took the largest of the corn that was offered. The Hopi in turn were left with the shortest and smallest blue corn. The Hopi immediately knew that this was symbolic of their life to come, as it too would be short and difficult. Thus, their response was to manifest the virtues of cooperation, humility and respect among themselves and others. They also knew that the earth was a wonderful and giving, living spirit and its healthiness would depend on the Hopi people as its caretakers.
Today the Hopi live in four separate and autonomous mesas or villages, and within each village are sub-communities. First Mesa includes Waalpi (Walpi), Hanoki (Hano or Tewa), and Sitsomovi (Sichomovi). Second Mesa includes: Songoopavi (Shongopavi), Musungnuvi (Mishongnovi) and Supawlavi (Shipaulovi). Third Mesa includes Hoatvela (Hotevilla), Paaqavi (Bacavi), Munqapi (Moencopi), Kiqotsmovi (Kykotsmovi), and Orayvi (Oraibi).
Donald First Cry’s (Hopi) Story
Oh boy, what a story you’re about to read. As you might imagine, conducting the research for all my writing has always placed me in a needed situation to travel about the southwest. And because of this traveling I have had to spend many nights in hotels and out of the way motels. Some of these establishments definitely have appealing qualities while others have me praying for the rescuing morning light to make my escape. Donald’s story might offer you to consider other “issues” when picking a hotel room—“extra” questions you might need to ask the front desk. His and his wife’s encounter with the spiritual world in their hotel room might just also change your own future thoughts regarding a vacation.
— Antonio
“My girlfriend Becky and I are both Hopi. I’ve spent most of my life on the reservation, except when I left to work for eight years in San Diego, California. My older brother and I were offered well-paying jobs as roofers in new home construction. Becky has worked at the reservation school cafeteria for just a couple of months, and we plan to get married next year. My experience with a ghost took place two years ago. Up to that time I had never had any kind of spooky stuff happen to me. I know that a lot of ghostly things do take place in the hills and mesas that surround our tribal lands, but I never really paid much attention to the stories. Anyway, two years ago Becky and I spent a summer weekend in the gambling town of Laughlin, Nevada. We never thought this short get-a-way was going to be anything but a fun time. We’ve driven together to Laughlin many times before without ever having encountered a ghost. So this first weird experience shook us up for a long time afterwards.
Whenever we’ve driven to Laughlin, our normal routine is to arrive at a hotel; check into a room, then hit the “one arm bandits” downstairs. We’ve both done this since we were in our early twenties. Sometimes we win big, and sometimes we lose, but we have a good time nonetheless. This time, we arrived at the hotel on a Friday evening at around 7 p.m. We checked into a room on the 14th floor with a view of the Colorado River below. We emptied our suitcases of clothes, which we hung on hangers in the closet. Then we decided to watch a little television before heading to the lobby downstairs for a bite to eat. As at other times, we both knew we would spend most of the night gambling, so we were in no hurry.
As we were lying on the bed watching a comedy show, I felt an uneasy feeling strangely come over me, a feeling of depression that I had never experienced before. I thought that maybe I was getting the flu or had gotten food poisoning from lunch. I also felt a sort of a weird “thickness” come over me. I know it sounds strange, but I felt something like a cold mud had covered me. I couldn’t make sense of why I was suddenly feeling so bad. At one point, I looked away from the television and focused my eyes to the open window. Without being conscious of it, I began to think crazy thoughts of darkness covering me like a cloud. I began to shake like a leaf. My heart was throbbing and I was filled with a sense of dying. Becky must have noticed something was up, because I felt her hand touch my shoulder and say, “Donald, Donald what’s the matter?” I answered, “Nothing, I’m just not feeling too good. Maybe I’m getting a cold or the flu.” I told Becky that I needed to close my eyes and rest, but she looked at me funny and said, “You’re drenched in perspiration, Donald, just look at you.” I told her that I would be all right, but I needed to relax for a few minutes. Becky sat back on the bed, but kept an eye on me.
I turned my attention back to the television, and soon I began to feel better. Then that feeling of disaster, a sort of panic came slowly over me once again, and I automatically began to glance out the window as before. I thought I was having an anxiety attack, because my hands began to shake and a feeling of fear began to take control of me. A friend of mine once had an anxiety attack when we were at a restaurant, so I am aware of the symptoms. I yelled to Becky, “Look at me; something is happening to me!” Becky came to my side and said, “ Donald, what is it, what’s going on?” After a few seconds, I decided to get up off the bed and walk to the bathroom, and splash water on my face. Becky followed, and looking at me through my reflection in the mirror, said, “Donald, should we take you to a doctor? You might be having a heart attack.” I answered, “No, no let’s just go get something to eat.” As quickly as this thing came over me, it left. I soon regained my composure and told Becky that I was feeling much better. Whatever it was that had come over me was now gone. We decided to leave the room, go down to the lobby and get some dinner.
I began to feel much better and even got lucky when I won $800.00 playing the $1.00 slots! At about 2 a.m. we decided to call it a night, and took the elevator to our room on the 14th floor. Getting ready for bed, I brushed my teeth, then closed the drapes and got into bed. We both quickly fell asleep, but my sleep did not last for long. I was awakened a few hours later when Becky grabbed my arm and shook me hard. “Donald, Donald, wake up, wake up, there is some guy in the room!” Becky said that she had awakened with the strong feeling of someone’s eyes staring at her. When she opened her own eyes she saw the figure of a young man standing next to the bathroom door. Out of fear she grabbed my arm and woke me from my sleep. I watched as Becky pointed me to look by the bathroom. At first, I didn’t see anyone and then I heard a loud “thud!” It sounded like someone had fallen to the floor. I leaped out of bed and cautiously turned on the lights. As I looked around the room, I noticed there was nothing out of place. As much as I could tell, we were alone in the room. I carefully walked to the closed bathroom door, reached for the knob, and opened it. I reached inside and felt for the light switch, then turned it on. There was no trace of anyone. Although we could easily explain away the figure of the guy Becky had seen as being a bad dream, we could not explain the falling thud sound we had both heard. Throughout the night, we would hear the thud sound again and again. Being too tired to stay up any longer and discuss it further, we returned to bed and fell asleep. The next morning Becky told me she was unable to sleep and was awake most of the night.
After breakfast we walked to the parking lot, got into our car and drove to the local mall to do some shopping. We entered a dress shop where Becky began a conversation with a fellow customer, a woman who happened to work in the same hotel where we were staying. She introduced herself to us and said she was a prep-cook there. The woman was a Paiute Indian from California and she and Becky hit it off right away. I excused myself, and decided to wait outside the store on a bench, while Becky finished her conversation. When Becky caught up with me, she told me that the woman had given her some strange information about the hotel where we were staying. Apparently, three days before, there was a guy who had unknowingly killed himself on the 14th floor of the hotel. He was a drug addict who mixed a batch of heroin in the bathroom of his hotel room and died of an overdose. While doing her job, the maid found the body the next morning. The Paiute woman had informed Becky of this after Becky mentioned that we were staying on the 14th floor. Although the woman was unaware of the dead man’s room number, she told Becky it was a room that had a window that faced the river below. The cook also had Becky promise that she would not tell anyone at the hotel about what she had said, for fear that she would lose her job.
Well, this new information sure did give us a new perspective. Becky became very nervous and told me she did not want to worry or scare me, but that the figure she had seen in our room the night
