How Writing has led me on Unexpected Adventures

I was asked to describe how writing has led me on unexpected adventures. This is one of those stories.
Writers tend to collect stories like we’re magpies. Sometimes we chase those stories, and sometimes we fall into them accidentally. Blogging was something I sort of fell into that, in turn, opened up a lot of opportunities. I met aspiring writers, found like-minded communities, made friends, and eventually, chased a few stories of my own.

One of my blogger friends, the writer Jay Noel, ran a site called Blazing Talons, covering topics from weird science to urban legends to UFOs. Because of his site, a few of us bloggers formed an unofficial cryptid fan club, exchanging stories and news articles about cryptid sightings. It was thrilling to engage with other adults who enjoyed monster hunting as much as I did; people who understood the outrageous delight of finding an article entitled “My Father, The Mothman” and similar ilk; a love that’s part goofy fascination, part skepticism, and a blind hope that a cryptid will actually be discovered.

So, when a story started circulating about two hikers in Georgia claiming to have found a dead Bigfoot in 2008, our fan group was all over it. As we dug into the articles, we discovered that the hikers had Bigfoot’s body in a cooler, and they were holding a press conference all the way across the country in Palo Alto, California. That was right in my backyard! I knew I had to go and write about it. Amid an excited flurry of emails with my fellow cryptid lovers, I promised to find out everything I could.

On the day of the press conference, I packed up my squirmy three-year-old in his stroller, and made my way to the designated room at a community center. A line to check in had already formed. Two college-aged young men stood a few feet in front of me, clearly excited, high-fiving over exclaims of, “Yeah! Bigfoot!” I couldn’t help but grin, but I was also anxiously aware that I was the only mom pushing a stroller at the Bigfoot conference. They’d let me in, right?

Then I noticed the two young men in front of me had been pulled aside, both looking unhappy. One offered a weak, “Um… we’re writing for the school paper,” but even he didn’t sound convinced. I realized they were checking for press credentials and I was next in line! Thinking quickly, I approached the sign-in lady and said in a bored tone, “Hi, I’m Mary Pascual. I write for blazingtalons.com.” I apologized in my head to Jay for co-opting his site, but his blog sounded more legitimate than my own. (Mine was called “the weirdgirl”.)

“Do you have a card?” The lady demanded.
“Sorry, not on me,” I said, feigning unconcern.

She pushed a paper across the table. “Sign this form and who you’re writing for.”
Just like that, I was in! I rolled into the room and took a spot near the back where the stroller wouldn’t be in the way. Meanwhile, my son kept asking, “Where’s Bigfoot? Is that Bigfoot? Is Bigfoot talking?” while I plied him with fruit snacks and hoped there wouldn’t be any meltdowns before nap time in front of a roomful of reporters. Especially when I was pretending to be one. But I was planning on posting the story, so that counts, right?

The press conference itself was… sketchy. Well-known Bigfoot expert, Tom Biscardi, was running the conference, along with the two hikers, Rick Dyer and Matt Whitton, who had found the Sasquatch body (and who had started calling themselves “Bigfoot hunters”). The initial address to the press was full of vague statements such as “the body is being held at a safehouse awaiting autopsy” and “top scientists are looking into this”, but they didn’t provide names or definitive dates for when more evidence would be available. All any of us knew was Dyer and Whitton, apparently, had a 500-pound frozen Bigfoot corpse in a freezer. The reporters were clearly skeptical, and I was too. (But inside I was giddy, already writing my blog post in my head.) One of the reporters flat out asked if it was a hoax. The hikers got increasingly defensive as the journalists asked probing questions. Finally, Tom Biscardi stepped in, smoothing everyone’s feathers with the promise of “evidential materials” at the end of the conference to credentialed press.

I hung back nervously. I wasn’t credentialed but I really wanted to see the “evidence”. People swarmed the table and I got pushed forward, holding my son on my hip. I figured, what the hell? Biscardi was picking and choosing who to give materials to. He called out, “Tell me a good story, people!”

I piped up, “Hi, I’m writing for blazingtalons.com, a site about science and the supernatural!” Biscardi looked like he might give me a packet, but then he turned to another reporter. Then he turned to still another reporter. He looked like he was having a ball.
I waited. And waited. I tried being patient but I was holding a hot, heavy, and increasingly impatient toddler. Finally, in a slightly aggrieved tone, I said, “Hey, can you let me know whether I’m going to get copies or not? I got called into this last minute and I’m dying here with the kid.” I jerked my head at my son while putting on what I hoped was a jaded journalist’s expression.
“Oh! Yeah, here you go,” said Biscardi, finally handing me one of the packets.

“Thanks!” I called and skedaddled to where my son’s stroller waited against a wall, clutching the packet in my grubby paws. By that point, the press conference had turned into a bit of a zoo. The lady at the check-in desk had let in all the non-press people, so the college boys had finally made it in. There was someone in an ape costume marketing a startup, and someone else dressed as Chewbacca. There were also a few families with teenagers. But were there any other mommy bloggers with toddlers? Nope, just me.

I rushed home, got my son settled, and managed to scan and upload all the evidential materials to my blog, along with my report, the same day. That caused a bit of a stir as well, as a rush of strangers visited my site to see the “evidence”, which I hadn’t expected. I’d thought only my cryptid group would care. In the end, the press packet held two grainy photos and the DNA test results that confirmed that the hair was from… a possum.

I could have felt disappointed, but I wasn’t. As much as I would have loved to have found evidence of Bigfoot, the adventure was even better, and it would never have happened if I hadn’t been writing online and talking with other writers. Unsurprisingly, a few days after the press conference, Dyer and Whitton’s Bigfoot was exposed as a hoax. It was nothing more than an ape costume they had frozen in a block of ice.
But I’m still holding on to hope that, one day, someone finds Bigfoot.

—

Mary Pascual is a writer and artist who believes finding magic is only a matter of perspective. She loves stories about characters with heart and fantastical settings that are more than meets the eye. She grew up in California and enjoys reading, art, traveling, exploring outside, and building elaborate stage sets for Halloween. Writing has taken her on a number of unexpected adventures, including working in high tech, meeting psychics, interviewing rock bands, and even once attending a press conference for Bigfoot. She got hooked on reading adult science fiction and fantasy in the fifth grade—so in retrospect, much of her reading material was completely inappropriate (which probably explains a few things). She lives with her husband, son, and assorted demanding cats in San Jose, California.

Find out more about her on her website https://marypascual.com/

Follow her on Twitter @theweirdgirl

THE BYWAYS

Neurodivergent high school student CeeCee Harper has a temper and a reputation for trouble. Angry at the rumors and afraid she’ll never fit in, she makes a wrong move—and lands in the byways, a world of alleys, magic, and forgotten people . . . some that aren’t even human. And if she doesn’t escape quickly, CeeCee learns, she’ll be trapped for good.

Searching for a way out, she gets lost among monsters, drug pushers, the homeless, and political upheaval, and soon finds there are those who will stop at nothing to keep her from leaving. But the byways pull people in for a reason. CeeCee must figure out why she got stuck in the first place—before her loved ones are put in danger and she loses them forever.

A dark retelling of Alice in Wonderland meets Neverwhere, this contemporary fantasy will enchant Neil Gaiman and Christina Henry fans

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing