[This is a story about] long ago, when ghosts and similar creatures were around.

Wohei [this one is about] how a certain man fooled a ghost. He was walking downstream here, and then he realized that someone was following him. He kept turning around to look, he’s turning around to look; he was looking all around for whoever it was, but he didn’t see anybody.

Wohei he clearly heard the sound of someone walking. Whenever he stopped walking, it stopped walking. Wohei he sets off again, and he would hear the sound of someone walking towards him again. He was certain that someone was following him.

Wohei after a while, he cleared his throat. It cleared its throat. He clapped his hands, and it clapped its hands. He was coming this way [towards Ethete]; he was upstream there somewhere on his way home here; and it was dark.

Wohei there at the Red Hills, wohei [at] the Washakie Springs, wohei right there is a bridge. He was going to have to walk right over that bridge. And way out away from the settlements, someone was hollering out in a strange way. Every time it hollered out, it was a little closer to him.

And now the man had come really close to the bridge. Soon [the ghost] was real close to him, [judging from] where it hollered out last. Right around the bridge was where he heard it last.

Then he arrived there at the bridge. And someone was standing there. [But] he didn’t want to run off back in the other direction. He didn’t want to run off back that way. “I might as well go ahead while I’ve still got my wits about me.” He closes his eyes, and then he started running straight through there. He doesn’t know if he going to run into [that ghost], or what might happen. He just kept on running this way [without even slowing down].

And that’s they told this story. That spot out there, well apparently there’s something powerful there. Whoever wants to go on a vision quest [should do there]. But maybe nobody has. I was supposed to take my brother-in-law out there. I told him the story, and – what do you know! – and he didn’t ever go out there again. Instead, his father took him way out here somewhere, way out north. He got scared of the Red Hills area again [after hearing the story].

That’s the story I told him. That’s how the old men told it. They knew all about the places to go on vision quests. That’s it, how they told it. Wohei.