I guess it very well could be a black panther (or any other big cat for that matter).
All I know is that when I asked this one old man what one was after he'd warned me about them, he just laughed til I thought he'd fall out of his chair and then he told me it was like a booger or a haint.
I'd heard the term before but I'd always just assumed it was a bad-*ss bobcat or something similar.
