× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

A Minnesota man who said he seeks to connect with Sasquatch on a spiritual level believes he was the hairy creature that the team from Bigfoot 911 encountered in the woods of McDowell County Friday night.

Gawain MacGregor, 36, said it was a case of mistaken identity while he was performing a shamanistic ritual in the woods.

“Shamanistic traditions are the oldest in the world so to me it’s not that out of the ordinary,” he said to The McDowell News. “For me, it’s no different than going to church on Sunday.”

MacGregor said he was vacationing in east Tennessee and western North Carolina last week where he traveled to different places like the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Rock City and Asheville. He said to The McDowell News his home base was in Pisgah while here in western North Carolina.

MacGregor said he is a Christian who incorporates aspects of the ancient Assryo-Bablyonian religions predating Christianity into his beliefs.

“I am a Christian but I research the source material of the Old Testament,” he said to The McDowell News.

He maintains a blog at http://enkiduism.blogspot.com/#. In it he discusses the Epic of Gilgamesh and an ancient character called Enkidu, which sounds a lot like Bigfoot.