This is a great story as told to me by my cousin.
One of my dear cousins passed away this year (2003) and she was only 51 years old. I didn’t know that she was sick because each time I called her on the phone we had great conversations and she told me stories about many paranormal things that she had witnessed. My cousin lived in Queens, New York, but she grew up in the Bronx along with her sister. When I was a little girl, my two cousins often visited with me on the weekends. However, the last time I spoke with my cousin I heard her breathing very hard as if she was taking her last breath. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that it was due to asthma, which I later found out was not true.

Her death was a total shock to me! Someone told me by accident about two weeks after she was buried. I didn’t have a clue that my cousin had passed away and I was inside a store when I got the surprising news. The person that broke the unpleasant news was just as shocked because I started to scream when he told me. Nevertheless, my mind traveled back to an event that occurred the exact day of her death. I got up early that morning and I took my little dog outside to use the bathroom. It was winter and it was cold outside and the trees were bare. However, as I stood there with my little dog, I noticed a very large bird fly into the tree and sit on the naked limb. The bird was very large, dark colored, and sad looking. It sit on the tree limb motionless and stared at me; therefore, I looked back at the bird and I can distinctly remember saying, “Hello Mister Bird are you trying to tell me something?” My cousin had already passed over when I saw the bird because she died on New Years Day a little after midnight.

I am not mentioning my cousin’s name because she gave me permission to use her story but she wanted to remain anonymous. I respect her wishes, even though she has passed away, I will not reveal her name. The first story that I shared with my audience was titled “Dancing Spirits” and I mentioned that I was not the only person that had seen the dancing Indian spirits in Piney Woods because my cousin witnessed them as well. Yet, she saw more than dancing Indian spirits and she shared her story with me and a few other family members. My cousin and her sister often visited Piney Woods in the summer and they stayed with my grandmother Caroline. The first paranormal episode happened when my cousin was about 13 years old and the second event happened after she became an adult. This is her story:

“One summer, I was visiting your grandmother Caroline in Piney Woods and I happened to go outside and walk behind her house. Suddenly, I looked out into the field and I saw these short, full grown, Indian people dancing around a campfire. I was about thirteen at the time and I thought they were flesh and blood Indians. However, I turned around to call my sister because I

On another occasion, after I became an adult, I was at cousin’s house in Piney Woods, while my cousins were inside playing cards; I wanted to smoke a cigarette so I walked outside. The Creek Road was still dirt at the time. As I stood on the front porch smoking my cigarette I heard people talking. Eventually, they got close enough for me to see them and I watched as they walked down the road. I saw some black women wearing long dresses and hats; it appeared that they were just coming home from church. Walking directly behind the black women was a long line of Native American people including men, women, and children. Awestruck, I stood there and watched as they walked in line one behind the other. I knew they were spirits because they did not resemble people of the 20th century.

Out of the blue, I saw a white man riding a white horse. The man resembled the pictures that I have seen of Custer and with a whip he was beating a Native American woman who was holding a baby. I began to loudly scream at the man on the horse, telling him to stop hitting the woman and child. I said, “No! Don’t do that! Stop hitting her!” Suddenly, the man on the horse as well as a Native American man turned and looked at me. The man on the horse pulled out a sword and he charged at me really fast! Meanwhile, the Native American man ran as fast as he could towards me and he stood in front of me to protect me from the man on the horse. Even so, the white man on the horse sliced my neck with his sword and I could feel the steel blade as it went through my neck. The blade went right through the Indian man who was trying to protect me.

The experience was so real until I felt my neck with my hands to see if my head was still intact. When I finally came to my senses after the attack, the Native American man looked at me and he smiled and I smiled back at him and said, ‘Thank you!’ The Native American man and the man on the horse were the only spirits who noticed me standing outside. However, I watched the entire group as they continued their trek across the field behind my cousin’s house. It was truly an amazing sight and I continued to watch them walk across the field until they disappeared into thin air. I don’t tell people this story because people tend not to believe me when I tell them about my experiences with the spirit world.”

About the Author

Ruby is a promising writer who lives along the Roanoke River in North Carolina. She loves nature and animals as well as exciting stories that include paranormal activity. Ruby also loves poetry, children, and indigenous history. Ruby's unique writing ability entails "writing like people talk."