Sarah Whitcher, the Lost Little Girl Protected by a Bear
Did a friendly black bear watch over a 3-year-old child who went missing in a New Hampshire forest for several days in 1783?
By Kevin J. Guhl
When 3-year-old Sarah Whitcher wandered off into the extensive forests of Warren, a mountain hamlet nestled among the White Mountains of New Hampshire, she was awed by the brand new world in which she found herself. The ancient trees seemed to reach into the heavens as strange birds sang their harmonious calls. Squirrels chattered and scolded one another. Sarah gleefully picked a handful of deep red wild peony and continued her jaunt along the forest path. It was a balmy Sabbath in June 1783. The mills had ceased their chatter, carts paused their rumbling down stony village paths, and ploughs and axes stood still in their sheds. As mellow sunbeams and a gentle breeze caressed the landscape, all nature seemed to join in worship. Sarah's parents, taking advantage of the day, had decided to enjoy a pleasant stroll through the woods on their way to visit a relative who lived an hour distant up the mountain summit. Not content to remain at their cabin with her siblings as instructed, Sarah had snuck away in pursuit of her parents. As the day wore on, Sarah kept moving, flowers still grasped in her hand, driven by the constant hope that her mother and father would be just around the next bend in the trail. An eagle screeched past Sarah, and a wildcat sprang across her path. Sarah's bare feet were bleeding, scratched up by the underbrush. As the sun fizzled out and raindrops began to pour, the young girl sank down onto a thick patch of moss, despairing and exhausted. That's when Sarah heard a crackle in the underbrush, and a large, black form appeared from the darkness...
John and the elder Sarah Whitcher arrived home that night to the realization that no parent wants to endure—their youngest was missing and possibly alone in the untamed New Hampshire wilderness. They sounded the alarm and neighbors gathered to find the lost girl, shouting her name and building large fires to light their way through the night. As word spread, residents from surrounding communities hurried to join the search effort. The Whitchers agonized as the week wore on. Tuesday night came the unsettling news that a child's footprints had been found in the sand and mud along Berry Brook, alongside the tracks of a bear. "She is torn in pieces! She is eaten up!" people cried.
By Thursday, searchers resigned themselves to the fact that if Sarah was not recovered by sundown, it would be apropos to quit and accept the girl's sad fate. Around noon, a Mr. Heath, who had walked the long distance from Plymouth, arrived at the Whitcher's cabin. "Give me some dinner," he requested of a pair of local women who were cooking a bushel of beans for hungry searchers, "then show me the bridle-path to the north, and I will find the child." Bemused but hopeful, the ladies listened to Heath as he ate and described a dream that had come to him three times the previous night. In each dream, Heath had found young Sarah "lying under a great pine top, a few rods to the southeast of the spot where the path crossed Berry Brook, guarded by a bear." Heath finished his lunch and set off with another neighbor, Joseph Patch, to find the girl. Patch held the distinction of being the first white settler in Warren, arriving in 1767.
The first framed dwelling in Warren, New Hampshire was built by Joseph Patch, the first white settler who had arrived there in 1767, by the roadside on the northerly bank of Patch Brook. Illustration from "The History of Warren; A Mountain Hamlet, Located Along the White Hills of New Hampshire" by William Little, 1870.
As nightfall began to overcome the community, multiple gunshots echoed out across the countryside. It thankfully signaled a happy moment. Sarah had been found exactly where Heath's dreams had predicted, although no bear was in sight. "Carry me to mother," the groggy and famished child pleaded to Patch, who swept her up in his arms. When Sarah was asked if she had seen anyone during her ordeal, she said that "a great black dog" had stayed with her every night. Patch carried the girl back to her family's cabin, searchers hurrahing and waving their hats. Upon seeing her daughter, Mrs. Whitcher fainted. Mr. Whitcher smoked his pipe as hard as he could, attempting to tamp down his surge of emotion. For the rest of his days, Heath was revered for his prophetic dream. Historian William Little included testimony from residents who were present for Sarah's ordeal in his book, "The History of Warren; A Mountain Hamlet, Located Along the White Hills of New Hampshire," published in 1870.
Sarah herself told the story of her harrowing week during her adult years. That first night, as she sat in the darkness with tears rolling down her cheeks, a "great shaggy black bear" had approached her. It sniffed her face and hands and licked the blood from her feet. Sarah was no more afraid of him than of her own large dog at home. She dared to stroke the bear's long, brown nose, and rested an arm across his neck. The bear lay down beside her, and Sarah placed her head upon his shoulder. Snuggled up in the inky night amongst the dense woods, the unlikely pair quickly drifted off to sleep. Townspeople would later suggest that the bear had guided Sarah to the path Heath had dreamed about, where she was soon after located.
Sarah grew up and married Richardson "Dick" French on Oct. 16, 1800. The couple settled on French's farm on Brier Hill in nearby Haverhill, near the pond which would later bear his name. Dick was a famed trapper and hunter who, in a terrible irony, did much to rid Haverhill and the surrounding country of bears. Dick and Sarah French had 11 children, and Sarah passed away Apr. 5, 1858, at age 78.
Children's fiction author and New Hampshire resident Elizabeth Yates immortalized the tale with the publication of her 1971 book, "Sarah Whitcher's Story," a classic still popular with young readers. In 2022, the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources installed a highway marker in honor of "Sarah Whitcher and the Bear" at the intersection of N.H. Route 25 and Swain Hill Road in Warren. The marker was proposed by Holly Christensen’s class of first and second grade students at Dublin Christian Academy, who had read “Sarah Whitcher’s Story” and then gathered the required signatures for a highway marker application.
Black bears were historically abundant in Grafton County, which contains Warren, so it is not unlikely that little Sarah encountered one during her nature trek in the post-Colonial era. But could a black bear have actually befriended and cared for her, or was that just a heartwarming tall tale?
Though capable of killing a human, black bears are typically timid and more likely to run away than attack. A 1924 survey of black bears by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department noted the animals as "the most sly and retiring," and that they had never been known to attack a man unless in defense of their young. Black bears are primarily vegetarian aside from such prey as insects, fish and young or sickly deer, so humans are not on the menu. Perhaps Sarah's black bear didn't see her as a threat or as prey, but as a friendly companion and source of bodily warmth during cool nights in the forest? It would be easier to assign the bear as a figment of the frightened girl's imagination, conjured to comfort her, if searchers hadn't found their footprints side by side along the creek.
"Feral children" who become lost in the wilderness only to be rescued and raised by wolves, apes or bears is a common motif in myth and folklore. There have been documented cases of feral children raised by animals throughout history, although most of them have turned out to be hoaxes. Reports exist of feral children being discovered in the vicinity of wild animals, but there is an absence of credible witness reports of these animals actually caring for lost children.
However, an incident from as recently as 2019 closely mirrors Sarah's story from 236 years earlier. Three-year-old Casey Hathaway was playing with two friends in his grandmother's backyard in Ernul, North Carolina on a frigid Tuesday in January. When he didn't come inside with the other kids, the adults began to panic. Casey was nowhere to be found and was not dressed for the frozen conditions, with temperatures plunging into the 20s Fahrenheit. Hundreds of volunteers combed the woods for the next two days, aided by helicopters, drones, K-9 units and divers. On Thursday night, the wind and rain became so powerful that searchers were warned to halt their efforts. Just in time, rescuers responded to Casey's cries and waded through waist-high water to reach the boy, who was tangled up in thorn bushes. Uninjured aside from some scrapes, Casey just wanted water and his mother. Once safe, the boy made a remarkable claim—that he was helped by a friendly black bear who remained with him and protected him the whole time.
Chris Lasher, a North Carolina wildlife expert, told Inside Edition it was certainly possible that Casey saw a black bear, endemic to the state. But he doubted that a bear, while nurturing to it own species, would have recognized a human child in distress as something it needed to assist. Nevertheless, Casey's family took the boy at his word that a black bear was his savior during his trial in the frozen forest.
There is one fascinating inconsistency in Sarah's story, in that when first recovered the girl didn't claim it was a bear that had cared for her but "a great black dog." The most plausible explanation is that at only 3 years old, Sarah wasn't as yet that familiar with bears and associated the creature with her family's pet dog. By the time she grew into an adult, Sarah would have correctly understood that the animal she encountered was a bear.
However, this was the late 18th century and there's a disquieting fact that might shock modern residents of New Hampshire—wolves were an enormous presence during this era. The predators were prevalent throughout New England when Europeans first arrived, and continued to be a factor at the time Sarah was lost in the woods. Wolfpacks roamed throughout the region, great numbers of the animals storming New Hampshire in 1744, 1764 and 1784. During the Revolutionary War, with most men away fighting, women and children in Plymouth were often frightened by wolves howling throughout the night. In neighboring Warren, wolves prowled outside houses in the dark, standing with their paws against windows to peer inside. Many local towns issues hefty bounties on wolves, and they were extirpated in the state by about 1880. Dick French, Sarah's husband and apparently the big game Terminator, gained local fame as a wolf hunter. The wolves that were endemic to New Hampshire displayed diverse coloring, including black fur, with the latter pelts being highly valued by the area's indigenous people.
So, could it be possible that the "great black dog" which protected Sarah was not a bear at all but a black wolf? While it may be hard to believe that a carnivorous wolf would see a small child as a helpless being to be nurtured and not devoured, it fits a tradition going all the way back to Romulus and Remus in ancient Rome.
Or perhaps this was some ursine variation of the third man factor, the phenomenon in which people enduring mortal peril, like stranded mountaineers and shipwrecked sailors, report an unseen presence that comforts and supports them. Notably, the rescuers of Sarah and Casey never saw the bear that the children said was with them constantly, although it is probable that the animal fled upon hearing the approach of adult humans. Still, one ponders if the invisible "guardian angel" reported in third man cases could be visualized as a warm, friendly bear in the naturally imaginative minds of children who are undergoing traumatic experiences.
The story of Sarah Whitcher and the bear has timeless appeal. It suggests that even in the savage recesses of the natural world, there is room for empathy and caring, especially when it comes to the most vulnerable members of our society. And let's be honest, who deep down in their desires doesn't want to snuggle a bear?
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https://www.insideedition.com/did-bear-really-take-care-missing-north-carolina-boy-50698. Accessed 23 Nov. 2024.
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Original article:
https://thunderbirdphoto.com/f/sarah-whitcher-the-lost-little-girl-protected-by-a-bear
