A Case for Witches

Following the "Murders in the Bog" excavation Jim and I had an unbelievable number of untoward incidents that included: personal body attacks; serious life threatening illnesses requiring hospitalizations; car thefts or accidents where we were not at fault- our list was extensive - 30 plus entries.

More than disconcerting. It was frightening! And, to boot, Jim told me about an excavation crew who were all killed or died within one year after their excavation. Very unnerving and here we were experiencing something astoundingly awful.

Normally all of these incidents in this span of time would seem to be normal to a group of individuals but I will remind you they happened to just the 2 of us - just the two of us did the excavation - they started right after the Murders excavation and happened in a 2 year time frame.

I don’t really believe in so called paranormal but when it comes to Native Americans well, I am a believer.

Here is a quick story to explain what I mean.

We had had so many incidents that I sought help. And that help came from an Elder on the Tohono O’odham reservation.

I called Elder Ed – gave him an abbreviated account of what had occurred. He suggested a Cleansing Ceremony.

I contacted Jim, a skeptic, who cautiously agreed and we made an appointment for the Ceremony to be preformed on the Tohono O’odham reservation.

Before the Ceremony, Elder Ed sat with us under a ramada and asked us to explain again and thoroughly what had happened and why we thought we needed this Ceremony.

Jim did the talking – explaining. This is normal when dealing with the Tohono O’odham Elders - women take the back seat!

The Elder asked me if I agreed with what was said. I said, "Yes."

After the explicit and detailed explanation to him about our need, he went on to tell us that, yes, he knew about the murders!

The BLM crew had called the nation and four Elders went to the site, but the Elders had fled and did not do the “Spirits Appeasing Ceremony” as they normally do.

Three of the Elders had the Cleansing Ceremony as soon as they returned to the reservation. They were well.

The fourth Elder had refused the Ceremony and became very ill. The doctors did not know what was wrong with him. He was near death.

Elder Ed told us we really needed to believe in the Cleansing Ceremony or it would not work for us. I told him I believed - I had to believe, as there were too many awful happenings to us. Jim, as I said, was a skeptic but he too acknowledged his belief.

Elder Ed did the half hour Ceremony for us: the burning of the leather thongs, whirling the smoke about us, lighting the incense, waving the feather wand to the 6 directions, and the chanting - lots of rhythmical chanting in his native language.

I really felt a sense of peace and relief when the Ceremony was over.

From that day forward we have had no major untoward incidents! Oh both of us have had a few minor incidents but nothing to be worried about - all very normal trials in one’s life.

One item on our list: Jim’s extensively researched report on the Sobaipuri murders had been turned down 3 times by the BLM ranger as she didn’t like his conclusion: the 2 murdered men where witches. Turning down a report is unheard of. The dissenter normally writes a paper explaining their disagreement with the reporter/investigator’s conclusion. That is how science works.

The unchanged report was accepted after the Ceremony!

The Elders thought they were witches!

This story is my way of saying: they were witches.

Some things just are and are inexplicable.