Something about that story set off my B.S. detector at about 6 p.m. today … which may very well have been when investigators were making up their minds that there wasn’t a lick of proof that the guy who fell down a ravine in Foothills Park actually got bumped by a big cat. From Mercurynews.com:

The report of an attack, which came from an unidentified 50-year-old Portola Valley man on Sunday, touched off a swift investigation that brought three state game wardens, a professional tracker and a team of hounds to the 1,400-acre park on Monday. Meanwhile, a forensics expert in Sacramento examined the victim’s shirt for telltale signs such as fur or saliva.

All came up empty, leaving officials to conclude that the man’s alarming story was mistaken.

“He believed, I think truly, that he’d been attacked,” Palo Alto police Agent Dan Ryan said. “We have just not been able to substantiate that with the science.”

No wonder it seemed so damned unlikely … though this of course killed my theory for why it might have actually happened (hey, I spent a solid six seconds coming up with that theory).

A guy on Channel 2 News just said the hiker’s shirt had no trace of an attack — no hair, no rips, no punctures. But he also noted the hiker did not recant his story.