Something happened to us today that was kind of creepy. I live out in the California desert, and for years have loved to hike and explore. In recent years folks from the city have moved in and things have changed somewhat. In recent years the four wheelers have discovered our area and even though I believe in live and let live I do get frustrated with how they permanently tear up the countryside, but worse than them are the occultist. There has been evidence for years of occultic ceremonies, complete with sacrafices etc, that take place in remote parts of the country. I have a general idea where they practice their activities and so try to avoid those areas. Becasue of that, many areas that I used to hike, I no longer do so. It seems that it is because of either the occultist, or dope growers, or those who come out to the desert to "cook" drugs, that I no longer go to certain areas. What a person does is their business, and not mine, so I try to avoid the above mentioned groups. So, I have found a new area to hike, shoot, picnic etc. and except for the occassional mountain lion my wife and I have had no trouble. Until today.
Now, what happened was not harmful to us, but was rather just down right creepy. We arrived at the end of the dirt road and parked, as we always do, in an area where there is a lot of indian petrogliphs (rock art). As we parked, a very old woman crossed the dirt road and went to an area of rocks that that is piled very high (some of the boulders here are as large as a house, or larger). She went into the rocks, with her camera then came out, looked at us, and without saying a word got into a truck with a man and drove away. I noticed that in the area was some graffiti that wasn't there last time I was there (a couple of weeks ago), and I noticed that someone had spilled some red paint on the side of one of these huge boulders. I made a mental note of these things and then prepared to leave on our hike. My wife and I locked up the car, took up my pack, and with "Duke" our hound, pit bull mix we set off across the desert.
About 2 1/2 hours later we headed back and as we came over the ridge I noticed a truck parked near ours, and a man and another old woman walking about, also with a camera. They saw us, and I waved and they waved back. They took some pictures of one panel of rock art and then headed straight to where the previous old woman had been. My wife overheard them say something how "they burned everything up." They took some pictures and then quickly left. Now mind you, this location is several miles off the highway. It is a dead end dirt road that is in terrible shape, and even with a four wheeled drive you have to be careful or you will get stuck. It is not the kind of place you go to unless you have a particular purpose or destination in mind.
After they left my wife and I went over to where they were. We found that the rock there has recently been covered with strange symbols, and that someone has had a huge bonfire there. The soot on the rock was about 5 feet wide and at least 15 feet high and had an oily look to it, not like a fire from burning brush. This was a BIG fire. Strangely enough, all of the soot on the ground was gone. It was just normal sand, no evidence there had been a fire. If you looked in the bushes there were remants of burnt sticks and charcoal, but other than that, no evidence of anything. My wife watched from a distance as I went up to examine it and photograph the symbols. I called our dog up and he took a couple of steps, turned around and went back to my wife, clearly distresed. I called him again, and he reacted in the same way. I finally used my "you better come" voice and he slowly came up and sat at my feet, ears down and clearly afraid (he's usually very bold). I pet him and said "you can go" and he ran. After this, I went to examine the red "paint" I had seen from a distance, only, it wasn't paint. It was candle wax, and there was a lot of it, in two locations. It wasn't on top of a rock, but was set on the side of a rock that sloped upwards at a steep angle. Somebody had set at least 2 candles there, and they had burned for a long time. When I saw the candles I realized that this was probably the site of another occultic ceremony. Some times they sacrafice animals, and rumors abound of possible sacrafice of things other than animals. Anyway, as it was late in the day, we left and I doubt I'll go back. As I sit here in our living room typing this my dog is sitting in his bed wimpering. My first thought was that he was asleep and having a bad dream, but he is awake. I am not sure what took place at that location in the desert, but I don't think it was good.
