Winter Solstice / Indian Bear Dance Page 2

At 5pm on December 21, 2004, the twelve people I invited to the Bear Dance arrived at The Silver Nugget Ranch prior to the dance for a barbecue. After the barbeque, Danny (who gives some of the Ghost Walks when I’m not around) and I grabbed some chairs to take up to the Bear Dance site. We drove up in my 2003 Ford Focus wagon, taking the old narrow, twisted road until we reached the spot.

As soon as we approached the location, my engine started sputtering and my electrical gauges and lights went out. We looked at each other in bewilderment as the engine died. We got out and put the chairs on the ground. We both felt a presence of something around us, so we quickly got back into the car. I tried to start the engine and it just barely (or should I say bearly) started. We drove back down the twisting road and back down Ghost Town Road until the engine finally quit for good. Luckily I was able coast to the end of Ghost Town Road to the Shell station and call my wife to come pick us up.

It was dark now, about 6:30 pm. We all met at Calico where I had everyone follow me to the sacred site outside of Calico. Our intention was to start a log fire, play some Native American Bear Dance music I thought might evoke the Bear Dance, sit and wait.

We sat for nearly 10 minutes with the fire going and the Indian music playing. All of a sudden I got a cell phone call. It was from someone in our group who had hiked up the side of the hill with another person. They told me that they could hear lots of footsteps walking down the hill towards the fire. They even saw shadows of the ghost people walking. Evidently, although the ceremony had not taken place here in over 150 years and the ancients were returning quickly to once again participate in the Bear Dance.