Emily Chan
When TikToker Ashlee (@ashleeinc) was 7-years-old, her family lived in the suburbs of Chicago about 30 minutes southwest of the city.
Her parents went bowling every Friday night, leaving Ashlee and her 2-year-old sister with a teenage babysitter named Maria.
One Friday night, Ashlee was in the kitchen. She was looking out the back window, waiting for the little boy next door to come outside because she had a crush on him. In the backyard, there was an apple tree, a lake, and a fence that separated her yard from the neighbor’s.
It was dusk, and the sun had almost gone down completely. All of a sudden, she spotted a black panther jump over the fence and stand underneath the apple tree. The panther was tall. Its shoulders nearly reached the lowest limbs of the tree.
Ashlee started calling for Maria to come to the kitchen to see a black panther in the backyard. Maria was in the middle of tending to Ashlee’s little sister, who was crying, so she took a while to get to the kitchen.
While Ashlee was waiting for Maria, the panther turned and made eye contact with her. She saw a small patch of white fur on its head.
As Maria walked into the kitchen, the panther ran into the lake. She told Maria about the panther, but Maria retorted that it was probably just a house cat.
Later that night, Ashlee was in bed when she heard the doorbell ring. It was sometime around 11 p.m. since her parents were still out, and they usually came home at one in the morning.
Ashlee got out of bed and went to the top of the staircase to see who was at the door. Maria invited a very pale man dressed in all-black clothing into the house.
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