Matt writes “Let’s talk about the odd story of the missing boy being taken care of by bears.”
A 3-year-old boy who was found alive in the woods of eastern North Carolina after he went missing for two days said he spent time with a bear.
Casey Hathaway disappeared last Tuesday. He had been playing with two other children in his grandmother’s yard in Ernul, North Carolina, according to Craven County Sheriff Chip Hughes.
Thursday, Casey was found calling for his mother about a quarter of a mile away, 40 to 50 yards deep into woods. He was soaking wet, cold and tangled in thorn bushes. Hughes said rescuers waded through nearly waist-deep water to get to the toddler.
How did he get there, and how did he stay alive?
“He hung out with a bear for two days,” is what his aunt Breanna Hathaway shared in a now-private Facebook post. She didn’t say whether the bear was real or imagined.
His aunt called her nephew’s safety a “miracle” and said, “God sent him a friend to keep him safe.”
Casey’s mother gave authorities the same report, that he had a friend in the woods that was a bear, Sheriff Hughes told USA TODAY.
Hughes said bears are common in the area, but he thought the comment was more “cute” than factual.
