Gerald McCraney

Informant: Well, there is Gerald McCraney. That’s a true story, that’s pretty good.

Gerald McCraney. He was a boy scout from the 1990s. Gerald McCraney, boy scout from Barton Flats. You know at camp we have a lot of problem with bears. We’ve had them for 25 years, coming to camp, and scaring us. We were always told by the Forest Department to tell our kids how to prepare themselves for bears and what to do when you come across a bear.

Well, Gerald McCraney was getting himself ready, as the boy scouts do, for a trip up to Sangrigonia, the tallest mountain in Southern California. Well, Gerald McCraney didn’t listen to his scout leader and went ahead and shoved three candy bars, in the bottom of his bed roll, where nobody could see them. It wasn’t a good idea because at night time, at midnight, just about midnight, there was some snarling, “snuff, snuff, snuff” around the tents. A couple of coughs, “cough, cough, cough”. And they heard some bears walking around. They were in their tents and this one bear, early, early in the morning decided, “Hey! I want that good smell, and I want it in my stomach!”. So he decided to unzip the tent, with a claw of course. And he pulled Gerald McCraney out of his sleeping bag. He didn’t really mean to harm him, but he did grab him by the face and pulled him out. And then he proceeded to get the candy bars, which he loves, they were very good.

Well everybody woke up, scared the bear away and Gerald McCraney was laying there with blood all over his face, all the way down to his guts. They rushed the fire department up there, and the forestry department, and rushed him down to Redlands and  . . .  he was fine. . . after they put 52 stitches in his face.

His dad picked him up and he said, “Dad, I want to go back to camp. I love it so much”. And Dad said, “are you sure? Have you talked to your mother?”. And he did, and he lived to tell us all his story.

It’s a true story, it was all over the papers. We tell that story to our kids, every year, to remind them how true those stories can be and to remind them how safe we need to be with our candy and food and such at camp. It was a very true story that I will never forget

Interviewer’s notes:

Once again, we must take the informant’s position as an active barer and as Camp Nature Director into account when evaluating this story. Though this story is highly plausible, certain elements suggest that it has been altered to achieve a desired effect. There is the implication that one should respect nature evidenced by the consequences incurred on Gerald McCraney. This would be something a Nature Director should be very interested in emphasizing. If anything, this tale, taken in context, evidences how motivation of the storyteller can contribute to multiplicity and variation in folklore.