How did Harlan Kane's body ends up in a tree?

The author never really explains how Harlan Kane's body ends up in a tree. What's your theory?

That was a pretty gruesome turn of events, wasn't it! I wish the author had gone into just a little more depth here. Obviously the catamount did it, but was it a real cat or a ghost cat? And why would it haul the body all the way up the tree like that? I'm interested in other peoples' opinions about the scene.

I do think the catamount THOUGHT it would be a way to preserve its food source and return when hungry for its food. The descriptions of the found body were disturbing for sure.

I think it was a catamount, since other wild felines sometimes pull carcasses into trees. We know that Karl Farnsworth had a stuffed “ panther” in his study, but the first catamount in the book had lived 100 years before. So was the catamount who killed Harlan real or ghostly? Either is possible in this imaginative book.

I thought the catamount attacked him and dragged the carcass to the tree for future feedings. I thought it was the real cat, not the ghostly feline.
As gruesome as it was, I thought the catamount protected the house and it was a fitting end for such a despicable character

I, too, thought the real catamount dragged the body into the tree for future feedings.

I think that Harlan Kane climbed the tree so he might get away from the danger, but the catamount found him and maybe dragged him higher up to secure him and then after feeding on him left him there for the future.

I thought the catamount dragged him up into the tree to protect his kill and to save it for a future meal. As to whether it was the ghost catamount or a real one I cannot be sure. However, since so many of the ghosts in this story are able to interact with the “ nonspiritual” realm, and the stuffed catamount had gone missing, I tend to believe it was the ghostly catamount who saved the day and meted out punishment where punishment was due.

A ghostly big cat dragging and eating the body seems to mesh best with the theme of the book.

I'm sure it was the lion, whether live or supernatural is open to conjecture. Around here, when a lion takes a deer, or other large prey, they cover it with brush rather than hauling it into a tree.

As others have said, the catamount.

I think the ghost of the catamount became visible (alive temporarily) and stopped Harlan Kane from causing any more anguish to Lillian by killing him. Leopards in Africa haul their kill into trees to eat and then to save for later meals, so it seems likely that a catamount would do the same.

It is natural for big cats to drag their kill up into the trees - to both save for later and to keep others from praying on it. I think that catamount got to Kane in an act of saving Lillian from any further harm or disemfort.

The Catamount real I think. It saved Lillian from her traumatic life. Interesting about the cat putting the body in the tree to save for a future meal.