I did the research on this one years ago when we had a rash of "sightings". You're right Cap. There has *never* - as in *ever* - been documented evidence of a melanistic mt. lion, cougar, catamount, puma..... No mounts, no pictures and not even an antique hide hanging in an old hunting cabin. Just, apparently, doesn't happen. There are black jaguars and leopards.. if you have one of these you have bigger problems than mt. lions.
btw.. DNR said "forever* we had none here (mt. lions).. Then they had one shot, one road kill and one hit by a train in about a year's time. Now we have "as many as 15 statewide". No documented evidence of a breeding population.