Western European folk beliefs are rooted in ancient encounters
with hairy wildmen. It is difficult to separate fact from fairy
tale but trolls and ogres seem to fit into a likely category
of real animals inspiring human storytelling.
Last year there was an interesting article on Cyptomundo
entitled Happy Wildfolk Yule! and there is also a book
Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men:
The Origins and Evolution of Saint Nicholas,
Spanning 50,000 Years by Phyllis Siefker that
thoroughly discusses this subject.
November of 2006 I was researching twice a week in my main
research area. I had recently purchased a small field GPS.
Just for fun I taped it onto my dog's collar. I wanted to
see what distance she would travel while I hiked the two
miles of trails. I typically take the same paths in and out
of my research area.
After hiking for a mile I sat down on my favorite log and
listened to the sounds of the woods. My dog, Belle, came
up to me for a quick pat on the head and was gone again on
her relentless hunt for something to chase, albeit squirrel,
rabbit or deer.
I noticed that the GPS was still attached, although not as
securely as when I left the car. Five minutes later she was
back and the GPS was missing, obviously it was a poor idea
of just taping the unit onto the collar. As it was getting
late I decided to wait until the next week to do a more
thorough search of the area.
Over the next seven weeks I made six hikes into the area. I
kept my eyes open for the missing GPS but it was not seen
again.
The second week of January 2007 my research partner
called me and asked "Stan, did you lose a GPS unit?" He had
found it in the middle of the trail very close to where we
always parked our vehicles, about a mile from where it had
been lost.
Although we both hiked the same trails we usually hiked on
different days so we had probably made a total of ten hikes
along the trails.
The GPS was still in the little pouch that I had placed it
in, and it was also encased in the duct tape I had crudely
wrapped the pouch with. The unit had not been taken out of
the case but appeared to look just like it was when it was
dropped those weeks before.
How did it get back to the trail entrance? I don't know
but my wife said "I tell you one thing, a human would not
find your GPS, leave it in the case unopened and not keep
it." If it had been carried by some animal they certainly
knew my scent and knew where I started my hikes.
That little episode changed how I think about the research
I have been doing. I have never before dealt with an animal
that can perhaps show benevolence and return a lost item.
There are several reports of squatches returning lost
children and many reports of squatches leaving gifts.
It reminds me of the 1897 editorial:
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no
Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.”
Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been
affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not
believe except they see. They think that nothing can be
which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds,
Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little.
In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant,
in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about
him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping
the whole of truth and knowledge.
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