And Then The Raccoons Chased Me

Along with the reposts of these old raccoon stories I've been giving you some updates on what I'm doing right now. These updates have been pretty negative from my point of view, mostly mentioning my ongoing headaches. But I have something much more positive today, even though the headaches haven't changed.

Okay, here goes. I said I had spent some time out in the last week. What I was doing was searching for another truck to replace the one that was smashed up in the accident. And I finally did it! It took me awhile to replace my old one with one of equal value, but that's just what I was finally able to do. This one is a Jeep, and I like it a lot.

The only problem is that I can't drive very far in my condition, so I had to ask someone to drive it home for me. But I have been able to drive it on a couple of short trips to get a feel for it. So that is one huge step towards getting back to normal.

My next post will also be another step. I'm not sure when it will be yet, but my next post will be something I haven't been able to bring you for about two months. I don't know how exciting it will actually be to some, but it's huge to me. I'm looking forward to writing it. But for now, here's the conclusion to the story of the raccoons!

I left you yesterday in the second part of this trilogy of raccoons as I began walking down the path in the same direction the baby raccoons had fled. It was probably foolish to do it, but I had been already going that way and I thought they were leaving me now.

Here are links to parts one and two if you missed them:

1. The Story Of The Raccoons
2. The Raccoons Surrounded Me

As I rounded the bend that the raccoons did, I saw that they had not disappeared into the forest, but they were watching and waiting for me. This time their were only four around though. The other two decided I wasn't so good after all. Just as they spotted me coming down the path they darted towards me again!

I stopped again as these four remaining raccoons surrounded me once more. In my greedy mind I saw it as another great opportunity to get some more valuable pictures of these adorable little creatures. And I was still just fascinated by them. As I keep saying, nothing like this has ever happened to me before.

As I was taking my pictures of them though I began to realize something. They didn't seem as curious of me as they did last time. This was something different. They were looking to me for comfort. That's when I looked around for their mother again. She was nowhere in sight.

There was one little raccoon that kept climbing up my leg. I had to shake it off a couple of times. I had to be careful not to touch any of them with my hands, even though I had an overwhelming urge to pet them. I didn't want to put any unnecessary human scent on them.

I didn't know what that would do to them when they got back to their mother. I thought they were probably too old for it, but I didn't want her to reject them because of human smell on them. Still, where was she?

These little ones were beginning to get very comfortable with me. They were wrapping themselves around me as if they were hugging me. One of them laid down in between my feet as if it was going to take a nap right there. I was quickly realizing that this was not a good thing for either of us.

I was assuming hopefully that the mother was fine and she had just taken a little stroll. If that was the case, she would be back shortly. If she saw me with her babies I would be in very big trouble. I definitely did not want to have to fight off an angry mother raccoon.

This is an animal that is much bigger than a house cat, and could kill it with ease. An adult raccoon is almost the size of a middle sized dog. The raccoon would usually win in a fight with a dog that's bigger than it. Either way the fight went, the dog would come out of it hurt. Like I said before, I was in trouble.

I decided then that I had better move away from these little ones, even though I thought they were very adorable. The leg crawler did it again, so I shook it off for the last time. They were all looking at me in an almost pleading way now. As you can see, they look very healthy, so I'm sure their mother would return very soon.

So I started to walk down the trail, and the little raccoons followed close at my feet. They were still closely surrounding me. I had to be careful where I stepped so I wouldn't hurt one of them. This was way out of hand now! I had to do something, and I had to do it now!

I quickly moved away from the crowd, and they came right back to me! I moved one direction and then another but they still kept coming! I finally stomped my foot at them in a threatening manner, but it didn't work either. They liked me too much now. I even growled and hissed at them to no avail.

So you know what I did? I did what I had to do. I ran! I ran as fast as I could go! The raccoons ran too! They were right behind me! I kept running until I began to pull away from them. I had never run so hard in my life! Up and down hills, and probably halfway through the park.

I stopped to rest once. I turned to see if they were still coming, and off in the distance I saw them running towards me! So I turned and ran again even further and faster than before. I ran down a huge hill to the creek, and then up the other side with equal speed!

From the top of the hill I turned around again, and to my relief they were nowhere in sight. I had finally lost them. I have to admit that I felt bad about it, but it was the best thing to do in that situation. I couldn't lead them through the park only to have them get lost from their mom. Yup, I was finally away from them and I felt like a jerk for it.

When I returned to that section of the park on my way out, I took the other path so I could avoid another encounter with them. It was the best thing for the little raccoons. I would never see my little friends again, but I wish I could.

That's the end of my encounter with the little raccoons. This one was extra long only because I promised it would be the final part of the story. I hope it teaches us in some small way that you can't make friends with or a pet of a wild animal. Just try to stay away if you can. Let me know what you think.


I have written another story over at Rat Tales! It's called "A Nightmare In The Forest". This is actually an update of an old story from this site, but I updated it and brought it back especially for Halloween!

The Raccoons Surrounded Me!

I'm back with part two of my raccoon story! But before I present this to you, I have a promised update for you. I went to the doctor yesterday, where they did an EEG on me. That's a test on my brain activity. Well, that checked out completely normal. That's good news, but I still don't know what's wrong. I'll be going back for more tests.

I've had a few other trips away from home as well. I seem to be able to do physical things just fine now, but if I try to think very much I become exhausted. And I forget things much too easily still. It seems like information goes in my head and then falls right back out. I almost forgot to write this post today.

Oops! And I also almost forgot to mention that I have a new story posted over on Rat Tales. This one doesn't involve spaghetti in any way.My new story is actually an updated version of an old one I did here a while back. It's about what happens when a person goes for a midnight hike at the worst time.

Anyway, enough of the bad stuff and on to nature, my favorite thing. When I originally posted this story of the raccoons I had to limit the amount of pictures because there were already very many. But this time I have added a few extras to go along with them. This was really a big event for me. It's not every day that a person is chased by raccoons and still gets a lot of pictures to show. Today you get a good hint of why they came after me! Here goes...

I ended the first part of this story yesterday as six raccoons were running towards me. When I first saw them I had no idea what their intentions were. I only knew that they were very interested in me. I thought they would run away when they saw me, but they only came on faster.

If you haven't seen part one of this story, you can go here to read it: Raccoons

As they were quickly moving closer to me, I noticed that the majority of them were only juvenile raccoons. They were not full grown yet, and they were only about half the size of a full grown raccoon. I watched to see which one was the mother, but I quickly realized she wasn't there.

That was a relief! I didn't want to deal with an angry protective mother raccoon. Raccoons can be very dangerous animals. Probably the most dangerous I've met yet. Their teeth and claws are very sharp, and they like to use them. This could have turned into a very bad situation for me.

As you can see by the first two pictures, they reached me. Before they got to me I could see that they were just curious, so I held my ground and let them come. They got to me and began curiously moving all around me. I liked them immediately! Just look at those cute little faces!

They were staying very close to me. I had the whole crowd of them at my feet. One of them was walking in a circle around my left leg. Two others decided to stand up on my legs a little bit so they could get a better look at me. They were trying to figure out just what I was. They were more curious of me than I was of them.

Make no mistake though, I was very curious about them. I knew this was the best opportunity I've ever had to get closeup pictures of wild animals. I was alternating between trying to focus my camera on them and making sure I got to really look at them with my own two eyes. This was maybe the most amazing experience I've ever had!

The mutual admiration went on for a few minutes until I noticed a straggler. There was one of them that was holding back. It wasn't quite so sure that this new creature they discovered was entirely safe. It was the shyest and probably the smartest of the bunch.

While I was looking at it, the shy little raccoon finally let it's curiosity get the best of it, and it finally joined it's family at my feet. I continued to hold my ground. I wasn't sure what to do now, so I took more pictures while the little raccoons kept walking around me.

Finally I decided that this was enough so I moved my feet a little bit, and the shy one turned and quickly started walking back down the trail from where it came. When the others saw this, they decided that it was best to keep the family together, so the whole group turned and reluctantly followed the other one down the path.

I took more pictures as they fled from me down the path. I thought this was the last I would see of my new friends, so I took as many pictures as I could before they disappeared forever. They finally followed the trail around a corner until I couldn't see them anymore.

This was not the end though! I happened to be going in the same direction as these little ones. It probably would have been wiser for me to turn around and use another path to the back of the park, but I honestly thought they would stay away from me now. I thought they were afraid of me now because they decided I was a threat. I was never so wrong before.

If you haven't guessed yet, the story doesn't end here. The next part will be the third and final part. The best stories are all trilogies anyway. It will be the most action packed part of the story. There will be another twist to this story that you might guess from these first two parts. Can you guess what it might be? Don't miss tomorrow's exciting conclusion of my encounter with the raccoons!


Nature Center Magazine - We're going into Halloween mode! We'll be bringing you some fun ghostly stuff for the next two days!