Wampus Cats set to battle Bigfoots, Sharks, and rival Disco Turkeys

ALBEMARLE, N.C. — After decades of being confined to the realms of American folklore, the Wampus Cats are ready for their introduction in North Carolina.

The Uwharrie Wampus Cats, that is. It’s a new summer collegiate baseball team coming to Albemarle for the inaugural 2023 season, and the new team’s name is a nod to the mythical cat-like creatures that were blamed for livestock attacks back in the early 1900s.

The new team is set to compete as an independent collegiate wood-bat baseball club. The Wampus Cats will play at the newly-upgraded Don Montgomery Park in Albemarle, and they’ll play more than 40 games during the summer.

According to the team’s website, the Wampous Cats will play other regional teams, including “high-profile exhibition match-ups at the Wilmington Sharks and Boone Bigfoots of the Coastal Plain League.” The team hasn’t even played a game yet, but the Wampus Cats already have a rival: the Carolina Disco Turkeys of Winston-Salem.

So, what is a Wampus Cat? The American Dialect Society had references to the Wampus Cat as a “spiritual green-eyed cat, having occult powers.” Cherokee legends say the monster is the embodiment of a woman cursed by tribal elders for hiding underneath a wildcat pelt during a sacred ceremony. The baseball team says: “Some even think the wampus cat to be a shapeshifter. This summer, they’ll take the shape of college ballplayers representing our area on the diamond.”

Single-game tickets start at $7. The schedule hasn’t been released yet, but the team says the season runs from “late May through early August with the majority of games taking place in the months of June and July.”

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