Night of April 9, 1982. Friday. (Original dream date, into very early morning of April 10, 1982, having previously seen “Cat People” the night of the 9th.)
I am in La Crosse, Wisconsin very late at night. No other people are around. I am mostly going north down 7th Street North. To my right is Burns Park. (This is about a half-block-sized park with a diagonal sidewalk from southeast to northwest. I used to walk through there on a regular basis during this time.) The area just north of Burns Park is not a cluster of houses as in reality (which continues on to more of the urban area), but all open field instead.
The dream seems fairly long but mostly involves just walking around and looking at the environment. I get a strange, vivid perception of mistaking the rear bumper of a car for a form of water (possibly relative to incorrectly perceiving it as a part of a cascade).
In the dream, I become aware, quite vividly, as well as lucidly, that I am a black panther. The feelings and perceptions seem very accurate somehow. Eventually, I decide to pounce upon and eat a rabbit that is trying to escape by running somewhat northeast after getting to the fictional open field. The experience is quite odd, I would not say off-putting, but a bit unusual in awareness, especially regarding the vivid nature of it and having to “eat” the fur as well. This scene seems to have been directly borrowed from “Cat People” (1982).
Interpretation: This seems to be solely an exercise in having freedom from human responsibilities and restrictions. It is interesting that the dream’s environment originates around the park (which has the least man-made structures of the immediate region in reality) and that the adjoining urban area was changed to a field. It was common for me to become very annoyed at man-made structures in dreams - and open outside areas often replaced what were clusters of buildings in real life.
Other associations (updated March 2014):
The flag of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma features a black panther above a white swan, both very important personal symbols for a number of reasons.
A panther is associated with a supposed ancestor or at least a relative (via the Ruland line - this is documented in at least one book on Tecumseh).
My parents and I lived in a cypress swamp at one point in my earlier years where I saw Florida panthers in the wild - including one that once looked through the window of our trailer late at night. They are now apparently a threatened species.
After my wife and I first made contact in real life (via mail and telephone) she got to “meet” Tarbu - a black panther in some sort of traveling show, and she also got a related poster.
The movie "Cat People" (1982) featured publicity art of the lead actress (Nastassja Kinski) with dark hair and supposed “green panther eyes”, a similar appearance to my wife which someone even commented on on one of our early dates. Coincidentally, one of the main characters is named Oliver, the name of our youngest son (not by related intent).
