Bigfoot.
Sasquatch.
My first memory of Bigfoot lore was an episode of MacGyver where the Bigfoot was wreaking havoc in Alaska near an oil pipeline.
For me, that nod to lore and legends surrounding mysterious beings and creatures opened a door in my imagination and curiosity. I wanted to learn more about all the unexplained, the supernatural, the rare encounters, the mysterious beings we see out of the corners of our eyes.
I spent so much time reading about things like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Bermuda Triangle, roadside ghost stories, encounters with Mermaids, the list goes on and on.
Now, I know I’m a dreamer. I also realize I tend to think of impossible scenarios and beings as being completely possible. I don’t believe for even an instant that we have covered every inch of this planet to the point that we can certifiably say there is no creature, system, or miracle yet left unseen.
I mean, science proves this almost daily, right?
Now – while I do not live IN Alaska, or the Pacific Northwest, the area I live is darn close, and is remarkably similar in some aspects. One area is this grove of giant cedar trees. Some of these trees are so massive, they live despite having hollowed out trunks large enough to fit a couple people.
This grove.
When you leave the parking area and walk where the parked cars are out of sight, there is a sudden hush. The occasional bird song. The chatter of a squirrel. The bubbling trickle of the little creek. The whisper of the breeze in the upper branches of the giant trees. All those sounds, and yet, that softened hush.
It is notable. It is magical. It is wonderful.
This is exactly the kind of place I expect to see a creature like Bigfoot. And yet, in this kind of wondrous place, I cannot imagine the encounter with a mysterious creature being anything but… well… wondrous, as well.
It is this grove, with its ethereal hush, with its gentle murmur, with its almost whispered nature’s song that inspired me to write Leaving the Hollow.
As I sat down to share this incredible place with readers, I first imagined it as I remembered walking through it for the very first time. Even though I was in my 30’s, my first walk through the grove was as though I were a child.
I wanted to capture some of that same wonder. What better way than to share the grove as it might be seen through the eyes of a teenage girl, or sisters. I wanted to explore that “what if” I am convinced every person who has ever seen the inside of a hollowed cedar or redwood – “what if” that hollow didn’t end with the inside of the back of the trunk? “What if” stepping into that hollowed out tree was a step into a hidden world?
Leaving the Hollow allowed me to touch on the mysterious creature we think is just a legend, a myth.
But… “what if” these hollowed out trees are where these creatures find sanctuary? “What if” they are entrances to a world within our world, where all the things we believe are vestiges of fantasy and make-believe live and thrive in secrecy and safety?
If you want to explore just a tiny part of that world, then you will love Leaving the Hollow. And maybe, just maybe, the next time you explore a natural place, when you come across a hollow where the hush of nature is deafening and magical, and you maybe come across a hollowed-out tree, when you peek inside you – maybe you too will catch glimpse into the magical world I share in Leaving the Hollow.
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Thank you.