It began last summer. Let me just start there.
I personally love all animals, although I'm quite partial specifically to dogs, having three of my own right now.
But, I also have an affinity for woodland creatures. I mean; Squirrels, Birds, Raccoons, Fox, Bear and Moose.
As far as Bears go, here in NH, we have Black Bears.
When I think of Bears, I automatically think they are living, eating and rearing their cubs deep in the woods. Perhaps they may creep and have crept, into someone's yard in a rural neighborhood in different areas of NH, in effort to get to a food source; a bird feeder or to a suet cage.
Most times you hear of this either during fall or as it approaches, when the winter is not too far off. But, for the most part, I believe they are pretty well restricted to being deep in the woods.
But for me, I attract (as you know if you have read my book or on this blog) all kinds of people, ghosts, other anomalies, UFO's and... animals of all kinds.
I have had Canadian Geese in my former yard, who would come right up to me while I gardened. So used to me they were, that I gave them names; "Henry" and "Bella" and they would sit next to me daily and eat from my hand. As the weeks went by, more Canadian Geese would flock to my yard.
I remember going to the Deerfield Fair one year and upon exiting our truck with our young kids, a baby squirrel ran right up to me, grabbed onto my leg and shimmied himself all the way up to my neck where he burrowed his tiny little head. My kids were all excited.
Another time, on our previous farm in one of our smaller barns that we always referred to as "The Tractor Barn", my kids were playing outside and came running in because they saw a "Cat" in the wagon to our tractor, which at the time was also full of hay because we used to take the kids on hay rides.
When they saw it, I was thinking that this Cat was a stray domesticated cat and so, I went out to see what they were talking about.
I reached the barn and sure enough there was a Cat. But, it was a Bobcat and the Bobcat had babies in my tractor wagon. I told the kids to go inside because I was nervous that momma Bobcat would feel threatened and she would of course protect her babies.
The kids went inside and as I watched this beautiful animal and her babies, I pondered the idea of calling Fish and Game for our safety and for momma Bobcat and her babies. But, as I turned to walk back toward my house, momma Bobcat jumped off of the tractor and sprung over to me and as soon as I realized it, I quickly froze.
I've never seen a Bobcat in real life, but I did know that any animal will protect its young, and here I was possibly appearing as a threat to her. So, I froze.
She surprised me though. She literally walked over to me and rubbed her body against my legs.
Of course I'm thinking "Is this the calm before the storm?", "Is she going to pounce?"
I'll admit, I was very nervous.
But, she was super mellow. She sniffed my legs, rubbed her body all over the lower half of my body and at one point, she even got onto her hind legs with her front paws stretched onto me.
I waited until she went back to her babies and I thought that maybe she came to me because she needed food.
Instead of calling Fish and Game, I went into my house, opened a bunch of cans of Tuna Fish and I fed her. I told my kids to stay away from the Tractor Barn until momma Bobcat and her babies leave.
Daily I went out and brought her food. She remained with her babies at my house and in my tractor wagon for about 5 or 6 weeks. Then one day they were gone and they never came back.
I currently do not live in a rural area at all (I'm actually going to be moving soon to a larger and much more rural home). We have neighbors all around us, something my dogs are just not used to. Our neighbors jog, walk, gather outside etc. but my dogs are used to having space and a lot of acreage, so they do a lot of barking here needless to say.
Well, last summer one night my security cameras went off in the middle of the night and... and my dogs were barking like crazy and I heard a bump on a window in my living room.
I looked out of the living room window and onto my porch, and there was a beautiful Black Bear on my front porch and he was leaning on the window.
I did not have the night vision turned on (not sure why) so, the pictures that were taken were kind of dark, but you could see or make out that it was in fact a Black Bear and when I opened the shades, he looked right at me!
The bear got up onto his hind legs and I think he was trying to sniff for the dogs because they were barking like crazy, when he bumped his face off of the window.
At the time, I felt he was hungry and I so wanted to feed him.
Why else would he be here right?
But, I guess if you feed Bears and they get friendly, that's how they end up being shot. So, feeding him was not a good idea despite the strong desire that pulled me to do so. Besides, looking back, the fact that we have children and other animals; dogs and cats in the neighborhood, feeding the Bear would have put everyone at risk.
So, I decided that I would just be happy with the dark pictures that my cameras got and be fortunate that I was able to see a Black Bear so up close, even if it was a through a window.
Fast forward now to April of this year (2022).
It was around April 23rd and again in the middle of the night, my security cameras start going off like crazy again and my dogs start losing their minds barking when I look out and Mr. Gorgeous Bear is back, right there on my front porch again!
The beautiful Black Bear had come back.
So, relying on my cameras to take pictures (night vision is on), I didn't bother to grab my cell phone.
I wanted so much to go and open the door, but again my son is standing there with the look of;
"Don't you dare ma". So, instead, I opened the shades all the way and this is what I saw...
One of my security cam's took the pic at the same moment and there he was looking right at me!
I got so excited, and I knew at the moment that we made eye contact, that it was going to draw him closer. I somehow just knew.
Sure enough, he came up and over to the window.
My dogs were going bananas and I was a bit nervous that the barking would anger Mr. Bear so, my son removed all three dogs from the living room. Although it didn't stop them from barking, at least they were no longer in the window where Mr. Bear could see them.
I felt horrible because I knew he was hungry and there was really nothing I could do. I'm sure he would have thoroughly enjoyed a peanut butter sandwich or two, or something, poor thing.
He, by no means appears to be malnourished but, I did feel compelled to give him something to eat.
However, living where I live right now, I knew that would have been a poor decision. So, I decided instead to just take in this beautiful sight for as long as it lasted.
If I were back on my farm, it is highly probable that I would have fed him, made friends with him and I would have probably named him something like "Thor".
At that time on the farm, we saw all kinds of things that came to visit besides a momma Bobcat; demons, possessions, ghosts and a Big Foot, yes a Big Foot. You can read these stories in my book "No One Would Believe It"
What I don't understand is why or how this Bear, came to my house on two separate occasions, only 10 months apart, and to my neighborhood, which is literally only 3 miles from the busy down town area. And, I suspect he will be back again (stay tuned)
It's very unusual. I've never seen or heard of a Bear visiting so close to a down town area or in such a populated area and neighborhood, have you?
When Mr. Bear (Thor) finally left my house, he was probably disappointed that I didn't feed him, poor baby. But, I watched him slowly walk off of my porch, through my small front yard and onto the street, where he walked into the darkness, assuming he took the same path that got him here in the first place.
Despite that this is not a paranormal, demonic or UFO story, I felt it worthy to add it to the collection of strange events that happen to us daily. It's never dull here!
Thanks for reading, Have a good one!!