A Cheyenne Ghost Story

[hrayton]

When I was very little, about 4 or so, my parents packed us up, and we moved west. They became teachers on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Busby, Montana. It was an interesting time to be there, the year was 1976, the Bicentennial year, and the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. That is another story for another time, I just wanted to give some background for the story I am about to tell. There were still people alive then whose parents had been at the Greasy Grass, that practiced skills now lost, that still believed in the old ways, older men with scars on their biceps or chest from practicing a sun dance or two...older women who made beautiful things out of beads, buckles, cradleboards, everyday items that you can only find in a museum nowadays.
     One of these older women was named Ernestine, and she was my father's secretary at the high school. She still believed in the old ways, and as an adult, looking at the simplicity of the story I am about to tell, I have to think there is something to it. The Cheyenne believed that when someone passed away, anything that they didn't specifically give to someone else before their passing either needed to be buried with them, or taken out and burned, otherwise, to use Ernestine's expression, they would come back and "bother" you for it. She knew my father collected arrow points, and every once in awhile she would find one on her ranch, and bring it into work for him, but she never took the arrowpoints inside of her house, she would leave them on the doorstep over night so the previous owner wouldn't come and bother her for them.
     When Ernestine's mother passed away, in her 90's, they buried her with what she wanted, and Ernestine's husband and son took everything else out and burned it, those special things that were not given away were removed from their home. For the next few months, Ernestine had nightmares of her mother scolding her while she was asleep, almost nightly. And finally, not able to take it any more, they scoured the house for anything that might have been left behind...and found nothing. The nightmares continued. The following spring, during cleaning, they pulled the old lady's bed away from the wall to move it, and heard a clatter as something fell from behind. When Ernestine looked, she found her mother's cane, it had been wedged between the bed and the wall. That day they took the cane out and burned it, and the nightmares stopped. Her mother it seemed, wanted that cane on the other side...
     There are so many spooky things about this story. That one might need a cane on the other side for starters, or someone bothering you for their stuff...it is a simple story, but the implications are complex. It has always given me goosebumps to contemplate it.

[Captain Midnight]

EXCELLENT story. Very excellent indeed.

[Bulldog lady]

The stories and legends always have a meaning, it is just there for each of us to find and apply.  Nice job trout.

[NAULTRICK1]

Good Story 

[texasranger]

I am a liker of ghost stories and that is a good one. and sounds like a lot of truth in the way they did things in the long ago

[Hanshi]

Excellent story.

[crazell]

Very good read..

[Red Badger]

Good story!

[twohawks]

Good story