Читать книгу American Indian Ghost Stories of the West - Antonio Sr. Garcez - Страница 11

“I’m a Navajo and originally from Provo, Utah. I’m currently employed at the reservation as the Recreation Director of our gymnasium, Irataba Hall. I’ve lived at this reservation for twenty-two years, since I was three years old. My first experience with a ghost took place when I was approximately five years old. I recall that I was lying on my bed in my room, day dreaming about something. Suddenly, I heard something moving about the room. I turned my head in the direction of where there was a rocking chair. Then I saw the strangest thing—the chair was rocking back and forth all on its own! There was no wind coming into the room from my window and, at the time, I was alone in the house. It just kept rocking and rocking. Then it stopped. I did tell my parents about this, but perhaps because I was a child, they must have thought it would be best to say nothing. But sometime later, when she thought I was old enough to know and after we had moved out of the house, my mother told me that a woman used to live in our house prior to us, and the woman’s bedroom, where she had died, was my bedroom. Of course when I heard this, I was startled by the news, and reflected on all the time I had spent in that room by myself.

As I said before, the rocking chair was my first experience with something ghostly. But as recently as two years ago, I had a more direct and scary encounter. An ongoing haunting, which is kind of common knowledge on the reservation, takes place at the gymnasium which I manage. Our gymnasium has quite an interesting history. Prior to 1965, there was a hospital located on the grounds, utilizing a portion of the gymnasium. I understand that the Japanese who were held in the nearby interment camps during the war were sent to this hospital. I don’t think people would disagree with me about the fact that perhaps the hauntings at the gym have something to do with this history. A lot of people on the reservation have heard the stories about the gymnasium being haunted, and some can even give their own stories about seeing apparitions or ghosts there.

Beginning at the start of my employment at the gymnasium, others and I have many times felt the presence of heaviness, or a sense of negativity, there. My experience at the gymnasium began one evening as I arrived to finish some work I had started earlier in the day. Two friends and I arrived at around about 5 p.m. having the only keys, I unlocked the front entrance door, and we all made our way into the kitchen. We were planning a barbecue the following day, so we were there to check on the supply of food for the event. We were alone in the building, just the three of us. As we went about our business, we were startled by the sound of a very high-pitched woman’s scream coming from the basketball court. The scream was so eerie that it sent chills up all our spines. We looked at each other and immediately high-tailed it out of the gymnasium to the parking lot where we had parked our car. I guess reason must have stepped in and made me think that perhaps a woman in trouble caused the scream. We talked among ourselves and decided to cautiously return to the gym and search for an injured woman. As we re-entered the building we kept our ears and eyes ready for any suspicious noise or movement. We searched the whole gymnasium, looking in lockers and under the bleachers. All the doors were locked and the bathrooms and halls were empty. We found no evidence of anyone being inside.

Not long after this, there was another haunting incident that occurred one evening, during a youth sleep over at the gymnasium. The kids brought their sleeping bags and everyone gathered on the stage area of the basketball court. The plan that night was to sleep on the stage floor. Once all the kids were inside the gym, I closed and locked all the doors, making sure there were no drugs or alcohol that might be sneaked into the facility. As the evening progressed, I was having a conversation with a student, while everyone was talking and having his or her own lively social interactions. I was standing, facing the student, having a clear and direct view of the two doors that open to the hallway out from the basketball court. Then something unusual caught my eye. I noticed a white ghostly figure, which was standing at one of the doors! It also must have noticed me looking in its direction, because it moved away into the hall. Startled, I kept still. Then it quickly reappeared at the next door! I can explain the image as being a big white blur-like vapor.

Apparently, I was not the only one at the time who witnessed the apparition, because when I mentioned what I had just seen to those gathered next to me, a few students excitedly admitted they also saw the exact same ghostly figure. This apparition left us un-nerved to the extent that we all agreed to gather together in the middle of the basketball court and sleep close to each other in a big circle. Our sense of safety in numbers soon came to a sudden end. As we were about to call it a night, every single storage door that is located below the stage where we had been gathered just a few minutes before swung open. Seeing this, everyone got quite scared. I had to explain to everyone that there was nothing to be afraid of, and with some effort, eventually emotions settled down.

Another paranormal experience took place at the gymnasium during, of all times, a 1998 Halloween event. Once again, several persons were there to serve as witnesses. At the time, the gymnasium was decorated with halloween paper decorations, and everyone was in the mood for a good time. The event was entitled: “The Haunted Gym.” It wasn’t long before our festive attitude ended. Hours before the evening’s festivities were to begin I, along with my assistants, made sure that there wasn’t anyone in the gym aside from us and a couple of helpers. We were all gathered in the basketball court discussing something or other, when the sound of footsteps began. We immediately got quiet, and the sound of someone moving paper started up. We knew that the ghosts were walking about once again.

Knowing the stories of the gymnasium being haunted, we decided to exit the gym, and wasted no time in running out the door! Once outside, a few of us with a bit more bravery decided to re-enter the gym and investigate. My younger 15-year-old brother accompanied me with four other helpers, as we did a security walk-through. Once more we heard the footsteps start up, only this time they were just about six feet away from us! What a scare! We stood looking at each other with big, wide eyes. We soon joined the others waiting for us outside.

There have also been instances when objects at the gymnasium were be moved by invisible hands. I also know of staff witnessing basketballs bouncing about the gym without having being touched. The former director of the gym is one person who tells of watching a basketball, at rest on the floor, start to slowly move, and then begin to bounce on its own across the floor! I was alone at the gym one night and witnessed a ball, which came rolling toward me, then passed behind me. There was no way that this ball could have been pushed. I was alone at the gymnasium. The floor is level and the ball was stationary. We have begun a series of upgrades at the gym, such as applying new paint and other such renovations, attempting to make the facility a more inviting and friendly place for the public to visit. I know there are many who do not want to enter the building, but hopefully things will change. My goal is to have medicine men bless and rededicate the gym to the community by July 1, 2000.

Another ghostly experience took place just three years ago at my house. One night, while getting over an illness, I was lying in bed and happened to look out my bedroom door at the hallway. Suddenly, I felt a very heavy presence in the room. At the same time I also heard the sound of a loud hum. I’m not sure what this sound was, but it was followed by another strange thing. The atmosphere in my bedroom felt to me as if it was becoming thick. This was followed by a strong mass of weight that began to push me down against the bed. The force was so strong and heavy against my chest that it made my breathing stop. I began to panic. Then I saw a figure appear slowly at my doorway. It moved its arms back and forth, and then it paused and looked in my direction. The ghost had the outline of a man, and it was very dark, like a shadow. With all my might, I tried to break away from the hold that this force had taken over me. With much effort, I extended one arm and tried to yell, but I could not make a sound. The dark shadow just stood at the door and stared at me. Then it moved away with a bouncing, walking motion. At the same time, the heavy weight lifted off me and I began to breathe normally.

About six months after this incident, our dogs barking outside my bedroom awakened me. I got out of bed and walked to the window to have a look. In our backyard we have a motion sensitive security light on a pole. The security light turned on as I got to the window. As I pulled up the shade and peered outside to have a look, there in the window staring back at me was the same dark, shadowy figure that I had seen before in my doorway! It was just a few inches from my own face, on the other side of the window! I was terrified! I automatically let go of the shade cord, and it quickly unrolled and hit the windowsill with a bang! I got into bed and shook with fright. I kept repeating to myself, “Oh God, oh God.” Eventually I fell asleep.

In 1996, my mother, my brother and I had another ghost experience at about 10 p.m. That night we heard someone pound hard on our window, while an excited male voice in distress yelled out, “Natani, Natani!” Natani is my brother’s name, so we quickly ran to the window and then outside. We saw no one. The dogs didn’t even bark. We grabbed our guns and looked everywhere and found nothing. We all assumed that it was a spirit voice attempting to contact us for some unknown reason. Many times in our kitchen we’ve experienced our microwave oven, lights, and refrigerator go on and off. This only happened in the kitchen. Now this might sound as if we had problems with our electrical wiring, but I know that this was not the case.

My parents decided to have our local Mormon elders pay us a visit and conduct a prayer service to get rid of the negative presences. Prior to the service, the elders instructed my family to keep our eyes closed and not to speak, and to keep our minds clear. We all sat in a circle in the living room and as the service began, a low moaning sound started up in the kitchen, like a dog howling at the moon. As the service continued, the moaning sound became louder and louder. At one point, with my eyes still closed, I felt as if the whole house was rocking me back and forth, and I felt a powerful gust of wind that was moving in and out of the space between me and the others. Then I felt something begin to brush me on my left, and then whatever it was started to moved over to my right side. This “thing” brushed up and down against my arms. I kept my eyes closed tightly. Then the moaning sound became clear to me as it got louder and louder. It was the word “No”! Imagine, if you can, the word “no” being stretched out in a loud, long, “Noooooooo!” That’s how it sounded. Then suddenly the noise was gone.

About a minute passed and although we were instructed not to open our eyes, or say a word, I slowly opened my eyes. I decided to break the tension and silence by saying, “Did you guys hear that?” As soon as I finished saying these words, everyone opened up and began to say, ”Yeah, I heard it, did you, yeah, etc.” Then the elders got up, said a quick good-bye and were out the door! We got a “kick” out of their frightened reaction. As of this day, that was the last incident of any ghostly activity that I have experienced.”