Belfrybat

OK - now for my bat story. I love bats, and although I am respectful of them, I'm not afraid of them. One time I was at a 4-day retreat in an old retreat center -- huge 4 story building with high ceilings. This was supposed to be a silent retreat, and had been up until that 3rd night. The first I found out about bats in the building was a blood curdling scream. Then a second scream, then a third.... I ran into the hallway to see what was happening and all it was were these two bats flying up and down the hallway, which had 14-16' high ceiling. The poor bats were terrified and trying to find a way out and were no where near the screaming women. I told everyone to get into their rooms and stay there. I'm sure folks thought I was doing that for their protection, but I was actually trying to calm the bats down. One of the bats finally settled in a corner. I took a towel, and plucked the bat off the wall to take it outside, calmly talking to it as I walked down 4 flights of stairs.

Someone hearing the screaming had apparently called the police, three of whom crashed through the front door just as I arrived there, startled me so much I dropped the towel with the bat in it. The terrified bat then flew right into a cop and he screamed like a little kid. One of the cops had his gun drawn, and I thought he was going to shoot the poor bat. Folks gradually calmed down, but by then we had a bat both on the first and one still on the fourth floor. Thankfully one of the cops did not have a bat phobia and he and I managed to catch them. Well, he held the stepladder while I actually did the grabbing since the bats decided to light in the upper corner away from us crazy people. I'm sure those bats regaled their grandchildren and great grandchildren with tales of horror about the crazy adults. I, on the other hand, became known as the "bat lady". (Or was it the "batty lady"?)