Terrifying Experience in Summer of 1991

Hey guys here's another story. Sorry it's so long I get very detailed. Hopefully you enjoy it! If you are curious about Stoddard and what happened there search my other story on here. Happy reading! 

When most people think about a haunted place they imagine a house or abandoned building. But I believe that whole areas can be hotspots for paranormal activity. For me, it would be the land lying to east of Snowflake, AZ and west of Concho, AZ. Along the old Concho highway. The landscape is that of red rock sandstone ridges and red sand. Ancient Anasazi ruins  are numerous along the bluffs. Echoes of a time when land wasn't so arid and dry. Gnarled and twisted cedars dot the land along with large dry washes where sparse groves of cottonwoods grow. 

 My grandparents owned 80 acres of land about 20 miles east of Snowflake. The locals in Snowflake refer to this area as " out east". My grandparents mobile home sat on the top a slow rising hill. About a mile south at the bottom of the hill my aunt and uncle had built a three level home where they lived with their two sons and two daughters. The house was a neat layout, from the front it only looked two stories, but at the back due to the slope of the hill the basement was visible. 

A large wooden deck surrounded the middle section of the home. The home faced the west and to the east the hill slowly descended into a wash. From the back deck there where views of the Zuni Holy mountain and Little Colorado River Valley near St. John's AZ. 

This story is the account of the terrifying experience my older cousin Donny endured the Summer of 1991. 

It was late June. Donny was 17. While most people his age where enjoying their summer vacation, Donny wasn't. He had attended a huge graduation party and gotten drunk as a skunk. Unfortunately for him, the sheriffs department had also "attended" the party and he had received an under age consumption ticket, probation, a sever tongue lashing, and a summer grounding. His mom even took the keys to his pickup he had worked all last summer to buy. There he was stuck in the middle of the boonies. He had keep pretty busy though helping our grandparents who lived up on the hill. 

After coming home in the late afternoon he noticed that their neighbor Jeff from about 5 miles to the west had stopped to visit with his dad, Bill. Jeff was one of those hippy guys. He was cool and all but everyone suspected he probably partook in a little too much LSD in the 70's. Jeff had a place on top of the bluff with ran adjacent to Stoddard's house. Bill and Jeff were on the porch bullshiting when Donny walked up. He said hello to Jeff and Jeff asked him if Donny would want to help him with a project on his property. He said he'd pay him a couple hundred bucks for a week or two of work. Donny agreed. Some party money for when his parents left town next week for their trip to Nebraska with our grandparents. 

The next morning Bill gave Donny his keys back so he could drive over to Jeffs place. When he arrived Jeff was loading up shovels and equipment in his truck. Donny hadn't asked what they were going to be doing but assumed after seeing the shovels they were probably going be replacing fence posts. Jeff told him to hop in the truck and they headed to the north along the top of the bluff on a barely visible two track dirt road. The top of the bluff had a good view of the surrounding area. 

You could see the out skirts of snowflake and the big dry wash dotted with cottonwoods to the west, the white mountains dominated the horizon to the south, to the north Mesas near Holbrook were visible. To the east was a little valley along a smaller wash. He could just make out the roof of Stoddards house. 

Stoddard's house, the thought sent a shiver down his spine and gave him goosebumps. He pushed the story of what happened there to the back of his mind. They went around a small sandstone alcove and Jeff stopped the truck. In front of them was a large ruin. Donny had grown up "out east" and had seen many Anasazi ruins. It looked like a large pile of loose sandstone. But a closer look reveals pottery shards everywhere. Like almost all of the ruins, this one had large holes where someone had used a backhoe to find pots at sometime. Donny got an uneasy feeling.  

Jeff must have say his face because Donny said he started explaining that his project was to "excavate" the ruin. He had so grand plan that he was going to excavate the ruin and open a museum on his property of whatever items they found. He'd charge people like 5 dollars to come check it out. Donny argued wasn't digging in ruins illegal? Jeff told him not if you own the property it's on. Donny felt even more uncomfortable. What about angering spirits? Jeff laughed at this. "You're referring to Stoddard's place?" Donny nodded. " don't get me wrong Donny, your Aunt and your grandma are nice, honest people but i don't think it was Indian spirits. 

I think they heard rumors in town about what happened to Stoddard, and they freaked themselves out. Besides" he said. "This isn't a burial. There's no bodies here." Donny says now he should've listened to that feeling telling him to leave, but he said he brushed it off and started shoveling. Around noon Jeff headed over to his house to make Donny and him some lunch. Donny stayed at the ruin. 

He said he didn't really think much about it at the time but he noticed it was extremely silent around the ruin. There were no signs or sounds of birds. Even no cicadas which usually around this time of year never shut up. He said on the wind he swore he could hear faint voices, but chalked it up to being freaked out by Stoddard's place being only about a mile away. When Jeff returned with their sandwiches he also brought a camera, so they could document their progress and put the photos in the museum. Jeff had Donny take pictures of him in the room they had cleared out and with the items.

 

So they worked for a week. They weren't making much progress. They hadn't found a lot, a small pot, some beads, and a half a matati. Donny was happy to have a day off. All during the week he had fought the feeling that something bad was going to happen. He was glad to get away from the ruin for a while. He also hadn't been sleeping well. He dreamed one night that his bed had been shaking.

After a pretty uneventful weekend Donny returned to Jeff's house Monday morning. To his surprise there was a backhoe parked in his driveway. Another neighbor had loaned it to Jeff. Jeff was excited because now they could make more progress. They made a lot of progress. They uncovered 3-4 rooms, found some more artifacts. Tuesday and Wednesday go by the same. More rooms, more artifacts all while snapping pictures. After filling 4 rolls of film, Jeff takes them into town to send off to be developed. ( this was way before camera phones and digital cameras, where it took like 10 days to get your pictures developed).

It was now Thursday. They had come across a pretty large room in the pueblo. In the middle is a large block of sandstone. This peaked Jeff's curiosity. The rest of the sandstone they had come across was small. Using the backhoe he moved the sandstone to the side. There was a black hole beneath. Something about the that black hole made Donny's stomach knot. Jeff was extremely excited. He looked into the hole but was unable to make anything out. 

He grabbed a flashlight and shined it into the hole. " it's another room" Jeff exclaimed. Donny didn't want to look. Something about that opening made his skin crawl. Jeff told Donny to run and grab a ladder. He did as he was told hoping Jeff wasn't going to ask him to go there. Thunder rolled in the distance as headed back to the ruin. Monsoon clouds were building up to the south and the wind had picked up. 

Jeff put the ladder down into the opening. Donny asked him if it was safe. Jeff figured that since the room had been filled with dirt and the giant slab of sandstone for a 1000 years he didn't reckon the roof would collapse now. Jeff descended the ladder flash light. Holy shit he heard Jeff exclaim. He called to Donny who Slowly made his way over. " bring the camera and come down here." Donny felt terror grip him. He really didn't want to go down there. But he also didn't want Jeff to think he was a chicken shit either. He grabbed the camera and descended into the black pit. 

At first he couldn't see anything. It black, very black. He saw the beam of Jeff's flashlight shining on a large corragated pot. Even with the sunlight coming down the opening didn't seem to penetrate the darkness. Finally it dawned upon Donny that the walls and floor were black. The air was stale and smelled strongly of soot. Jeff was excitedly moving around the room to see treasures it held. A long roll of thunder boomed in the distance. Start taking pictures Jeff exclaimed annoyed that Donny was just standing there. Make sure the flash is on. 

Donny began to snap photos. The flash illuminated the room briefly. After about the the third photo Donny caught the glimpse of something that made him jump, a human skull. Heat pounding in his chest he squeaked out, Jeff there's a skull. Jeff busy looking here and there didn't hear him. He snapped another photo just to be sure, yep definitely a skull. Louder Donny said "Jeff there's a skull!"

"What? Oh yeah a skull, there's a few of them down here. Looks like there was a fire in this room." He kicked one across the room towards Donny. Donny jumped. 

"What the hell man!" Donny said his fear turning into anger. "Dude this isn't right, you shouldn't be messing with bodies. We need to call the cops or something." Jeff laughed. "Call the cops? And tell them what? We found a bunch of 1000 year old dead Indians? " 

Donny was really pissed now. "Listen Jeff, if you want to fuck around with this stuff be my guest. I'm done. There something bad about this place and I'm leaving." Again Jeff laughed. " you're scared of a bunch of bones? Whatever man go. I'm not paying your ass to be a cry baby."

 Donny tossed Jeff's camera to the ground and climbed up the ladder and Jeff starting cussing at the broken camera. Donny didn't care though he started walking back to Jeff's house where his truck was parked. The wind was blowing pretty hard now. Black clouds covered the sun. Donny now saw flashes of lightning along with thunder. 

 When he arrived home he remembered that my aunt and uncle had left along with his sisters on their trip to Nebraska. His older brother David was also gone at work at Pizza Hut for the evening. He was tired. He laid down on the couch and fell asleep trying not to think about the black room full of bones. 

A loud crack of thunder shook the house and jolted Donny awake. The house was dark. He fumbled his way to the light switch and flipped it. Nothing. A flash of lightning illuminated the room. Damn, the storm must've knocked the power out. The wind was howling outside. He fumbled around in the closet until he found the lantern and lit it. He still felt extremely creeped out so he went up to his bedroom where he had a joint stashed. He figured if he smoked it, it would help with his nerves.  His bedroom faces the driveway. He opens his window and goes to light his joint. A flash of lighting and something darts across the driveway. His heart skips a beat. 

The dogs start barking. He puts down the joint and closes the window. He feels terror gnawing at his gut. Wth was that? He goes down stairs as a precaution and locks the front sliding door. He hears heavy footsteps running across the porch. Now he goes into full on panic mode. Shit! The side door. He bolts across the living room and trips over a chair. The dogs are freaking out growling and barking. He catches a glimpse of something run by the living room window. In the Lightning light. He gets to the door fumbling at the lock. Whatever is outside has a hold of the knob. It starts to turn. He slams the deadbolt locked. Fuck! The basement sliding glass door! He bolts down the stairs. He makes it to the door finding its already locked. Phew. Another lightning bolt.

In the flash he sees a man, or standing at the edge of the yard. It's very tall. Red shining eyes. He falls backwards knocking his head on a table. Crying he gets to his feet and bolts up stairs to find the phone. Call 9-11, call 9-11. His heart is hammering into his brain. He picks up the phone, nothing... A large thud coming from the roof shakes him from his despair. The thing is on the roof. Fuck! Gun, comes into his mind. He bolts to his parents bedroom where they keep a shotgun in the closet. The dogs bound in after him. It begins to start pouring rain. He can still hear footsteps in the roof. He locks the door behind him going into the closet. The dogs follow him in. 

He finds the shot gun, his hands shaking like crazy he loads it. The dogs quiet. He can't hear anything coming from the roof anymore. Where the hell is it? In the house??? He sits in the closet and waits. The dogs huddle around him. Hours pass and nothing. He begins to calm down a bit still in shock. At this point the storm has rolled to the north. 

Suddenly he hears the door know rattling. Bang bang bang it's beating on the door. Boom, the shot gun goes off blowing a hole in the closet ceiling. Someone screams. 

"Don't shoot!!" He hears his brother David scream. Tears run down Donny's face. He drops the gun and runs to the door unlocking it and almost knocking his brother over. 

David is pissed, " what the fuck man?? Why are shooting at me??" Donny is in a daze. The story of what had happened in earlier in the day and this evenings spews out of him. David listens not saying a word. At the end David asks him, " ok Donny what did you smoke?" "Nothing! I'm not high bro!" David laughs at him, "ok but mom is going to be pissed if you don't get all the mud you tracked all over the place cleaned up." What mud? And how did David get in? 

The house was locked. He asks David. David tells him the sliding glass door was wide open. The electricity had come back on some point while he was in the closet. True to what David said there were red mud foot prints around the house. It wasn't him! He showed David his shoes, and that the prints were way larger than his foot. David agreed. "I bet it was Jeff, "David concluded. "He probably came over to fuck with you because he's pissed you quit and you busted his camera. 

He knew you were freaked out so he figured he fuck with your head." Donny isn't sure but it makes him feel better. Ya he tells himself, Jeff that asshole. I must not have got the latch to the sliding door closed. The noise on the roof must've been the wind blowing shingles off the roof. It began making sense. 

He and David drink a couple beers that their dad had left in the fridge. They clean the mud to the best of their abilities. After getting buzzed they decide they are going to go over in the morning and confront Jeff. David says he needs to pay Donny and extra since they now need to rent a carpet shampooer to clean the mess that Jeff made. They decide to go into town one of their friends is throwing a party. I don't either one of them wanted to stay out there. 

The party is one that's out in the boonies, with a big Bon fire. There's about 20 teens there. Donny is having a hard time enjoying the party. He keeps feeling like something is watching him. The beer isn't tasting good and he's not really socializing with his friends. They ask him what's wrong but he just says he's tired. The full moon is rising to the east casting it's eerie light in the sandstone bluffs and cedars. Donny gazes past the firelight and catches a glimpse of something moving just out of reach of the firelight. It moves behind a bush. Must be someone peeing he thinks to himself but he gut is disagreeing. Suddenly a strange howl pierces the night. 

Donny jumps. He looks around but no one else seems to have heard anything. They continue laughing and talking. He now hears heaving footprints behind him. He turns to see a large figure of a man standing just outside the fire light. He is paralyzed with fear. The mans face is hidden is shadow but Donny can feel his eyes piercing him. He closes his eyes and starts whispering a prayer under his breath. When he has the courage to open them the man is gone. He's pretty freaked out at this point and just wants to get out of there. He tells David he is going home. David decides to stay. 

Donny doesn't really want to go home he also doesn't want to go back to the party. Mind racing he heads down the old concho HWY. Surely he thinks to himself he is just freaking himself out. Jeff came over and scared him, and that person at the party was probley just someone who was out there peeing. Ya makes sense. He notices something run across the Hwy. Its like 2 am so the Hwy is deserted. He slows down thinking it must have been a deer. Crash!! Something hits the back of his truck jerking it forward. Wth? He slams on the brakes looking in the rear view mirror. 

He catches a glimpse of shining eyes. He is in full panic mode. His stomps on the gas. Shear terror engulfs him. Too afraid to look back he sees something out of the corner of his eye. He turns to look and sees a man running next to the truck. He looks at the speed 70, he looks again and now the creature is looking at him. At first it's face in shrouded in blackness. Then he said it transformed before his eyes. The only way he could describe it was that of a demon. Large yellow eyes, and a twisted smile showing long sharp teeth. It threw back it head and laughed. It took a long clawed hand and scratched along the truck as it sped past and disappeared into the darkness. 

So this I what I remember. We lived about two hours away from Snowflake. I'm 7 years old asleep in my bed. Around 4 in the morning my family is awakening to someone pounding on the door. Of course this wakes everyone up and us kids watch as my dad opens the door to see my cousin Donny. He is a white as a ghost, shaking and crying. My parents pretty startled try to figure out what's going on. He starts babbling about demons chasing him and my mom sends us back to bed. 

The next day my dad calls a Navajo friend and they take his someone near Sanders to see a medicine man. After they return, Donny stays with us until his parents return from Nebraska. When he finally does go home he never sees anything again. Years later when I was older and we became closer I asked him what had happened that night he had shown up at our house and he reluctantly told me. I later asked my parents about it and they confirmed it was the same story he had told them, minus one final part...

 So the morning that Donny showed up at our house, David his older brother went out to Jeff's house to collect Donny's money. When he got there Jeff wasn't there. He ended up being gone for about 6 months. Everyone wondered where he had gone too, no one really knew any of his family just that they were from the Midwest. At one point my grandma filed a missing persons report with the sheriffs office but later the sheriff informed her that Jeff was back east. When he does finally return he is gaunt and looks like he's aged 20 years. Everyone wonders if it was drugs. Fast forward 5-6 years. My grandparents invite Jeff to thanksgiving at their home. 

Donny has graduated and long since moved away but he up for thanksgiving. Jeff asks Donny to come to his truck because he has something to show him. Donny agrees. Jeff hands him a stack of photos. They are the pictures that they had taken while excavating the ruin. Donny flips through them not really wanting to think about what happened back then. In the last few years he's convinced himself that it was just a bunch of coincidences and he freaked himself out over them. Jeff unhappy tells Donny to look at the pictures closer. Donny does. At first he doesn't notice anything but then he notices in the shadows on the pictures there are figures. 

Small twisted and evil with the same face of the demon that had chased him. Jeff apologizes to Donny but he says he had to make sure he wasn't crazy. He tells Donny that in the 6 months he was gone he was hunted by this thing. It followed him all the way to Oklahoma. Finally he sought out the help of a medicine man. He returned the artifacts and back filled the ruin. 

Donny said he didn't know what happened to the photos, and he didn't want to know. Jeff still lives out there today. My aunt and my older cousin live out east also. My grandparents both passed away so my uncle now owns their home. Donny is now a nurse and has 5 kids. He has never had another paranormal thing happen to him.

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