>>1722434>be 19>out with AmeriCorps innadesert doing trail work>deep in the Navajo Res working on Rainbow Trail >cross-departmental fuckery lands us chilling with a 60-something year old Navajo parks official, we'll call her Barb>5'5, steely eyes and silver grey hair>built like a lesbian linebacker brick shithouse>live on Barb's land for two months with the entire family>play basketball and shoot cans with them in our downtime>feed us roasted lamb, freshly grown corn, and frybread>generally chill as fuck>gather in the Hogan at night sometimes to smoke, shoot the shit, and tell stories>buddy brings up skinwalkers>Barb stands up and tells us to cut the shit>starts freaking out the crew with scary stories>completely convinced they're real>Has us mark our forheads with soot from the g'ish (holy fire poker used in the hearth) for protection before bed>nobody argues with her>says we've provolked them by poking fun at the idea and turns on all the floodlights around her property as a precaution>three nights pass and nothing happens>one night at 2am the temperature drops lower than usual>something trips one of Barb's trail cams at the front gate>hear crashing noises>one of the truck tires randomly pops>friend and I get out of our tents to see what the fuck is going on>floodlight in front of Barb's front porch shoots on and we just see her firing off a Mossberg into the darkness while chanting in Dine' language>face is completely covered in sacred ash>hear a strange animal noise and watch a large shadow move back against the truck, shifting it's weight before disappearing into the night>She tells us not to fuck with stories of the Yee naagloshii and to go back to sleep>next time she'll let it spread corpse powder on us if our group brings it up again and they come backTo this day I still have no fucking clue what that thing was. Later on she told us the gun and bullets were also smeared with blessed cedar ash. People like this actually exist.
