CASEY HATHAWAY

Casey Hathaway says he  "hung out with a bear for two days." That's what his aunt Breanna Hathaway reported to the news media.

Let's recap the story. On Tuesday, January 22, 2019, three-year-old Casey was outside playing with two other children. When they went back inside the house at approximately 1:45 pm, Casey remained outside. When his grandmother went out to fetch him, he was nowhere in sight. After looking for him for around 45 minutes, she called 911 and reported him missing. He was not found until January 24, 2019, Thursday night at around 9:30 pm.

There are several factors to consider here. First off, is the sheer number of people and agencies involved with the search. Over 600 people were active in the search for the child. Over 100 community members volunteered until they were sent home by the authorities due to the severity of the weather. Only professionals were to be used then.  In addition to S.T.O.R.M. Search and Rescue, law enforcement,  the FBI, NCIS and the U.S. Marine Corp assisted. The State Highway patrol provided a helicopter with forward-looking Infrared, to look for heat sources. There were dogs and drones used. Private properties, storage sheds, other outbuildings, and vehicles were searched. 

Second is the weather. There were strong winds and heavy rains which flooded the heavily wooded and rough terrain. As said before, by Wednesday there were "challenging weather conditions" and only professional searchers were used. Volunteers were on stand by if needed and when the weather improved. Temperatures of below freezing were reported.

Said Chocowinity EMS Captain Shane Grier : "He went through some very bad conditions, weather-wise. We had heavy rain. Everything in there was wet. Everything was wet. It's just not a good situation for anyone. Even a trained professional would have difficulty in that environment."

Third is the child's claim of being with a bear friend.  Bears usually hibernate during the colder winter months. They can and do wake and come out of their dens when temperatures get warmer to seek food. I believe it is safe to assume that if a bear is wandering around North Carolina in January with freezing and below freezing temperatures, he is probably looking for a bite to eat. And a small child might just fit the menu.

Fourth point is the terrain. It was a wooded area. There were briars and brushy areas; deep ditches and sinkholes. Divers were searching the ponds in the area. Due to the heavy rains, areas were flooded. Law enforcement expressed the opinion that the child did not remain in the spot where he was eventually found. They theorized that he wandered from area to area. [Craven County Sheriff Chip Hughes said he didn't believe Casey had been in the same location the entire time.] A 28 inch tall, 25 lb. child was able to move easily around in a dense woods with many dangers and pitfalls and avoid hundreds of adults, drones, and a helicopter with an infrared camera. Hmmm.

And fifth; the child was not dressed for the weather. He wore a blue coat and dark pants. They were NOT winter clothes. 

Let's look at some more details from the search.

Volunteer Donna Harris reported : "We went through the woods -- through the thicket and the briars. We did it for three-and-a-half, four hours and it was bad. It was really bad out there. . . .  As it got darker, it was scary out there. I just can't imagine a three-year-old being out there."

In the 911 call, his grandmother told them : "The other ones come through the house but left him there and he walked off somewhere and we can't find him. . . .  it's been at least 45 minutes cause we've been looking all over the woods for him."

Some of the earliest reports say he wandered into the woods. Others say that all three children were playing in the woods and when the other two left to go inside the house, he remained behind.

According to Craven County Sheriff Chip Hughes, the incident was treated as a missing person report, although the possibility it was a kidnapping was not discarded. I assume that is where the FBI was keeping involved.

Linda Fraker was walking her dogs down Aurora Rd. on Thursday night when she heard what she thought might be a child crying. "I thought I heard crying, but I didn't want to confuse it with all the search that was going on on the other side of the woods. So I brought the dogs inside, and I went back out, and I listened again. And again, I heard just a crying." She then ran back to Toler Rd. to find an officer. "Next thing I know he was coming back and telling me that yes, he heard something too. The next thing I know everybody was running up there and I heard he was found."

EMS Captain Shane Grier and another rescuer found Casey in the woods, about 40 to 50 yards in, tangled in the vegetation and briar bushes. He was crying and calling out for his mother.  

Said Grier : "We immediately at that time got him out because the conditions were really cold, got him out to warm him up. He became more responsive the further we got him out." The location was about 1/4 mile from his grandmother's house from which he disappeared.

Family friend Heather Garris reported that the child had scrapes and his hands and feet were swollen.  "It's a really overwhelming feeling that he's back and he's alive. I know that's really shocked the whole community. It's an eye-opener, definitely for a miracle -- believing in miracles because I've seen now they really do happen."

Said Sheriff Hughes : "It's scary. Listen, I'm a grown man and I would not want to go through what that child went through. If you put yourself out there and close your eyes, the sounds, the fact that the weather was terribly cold, and you're lost and have no idea what's going on."

And Casey Hathaway told his family he was hanging out with a bear for two days. 

Odds are, it wasn't a bear. Unless the boy stumbled into a bear's den, and the bear was so fully asleep that it never woke up when the child snuggled up close. Perhaps.

There is speculation among many members of the cryptid community that perhaps he was found by a sasquatch, some insist female or mother, and taken to a place where he was safe from the worst of the elements for much of the time he was missing. It would explain how over 600 searchers [and the drones, the helicopter, the dogs] found no trace of him for two days. Researchers and historians in the community recall encounter stories of sasquatch aiding injured humans in the wilderness, of children being watched over when unattended in the woods, and of them being returned to civilization, left near roads where other humans will find them and complete the rescue.

It's hard to tell. We don't have all the facts. But wouldn't it be wonderful to interview Casey. Ask him to tell us about the bear. What he and the bear did together. 

All we have are speculations, theories, opinions, and hopes. But this we do know. Casey Hathaway told his family he was hanging out with a bear. 

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."

"Those that know, need no further proof. Those that don't, should not demand it from others, but should seek it for themselves."