Well, my bear story isn't as interesting as your Bear Attack in Alaska story in #18... We live in a fairly rural area in northern Connecticut. A black bear walked right by the windows I'm facing now back in March 2001. I was sitting here at the computer - surfing FR (what else?) - at about 2AM, and the bear just walked by me. It was black, with a brown snout, around 200lbs. Most of our neighbors have seen the same bear, or have seen the destruction it has left behind.
"Our" bear made a return visit last July. I had a suet cake for birds hanging from a heavy L-shaped wrought-iron hook mounted about 7-8 ft high outside. Also on that hook was a bird feeder filled with birdseed. In the morning we first noticed birdseed all over the deck (birds, squirrels and chipmunks were having a feast!). Then - we couldn't believe it - the heavy wrought iron hook was bent down and twisted in a shape that no human could've made. The suet cake and container was gone, and the bear's paw prints were all over the side of our light-colored house. Days later, I found the empty suet cake container at the edge of the woods.
I like gardening, but now I jump at the slightest sound in the woods around our house!