Paranormal In The News 21/06/10 - Phantom or Phenomenon

smh BLUE MOUNTAINS residents have long been accused of seeing things but they can draw some comfort in knowing they are not alone.

A search online reveals ''alien big cats'', as they are known in cryptozoology circles, have been reported running wild everywhere from Britain to Denmark, Finland to Luxembourg and Hawaii to New Zealand.

Photographs of phantom felines are usually grainy and scientists largely scoff, citing the lack of furry evidence and the improbability of there being enough large cats for them to keep breeding.

Pumas have been spotted roaming the Grampians in Victoria for years.

American servicemen are blamed for releasing cougars into the bush after bringing them to Australia as mascots during World War II.

A Deakin University study found that a big-cat population in the area was ''beyond reasonable doubt'' but sceptics maintain they are just feral moggies turned monstrous. In New Zealand, panther sightings have been on the increase since the late 1990s around Canterbury, near Ashburton, and in the nearby foothills of the Southern Alps.

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