quantities. Unfortunately, due to our hot desert climate, such large lumber-producing trees did not grow in the area. The necessary lumber was brought to the reservation by train. It so happened that both the lumber and Japanese were brought to the relocation camp by train. The Japanese were put into boxcars and taken to our reservation. There were in total between eighteen to twenty thousand Japanese who were relocated to three camps in this area, which were named Camp One, Camp Two and Camp Three. The U.S. Government made the Japanese build their own community structures from the lumber that was delivered by these same trains. They built single-family homes and long barracks that were designed to house about ten families. The uniqueness of their architecture was unmistakable. These houses were built in a distinct “pagoda” style. The roofline swung out and curved slightly upward, away from the outside walls, and there was a distinct space between where the roof and the ceiling came together. The Japanese grew vegetables in community gardens, built small ponds, built a movie theatre, and as much as we could tell, they kept up their own cultural traditions. Many babies were born in these camps and many elderly Japanese died at the camps. I heard that some of the dead were taken back to the towns where they were removed from, or shipped back to Japan. I personally am aware that several Japanese bodies were buried in the Parker cemetery, just a few miles north of here.
The relocation camps existed for approximately four years, from 1942 to 1946. When the Japanese were eventually relocated back to the larger society, the houses and barracks, which they had built, were given to the Colorado Indian Community. The barracks were cut into equal sections of about fifteen to twenty feet wide, by equal lengths long, and distributed to Indian families. A few of these old Japanese houses are still standing on the reservation. Some of these houses, which we Indians were given, were haunted. Spirits of those Japanese who lived and died within the walls of the houses they built with their own hands refused to move on. I know of one Indian family that moved into one of those Japanese houses, and they had strange things happen. The doors of the house would open and close on their own. A chair would move away from the table as if pushed by invisible pair of hands. As if someone was about to seat him or herself down for a meal, the chair would move away from the table, then it would move back against the table! Also, lights would go on and off at all hours. Other times, many times, Indian families talked about seeing the shadowy, ghostly outline of a person who walked in their houses, traveling from one room to the next. At times these ghosts would walk through a room, approach the front door and then pass through it and go outside.
Other incidents reported are the sound of ghostly footsteps on the wooden floors of these old houses at all hours of the day and night. Families would even hear the sound of rattling dishes in their kitchens, as if the ghosts were going through the daily task of washing dishes after a meal. Some families reported hearing very young babies crying. I know that the people were concerned about these ghosts, but for whatever reason, eventually they got accustomed to their “visitors.” They knew why the ghosts were occupying their houses, and about the Japanese sad history, so Indian families knew the ghosts would not hurt them. They just decided to live with them. Some families “smudged” their homes with sage smoke and offered prayers to the spirits. Not too long ago, a group of traditional Japanese people visited our reservation and performed religious ceremonies. It was sad to see because they would break down and cry and hug each other. There is so much sorrow and sadness associated with the relocation. The Japanese built a stone monument on our reservation to mark that part of their history.
Being a Nu Wu, I’ve been very accustomed to seeing things that non-Indians would regard as supernatural. I know that these things do exist so I have been raised to be very respectful and just to let them be. I can sense the presence of shadows and light, or auras that animals have. It’s something that comes natural to me. Many of our Native American people still practice our beautiful spirituality. I also know that there are “spiritual power sites” in the hills and mountains located in the reservation and in the surrounding area. There is a lot of very powerful energy here. I know that our medicine people know about these sacred areas and spiritual sites, but we don’t talk about these places to anyone. That’s just the way it is.”
Franklin McCabe III’s (Navajo) Story
“I’m a Navajo and originally from Provo, Utah. I’m currently employed at the reservation as the Recreation Director of our gymnasium, Irataba Hall. I’ve lived at this reservation for twenty-two years, since I was three years old. My first experience with a ghost took place when I was approximately five years old. I recall that I was lying on my bed in my room, day dreaming about something. Suddenly, I heard something moving about the room. I turned my head in the direction of where there was a rocking chair. Then I saw the strangest thing—the chair was rocking back and forth all on its own! There was no wind coming into the room from my window and, at the time, I was alone in the house. It just kept rocking and rocking. Then it stopped. I did tell my parents about this, but perhaps because I was a child, they must have thought it would be best to say nothing. But sometime later, when she thought I was old enough to know and after we had moved out of the house, my mother told me that a woman used to live in our house prior to us, and the woman’s bedroom, where she had died, was my bedroom. Of course when I heard this, I was startled by the news, and reflected on all the time I had spent in that room by myself.
As I said before, the rocking chair was my first experience with something ghostly. But as recently as two years ago, I had a more direct and scary encounter. An ongoing haunting, which is kind of common knowledge on the reservation, takes place at the gymnasium which I manage. Our gymnasium has quite an interesting history. Prior to 1965, there was a hospital located on the grounds, utilizing a portion of the gymnasium. I understand that the Japanese who were held in the nearby interment camps during the war were sent to this hospital. I don’t think people would disagree with me about the fact that perhaps the hauntings at the gym have something to do with this history. A lot of people on the reservation have heard the stories about the gymnasium being haunted, and some can even give their own stories about seeing apparitions or ghosts there.
Beginning at the start of my employment at the gymnasium, others and I have many times felt the presence of heaviness, or a sense of negativity, there. My experience at the gymnasium began one evening as I arrived to finish some work I had started earlier in the day. Two friends and I arrived at around about 5 p.m. having the only keys, I unlocked the front entrance door, and we all made our way into the kitchen. We were planning a barbecue the following day, so we were there to check on the supply of food for the event. We were alone in the building, just the three of us. As we went about our business, we were startled by the sound of a very high-pitched woman’s scream coming from the basketball court. The scream was so eerie that it sent chills up all our spines. We looked at each other and immediately high-tailed it out of the gymnasium to the parking lot where we had parked our car. I guess reason must have stepped in and made me think that perhaps a woman in trouble caused the scream. We talked among ourselves and decided to cautiously return to the gym and search for an injured woman. As we re-entered the building we kept our ears and eyes ready for any suspicious noise or movement. We searched the whole gymnasium, looking in lockers and under the bleachers. All the doors were locked and the bathrooms and halls were empty. We found no evidence of anyone being inside.
Not long after this, there was another haunting incident that occurred one evening, during a youth sleep over at the gymnasium. The kids brought their sleeping bags and everyone gathered on the stage area of the basketball court. The plan that night was to sleep on the stage floor. Once all the kids were inside the gym, I closed and locked all the doors, making sure there were no drugs or alcohol that might be sneaked into the facility. As the evening progressed, I was having a conversation with a student, while everyone was talking and having his or her own lively social interactions. I was standing, facing the student, having a clear and direct view of the two doors that open to the hallway out from the basketball court. Then something unusual caught my eye. I noticed a white ghostly figure, which was standing at one of the doors! It also must have noticed me looking in its direction,
