Before moving on, it is worth noting strange bears and strange-bear things, mostly created by humans. This first one is a shocker…

They found a bear who died of a sexually transmitted disease. I guess early bears didn’t practice safe sex. But fear not!

So modern bears seem to protect themselves during sex. How can that be?

That’s how.

They seem to do just fine on their own.

I don’t know what the age of consent is in bear society.

However, there is a Blackfoot Native American legend that seems to fit here nicely. It is called…the bear woman. I will quote the short version of the tale as told by Daniel Eskridge, a fantastic artist. The following two images are derived from his work.

A young Native American woman refuses to marry. Every day while her father and brothers are out hunting, she disappears leaving her little sister alone for long periods. One day, her sister follows her and finds that she has taken a bear as a husband. The little sister tells their father who, with his sons, kills the bear. Later, the bear woman gains the ability to transform herself into a bear. She kills most of the people in the village. Her brothers develop a plan to lure her into a trap. They have the younger sister anger the bear woman who takes on her bear form again and chases her, but the bear woman figures out the brothers' trap and chases them all. A pursuit ensues involving much magic. The bear woman is eventually killed by one of her brothers, but having no people to return to, they all decide to go up into the sky where they become the stars of the Ursa Major constellation.

And as awful as men treat women, maybe a bear would be better.

Now bears can’t talk, or I should say, I’ve never heard one talk.

Ok, there are lots of bears that can speak. But! If you were a talking a bear, and wanted to talk to your bear friend, but he wasn’t there…what would you do?

Norwegian bears. I was skeptical. But then I found proof it is true…

See…I told you so!
Strange beliefs about bears? Here’s a doozy…

Now this is an awkward subject if there ever was one! If you were a woman, and you were hiking, and stopped at a trailhead, you might see this…

Women shouldn’t hike when having their period and, for some reason, human sexual activity attracts bears.

 HELENA, Mont. -- Bears are attracted to the human menstrual scent and women should stay out of bear country during their period, researchers at the University of Montana report.

The finding confirmed a suspicion held by biologists and campers since two women were mauled to death in Glacier National Park in 1967.

'Bears were attracted to human menstrual odors when the women were actually menstruating,' wildlife biologist Christopher Servheen of the Border Grizzly Study Project said. 'The bears expressed interest and moved to the scent.'

Researcher Bruce Cushing, now at the University of Michigan, found the menstrual scent to be as attractive to bears as were food odors such as fish oil, Servheen said. Caged bears showed interest in women in their period, and wild bears were attracted to discarded tampons, he said.

Let me get this straight. There are wildlife authorities who believe that bears are attracted to odors associated with menstruation, and discarded tampons. We are really in gross territory now.

 Researcher Bruce Cushing offered used tampons, seal meat, and non-menstrual human blood to captive polar bears. The bears usually ate the used tampons and seal meat but ignored non-menstrual blood, which might suggest a preference for menstrual blood in that species.5 However, there is no record of a polar bear killing a menstruating woman.

Ate the tampons? Moving right along.
Can bears serve in the military? One might think that’s going too far. Really? Meet…

…Wojtek the Bear, who served in the 2nd Polish Corp during World War Two. He began as a private, but was then promoted to corporal.

As an enlisted soldier with his own paybook, rank, and serial number, he lived with the other men in tents or in a special wooden crate, which was transported by truck. During the Battle of Monte Cassino, Wojtek helped his unit convey ammunition by carrying 100-pound (45 kg) crates of 25-pound artillery shells, never dropping any of them. While this story generated debate over its accuracy, at least one account exists of a British soldier recalling seeing a bear carrying crates of ammunition.[10] The bear mimicked the soldiers: when he saw the men lifting crates, he copied them. 

 A bear that carries crates of ammunition for you? But he had some bad habits…

Wojtek initially had problems swallowing and was fed condensed milk from an old vodka bottle. He was subsequently given fruit, marmalade, honey, and syrup, and was often rewarded with beer, which became his favorite drink. He later also enjoyed smoking (or eating) cigarettes, as well as drinking coffee in the mornings. He also slept with the other soldiers if they were ever cold at night. He enjoyed wrestling with the soldiers and was taught to salute when greeted. He became an attraction for soldiers and civilians alike, and soon became an unofficial mascot to all the units stationed nearby. With the 22nd Company, he moved to Iraq, and then through Syria, Palestine, and Egypt.

He drank beer, smoked, and drank coffee. After the war was over, Wojtek was given a home in Scotland at Edinburgh Zoo.

Wojtek became a cultural hero…

Wojtek wasn’t the only army hot-shot bear. Meet…

…Rocky San.

Yes, Rocky San the paratrooper, who was awarded the Purple Heart.

Some army bears become very famous, and find a way to live on in human memory. And so it was with a bear named…

…Winipeg. He was an orphaned cub that was bought by Lt. Harry Coleburn of the Canadian army. He became the mascot of the Canadian Army Veterinary Corp.

Front row, middle…that’s Winnipeg. Here’s a close-up…

She was purchased as a small cub, after a hunter shot her mother…

She was so young that she readily bonded with humans. And she was not just an army mascot. No, she was much, much more than just that. She was left with the London Zoo, and although that was not her intended home, she was left there after the war. London? She became a big attraction…

Now Winnigpeg had a diminutive name…Winnie. And here she is shown with her biggest fan…

…Christopher Robin, son of A.A. Milne. Winnipeg the bear inspired the timeless classic…Winnie the Pooh.

And so Winnipeg Bear was transformed into Winnie the Pooh, Christoper Robin’s best friend. Although, it might seem a little odd that Winnie wears a shirt but no pants.

Now it’s time for a case that is not as clear as it initially seems, and involves a strange bear…

This seems no different to so many attacks discussed so far. But for some, this scenario is less certain…

…so here we have the view that the man many have been killed by a bear who really a man…perhaps a man-bear.

Bears get venereal disease…bears eat tampons. But did you know that bears also suffer from psychological disorders?

Wait! This seems like a lot of other attacks. Oh, I forgot…

A Psycho Bear!

Bears have not escaped the viciousness of humans. An extreme case is the suggestion that bears should be made extinct…

It seems unnecessary to address such a psychopathic demand.

But a true enemy of the bear, i.e. its human enemy, is…

…yes, Goldilocks. And she was certainly up to no good. First, she…

 …illegally entered a private dwelling, although the bears shouldn’t have left the door unlocked. We’ve seen cases where people left their doors unlocked and bears entered the house or cabin. This is the flip-side. Then she…

…ate up all of baby bear’s porridge. Then she…

…broke baby bear’s chair. Finally, if all that wasn’t bad enough, she…

…slept in baby bear’s bed. So just as bears attack children, Godilocks seems to have targeted Baby Bear. It was only fitting that her wrongs caught up with her…

…joining other notorious character that appear in children’s books…

Finally, she was…

…put on trial.

Joking aside, what follows is the documented abuse of bears. People may the images distressing, and should skip over them. However, and sometimes this makes a difference, all bears whose images are shown below were rescued and brought to bear sactuaries, and quickly adapted to their new homes. First, there is a form of abuse known as…

…bear-bating, which involved pitting a chained bear against other animals, usually dogs. Drawings are one thing. Realty is another…

…Rocky, a fighting bear. Fortunately, he was rescued just in time, and has a…

…lease on life.

There’s also…

…the dancing bear. There is nothing cute about the dancing bear. Meet…

…Violeta is doing quite well.

Another case in point…

…Mo and Juan were found in the basement of a clothes store in Son La, located in North Vietnam. It was found that they had been living in cages with no access to daylight. The most disgusting thing is people in Vietnam and China drain liver bile from bears for use in medications and cosmetics. They were rescued and placed in the Ninh Binh bear sanctuary…

So the story proves to be, ultimately, a happy one. But it is appalling that such barbaric behavior still exists in 2025. A similar situation involved…

…Cam…who made a remarkable recovery …

He was placed in the same sanctuary as Juan and Mo. He responded quickly, and is a heathy bear enjoying life. Strangely enough, he befriended Mo. The charity Four Paws also rescued…

…Cuc and Nhai, who are coming along just fine…

Cuc, who had to learn how to walk. Nahi is looking good too…

Likewise…

…Tu Do, who lived in a small cage for 20 years until…

…she was rescued. Now she passes her time playing with her ball and eating fruit.

And…

…Teddy, who had suffered greatly at the hands of humans, found a second life…

I didn’t miss…

…Felix, a bear whose estimated age is a whopping 30 years…

Bears are remarkable survivors, hanging on when humans would give up. Such was the case with…

…Pedals. He couldn’t walk on all fours because one of his front paws had been injured after being hit by a car, and he lost the other paw, so he walked upright on two legs, becoming the first known non-human fully bipedal animal.

And stunning as this truly is…

Unfortunately, New Jersey sanctioned a bear-killing free-for-all after 40 years. A hunter, no doubt a self-deprecating and insecure man, targeted Pedals and murdered him, luring him to his death with apples.

The search for his killer took different paths…

The search moved on…

Unfortunately, Pedal’s murderer will not have to answer for what he did and, as one might expect, his identity is being protected…

So the next time you read a story about a bear attack tragedy, it is important to remember humans have behaved despicably toward bears.

Some would say that bears are bears, and humans are humans…it’s that simple. The truth is, it’s really somewhat complicated…

That seems strange. What is going on?

 A long, long time ago, the heavenly prince Hwanung , son of the sky god, looked down upon the human world. He saw people struggling and wished to guide them, so he descended from the heavens with 3,000 heavenly followers.

As ruler of the world below, Hwanung governed agriculture, weather, justice, and medicine, teaching humans how to build a proper civilization.

One day, two animals …a bear and a tiger…came to him with an unusual request:

“We want to become human!”

Hwanung, moved by their determination, agreed—but only under one condition:

 “Stay in a dark cave for 100 days, eating only garlic and mugwort.”

This was a test of patience, endurance, and willpower. The tiger, unable to bear the hunger and darkness, gave up and ran out of the cave. The bear, however, endured the challenge with quiet determination. After just 21 days, the bear transformed into a beautiful woman—Ungnyeo (Bear Woman).

Though she had become human, Ungnyeo was lonely. She prayed earnestly at Sindansu, the divine tree, asking for a child. Moved by her devotion, Hwanung married Ungnyeo, and together, they had a son—Dangun Wanggeom, the legendary founder of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom. This is why many Koreans jokingly say they are descended from a bear!

Bears have done good things for people, and there are bears that certainly make this point absolutely clear. Perhaps the best story involves a little girl named Katie Flynn, who was four years old at the time. Legend…

The child is kidnapped by a bear, who feeds her and keeps her warm, which are pretty nice things to do, but obviously no good deed goes unpunished, and the bear was shot and killed. But Katie didn’t originally describe her kidnapper as a bear.

 When her mother asked her why she didn’t run away, Katie responded, “Big dog came up to me, took me in his arms and walked away with me.” As an explanation for her missing shoe, Katie said, “The big dog ate it.”

We won’t worry about Katie’s shoe, but living where she did, she should have known the difference between a bear and a big dog. But later, she changed her mind…

In answer to questions, the child said that after her father had left, she had played a little while in the sand when a big black thing came along and played with her. Then it held out its paw and she caught hold of it and it had walked away with her. Just before dark it had left her for a while and when it came back its paws were dark with winter green berries. The bear ate some of the berries and she ate some. Then it scraped a big pile of leaves close to her and lay down with her. And during the night she had tried to cover her with its body.

So, was it a bear, or a big black thing, or a big dog? I think we ended up with a bear because a big black thing could be a black bear, but clearly not a dog. Katie was too old for a dog, or she may have a wolf in mind, to carry her away.

 The little one says the bear would put her down occasionally to rest, and would put its nose up to her face, when she would slap him and then the bear would hang his head by her side and put it against her like a cat. The men asked if she was cold in the night, and she told them the old bear lay down beside her and put his ‘arms’ around her and hugged her to him and kept her warm, though she did not like his long hair. The supposition is that it was a female bear, and having lost her cub, came across the child and adopted it.

How could any self-respecting bear allow four-year-old Katie Flynn to slap her? It is worth noting the theory expressed in the article that holds that the story makes sense if the bear was a female bear, bereft of her cubs, and perceived Katie to be a…human cub, and so she walked off with her. A particularly interesting permutation of the story appeared…

So here, we find a different take. Instead of the bear running away at the approach of the search party, the men are forced to kill the bear, whereas in the previous version, the bear wasn’t shot until later, after Katie had returned home. And the original story holds that Katie was playing in the sand along the road. Moreover, the bear’s motivation appears to be revenge…someone killed the bear’s cub, so she was going to kill a human cub, yet the bear was killed and Katie was unharmed. What about Katie? She was a fibber. She knew she wasn’t supposed to go off into the forest alone. But she did, and it may have been the case that she followed an animal that walked by. But rather than confess and face punishment, she made up a story in which she was not to blame. Her mother wanted to know what happened to her shoe, so the big-black thing-dog-bear ate it. But did the bear sneak up and grab her? Not according to the best version…

That is cool! The bear doesn’t sneak up and grab Katie. He just shows up and plays with her. Then the two simply walk off together into the forest. Then the story becomes heart-breaking. The bear continues to look Katie, who had become his friend, after she returned home, only to be shot and killed. But one is tempted to identify Katie’s friend as an older cub, still young enough to not have developed a fear, or enmity, of humans. It is a moving portrayal of innocence…a little girl and a bear cub connect personally without the animosity that later develops between humans and animals. The killing of the bear shows just how much more noble animals can be when compared to humans.  Although, Katie’s father learned an important lesson…

Still, this is a theme that we find in Aesop’s fable…The Farmer and His Dog…

Again…

Only humans can murder something to which they owe so much. And as for describing bears as dogs…

The bear protects the baby and gets hit with a club. This happened in Turkey…

But such stories weren’t only in days-gone-by. In 2019…

Three-year-old boy missing in woods for two days says friendly bear kept him safe.

 There’s a headline Katie Flynn would like! Meet…

…three-year old Casey Hathaway, who oozes…cute. He became lost in a North Carolina forest in Craven County. Unfortunately, he was lost for two days. And the weather was frigid, so things began to look rather dismal. But he was found, and although he had to recover…

But Casey’s a tough kid. He was found in a tangle of thorny bushes, cold and wet, but very much alive. Like Katie Flynn, he was playing outside and wandered 40-50 yards into the forest.

So how did he survive what he shouldn’t have been to survive?

His aunt called her nephew's safety a "miracle" and said, "God sent him a friend to keep him safe."

As it turned out, help – perhaps real, perhaps imaginary but certainly useful – was at hand in those woods in North Carolina, a state that is home to plenty of black bears. Craven county sheriff Chip Hughes said Casey “did say that he had a friend in the woods that was a bear that was with him”

So, after becoming lost in the forest, God sent a bear to care for him. And one should give pause on just how bad the weather was…

Brutal weather conditions in the low 20s Fahrenheit and concerns Casey wasn’t dressed for the cold sparked a search that involved helicopters, drones, K-9 units and divers, as well as hundreds of volunteers. By Thursday the wind and rain had become so bad authorities urged volunteers to stay away.

“He’s a survivor,” said Hughes on Friday, pointing out that rescuers had to wade through waist-high water to reach the boy, who stands at 2ft 2in.

The similarities with the Katie Flynn story are manifest. In both cases, it is a bear that saves a lost child who would surely die if God hadn’t sent a friend.

It’s a great story, though it may be apocryphal. Breast-feeding a cub sounds painful. But there have been strange breast-feedings…

There was a famous Greek woman named Atalanta, who had participated in the Argonaut’s quest for the golden fleece. She could run very fast, and was renowned for her hunting skills. When the goddess Artemis became anger with the king, she sent a huge Calydonian boar to destroy the kingdom. Atalanta was the first to shoot the boar.

There was a famous Greek woman named…

… Atalanta, who had participated in the Argonaut’s quest for the golden fleece. She could run very fast, and was renowned for her hunting skills. When the goddess Artemis became anger with the king, she sent a huge Calydonian boar to destroy the kingdom. Atalanta was the first to shoot the boar.

Atalanta, having heard a prophecy stating that marriage would be her undoing, decided not to marry. But she did declare that she would marry any man who could win a footrace with her. Many tried and failed, but Hippomenes tricked her by…

…throwing golden apples on the ground that she felt obliged to stop and pick up, and was able to beat her in the race. The trick perpetrated by Hippomenes had been arranged by Aphrodite, and he forgot to thank her for helping him. The goddess turned both into lions.

Ok, that’s a cool story. But how is that relevant here?

In a sunny land in Greece called Arcadia there lived a king and a queen who had no children. They wanted very much to have a son who might live to rule over Arcadia when the king was dead, and so, as the years went by, they prayed to great Jupiter on the mountain top that he would send them a son. After a while a child was born to them, but it was a little girl. The father was in a great rage with Jupiter and everybody else.

“What is a girl good for?” he said. “She can never do anything but sing, and spin, and spend money. If the child had been a boy, he might have learned to do many things,–to ride, and to hunt, and to fight in the wars,–and by and by he would have been king of Arcadia. But this girl can never be a king.”

Then he called to one of his men and bade him take the babe out to a mountain where there was nothing but rocks and thick woods, and leave it there to be eaten up by the wild bears that lived in the caves and thickets. It would be the easiest way, he said, to get rid of the useless little creature.

The man carried the child far up on the mountain side and laid it down on a bed of moss in the shadow of a great rock. The child stretched out its baby hands towards him and smiled, but he turned away and left it there, for he did not dare to disobey the king.

 Yes, the king will not be receiving the Father of the Year award.

For a whole night and a whole day the babe lay on its bed of moss, wailing for its mother; but only the birds among the trees heard its pitiful cries. At last it grew so weak for want of food that it could only moan and move its head a little from side to side. It would have died before another day if nobody had cared for it.

 Fear not!

Just before dark on the second evening, a she-bear came strolling down the mountain side from her den. She was out looking for her cubs, for some hunters had stolen them that very day while she was away from home. She heard the moans of the little babe, and wondered if it was not one of her lost cubs; and when she saw it lying so helpless on the moss she went to it and looked at it kindly. Was it possible that a little bear could be changed into a pretty babe with fat white hands and with a beautiful gold chain around its neck? The old bear did not know; and as the child looked at her with its bright black eyes, she growled softly and licked its face with her warm tongue and then lay down beside it, just as she would have done with her own little cubs. The babe was too young to feel afraid, and it cuddled close to the old bear and felt that it had found a friend. After a while it fell asleep; but the bear guarded it until morning and then went down the mountain side to look for food.

In the evening, before dark, the bear came again and carried the child to her own den under the shelter of a rock where vines and wild flowers grew; and every day after that she came and gave the child food and played with it. And all the bears on the mountain learned about the wonderful cub that had been found, and came to see it; but not one of them offered to harm it. And the little girl grew fast and became strong, and after a while could walk and run among the trees and rocks and brambles on the round top of the mountain; but her bear mother would not allow her to wander far from the den beneath the rock where the vines and the wild flowers grew.

 The girl was found by hunters…

The hunters named her Atalanta, and when she grew older, they made her a bow and arrows, and taught her how to shoot; and they gave her a light spear, and showed her how to carry it and how to hurl it at the game or at an enemy. Then they took her with them when they went hunting, and there was nothing in the world that pleased her so much as roaming through the woods and running after the deer and other wild animals. Her feet became very swift, so that she could run faster than any of the men; and her arms were so strong and her eyes so sharp and true that with her arrow or her spear she never missed the mark. And she grew up to be very tall and graceful, and was known throughout all Arcadia as the fleet-footed huntress.

Artemis was a very popular goddess in the ancient world. It was she who sent the bear to rescue the baby.

Artemis was also known at the Great-She-Bear, and had a special temple at…

…Brauronia. That said…

…she’s seen better days. The ritual…

…featured young girls (sometimes boys) who wore yellow robes, and as they danced before the goddess, they would behave like bears. These girls then shed the pretense of being bears, and, having left their wild nature behind, are no longer children.

It would be remiss to not mention, even if in passing, the myth of…

…Callisto, a wood nymph who was in love the goddess Artemis. Zeus being Zeus, he wanted to sleep with her. However, to accomplish this, he took on the appearance of Artemis…

So I know what you’re thinking, because I’m thinking it too. Callisto loves the goddess Artemis, so Zeus takes her form to have sex with her. But it would seem to me that it would become almost instantly clear that the divine being she thinks is Artemis is equipped with the sexual appendage. Unless Artemis was a she-male, the whole would have gone off the rails. But don’t think too hard about it. But Callisto becomes pregnant, and Artemis is furious. So she was driven from her presence. When Hera found out what happened, she turned Callisto into a …

…bear, after having given birth to a son named…Arcas. Hera even…

…taunted Artemis about it. One day while Arcas was hunting…

…he came across his mother who was in bear-form. Just as he was getting ready to shoot her, Zeus saved her by turning both into constellations…

…Ursa Major for mom, and…

…Ursa Minor for son.

During the 18th century, the topic of feral children became very popular…children raised by animals in the wild. The most common story involved children raised by wolves. But there were stories of children being raised by other animals…

No part of the King of Poland's dominions contains more woods and deserted areas than Lithuania, where there is a forest a hundred miles long, in which the people who lived there were very wild. It was noted that many people in the region believed that children were raised by bears. There was a child kept in a convent who had been discovered living among a group of bears. He was about ten years old, which had to be estimated based on how tall he was. He behaved in a very wild manner, and would not speak. After he was baptized, his behavior improved. But he was still restless and uneasy, and quick to fight. He could stand up if he leaned against a wall. He also began to speak in rough, almost animalistic tones. When he was asked about what he could remember about living in the wild, he was unable to answer. The king and other important people confirmed that bears did raise children in this region. If a male bear finds a child, he will kill him. But if a mother bear found him, she would take the child to the safety of her den, and feed him like one of her cubs.

So this is like the case of Katie Flynn and Casey Hathaway, just on steroids. There is also the case of a boy named Joseph…

I will tell you a true story. I found out that there was a boy, twelve or thirteen years old, who had been raised by bears living in a convent, and had been found by hunters. As soon as I approached him, he lunged at me, tearing off one of the buttons on my coast. He held it to his nose and sniffed it. Then he ran around the room growling. A servant who lived there brought the boy to me, and showed him a large piece of bread. The boy pushed himself against the wall, and then walked around on all fours. Then he leapt forward and grabbed the bread, sniffed it, then growled like he did before. He had marks on his face that some believed were bear scratches.

At this point, the essay comes full circle, after a brief digression. So full circle it will go. On February 4, 1907, something very bizarre occurred. The setting is Virginia, on a very cold evening. And it involves the James Ingram family, which included his wife and infant daughter. The wife’s name is never provided, which is suspicious. One source claims that the name of the child was…Alice. Let’s begin with the plans the Ingrams had on that night.

This is the basic beginning of the narrative. However, plantation? No, even though we’re in Virginia, the Ingrams owned a small farm. So, on the evening of February 4th, a neighbor is hosting a dance. The Ingrams have obviously been invited, and they chose to attend the event. James was out on business that day, so the couple decided to meet at the fence, where Mrs. Ingram would hand the baby to her father. Then his wife would climb the fence, and walk to the neighbor’s house and attend the dance. This is a farm community, so a stroll to the neighbor’s house could involve somewhat of a walk. Now, there is an oddity here. Agreeing to meet at the fence makes perfect sense. And having the father take and carry the child, thereby relieving his wife, is understandable enough. However, what was agreed upon seems strange. It didn’t need to be agreed upon, it would happen in the normal course of events. So why should this be a specific part of the agreement made by James and his wife? At any rate, the basic narrative seems simple enough. But it would not remain that way. She indeed went to the fence, and that’s where everything went wrong. Did she forget Alice and have to run back the house? Did she drop Little Alice? No, something even more stunning.

What happened?

And…

Wait a minute! She did what? Come on, do you think that I’m fool?

Ok, I might be a fool.

Alright, I am a fool. And a southern wife in a northern newspaper…someone seems to still be holding a grudge. And I like how the story intensifies with the word…monster.

Oops! She made a mistake…one helluva mistake.

Peculiar too.

Ok, we’ll go with…terrible.

Devoured? Actually, the bear is called many things, such as a big bear, an immense bear, a monster, a bruin. But there is no identification of the particular species of bear. Great! That leaves us free to embellish…

Of course, the biggest and baddest kind of bear there is. However, there is a problem here. To take the baby from Mrs. Ingram and carry her away, the bear would have been standing up on its two back legs…

Full grown Grizzly bears, when standing up on their back legs, are 8 – 10 feet tall which, or so I assume, is taller than James Ingram. The closest in height would be…

 …a black bear. And I would add, there are no grizzly bears in Virginia, only black bears. The use of the phrase…gigantic bear…is clearly an exaggeration, since a full-grown black bear stands roughly six feet tall. But the second part of Ingram stories casts Mrs. Ingram in a very bad light…

So Mrs. Ingram called out to her husband, yet handed over the baby without hearing a response from him? However, it can’t be overstated enough when it is pointed out that there is no evidence that the child was eaten by the bear. Apparently, there was no blood found at the scene. This didn’t get in the way of exaggerations…

That’s a little sensationalistic, isn’t it?

And there were those who found the story entertaining, and good for scaring children…

And it is surely the case that you can’t keep a good misogynist down…

Now, the only evidence of a bear is that the tracks were found. But…

And the article above states that bears were, because of a lack of food, getting closer to human settlements. That means that there were bears all over the place, and we would thus expect there to be tracks. So there is no reason to accept the notion that a bear was involved because of tracks in the snow. There is no evidence that the child was devoured, and there was no blood, no remains, or pieces of clothing found. 

A critical review of the Ingram case could easily conclude that the story was a yarn…a fictional story. How they managed to be racist in the tale is a head scratcher.

By…fakir, I think they mean…faker. However, one might object to the idea that the story is nothing more than a bit fiction. Why? It should have been easy to confirm whether there was a missing baby. If such an inquiry had been made, then surely we would find a story stating that the baby wasn’t missing. Some concluded that the…

Ok, but at the same time, people were providing details in letters they were sending, and they appeared to have not been fakes, since all that needed to be said was that Alice Ingram was missing, or that there never was an Alice Ingram. And it should also be noted that in the articles, it is not stated that Mrs. Ingram saw a bear…she saw a figure who ran off with Alice. In one article, she claims that the figure…travelled low across the ground and not upright like a man. But she still didn’t say she saw a bear. Based on these observations, the Alice Ingram case was an unsolved disappearance. And indeed…

If you get past the horror of that statement, then the theory presents itself…the figure at the fence, the one who took Alice from her mother, and then ran off, was not a bear, it was not her husband, no…it was someone who kidnapped the child. And it would appear that our doctor, wanting the addresses of the bear hunters and trappers, may have believed that the kidnapper was one of them. Moreover, how is it that the kidnapper managed to be at the right place at the right time, to pull this off, seeing how James Ingram was not far away? It must have been someone who overheard a conversation between James and his wife. So he waited by the fence, not to pass himself off as a bear…simply to take the child. To avoid such a conclusion, the bear enters the story. So yes, the event happened. And yes…it’s also a fake…the bear part of the story is a fake. Unfortunately, Mrs. Ingram was not able to see who the figure was, and Alice was never seen again.