Mountain Lion?
“Me and a couple of my friends were walking around at night when we were around 11 or 12, and I specifically remember all of us feeling like something was off, and we started joking about someone or something getting us and saying to each other we’re not afraid of anything. Then we heard a raspy growl that we all agreed had to be a mountain lion …
… All of us were in a dead sprint to my house, scared s**tless as soon as we heard it. I didn’t live in a place where they usually are so people mostly didn’t believe us, but shortly afterward, and after some more sightings, a mountain lion was caught just 10-15 miles from my home. In hindsight, it definitely wasn’t very close to us and we didn’t actually see it, but we definitely exaggerated and acted like it was right next to us.”