The answer was always there but it was guarded, it was spirited away as a secret for the few who considered themselves the chosen ones. Some woke to find darkness enfolding the chosen as they tilted on their monstrous legs, weilding their crooks to bludgeon those who were starving and wanted even the crumbs that fell from their cloaks. Chaos, screams in the darkness and in the end the putrid smoke of burning wood drove them from their places of worship. Driven into the wilderness they searched for new gods to save their souls. Some found the old gods in the forest. Others found something else entirely…

They say a skinwalker dwells around homestead #2 at Skinwalker Ranch. Some say it is an ancient nature spirit that wants to be left alone. Some say it’s a portal, a trickster spirit, a thin spot, aliens or ancient gods long forgotten. To some its monsters to some its mystery. Back when I first learned of the ranch, before there were videos, books and TV shows I could hear its call. The voice that flows through the desert and through the mountains. Coming from many locations but just one source.

There are magical places, places where its not all together clear if you are firmly standing in the world you have always known. In this place, in an old dried up creek I discovered such a place. In days of old we were warned to avoid the rings of mushrooms growing on the forest floor. Avoid the distant laughter and song that emanated from that enchanted place. On this day there were no such rings to be found, instead the distant whispers emanated from an abandoned VW bus. Deep within the shadows whispers floated on the breeze and beckoned me to come inside. “Come taste wonder and never look back”.

I entered the shadows, never to return to this world.