When I was a teen I lived in a small town called Jay located in the heart of Cherokee lands in northeast Oklahoma.
One of my favorite experiences while living in this area was the spirit hunting. Children as young a two and three could be found at the edge of a wooded area sneaking around chanting the words sgili adulia. Sgili short for anitsasgili meaning ghost or spirit in Cherokee and udulia meaning I want. The children would take off running from the tree lines screaming or giggling, mumbling off some tale of their adventure hunting sgilis in the woods. When questioned about what they saw sometimes they would describe a disfigured animal, or a half animal half human creature, maybe a pale skinned man or woman, and sometimes it was just a white owl. Often times the smallest child could explain his sitings in elaborate detail. Listening to a three year describe the eye color of a therianthropic creature made for a chilling little tale. If you ever want a good scare just go out in the woods with a Native American spirit hunter. I am sure you will not be dissapointed with the outcome. I have many of my own tales from first-hand acounts of these incidents. I will tell you one of them, although I am sure I will have a little trouble sleeping tonight after recalling the night I saw something I wish I never had.
My mom lived in a house not to far from my best friend Summer. There were two routes to get to get to Summer's place. One went sevral blocks through town and the other was almost a strait shot, but..... through a heavily wooded dirt path. Surrounding the road were ancient oak trees with huge branches that arched over the path. The trees were so thick that at night only the slightest glimmer of moolight would show through the drooping branches, casting erie black shadows over the dark alley. When walking the path at night you could hear the sound of creatures screaching, growling chirping and chattering in the background.
One night as I was headed out the door on my way home from Summer's house, Summers's mom Ann, stopped me and asked if I would like a ride." I don't like you girls walking that path at night," she said with consern. Ann was a frail looking woman, with wild looking thin hair, high cheek bones, and eyes so dark they appeared to be black. She was an eccentric woman, full of imagination, experiences, and plenty of stories to tell.
Ann turned towards her oldest son Isaac and tossed him the keys to her truck, "will you escort the young lady home," she asked. Isaac stood up and headed towards the door mumbling some complaint about being our chauffer. Summer tagged along with us for the ride. We hopped in the old Chevy pickup truck and headed south towards the back alley. We slowly rolled down the first hill of the erie dirt path. The low hanging branches scraped the top of the truck causing a disturbing (nails down a chalkbaord) screeching. when we neared the mid section of the alley,all of a suddon, Summer screamed, "STOP". Isaac slammed on the brakes."Did you guys see that!" she yelled"." See what",Isaac responded".THAT"," Summer pointed at a patch of tall grass off to the side of the road just ahead. I couldn't quite make out what it was she saw. Were my eyes playing tricks on me? It almost looked like... the figure of a person laying in the weeds. I could see shiny long black hair, but I was not able to make out a face of a person or animal. "It's Nothing", Isaac spatted as he continued to inch the truck forward. Summer grabbed my arm tightly hugging herself to me. It was not the first time Summer and I had seen something strange lurking in the midst. One of favorite things to do was was find the creepiest old cemetery, Indian burial ground, or spiritual place and hunt for sgilis. We freaked ourselves out on many occasions. Summer grabbed my hand as she always did when we were scared. We clutched eachother tight. As we got closer to the object in the weeds it became more visable and it even began to crawl out of the weeds. Lurching in slow motion out into the middle of the road. It....was right in front of us. Isaac slammed on the brakes, and shouted, shut your eyes. I tried to force my eyes shut, but I was locked on the lurid figure in the dark. It stopped in the middle of the dirt alley then shuffled in a rapid, sharp, awkward motion dragging it's body across the dirt road. I could not be sure of what it was that I saw. Man or animal. It appeared to me as the figure of a woman with no legs dragging itself with its arms, but it moved so fast that I could not be sure. The incident happened so quickly that I questioned the possibility of what I just saw. I looked over at summer and saw that that her eyes were wide open still starring strait ahead with a look of horror on her face.I was so stunned that I never even noticed that Isaac already put the truck in reverse backing away quickly. Still in reverse Isaac sharply swung the truck to left , slammed it in drive and raced back towards his house.
Isaac pulled into the drive, shut the truck off, opened the door, and walked towards the house without saying a word. Summer and I sat there motionless still in shock from what had just occured. What did we see? I thought to myself surely it was just animal. Summer opened up the door and we both briskly walked towards the front door of her house. When we got inside Isaac was no where around. Ann was sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room with a large cast iron pot in front of her. "Girls sit down beside me", Ann demanded in a firm tone. It was if she already knew before we were even in the driveway that something happened.She picked up a long match, struck it, and began to light the bark and wood chips that rested at the bottom of the kettle. I recognized the the scent of ceder, a commonly used wood among the Cherokee tribe to ward off evil spirits. When moving into a new dwelling we would often carry a smoldering ceder branch through the home to ensure a pleasent living experience.
The smoke from the now smoldering ceder chips began to rise out of the pot. Kat waved two large ceder branches over the rising smoke, fanning it in our direction. We sat there for more than ten minutes while the smoke filled the room nearly choking us. Finally Kat went to the kitchen and came back with a towelle. She picked up the pot and carried it out the back door. Then she came back in leaving the door open to air out the house. Summer and I just sat in the middle of the room until Kat came over and said, "ok girls you should be just fine now, but the next time Isaac tells you to do something, please listen to him," she scolded. Isaac took me home later that night. We went around the long way this time.
I have many first-hand accounts of this nature, although none so visually profound as this. I am not theistic in my thoughts , but on occasion I do get a shiver on a dark night when these past experiences cross my mind.