My husband and I honeymooned in the mountains of Colorado after our wedding festivities. We stayed in a cabin that was near a mid- size creek. It was named by the native Utes people, and US soldiers alike, & called “Troublesome Creek.”

The name was given because of the difficulty US soldiers had while trying to cross it as they traveled from their secluded mountain Base towards town in the late 1800s. The Soldiers, thinking it was an easy, shallow, & less-than intimidating passage..attempted to wade through it on foot with little concern or caution. The creek had a tendency to flood quickly at times; due to snow melting from the peaks, & flowing downward to the rivers valleys below. The soldiers did not expect a flash flood; and only about half of them survived. The other twenty two men, drowned.

I read this little piece of history in the information binder that served as a coffee table book in our little, one bedroom cabin on the creek..

It is not entirely the whole story though. In fact, I haven’t been able to find a record of the creek flooding during that time at all. Several decades before and after, yes, but not at the same time that all those men drowned. After some internet digging, I found out that the US soldiers were ambushed by the Utes Indians, who were seeking revenge for the Meeker Massacre. The Utes most likely forcefully drowned the soldiers as a way to to avenge what was taken from them; land, lives, dignity and most importantly, a future & identity.

Maybe it was something to do with the vastness, awe & wonder of the mountains that I had yet to see with my adult eyes, until now, but I could feel the environment. I could feel the land around me as if it were aware of its own life. Even the cabin itself; The wood that it was made from, seemed conscious..

I felt incredibly uneasy near the creek bank. Which is odd for me to feel that way, honestly. I’m the type of person that would stupidly jump in the water on a whim, or walk through it foolishly..much like those soldiers did so many years ago.  

I felt so strange, but not strange in a light-hearted, positive way. It was a sinister kind of strange, like as if you are being drawn to the water while simultaneously fearing it immensely. Maybe it was the babbling current, which seemed less peaceful than its’ online description.

To me, it seemed more like a thousand wandering voices mumbling indecipherable sounds one on top of another. I’d swear that I would hear a distinct word or phrase(s) when I was alone near the water at night smoking my cigarettes.

 The words I thought I heard weren’t totally clear, so it’s possible for multiple interpretations; Or It could have been all in my head, but it seemed so different. It seemed more than when you freak yourself out & hear or see something from a peripheral view that you can easily dismiss without a second thought. This whole experience, It all seemed so different..and so heavy.  Don’t get me wrong. It was a lovely, quiet and secluded group of cabins in a beautiful area, but It would have been even lovelier if I didn’t feel like I was losing my head and hearing river nymphs, or whatever the hell I was hearing. 

This next part gets even stranger, and much harder to describe..but I’ll do my best and hopefully you don’t think I’m a hallucinating loony-toon or something..

I really don’t like having any memories of this, but I do. Very real ones that I’m trying to forget. It’s hard to because I have a need to understand things that I do not understand.  Maybe talking it out like this will help…

…Anyway, That first night after our first day there, we basically stayed in after going to eat in the little town nearby. We had a few drinks on the porch that faced the creek. This was nice & relaxing until I wanted a cigarette and had to go down by the creek. Even with my husband visible on the porch right above me, it stressed me out getting closer to the water..

It was maybe midnight. We had drinks, but weren’t drunk. My husband smoked a little, but not enough to really make a big effect on him. I certainly didn’t think he seemed high or drunk. I know I wasn’t. We were exhausted from the wedding events, I’ll admit, but being tired doesn’t make a person delusional, right? ..Let alone two people (with very similar, if not same, delusion..)? I also know though that despite my tiredness, I was awake much of that night-not half awake, or in a sleep paralysis state- awake, awake. I have experienced sleep paralysis before years ago; This was not that. Sleep paralysis is frightening, yeah, but this was more than frightening. This I saw with my own two, very real and awake eyes…

The whole night I felt like something else was in the room. I kept waking up and thinking if I turned my head I would see something bad. I felt like a child, putting my head under the covers, not wanting to see anything I didn’t want to see. My husband was snoring hard, so I knew he was asleep. 

It was sometime in the AM when I was wide awake again, that I saw a blackness from the corner of my eyes above me near the ceiling fan. I instinctively looked up and saw a swirling black mass hovering over us about ten feet above me. It looked like a misty black cloud, but dense and very clear visually. It was not dream-like or hazy, and though it didn’t have eyes, it felt very much like it was looking right at me, and consuming me. This was real. God, I can’t believe this was real, but it was. Very real; And I admit, I was terrified, but also in an amazed state, and confused because I had no clue what the hell it was. It didn’t feel good. It felt dark and heavy. I don’t know how long I was starring at it when my husband woke up abruptly. In a kind of panic, he sat straight up, breathing heavily. I asked him if he was awake, but he just kind of grunted and laid back down. Sometime after, we both fell asleep. Somehow, I fell asleep.

The next day, I asked him if he had a nightmare or something because he woke up so suddenly like that. He didn’t remember waking up or sitting up, but he did have an intense dream. He said he dreamt that he saw a dark steam of some kind floating above him. The black cloud formed into tentacles, like an octopus, and began reaching down towards him. He said in his dream that he put his hand out and it touched him.

What was the most terrifying to him was that he could actually feel it touching him in his sleep and it seemed so realistic. I think I got instant chills when he told me that, after seeing what I saw. 

I was too afraid to tell him what I experienced and wanted to enjoy our post wedding bliss, but it was hard not to be afraid. The next day we went to town to shop and stuff. I found this weird mystic store that sold stones and other religious items. I went in by myself while My husband waited for a table at a bar near by. I asked the store owner, who was a strange man himself, if he had anything for protection against negativity, trying to be as vague as possible. I was still too shocked by it all to fully admit to myself that I actually saw something. He gave me some rocks that claimed to protect against “evil emotional intentions.” Later on I hid the rocks under our bed on my husband’s side. My gut told me that if it was reaching for him that maybe he needed more protection than I did.

I don’t know if it really worked, or if we just got too drunk to notice anything the next couple of nights, but after that I didn’t have any other problems. I was still fearful of the creek & even thought about putting a stone in it, but was to afraid to get that close. Instead I took the stones home with me and left one single one under the mattress bed as we left on our last day.

Maybe I was tired. I don’t know. I’m sure there’s a rational explanation. I just can’t seem to find one yet.

When I learned about all the pain and anger that the land absorbed in the past, I thought maybe that dark cloud was just a manifestation of that. Maybe the creek too. I sound crazy, even to myself , I know; but i swear, this was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. And hopefully something I’ll never see again..