Indian Ground

Sometimes you get the feeling that things can only go wrong for you. You start out life with a bad childhood and it just escalates from there. You bounce around from house to house living with other family members and packing rooms full of children that would send the board of health into convulsion.

Then you sit there in your parents-in-law's house after one of your worst days yet. You've sent the children to their rooms for their bickering, and your husband is busy trouncing around with an attitude thanks to a ruined evening that was supposed to go perfectly. And then that smiling woman on the television puts a resting hand on your shoulder and offers to lift the burden that you've been carrying for a long time, as she reads off six consecutive digits. You've just won the lottery.

Debbie Hotchkin followed just this scenario to the letter and was a few million dollars richer because of it. Her dreams were fulfilled, her family was in bliss, and she ran right out and bought the house of her dreams: a large log building sitting on acres and acres of farmland. Life was good.

Less than two years later, Debbie and her husband took a chunk of change out of the bank and purchased the adjacent farm as well. The family living in that house was ready to pack it up. They were moving to the south to a nice little life without the worries of maintaining a farm. Before they left, they took the time to share some relics that they had, at one time, collected on both properties.

The jar they presented contained a massive amount of Native American arrowheads and quite a few medicine balls. They even had a genuine tomahawk in their possession.

It seems that the land that these two farms sat on was formerly an Indian ceremonial ground. The ground itself was littered with relics of these sorts and there was even an animal grave site near the edge of the property.

The old farmer and his wife were going to take all of these jarred relics with them when they moved, but it wasn't long before strange haunting occurrences began happening in both houses. Debbie, being a firm believer in the afterlife, having had quite a few encounters herself, was intent on making sure that the jar full of relics stayed on the land. To her great pleasure, the farmer finally agreed to leave the arrowheads and medicine balls. Unfortunately, they did end up taking the tomahawk with them.

The relics stayed on the land just as Debbie had hoped, however, the hauntings were far from finished.

It was a few years later that I became closely acquainted with the family of the house. About a year and a half afterwards, a niece of Debbie's, the victim of a traumatized childhood, was adopted by the family and brought into the fold.

Though strange activity always existed in the house, it soon began to pick up dramatically upon Sarah's arrival. Supposedly a ghostly boy would spend his nights sleeping next to the niece; while a feminine apparition apparently threw papers all around the house causing quite a havoc.

I began to hear several other stories of "accelerated" activity. One particular incident incited that Sarah was nearly pushed down the spiral staircase of the home as some force blew by her. She was visibly shaken for days and lashed out at one of the daughters in the house, blaming her for the circumstance.

It didn't take long before my curiosity was completely peaked. And being somebody with nothing better to do with my time, I traveled out to the house in order to poke around a little on my own. I definitely bore witness to more than I bargained.

One of the daughters happened to start playing with a Polaroid camera, while I was there conversing with other members of the family. She rang off about ten pictures in total with four of them showing rather strange images. These odd pictures showed what appeared to be almost a battle of light colors around Debbie with streaks blazing all over the place. None of which was visible to the naked eye. I was so amazed by these images - the like of which I had never seen before - that I asked if I could view other photographs from the family collection. Debbie obliged and I soon found other strange images involving the house that also caught my attention.

Several theories ran through my head simultaneously. One of which was the obvious hoax scenario; possibly brought on by Debbie's firm belief in the supernatural and the noted instability of Sarah's mental health (She had been in a mental care facility at one time).

This alone would explain away most of the phenomenon as wishful thinking and psychotic breaks, but it didn't explain the pictures that were taken while I was present in the house. Neither did it explain the pictures I acquired later that also showed strange images.

One such picture had a clear image of a misty form that - to those who would like to see it - slightly resembled a humanoid form. At first glance, I brushed this image off as the result of morning dew evaporating in the sun. I had once took a plane ride in a Wright's Brother type airplane; and it was explained to me that shifts in minute turbulence felt while we crossed over certain areas were the result of just such an everyday event. Peering out the window, one could see several patches of mist over different areas... and small areas at that.

A second glance at the picture, however, revealed the sun shining through at the top right side of the image. I compared this Polaroid with the actual spot at which it was taken and noted that with the sun in that position, it would mean it was over in the West. The picture was taken in the afternoon without the possibility of morning dew playing a role in its creation.

We definitely had a hint of paranormal, no matter how faint; and the images in the pictures alone were enough to warrant a little more digging.

I began with the Native American ritual ground scenario and conferred with a local shaman on the traditional beliefs that natives had towards their belongings; and just how plausible to would be that such activity would occur because of the possession of these implements. We came to the conclusion that it was definitely possible that these spirits - if they were indeed Native American spirits - were ireful over the confiscation of these arrowheads and medicine balls (Most likely the medicine balls were the main culprit).

After still more research and hypotheses, I was satisfied that we were, in fact, dealing with Native American spirits. I was ready to inquire about a full investigation into the house and its history, when incessant bickering (more akin to nearly fist fighting) began to break out amongst the family members. Getting permission for such a full scale investigation would be nothing short of a miracle, so I decided to put it on the back burner and keep and ear out instead.

It didn't take long before Sarah left the house permanently because of the constant conflicts between her and her adoptive parents. And when the turmoil calmed down, I journeyed back to their house to get a little more in-depth with the phenomenon.

I was extremely disappointed. No more little boys; no more papers being tossed; and nobody getting shoved down steps. It all seemed to have ended with Sarah's departure. It was as if she was the catalyst of all the activity somehow.

I decided to switch my focus from the house itself to the suddenly departed cousin. Asides from the mental health problems that seemed to have pestered this girl most of her life, I uncovered that she was also dabbling in witchcraft. Could she have been causing all of this phenomenon? Or were her interests just a harmless hobby for a troubled mind? I liked Sarah, so I really couldn't answer that question honestly.

I was left with way too many open questions, and not enough answers to satisfy even a remote amount of my curiosity. Rumors abound of the cousin's mental health and whereabouts, and I'm left wondering to myself if she did have something to do with the increase in activity and violence. Did she call up this hostility? Was it a spiritual reaction by entities to wrongful workings of witchcraft? Or was it - like I believe - just coincidence?