The Black Stranger and the 1/2 buried heart

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zentull
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Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 11:15 am
Location: Surprise, Arizona

The Black Stranger and the 1/2 buried heart

Post by zentull »

There are 2 pictures I posted of a trip I made in 1988 to Black Top Mesa. The trip was the result of some rather puzzling advice and a story I was given and I had hoped to understand the rhyme and reason of iton this particular trip. This was probably one of the more unpleasant trips I would make. I have recounted in other posts of what happened to my friend and my encounter on the return with a very stubborn rattlesnake.

I was told to look for the dark/black stranger who watches the east. He would lie in wait underneath the buried heart. The story told of how he could transform into a dog. There was some other stuff I am still trying to figure out. Some of it seemed to indicate that I travel northward to Black Top Mesa. Rather than come in by the more logical Miners needle route, I came in through cardiac hill and up Needle canyon. Quicker seemed better in those days. My friend after several hours suffered heat stroke in the Black Top vicinity and I began the long tedious task of hauling him out. At the time my mind was no longer on the puzzle but just getting home. As we approached the backside of the Needle, I decided to take a picture while we were taking a break. I stepped forward several feet on the trail, snapped the picture and looked down at the camera. That is when I saw the snake coiled a foot in front of me. I swear he was not there or in the vicinity moments earlier. I managed to convince the snake to move on eventually and then we carried on to the parking lot in far less time than I would of thought.

My friend did not believe in the old ways prior to this trip. He is a descendant of a Traveling medicine man and his Native American wife. We followed bloodtrails and chased girls through what seemed a lifetime together. He was probably the closest thing I had to a true blood brother. During the beginning of the trip he openly challenged the mountain spirits and after things got worse cursed them. He never would approach the Superstitions again after that incident. I explained to him so many times it was not about my beliefs, but my respect for such things that I believed watched over me. After we had made our way across the backside of the Needle he made a sincere apology and a promise that if he came to safety he would never enter the mountains again. Moments later a cloud covered the sun and a cool breeze began. We found nice shady spots every once in a while that I did not recall on the way in. As strange of a trip as it was the strangest part came last.

After I had the film developed some time later I noticed the last picture I took was of Weavers Needle as a ? buried heart and below and to the left behind a boulder was a dark shape watching east. The picture is in the member archives. I see a shape of a sinister man and sometimes that of a dog.
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