Apologies for this, but I've omitted and renamed quite a few of the details in this story
with respect to the people involved.
This story is my own, but it is rooted in a very real and tragic event that happened decades
ago in the small town where I grew up.
I experienced something extraordinary and borderline surreal, and I know your audience will
understand and believe what I have to say.
From what I have seen thus far, it is a very sympathetic community.
However, I know that certain people I care about do not want to be associated with what
I saw all those years ago.
I will say this much.
Most of this story takes place in Ontario near a national park.
It all began in the 80s when I was in middle school.
It was 86 to be exact, and I was 13 years old.
The mother of one of my classmates went missing.
To this day her final whereabouts are unknown.
Here are the facts that we do know.
This woman, let's call her Mary, was driving down a country road when her car broke down due
to an issue with the alternator.
Now this was before cell phones, so Mary must have thought to hoof it in one direction or
the other.
There weren't a lot of houses or stores nearby, but it wasn't completely desolate.
About two miles one way would have gotten her to a few different homes, and three miles
in the other direction would have gotten her to a gas station.
We do not know what happened to Mary after she left her car.
All they found were her keys, and that was after hours of searching the immediate area
where the car was parked.
Obviously, this was a confusing and tragic event for Mary's family.
I went to school with two of her children, and life got a lot harder for them after that.
I'll make this disclaimer right now before I get too much further in the story.
I do not claim to know what happened to Mary.
I don't think anyone knows what happened that night.
Her family is still looking for answers, and I hope to God they find closure one day.
But I don't want anyone thinking that what happened to me has anything to do with what
happened to Mary.
However, Mary is the reason I went back to my hometown in Ontario ten years after she
disappeared.
I was young and arrogant back then.
I've always been a fan of mystery, true crime, and stories of intrigue, you know, you name
it.
I had aspirations of being a private investigator.
I thought I was so smart instead of fast that I could make myself into a regular Sherlock
Holmes.
Maybe because I was in close proximity to Mary's family and her story, having heard so much
about it when I was a kid, that I thought it would be a good idea to do my own investigation
into what happened.
I understood, though, that it was a justifiably sensitive subject for Mary's family.
I was not so arrogant that I thought I could walk into their lives after ten years, thinking
I could crack that cold case that had devastated them for so long.
I was never close to anyone in Mary's family.
Even though I shared classes with her youngest daughter, we didn't share the same circle of
friends.
I remember everyone being very careful around her and her brother after what happened, treating
them like they were made of glass.
Last I checked, they were doing okay for themselves, but they were still very much affected by
their mother's disappearance.
So I decided not to seek them out.
It seemed too early in my own investigation to do so, and I'm glad I held off.
And spoiler alert, my so-called "investigation" didn't pan out very well or last very long.
In any case, I returned to my hometown in 1996, basically framing it as an extended visit
to my parents.
And I did spend a good deal of time visiting with my folks, as we hadn't seen a lot of each
other since I moved to Vancouver for school.
But one of the first things I did when I came back to Ontario was visit Mary's last known
location.
As I alluded to earlier, my hometown is nestled close to a national park.
So if you drive in most directions away from the town, you will eventually hit the clusters
of forest and civilization will be in the rear view mirror.
Mary's last known location, however, is just shy at the boundaries of the national park.
I thought to say what she was doing in this area, but that information is a fairly well-known
aspect to the case, and I would rather not give any further hints that might breach the
family's privacy.
Again, sorry if it seems like I'm teasing these facts.
They haunted my brain for so long that sometimes it's hard not to get into the weeds.
So I drove out there, not a care in the world, morbidly excited to sink my teeth into the
heart of this mystery.
It was a fairly indistinct stretch of road, and had I not known so much about it, I might
have missed it.
But even given how often I had seen pictures and studied the maps, I'm still not entirely
sure that I hit the exact spot where she parked her car that night.
When I finally pulled over for the first time, all I could see were trees in either direction.
I parked my car several times on that road, trying to pin the exact spot I was looking for,
and each time I would get out and walk around.
I went off the road, walking as far as I could before I hit a steep decline or lost side
of the road, just trying to get a feel for the area.
Each time it looked about the same as the last place where I parked.
I didn't think I would find much out here.
I just thought it would help to get to know the place.
As far as I was concerned, this was only the first step on a larger journey of learning
what happened to Mary.
The last time I stopped, I decided I should be heading back soon.
I told myself that being out here was good if only for the sake of familiarizing myself,
but I wouldn't learn much if I was looking for something specific.
So for the final time, I drove forward a little bit, still seeing nothing but trees in front
of me and behind me, and I parked my car on the side of the road.
I stood there, leaning against my car for a while, looking out at the tree line before
me.
And then I heard the tell-tale snap of twigs that indicated something was moving in the
forest.
I turned my head just in time to see something massive move amongst the trees.
It was walking away from where I was at a brisk pace, and I only caught a glimpse of it
as it made its way deeper into the woods.
The moment was so brief that I was only barely sure I'd seen anything.
It was large and dark, so I figured it must have been a bear.
I continued to stand there, waiting, and looking, squinting, and watching closely, hoping that
whatever I had seen would return.
But after about five minutes of waiting, I concluded that it wasn't coming back any time soon.
Even then, I still sat in my car for a while longer, glancing out the passenger-side window,
hoping I'd see it again.
To me, this seemed like a clue.
I can't really blame myself for thinking so.
It felt like providence.
Here I was, trying to get any kind of information that I could about this missing person's case,
and then some wildlife just so happens to move into the picture as I am investigating.
I immediately began to theorize that maybe Mary had had the dire misfortune of running
into a territorial bear or a pack of wolves.
Now, that wasn't a satisfactory answer, but suddenly it was on the table.
I felt ecstatic as I drove back home.
Upon reflection, it was probably more likely than not that I would eventually encounter
an animal of some kind if I stayed out there long enough, given how close to the park it was.
But I didn't really give that idea much thought.
I was too caught up in my own naive excitement.
I had planned on running some other errands for the sake of the investigation, visiting the
local police station, going through local archives, etc.
But of course, I was so distracted by what I'd seen in the forest the day before that I resolved
to go back first thing in the morning.
I thought if I went out there close to daybreak, I would have a better chance of seeing the
animal.
Much to my detriment, that theory was correct.
I drove back to that same country road and slowed when I came to the area that I had visited
the day before.
Once I was satisfied that I had reached my destination, I got out of my car and ventured
a short way into the forest.
Now I wasn't a complete idiot.
I hadn't grown up around true wilderness enough to know that any animal encounter could
turn deadly under the right circumstances.
For this reason, and many more, I did not venture far from my car.
I kept looking over my shoulder throughout this ordeal to make sure my car was still squarely
where I thought it was, and that I was at a good enough distance that I could book it back
there in case of an emergency.
This is foreshadowing.
I walked back and forth, surveying my immediate surroundings, and trying to find signs of
the animal I saw the day before, such as footprints or broken branches.
In hindsight, I'm not exactly a survivalist or a tracker, so this effort was doomed from
the start.
But I continued to pace, looking closely past the trees, jumping at every shadow, waiting
for something to show itself.
Unfortunately, I got my wish.
It was, perhaps, fifteen minutes since I'd gotten out of my car.
I made out a figure approaching in the distance, cresting over a nearby hill, standing roughly
a hundred yards away.
I looked right at it, expecting to see a bear, based on the size of the creature I'd seen
previously.
But as my eyes lingered on it, it became clear that I was seeing something entirely different
from what I had expected.
It was just as big as I remembered, but it was also standing on hind legs, like a human
wood, and that caught me off guard right away.
What's more is that it continued to move closer in my direction.
I saw that it had an ape-like face, long limbs, and a body covered head to toe in reddish-brown
hair.
I was so stunned that it took me too long to register, that it wasn't stopping its approach.
It wasn't until I spied what looked like a snarl on its face, that I realized I was
in danger.
I didn't have the time to think about it in the moment, but it's obvious to me now that
I was encroaching on this creature's territory, and it wasn't happy about it.
As I began to back away and head towards the car, its speed picked up.
My instincts finally kicked into high gear, and I bolted to my car as fast as my legs would
carry me.
I didn't look behind me.
I couldn't afford to.
I knew that even just half a breath's worth of hesitation could spell my doom.
After I began my escape, the rest of the world became a blur around me.
I remember little else other than jumping into the front seat and slamming the door behind
me.
And then something hard bludgeoned the passenger's side of my car.
I whirled around, and I saw this titan of an animal had slammed its side into my car
enough to rock the whole vehicle.
It crouched down, long enough to flash me a frightening grimace, and fog up my window with
its heavy breath.
I didn't waste another second.
I started up my car and floored it until the creature had disappeared into my rearview
mirror.
Even as I was safe and a good distance away from my attacker, it took me a while to stop panting
and to collect myself.
My heart was going a mile a minute, and my arms were shaking.
I drove for a while, trying to control my breathing, before finally pulling over to rest.
I parked near a farmhouse, and I looked behind me, even though there was no way that thing
could have caught up to me.
And at some time passed before I allowed myself to relax for a second.
And even then I didn't wait too much longer before I resolved to turn around and go back
to town.
There was some fear in me that I would pass the creature again, but there was nothing to
do about that.
This was the only road that would take me back to town.
I would just have to hope that it wasn't there, and that it definitely couldn't catch up
to my car.
Luckily, there was no sign of it going back the other way, and I was sure as heck looking
for it when I drove past that spot again.
And once I recognized the place, I put some juice on the accelerator, and never looked
back.
Now, as I said, I fainting myself on amateur sleuth at this time in my life.
And yes, there was definitely a part of me that wanted to know more about the creature
I encountered that day, perhaps even to take pictures of it as evidence.
However, two main things soared me to the reality of my situation that day.
One was that I could have died that day.
What I encountered that day, big foot or not, was a wild animal who could have torn me
from limb to limb if it had had the chance.
I saw glimpses of it one day, and was stupid enough to go back for another look the next day,
and it could have cost me my life.
Secondly, I was putting myself in danger that made me realize how foolhardy and insensitive
I had been to the severity of what had happened to Mary, and what her family is still going
through.
This of my encounter, I was clearly in over my head, and should probably leave such an investigation
to the experts.
I've never lost my appetite for a good mystery, though, and I have enjoyed my time looking
up and researching other people's big foot stories.
It's especially comforting to see how many people's encounters have been much less
eventful and much safer than mine.