When I moved from the east to the west, one of the things I learned over time is that, although many buildings are haunted in the east, the land in the west is very haunted. You feel it especially standing in places like South Mountain Park and Sedona, but even on a recent excursion with Julie to the Congress Pioneer Cemetery in the middle of the high desert, you could feel it in the hills all around, as if eyes were studying you everywhere you go.
There are some awesome ghostly legends involving the land in Arizona. Here's just a few of them:
La Llorona: The most famous haunting in the west is a repeated story of La Llorona, the “weeping woman.” This legend varies depending on where you are in the west, but the premise is the same; a woman drowned her children because her new lover didn't want them. When she killed them, he was repulsed by what she did and she realized she had killed her children for nothing. Now, she is a crying/screaming banshee figure in the washes and basins in the desert. Both the Gila and San Pedro rivers claim her existence. Pretty much most of the washes and rivers of the desert, the Hispanic community whispers of her existence nearby.
Grand Canyon National Park: A worker was putting up railings in the 1930s and fell into the canyon. He is said to be seen at sundown as a black misty figure near the railings and scraping and digging sounds are heard, as well.
Casa Grande Mountain: Here people report that if you are walking near the mountain, a black mist will follow you.
Anthem: In this area just outside of town, people reportedly see and hear Native American warring parties on horseback. Even a man with a lantern is seen.
Cochise State Park: A man is said to play the flute on the boulders overlooking campsites.
Kingman: In the canyons a woman supposedly killed some children and is still wandering around the canyon and wailing.
East Mesa Campgrounds: A place here was the site of satanic worshippers where people were supposedly murdered. Folks report demonic laughter, dark figures and strange noises.
Picacho: A ghostly man is seen riding a horse from peak to peak.
Desert: "The Red Ghost" The army corp of engineers at one time long ago used camels in the AZ desert. A smart idea, actually for the 1800s. When the program ended, they released the camels. Some say that a ghostly one called the Red Camel is still wandering the desert with a ghostly rider atop it.
Casa Grande National Monument: Native Americans performing ceremonies have been seen, as well as black mists. This is the site of many astronomical observations and ceremonial rituals by an ancient tribe.
Chinle: A woman's glowing apparition is seen hovering over the rock outcroppings.
Speaking Rock: Hopi legend of an old woman here who tells the giant spider rock who in her tribe is misbehaving.
London Bridge/Lake Havasu: This was reassembled from London to the AZ desert at Lake Havasu. Since then, a woman's ghost and a British Bobby's ghost are seen walking it.
Nearly every mine has had cave-ins and killings and nearly every site of battles during the time of settlers versus Native Americans are reportedly haunted. As well, ancient tribes that came and went extinct left behind sacred rock sites that are filled with amazing energy. Many legends come from our insightful Native American citizens. They have explanations for rock formations and how man might have come from the belly of the Grand Canyon originally as if it were the birthing place for the world. Their beliefs are for a reason and based on observations made while living here in this harsh land. Sometimes, you can hear ancient tribes chanting in the wind.
The very rock here seems to sing to you when you are in the desert. It is a weird thing to stand where you can see 180-degrees of sky and can see mountains 40 or 60 miles away, hear unrelenting winds with nothing to stop them from gathering spirit energy and carrying sounds to your ear that might have originated miles away.
Could it be the geology and the spirituality mixing together to create a kind of magical combination for eternal hauntings? One never knows what is at work here and why the lands seem to be so haunted, but from UFOs in our daytime sky to black mists in the desert at night, it's always an unsettling and curious place.
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