While hundreds of Pennsylvanians claim to have seen a mountain lion every year, the last proven sighting of the wild animal was at the end of the 19th century, writes Marcus Schneck for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The reports that keep pouring in are always unsupported by evidence. There are no tracks, plaster castings of tracks, scat, hair, or bodies of mountain lions. The pictures are never clear. They are blurry and are soon determined to be of other species, such as bobcats and bears.

There are also hoaxes that take pictures of mountain lions in other states and try to pass them off as being from Pennsylvania. However, the last genuine sighting of a free-roaming mountain lion in the state was in 1967, and even that was suspected to have been someone’s escaped or released pet.

Sadly, the last period when mountain lions roamed freely throughout Pennsylvania is the end of the 19th century. A lion that was killed by Berks County coal-burners and stuffed in 1874 is today held in a display case in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. Read more about the Pennsylvania mountain lion in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.