What exactly was it that took Katie away in the woods that day?

Photo: A typical logging camp in Michigan near Cadillac, Michigan, about 1904. National Archives and Records Administration, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Three-year-old Katie Flynn’s disappearance 17 miles east of Ludington, Michigan, in 1868 wasn’t just a strange but true story—it became a mystery that blurred the line between reality and the unknown.

The July 16, 1868, edition of the Niles Republican reprinted a story from the Ludington Record of a little girl being carried off by a bear.

A little girl, three years old, the daughter of Henry Flynn, living about forty miles east of this place, was recently carried off by a black bear, and recovered 36 hours after almost unharmed. She accompanied her father on his horse one morning about 40 rods from home, and was then put down and told by him to return home. On his return it was found that she had disappeared.

An examination of the place where she had been showed the tracks of a large bear. Her parents immediately began to search for her, and were assisted by two gentlemen looking for land. About 36 hours after the child had disappeared, the two gentlemen were passing a swampy spot, where the undergrowth was very thick, one of them heard the child’s voice. He then called the child by name and told her to come out of the bushes. She replied that the bear would not let her. The men then crept through the brush, and when near the spot where the child and bear were, they heard a splash in the water, which the child said was the bear. On going to her they found her standing upon a log extending about half way across the river. The bear had undertaken to cross the river on the log, and being closely pursued, left the child and swam away.

She had received some scratches about her face, arms, and legs; and her clothes were almost torn from her but the bear had not bitten her to hurt her, only the marks of his teeth being found on her back, where in taking hold of her clothes to carry her he had taken the flesh also.

The remarkable tale quickly spread through newspapers and word of mouth, captivating readers and becoming a story retold many times, with each iteration adding new layers of intrigue and mystery.

In his book Missing 411 Eastern United States, David Paulides recounts the story and its unsettling ending. Citing the April 24, 1932, Ludington Daily retelling of the story 64 years after it happened, Paulides describes the scene when Katie returned home. When her mother asked her why she didn’t run away, Katie responded, “Big dog came up to me, took me in his arms and walked away with me.” As an explanation for her missing shoe, Katie said, “The big dog ate it.”

Stranger still is the July 6, 1961, Ludington Daily News copy of the story, which Paulides quotes.

In answer to questions, the child said that after her father had left, she had played a little while in the sand when a big black thing came along and played with her. Then it held out its paw and she caught hold of it and it had walked away with her. Just before dark it had left her for a while and when it came back its paws were dark with winter green berries. The bear ate some of the berries and she ate some. Then it scraped a big pile of leaves close to her and lay down with her. And during the night had tried to cover her with its body.

What exactly took Katie into the woods that day? Was it indeed a bear or something far more mysterious? How could such a creature behave with such gentleness, gathering berries and shielding a small child from the cold? Why did Katie describe it not as a bear but as a “big black thing” that walked with her, paw in hand? Could there be more to this story than meets the eye?

The unsettling part isn’t just Katie’s story—it’s the creeping realization that we may be surrounded by the unknown, lurking just beyond the edges of our perception. What is truly out there in the forests, or even closer to home, that we remain blissfully unaware of until one day it emerges? Are there creatures we’ve yet to understand, hiding in the shadows of our world, only revealing themselves in moments like these? It’s a chilling thought: the idea that we walk through life surrounded by mysteries we can’t see—until suddenly, we do.

David Paulides, a former law enforcement officer renowned for researching mysterious disappearances, offers a compelling conclusion: “I do not know what took Katie, but I do not believe it was a bear.”

Based on the account in the Ludington Daily, it’s hard to disagree with Paulides. However, there’s another layer to Katie Flynn’s disappearance. Paulides draws from an article recounting a version of the story passed down over nearly 100 years. Much like the game of Telephone, where a message changes as it’s whispered from person to person, the details of the original event may have shifted significantly with time.

On November 15, 1941, Ludington Daily News added that Katie and her father were mowing hay when he sent her home. After Katie was rescued, the bear kept coming around the cabin, so her father hired a native to guard her. He shot the bear.

The Ludington Sunday Morning News of April 24, 1932, recounts the story, cautioning readers, “It is a tale that has been frequently told and some of the details distorted.”

Katie’s story is bizarre enough on its own, but each retelling amplified its strangeness, gradually edging toward the supernatural. After all the embellished versions, the original ending in the July 16, 1868 edition of the Niles Republican feels almost anticlimactic by comparison.

The little one says the bear would put her down occasionally to rest, and would put its nose up to her face, when she would slap him and then the bear would hang his head by her side and put it against her like a cat. The men asked if she was cold in the night, and she told them the old bear lay down beside her and put his ‘arms’ around her and hugged her to him and kept her warm, though she did not like his long hair. The supposition is that it was a female bear, and having lost her cub, came across the child and adopted it.

As with many remarkable stories, the embellishments added through gossip and retellings can be entertaining, heightening the mystery and intrigue. However, the core of the tale, as documented in the original sources, remains the most reliable. While the layers of supernatural suggestions may captivate imaginations, the truth lies in the simple yet extraordinary facts as first reported.

In the end, the facts themselves are as extraordinary as any fiction could ever be.