Bigfoot and a Pine Grove

               Anyone who knows me knows I’ve had weird encounters of the unbelievable kind my entire life. My earliest memory of a strange encounter happened when I was four, but I’ll tell that story another day. Today though, we are going back to 2012.

               Driving home from my boyfriend's (now ex husband’s) house late at night with my three young kids in the backseat, I came to a pine grove that I’d driven past a hundred times, only this time, beyond the lights of my old Mercedes wagon, I saw something I'll never fully process.

              Bigfoot ran across the road in front of my car on all fours and disappear into the trees. Look, I know what you’re thinking, and I can guarantee I’ve thought it too. Surely it couldn't have been real. There had to be a logical explanation.

My first instinct was to turn my car around and shine my high beams into the rows of pine trees to see if I could spot it, but I decided against it. There isn’t exactly a handbook on bigfoot etiquette, and I didn’t know if it would try to hurt me or my kids.

               My next thought was to take out my phone and snap a picture, although, the moment had passed, and I was two minutes too late.

Side note: in case you were wondering, there's a legitimate reason why there are no clear pictures of these creatures. By the time you’ve processed what you’re seeing, they’re gone!

I felt ridiculous as I continued to drive home, but I called my mom and told her what I'd seen anyway. She laughed and didn’t believe me. She said it had to have been a cow or a bear… and I tried to rationalize it as those animals too, but I promise you it wasn’t!

               Two days later our local news station posted an article about bigfoot sightings in my area. Other people had seen it just east of me and called the news station. Roping in the news was not on my agenda, I didn’t want to tell anyone, but I'm thankful to those who did because it made me feel a little less bonkers.

               Still, I questioned this for years. Why don’t we see them more often? How are they so elusive?

And one day I got my answer (or an answer).

A random guy from Ireland messaged me who was dealing with similar chronic illness symptoms. He thought he’d seen my name in one of his alien groups as well, so he reached out. I told him that I wasn’t part of any alien groups and hadn’t seen any, but I did see bigfoot once.

He said, “Oh yeah, you know they’re interdimensional beings and can choose who they let see them.”

               So, there it was. They’re interdimensional and can float between worlds. Again, this was complete stranger from the other side of the world who messaged me so nonchalant with this information like it was just widely known.

Was that answer more unbelievable than me seeing a sasquatch near a pine grove in the first place? That they can decide who sees them and pop in and out of our world whenever they want? I honestly don’t know anymore, but it’s the only answer I’ve ever received that made any sense.

               I tried to link the news report here for proof, but it’s been deleted (as it was 12 years ago). I was able to get a screenshot of the article my mom shared with me off Facebook though and used it as the image for this blog post.

              Whenever I think about this, I laugh. What else can you do when you experience something that will make people think you wear tinfoil hats in your free time?

I’m telling this story now for the first time in my life as part of a personal goal to be my most authentic self and not ashamed of who I am or what I’ve experienced despite how odd it might be. I hope you’ll stick around and continue Unpacking Magic with me because I have a lot more to share!