Gay & Lesbian Ghost Stories. Antonio Garcez

woman decided to return to the city of her birth. She bought a small lot of land on the north side of the city and purchased a two-bedroom mobile home.

      Because of the extreme heat Phoenix is famous for, Yolanda built a ramada (arbor) directly outside her front door under which our interview was conducted. While we sat under its protective wood slats, the ramada offered us much-welcomed shade from the intense heat of the day. Looking out from the ramada to the north is a dramatic, panoramic view of the Tonto National Forest. This forest is composed of a blanket of desert flora, including saguaro cactus, paloverde (green thin-trunked trees), prickly pear, and other such drought-tolerant plants. The mountains rise in their unique and contorted splendor up to the blue sky. What a sight!

      “I love it here,” Yolanda said. “I have several coyotes come visit me each night. They sniff around and catch any mice that might want to make a dash inside my home.”

      Looking to the east, my eyes caught the sight of several large homes and, farther beyond, even more indications of human encroachment upon the desert landscape. “Things sure have changed here since I was a child,” Yolanda said. “My whole family used to hike in the foothills each summer and gather saguaro tunas [fruit]. Mom would make a jam out of the tunas. It was delicious! Now with all the changes and rapid growth of this city, it’s hard for me to even comprehend how things used to be back then.”

      I had a wonderful time listening to Yolanda’s stories about the times she spent up in the mountains. I especially enjoyed the story she told me about the time she and a new girlfriend hiked into the Tontos one spring and experienced something unforgettable—something frighteningly unforgettable.

      Last year my girlfriend, Erlinda, and I were sitting right out here one evening under this ramada. We were enjoying a few beers and talking about how frustrated we both were about how life was going for us. We decided the best thing for us to do would be to get away from the world and hike for a couple of days and nights into the mountains. We had done this before, so we were well prepared for the journey. Our sleeping bags and backpacks were dusted off, and within two days, we were off.

      The first day of our journey was wonderful. We brought plenty of water and food, so we knew we would get along fine. On our second day, we decided to change our usual course, which was to follow the trail north, instead veering to the east, hoping to go around a large mountain and meet up with the trail up ahead. We hiked for hours, until the sun began to cast long shadows on the ground. Earlier in the day, we’d decided to make camp for the night while the sun was still out. We spotted a blue tent just off the trail about a mile ahead. As we got closer, we heard beautiful music. A small dog barked at us as we approached the tent, and a young guy who was playing a flute turned and waved hello to us. We stopped and talked to this interesting guy. He was from Taos, New Mexico. After a while, we were introduced to his wife, whom we’d awakened from her nap in the tent. They invited us to pitch our tent next to theirs for the night. Erlinda and I agreed that it would be a good idea, so we chose a patch of ground with the fewest rocks and set up our tent.

      We had an interesting conversation with our new friends about city life versus living with just the basics as we passed around a bag of trail mix. Even though the sun was just setting in the west, there was still plenty of light. Suddenly, their dog began to growl at something in the distance. We stopped our conversation to look to see what the dog was barking at. We were surprised to see the figure of a woman running over the landscape about 200 feet from us. She was a short woman and had shoulder-length hair. Surprisingly, she was naked and holding on to her stomach. We were definitely caught off guard by the woman. I yelled at her, and she must have heard me, because she stopped running and turned to face us. We could see that she was not acting in a normal manner. Again, I yelled, and she just stood there, frozen in place. Erlinda said she was going to walk over to the woman. I decided to follow her as well.

      As we came within about 40 or 50 feet from her, she turned away and ran into a small grove of paloverdes. We got close enough to her to see her facial features. The woman was an American Indian. What instantly alarmed us was the blood that covered her hands and stomach. I yelled at her not to run away as both Erlinda and I attempted to catch up to her. When we got to the paloverdes, there was no trace of her. She’d disappeared! There was no way anyone could have gotten away from us that quickly. The whole episode left us disturbed. The poor woman’s face was filled with so much fear and panic. It was difficult to get that picture out of my mind. Just then, the couple we were camping with came up to us.

      The wife asked us where the woman went. We had no answer. They must have seen the look of amazement on our faces because they lowered their voices and said, “Are you all right? What happened? What did you see?”

      I began to shake with fear as I answered, “We’ve just seen a ghost!”

      Erlinda said, “Let’s get the hell out of here, now!” Once back at the camp, we told them the details of the woman and her bloody stomach.

      The couple decided, while there was still enough light, to return to the grove of paloverdes and search for the woman. They looked everywhere in the general area. The couple’s dog sniffed the ground but did not seem to pick up any scent. After a while searching, they decided to stop, since it was getting dark and they didn’t want to risk the chance of being bitten by a rattlesnake.

      That night, it took Erlinda and me a very long time before we felt comfortable enough to fall asleep. The couple that also saw the woman from a distance must have had more questions they wanted to ask us, but under the circumstances, they must have sensed it would be best to save their questions for the morning.

      Morning finally did arrive—not soon enough for Erlinda and me. We discussed the details of the night before and returned to the site of the woman’s disappearance. Once again, we did not find a clue or any indication of what transpired the evening before. Erlinda turned to me and said, “I think it would be best if we hiked back home today. What do you think?”

      I didn’t need any further prodding. I answered, “Let’s get going!” We said our good-byes to the couple from Taos and headed on the trail back home.

      As you can imagine, all Erlinda and I talked about was the woman. We tried to make sense of what we had seen, but it only caused us to have more questions about something that seemed impossible to explain.

      Once at home, I bought and read our local newspapers for any report of a woman who had disappeared or had been reported missing. I didn’t find a thing. The local television news didn’t report any missing woman either. Erlinda and I decided to drop the subject and get on with our lives.

      However, my curiosity prompted me to pick up the phone and give my uncle a call. My uncle is retired after working 25 years for the US Forest Service as a surveyor. I decided to give him a call simply to inquire about anything unusual that he may have experienced or heard during his employment. He found my questions to be rather odd but soon told me about several fellow workers who had encountered a woman’s ghost that fit my description.

      He told me that about ten years ago, two men were surveying a small tract of land farther north of the area where Erlinda and I had seen the ghost. He said the men saw this strange Indian woman running naked among some short desert brush. Aside from her nakedness, the men were interested in another odd occurrence. Getting a better view with binoculars, they could see her disappear and reappear. All this took place in broad daylight.

      The woman appeared sporadically and watched the men at their work for the full four days they were in the area. She never got any closer than several hundred yards from where they were. It was obvious to them that she did not want anyone approaching her. Not wanting to arouse any jokes from their fellow workers back at the office, the two men kept the ghost woman a secret from the other employees. My uncle was the only friend they felt secure enough to trust with their information. Aside from what my uncle knew from rumors, he was unaware of anyone else experiencing any strange apparitions of this ghostly Native American woman.

      Erlinda and I have not heard any more about this ghost. I would like to know what she is doing up there in the desert among the cactus and boulders. Does she have something to tell us about how she died? Who killed her, perhaps? Maybe