Some of you may have heard the incredible story of little Casey Hathaway, a 3-year-old boy who one day apparently wandered away from the backyard of his home in North Carolina, having been left in his grandmother's care to watch him that day. Police were contacted that the little boy was missing. They conducted an extensive search of the immediate forest area, but after almost two days had passed with no sign of the boy, hope was dimming for Casey's survival in the winter weather. And then it happened. After two days Casey was found alive in a heavily bushed area. Casey seemed fine and everyone marveled at his condition and how he could have survived the frigid nights. Being examined in an emergency room upon being found, Casey had credited his survival to a "friendly bear" who had kept him warm, hanging out with a bear for two days. The first night in the woods, Casey had endured a temperature that had dropped down to 20 degrees. The second night there was 2 inches of rain. Not much more is known in the details of the disappearance.
What do you think? Was Casey helped and sheltered by a bear? Or could it have been as some have conjectured, Sasquatch?
Sure, a child this young could have made up the story about his bear friend. But think about this for a moment. At three years of age, a child most likely has seen and heard stories about bears, and most likely it was a friendly bear in the story. Young children know what a bear generally looks like. But, has a 3-year-old seen or heard stories about Sasquatch? Possibly, but not likely. Sasquatch for all intents and purposes, looks way more threatening than a bear, even if it was friendly. But we also attribute the elusiveness of Sasquatch to its intelligence. If it is as intelligent as we assume, it also would not be threatened by a child, or any animal that was that much smaller than them. It also would by now know its enemy, man, and man's propensity toward violence, and understood the lack of threat this child was and its need for assistance, exactly how an intelligent, sentient and empathetic creature would react. We're left with another perplexing question. Why make up a story at all unless something really happened?
So, if not Sasquatch, then what? Could the mysterious help the child received come be from another possibility? I'll refer you to my previous article about the Butterfly People. There seems to be enough of these protective events described by children to propose the possibility of a supernatural force interceding on the behalf of those in danger. Perhaps these very forces appear to a child in the way best for a child to be comforted and not frightened more than it already is. And curiously enough, the rescued is found safe with no sign of his or her benefactor. Some call this benefactor an "angel."
Perhaps there is something more at play here. In each pursuit of the cryptozoological, paranormal, ufos, etc., a belief has been perpetuated almost as a guide to exploration and explanation. Perhaps we have it all wrong as typified in the old Crow saying:
"Man’s law changes with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit remain always the same."
- MoonJoey