CRYPTID PETS

My mother was around 10 when she received a baby black kitten from her Grandmother (Lucy the witch). This kitten was very large and the soul survivor. It was found on a farm outside of town and its mother was an ordinary house cat. The kitten grew quickly into a monster. He was called Rafael. From head to rear, not tail, was around 7 ft long. It ate raw and cooked meat. My mother was his favorite human. He only let my mother sit on his favorite couch. He was her shadow and followed her everywhere, even into town. He would hang outside of stores while she went shopping. People threw food at him out of fear he would attack them.
He guarded the family's property with his primal instinct. One time, couple of stray dogs attack my mother's dog. The mighty Rafael jumped off the porch to the rescue. He slaughtered all the strays. Another time, a careless kid wandered onto the property and was clawed real bad. He survived the encounter. The town decided to kill Rafael but, a family friend took him to Dallas. He's fate was never known. But years later, there are a few sightings of a huge black panther running loose in Texas. The family thought it could be Rafael.
While my aunt Betsy was working in a field one day, she found a unusual baby rattlesnake. She said "This will be my new pet!". Several years later, this snake was nearly twenty feet long. It's head almost a foot long and thicker than an arm. It ate chickens, raccoons, and anything it could get hold of. It roamed free but, it always returned home. There was a moment that everyone thought it would attack Betsy or anybody. She insured that it will never hurt her. She was sitting on a couch when she said that statement. Suddenly, its' huge head appeared on the couch next to her and laid it's head there. She died of lupus when she was 35 years old. The family agree to kill the snake because, there was no one who could take care of it. But it couldn't be found. Then people reported seeing it by Betsy's grave , sitting there. It coiled there for couple of days. Later it vanished into the wilderness. That was over twenty years ago. It has never been seen since.