Thoughtprints

In a recent post I tickled your curiosity with a promise of a true story told to me by my friend and neighbor, Darrel. I can assure you, it is as true a story as there ever was. But first, allow me to preface it with a little history so that you may get the full impact of what I am about to tell you:

The area in which I live — specifically northeast Colorado — is steeped in history, considering the original inhabitants of the Colorado High Plains were Native Americans of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Blackfoot, Sioux, Kiowa, and Pawnee tribes. Organized exploration of the area by Americans began with the visit on June 26, 1820 of the expedition of Major Stephen Harriman Long, who referred to much of the area between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains as “The Great American Desert.” One of the final battles of the Indian wars, the Battle of Summit Springs between Tall Bull and his Cheyenne Dog Soldiers and Colonel Eugene A. Carr and the U.S. Army, took place near Sterling on July 11, 1869.

So, as you can imagine, the country around here is rich in Native American artifacts. As I mentioned in the other post, my neighbor Darrel is an avid artifact hunter and extremely knowledgeable when it comes to said artifacts. He has met many people over the years as passionate as he with regard to hunting and collecting those amazing items left behind by the Native Americans of old. One such person was a man who, after first discovering the past-time, became very, very zealous and went artifact hunting whenever he possibly could. One day he called Darrel and excitedly invited him over to see what he had just found. He wouldn’t tell him over the phone what it was. He wanted to “surprise” him. Darrel called up another hunter friend of his and asked him to come along to see what this “amazing” find was. When they got there, they were surprised alright!

Sitting there, on a display shelf, was a skull. A Native American skull. He had become so excited when he began to find small artifacts like arrowheads and stuff that he just kept on digging (some Native American tribes buried belongings with the dead) . When he saw the skull he was elated! Darrel and his friend weren’t so elated. In fact, when they left this guy’s house they looked at each other and both said they didn’t think it was right that he had brought it home like that. Not right at all. They agreed that neither of them would ever dream of doing such a thing!

A couple of months later this fella who had the skull sitting on his shelf happened to walk by Darrel’s house. Darrel had to look twice before he realized who he was looking at. The guy had changed completely. He looked horrible! Darrel asked, “What happened to you???” The guy proceeded to tell him that he had become very ill, but the doctors didn’t know what was making him sick. Not one single doctor could find one single thing wrong. He had lost so much weight and felt so sick that he told Darrel he was dying. He said he was wasting away.

Well, Darrel’s not sure if someone said something to this guy or if he figured it out for himself, but apparently he decided to take that skull and put it back where he found it. To the exact place he found it. He buried it in the very spot from which he had dug it up four months earlier. Darrel didn’t know that, of course, until he saw him two months later and found him in perfect health once again. He was amazed at how good he looked. Amazed and happy! He asked his friend what had happened; had the doctors found out what was wrong with him? Nope. He told Darrel that he started to get well as soon as he put that skull back.

Coincidence? I think not.

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