Navajo nation
Ok, I'll go. I posted this story awhile back, but it sank to the bottom of a thread. So reposting here. I was a mental health counselor in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was a live in counselor in a drug and alcohol house. I had a kid who was Navajo who was brought in from the Big Rez in Four Corners one night. He'd been found wandering around in some really far flung area of the Rez and no one from any part of the tribe would claim him to raise. So they brought him to us.
He was a big guy and he never spoke to us. Part of our cultural training with Navajos was to not make eye contact unless they initiated it. He kept his head down and remained silent. A few days went by and since I lived in the house three and a half days a week and then had three and a half off, I had planned to go do some fly fishing in the Four Corners area on the San Juan River (really beautiful river).
My last night in the house, the night counselor woke me up at 2am knocking on my door and saying in a whisper "You've got to come downstairs, the new kid is doing something weird". I go down and he's sitting in the middle of the living room chanting and he has a HUGE motherfucking knife. There are some other assorted items around, I don't remember what (this was in 1993...but feathers were involved and some other things) and while he knows we're there, he simply continues his ritual.
Now I'm all for freedom of ritual, but knives weren't allowed in the house. Or any sharps. And he was supposed to be in bed. Long story short, I call the police and the house therapist and the police come and have him removed. On his way out the door, he locks eyes with me and shouts something long and very much in Navajo...which no one understands.
The next day, I go camping, alone in the Four Corners in a campground near the San Juan River. The drive out there is spooky. Low lying ground fog from which these wild Navajo sheep (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo-Churro_sheep) emerge from suddenly right in the middle of the road (Navajos don't pen their livestock so much).
Anyway, it's spooky, but I push it aside and get to the campsite.
The campsite was this place called Cottonwood Campground and it was your standard campground. Every 50 feet was a campsite. And it being summer, all the spots were taken. I had reserved mine, so I pulled in, laid out my tarp, got my sleeping bag set up (I was too poor for a tent and plus I had been raised by a father who used to tell me that tents were for Democrats and Liberals...I'm a Liberal, btw). I got a nice fire going and while the flames crackled away, I tied some flies and listened to the coyotes howling in the distance. On both sides of me there was a truck and a camper. Both had plates from Texas. The truck had a tent and the others were staying in the camper.
I fell asleep near the fire and went deep into a dream. Eventually the dream turned into a nightmare. The nightmare was of some wild animal attacking me. There was a primal sense to the dream I was unused to and all I could hear was growling and snarling. I woke up. The sounds continued...right next to me. I freaked. WHAT THE FUCK??? Something, some animal kept lunging at me from the darkness. Now I had a large hunting knife next to me and I was sleeping near my car. I also had a flashlight. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to change the batteries in the flashlight. I screamed. The thing moved back and I turned on the flashlight. It dimly stayed on for about 30 seconds...and in that 30 I saw a LARGE coyote snarling at me.
When the flashlight went out, I threw it at the coyote. And when it charged me again, I decided to burrow into my bag with the knife pointing straight up. I would kill it if it attacked . Through the bag. Meanwhile, I'm screaming for help. Screaming that I'm being attacked by a coyote and I need a light or a gun or any kind of help. Nothing.... This goes on for half an hour. I'm scared shitless. Finally I get the damn thing to back up enough by throwing rocks at it and get into my car. I turn on my headlights and it slinks off into some brush about 30 feet away. All I can see is its red eyes. I bed down in my hatchback and try and calm myself...about 15 minutes go by when suddenly there's a thump on the side of my car and I swear to fucking god it's snarling in my window. NOPE!
I fly outta there and leave my shit behind. I spent the night in the well lighted parking lot of a fly fishing shop 5 miles away. And god what a beautiful sunrise. I mean it was so full of color and well, life.
When I went back to get my stuff the next day, the people camped next to me from Texas don't make eye contact or speak to me. I'm pissed. But I went fishing anyway and caught a 24" that day (released it). When I got back to ABQ, some friends of mine who I used to play pool with (twins who were Navajo) jokingly and half jokingly suggested the kid had been into black magic or some shit and had cursed me successfully. While I'm a firm sceptic, it sure felt like it. And yes, I called the ranger station for that campground and told them about the attack and they said they had never heard of a coyote attacking a human. So that's my real life nightmare...
TL;DR --- I lived in New Mexico. Was a mental health counselor. Had this weird Navajo kid in my house practicing rituals who seemingly put a curse on me when I had the authorities take him away. Next day, attacked in my sleep by a coyote while camped on the Navajo Reservation.
#Visual/RedEyes #Area/Woods #NativeAmerican #Dreams/Nightmare #Creature/Humanoid