My Neighbors from the Woods
But my interest in the hairy man, aka
bigfoot, started a long time ago, when I was much younger. What piqued my
interest were stories I first heard from my daddy. He listened to ‘talk radio”
at night and he’d retell the stories he heard over breakfast in the mornings.
That had to have been in the late 50s. I also remember Daddy talking about a
wild man that lived back in the mountains or hills near where he grew up in New
York. He also had a reoccurring nightmare bout wrestling a wild man. I wish I’d
asked more questions. I would love to know if the wild man story was based on
some of the stories I’ve read about sightings of a wild man/beast seen in
upstate New York in the 1930s. I think if Daddy had seen one himself, he would
have made that clear.
Stories in newspapers that told of a hairy
wild man, or sometimes an ape, popped up around the 1930s in New York, Ohio and
other northeast states. Daddy would have
been an impressionable teenager then. Of course, a quick internet search will
bring up stories from back into the 1800s of wild men or monsters.
The idea of a woman befriending a family
of bigfoot caught my imagination. I think it was fueled by the story of Kay
Grayson, known as the Bear Lady. She lived alone in the wilderness of Northeast
North Carolina. This area has the largest bear population in the eastern
states. Ms. Grayson, against warnings, fed the bears and nursed injured bears
(some from hunters and others from being hit by vehicles on the lonely dark
roads of the area). Her relationship with these animals seemed almost magical.
She and I exchanged some letters, but I never met her in person. What I did do
was buy some video tapes she made of her neighbors. Those tapes show some
amazing footage of her with the bears. So, the idea of a woman living with
bigfoot seemed plausible to me.
In my novel, My Neighbors from the Woods,
the main character, Maggie, lives alone in a small house in the middle of
twenty-five acres that butts right up to a national forest. She enjoys her
solitude, though she is not a recluse. She socializes with friends and attends
the local Presbyterian church at least once a month. She knows most everyone in
her area. At least she thought she did, until she met her new neighbors. Maggie
can’t say where she lives, other than somewhere in the South―for her own
protection as well as theirs’. Her hope is that her neighbors will continue to
live in the woods long after she is gone from this world. Her story is told in
her own words. You may think it is the ravings of a madwoman, but she assures
you she is as sane as any one of you reading it.
Find it on Amazon: My Neighbors from the Woods
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