Last weekend, John P. and a few friends were hanging out in a backyard in Michigan when a masked figure emerged from the surrounding darkness, heading straight toward them.
“We were sitting around a campfire late into the night, drinking some beer, when a raccoon showed up and scared us at first,” John recounted. “We’ve never seen a raccoon before, and we’re over there every Friday night.”
Initially, the raccoon was a little cautious around the partygoers, but he evidently determined that John and his friends posed no threat at all.
“He realized we were just hanging out,” John said.
The friends kept on sitting and talking as the raccoon roamed around the yard. During that time, the newcomer apparently found some cheese that had been left out from earlier and decided to help himself to a too-big bite.
“He made his way back to the campfire again and started acting weird at that point,” John said. “He started opening his mouth and making choking sounds. Bill, the hero, jumped in and started patting the raccoon’s back. Eventually, he coughed out the cheese,” John said. “It was wild.”
The raccoon had been saved. “Then the victory celebration started!” John said.
Afterward, the raccoon continued to linger around the group for a while, seeming to regard them as his new friends.
“It made us feel like he was one of us,” John said. “He even let us get a final picture with him before he took off into the darkness. I feel like he knew what was going on, and he knew we were trying to help him.”
The whole encounter is one for the memory books, said John.
“I was just in disbelief about what was taking place. I just couldn’t believe what had just happened. It was unreal.”