frightened me the most was the realization that this cat was living within a mile or so from my home and I had always played and explored in the wood day and night as I lived in the country.
The next morning we told my dad and he said that down state where he grew up people claimed there were black cats in the deep dark hollows.
I’ve looked on line several times and watched documentaries on TV about large black cat sightings in the US but the “experts” always said there was no such thing. All I knows is Linda and I saw that cat more than 50 years ago and I know what I saw. The thought of it even now gives me chills.
Has anyone else ever heard of large black cats in Appalachia?
“Caterwaul” is a loud, shrill, wailing, screeching noise. Could be related. And yes, black panthers were for real in the mountains- at least that’s what we were told.
Caterwaul was a common term we used. I never knew exactly what it was, but anytime we heard an animal make a high pitched sound during the night, we called it a Caterwaul. My guess would be a bobcat.
I had family members that swore they seen a huge black panther run out in front of them on the Blue Ridge Parkway late one night. It was near Doughton Park around 1980.
Fred, I live in rural southern Greenville County, SC. I have a neighbor that has hunted and trapped this area for his entire life-close to 70 years. He recently said there were two panthers or cougars (I think they are close to being the same) living around a very remote creek within a mile or so of our home. He saw them in the spring time and said the mother cat had two kittens. One of the adult cats was black and the other was brown. Several others have claimed to see them, but the experts with the DNR say they are no cats like this in SC. Two things I know, along about the time he saw the cats a horse was killed in the same area and the owner said cat tracks were around it. I know while hunting with my father in law we came across a bare spot of land in a large tract of woods and there was a cat track in it as big as a man’s hand.
Never believe what “they” tell you. I live in CNY and the DEC has repeatedly told NY citizens that there are NO mountain lions or wolves living in NY anymore and that bobcats are rare in the region we live in. But others have trail camera pics of them& reported sightings of them. It has been said that the DEC is actually releasing them up in the Adirondacks, but don’t want to anyone to be aware of it. I am alright with predators being around. They keep the ecosystem in that area in check – a good thing. What I don’t like is agencies not being transparent so that you can take measures to protect your livestock, pets, kids, etc…. Just about 2 weeks ago, my husband got a trail cam pic of a big cat in our woods at 9 am. He’s just strolling through the deer stand area. My hubby & I are in disagreement as to whether it was a bobcat or mountain lion (due to grainy photo), but it is definitely a big cat. So the DEC can say what they want, but we have photographic proof that they do exist around us. Made sure I locked my chickens up good that night!
Never heard of anything but bloody bones and the boogey-man. My Grandma would tell us kids she’d be watching us because she had eyes in the back of her head, and for the longest time we really did believe she had eyeballs in the back of her head because she sure seemed to know if we had been into anything. I think one thing that scared me the most was when we would go visit my granddaddy’s brother, he would take his false teeth and move them around and I’d run like a scalded dog!! He loved to scare us. I was afraid to walk past him because you never knew if he would jump out and yell, “boo!” He wasn’t the only one to move his false teeth around in his mouth but that scared me more than the rest of the kids. Have a blessed day everyone!!
That’s hilarious!
Never heard of Cat-A-Rat-Ball. One of the spooky things I remember from childhood was, “Ole Bare Bones and Bloody Eyes”. Reflecting back on that saying, I believe it was a description of a skeleton with bloody eyes?
That was Raw Bones instead of Bare Bones. Ava’s reply triggered this 80-year-old mind to remember, correctly!
Cat-a-ra-ball is a new one on me. We were always warned against people who kidnap children to do “terrible things” to them. That was plenty for us to worry about, LOL.
Never heard of that cat but my grandmother would talk about Raw Head and Bloody Bones.
Please elaborate more on “Raw Head.”
Brittany-you can read more here: https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/bloody-bones-and-staying-home/ 🙂
Never heard tell of a cataraball…but I do remember my Daddy talk about a Wampuscat back in NE MS and that it screamed like a woman. Interesting note: This past Tuesday evening I rolled the garbage can down to the street in the dark of the evening. Later that evening here in SC PA I recv’d a ding on my phone showing a Ring alert… 2.3 miles away from me, stating Bobcat/Wildcat around nearby town. Can hear a distinct bobcat screaming. Keep your small pets inside. Lots of forest around so there is no doubt that wild animals are out there just usually not in towns or developments.
My parents didn’t tell me about old bloody bones, boogey-man, or scratcher-devil but I heard some pretty good tall tales from my Grandmother:) She was a wonderful wise woman, strong and filled with common sense and the ability to play piano and the old pump organ music by ear. I’m thinking she tried those tall tales to keep those five sons of hers walking a straight line which they did all their lives.
I have never heard of a cat-a-ra-ball. Whatever that thing was, it couldn’t have been any scarier than the haint, boogerman, bloodybones, or painter that was always snooping around our house.
Around this here neck of the woods, in northeast Tennessee, I’ve heard that “a haint will get you!” We “ain’t got nary” of them cat-a-ra-ball critters around here — or none that I’ve seen — if I’d “knowed” what it was when I’d seen it! By the way, I “ain’t ever saw” a haint either!
I never heard of a Cataraball growing up. It was always the Boogerman, and my imagination made him into a dark blob. I do so fondly remember an older cousin named Bertha who would tell us spooky tales long into the night. It was the perfect setting, as her family lived in an old two-story log cabin for a time, and that old cabin was referred to as the old _______ place. I wish I could recall the name of the old owner, as it would certainly be interesting to research the family name that had been attached to the old cabin. She told us the usual “Bloody Bones” and “Boogerman” tales. The best tales were when we would beg for more stories, and she would make up her own. All was forgotten when we would wake up to the most lavish Appalachian breakfast ever complete with a cup of coffee at each plate. This was the only time I was allowed to drink coffee, which I believe is why I love it still today!
I never told my parents why I was so afraid of the dark, as my dad reprimanded anybody who ever attempted to scare us. Bertha went on to become an extremely strict school-marm. Until today I never shared that I still remain fearful of what might still be lurking in the darkness outside just waiting to grab me.
Never heard of it that particular cat either. But we warned the children often of the Wookalar. Not sure where they got one from but check out “Private Eyes” film featuring Don Knotts they captured one on film. Must be indigenous to the NC Mountains as that’s where the film was created.
I never really ever grew up with scary stories! If I were mis behaving there was a belt or strap close by that kept me in the straight and narrow. And after a couple of times when my parents or kinfolk spoke to me I knew to heed was told me. I grew up in church and reverence of Gods Word and so thankful for it. A time a two I mis behaved in church which lead to going out behind the church or the wood shed. Where I got and in depth lesson on how I should act in Gods House lol. After those couple of times. You learn to
Listen and respect and respond to what was told you. In today’s society I see where a whole lot of that kinda teaching would do a world of good. I think
And am certain that’s what is missing today.
At Ivy Log it was a Cat-A -Wampus..
Never heard of that one. Bobby (my granddaddy whom I adored) used to put a sheet or blanket over himself and proclaim he was JARGO a ghost. It was always when my little sister and me were in the attic going through old stuff and tearing it out to play. We would’ve been 8 and 6 at the oldest. Although I “knew” it was Bobby, I just could never be certain so we’d run downstairs shrieking and I just know he got a big kick out of that. It’s something I remember fondly all my days til I see him again!
Never heard of a cat.a.ra.ball either. My Papaw on my dad’s side was born on Black Mountain in Harlan County Ky. He used to scare us kids with tales of the Sack man and the Wampus cat. I remember those tales well.
Never heard of a cat-a-ra-ball but I have heard of a wampas cat and the boogeyman. One of my grandmothers would tell us about Bloody Bones and Rawhide getting us and the other one would say her bad eye would get us.. Joe mention a cat sounding like a screaming woman, a bobcat will sound like a screaming woman. We had a a new neighbor from the north have a fit the first time he heard one. We had a hard time convincing him it was a bobcat. I don’t like for anyone to scare children of a cemetery. To me a cemetery is just as scared as a church and should be respected.
That is a new one for me as well. Sometime in the late hours of the day there are sounds in the house and we have started blaming the ‘icemaker’…of course it is true sometime, but even when it isn’t we say it is. It gives us something to chuckle about. Something similar is going on a hunt for something that wasn’t. Amazing what we remember from out childhood, but it does give us something to think about. God Bless
No cataraball in southeastern KY. There was said to be the dreaded wampuscat or wompuscat. As already said, nobody had ever seen one but seemed like the expectation was if you did you would know that was what it was.
I was warned about “the boogerman” though not so much that it made me afraid in the dark. I didn’t hear about him often, just enough for it to sink in there was one and I didn’t want anything to do with him. Seems he had a habit of meeting people in the road in dark nights and trying to catch them before they could get into their house.
I’ve never heard of it either, but my parents and grandparents didn’t tell me Scary stories.
Never heard of a cat-a-ra-ball,around East Tennessee it was a WAMPAS CAT. We were scared to death of it, of course no one had ever seen one,or had any idea what a Wampas Cat looked like . Some said it sounded like a woman screaming.
My Dad’s dad loved to scare us kids. He would tell scary stories from when he was a kid growing up in Maryland. He also would tell us about the boogey-man. I can’t remember any other adult in my family trying to scare us kids. I know my Mom always got upset with my grandpa when he would tell tall tales. My Dad would just laugh, which would make her more upset. My parents don’t tell scary things to their grandkids.
Donna. : )
Never heard of it. I never heard many of the scary stories, my mother just didn’t believe in scary stories for children. I never heard of a car-s ra-ball.