I have heard reports of mountain lions in Alabama ever since I was a kid. I have had relatives and friends swear up and down that they saw one (in the Tuscaloosa-Pickens area). I have no basis for this as I have never seen one myself, but it seems that when you start having people who do not know each other tell you they have seen something like this then it does make you wonder if there is not a little fire with all that smoke.
Everyone I know has a story about seeing one. WV was not exaggerating. I have heard the sound that most people would say could only be a mountain lion (screaming bloody death). I would bet they are out there, just in small numbers.