S1 Ep34: The Black Cloud Hanging Over Me

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When something unexplainable happens to you, it can make you feel isolated or alone. But trust us, you're not. For over a decade, you've been sending your strange stories to Astonishing Legends. And now it's time for our fellow legenders to hear them, too. Join us weekly in Blanket Fortiana as we dig through your intriguing messages to the Astonishing Dead Letter office. Tonight's episode, The Black Cloud Hanging Over Me. We're particularly fond and respectful of Native American culture here in Blanket Fortiana, and that's why tonight we're very excited to be sharing a dead letter from a couple with deep ties to the Otoe-Missouri tribe in Oklahoma. Yeah, these stories are wonderful, and for reasons that we can't be certain about, a lot of times they're very difficult to find online, which is where we do the bulk of our research. Now, we've been told that oral history is really the primary vehicle for these kinds of things, and being a resident of the South, I can believe that because I know here, too, there is a strong oral tradition of strange and unusual stories that not a soul has ever bothered to put on the Internet in any way, shape, or form. But these stories do exist within tribal communities, and they also exist here, for me, in the South anyway, a lot of times in small rural churches in remote areas. We get around folks, and they'll tell you all kinds of stories about strange things they've seen out in the countryside over the years, or Grandpa saw this, and he was with a bunch of friends, and they all saw it, too. But none of those stories are ever going to wind up on the Internet, and a lot of times they don't even get told to the younger generations in those families in those cases. So that's where oral history really comes in. But it's great to get stories like this that you might not otherwise hear about. Yeah, that's why we're not only excited but honored to have stories like this come into the Dead Letter office, to be shared with the world at large, and also, hopefully, preserved for future generations. Even though one solar flare pretty much knocks out everything we've ever done, right, I think? Well, probably for the better. I don't know. But then it goes back to oral traditions. So we're just back to where we started and have been surviving and thriving since the well-sensed humans. I don't know. But it's great, though, that we do have these electronic means to share these stories, because I think it helps when we do. Yeah. Even though, yeah, we're cautioned against them for our own protection a lot of the time, and for the protection of the storyteller. So I can understand that. Well, you know, hopefully some of our servers, though, that we do have down in some abandoned salt mines protected from gamma radiation. Weren't you working on something like that? Yeah, yeah. There are some. Actually, there's a lot of server farms that are in old salt mines. That's true, yeah, and deep underground. But aren't you also going to put our entire back catalog on vinyl LPs? Yeah, I wanted to do that. That's a really stable, long-term format. But I think that project is best described as cost prohibitive. Except when you drop the LP and it chips and then it's unplayable or scratched. Yeah, so everything's got its problems. Yeah, well, you just got to take care of them. But they got a long shelf life. I mean, I'm listening to my parents' records that are like 50 years old and older in some cases. Oh, that's true, and I just re-heard the story. I'm not sure you're aware, but apparently it's the first recording ever of a UFO crash by Thomas Edison. Do you know that little anecdote that he was testing out? No, I don't know about that one. I think it was in the wax cylinder phase, which were the first iteration of the medium here. But he's trying to put down grooves into recordable media. And as he's goofing around, he hears this large crash out on his property, and he goes out to investigate. And it's some kind of downed something. I'm not going to say UFO. I don't know if he knew. But it's from the skies and not of this earth, apparently. And he comes back and realizes his machine has been recording the entire time. Now, that recording existed for a long time until, of course, I think the FBI got a hold of it, or the government. And it's been squirreled away. The CIA, one of those alphabet companies, squirreled it away for many years. But it supposedly exists out there. Oh, that's interesting. Well, there you go. Well, tonight's story comes to us from a listener who wishes us to call her Ouchmouse. Yeah, I love that. That's a great pseudonym, Ouchmouse. Thank you so much for sending it in. Forrest, I think it's your turn to read tonight. Well, okay, then. I'm listening to the last part of the Resurrection Mary series, and I'm loving it. And it even makes me think of one of the more bizarre stories that I have from my own personal experiences. I'm a skeptic believer, if that makes any sense. I try to logic my way through most stories about the paranormal, even in spite of the fact that I have experienced a fair amount of strange things in my life that I don't think can be easily explained, as has my husband. He's from Oklahoma. His mom's family lives in Ponca City, and his dad's family is native and is a member of a very small tribe called the Oto Missouria. The first time I was out there meeting his family, we were driving back from Ponca City to Tulsa under the cover of night. Apparently, a big mistake that no one felt they should tell me about. I didn't know really anything at all about the area that we were driving through. We were driving on Highway 60 at the junction of Highway 18 and 60, right outside of Burbank, Oklahoma, on the Osage Heritage Trail byway. And then my boyfriend suddenly said, Hold your breath until I say to let go. If I can, I try to always hold my breath when going past cemeteries, and have since I was a kid. I held my breath as long as I could, but it was a longer stretch than I anticipated as he sped along on the road, and I cheated, stealing a quick inhale. This was the second mistake, as just a moment later, something that looked like a low black cloud slid in front of our truck and hit the front of it, buckling the truck, and moving on. It was scary, and now my husband sped up. It didn't feel like we had run over anything, which made it even stranger. After a moment of driving, and the pair of us thinking whatever strangeness we had driven through was over, it became obvious our truck had a flat tire. Again, and I want to make this clear, we didn't run anything over, and I didn't see anything in the rear view, which I had checked immediately. We pulled off to the shoulder, and had to wait for AAA to come tow us back to Ponca City, and my husband slowly began to tell me that the stretch of road that we had been driving through was one of the areas in the state where indigenous people had been buried by settlers, and that multiple other people had experienced similar things. His mom even told him off for taking that road at night. This is one of the many strange stories in Oklahoma. My husband recommends looking into the Indian meridian and weather anomalies, and I know you guys have said that you don't want to look at broad subjects again, but if you would be interested, I can 100% recommend it. There are some great weird stories. Okay, so I immediately want to go for a drive on this road, but I'm going to need to know where to hold my breath, because I get the feeling there's not any grave markers. You're going to have to be indigenous to know where the dangerous spots are, you know? Well, I do wonder what the holding of the breath does, and that's not to be flippant about it. I wonder what kind of, is it symbolic? Is there something you should not be actually breathing in physically, or is it, what's the mechanism there? Spiritual or physiological or both? I think it's just a general superstition, although there seem to be connections to Judaism, but there are folks that suggest that you should hold your breath so that spirits won't enter your body. That's what I was thinking, yeah. I mean, just you don't inhale anything, any kind of fog or mist or something like that. But I was thinking also people whistling past the graveyard. That's more of a psychological thing, where you're exhaling air, but taking your mind off of it and trying to lighten the mood as you walk past the graveyard. So it was an interesting connection, though, about not wanting to breathe or holding your breath past cemeteries, but also from somebody, the wife here, from another culture, and having a native culture saying like, yeah, you've got to hold your breath too past this stretch, and past the whole stretch. Right, which is, how long is that? I'm going to need to do some training. But another superstition, which I hadn't heard before, also is that when you walk away from a gravesite, you're supposed to walk backwards so the spirit doesn't follow you home, which I had never heard that until we got this dead letter. Right, right. So I thought that was interesting. Well, then you wonder, and I don't know what your stance is on this, but it's that old, not believing in the devil will protect you from him, because if you don't adhere to this stuff, does it actually affect you? Because, I mean, the other thing I would notice, and I don't know the stats on this, but whether or not various cultures who are more, you know, as part of more of their tradition to take these things more seriously, if they're more affected, if they don't follow the rules here. Right, right. Well, if you know of some practice that'll keep you protected, why not do it anyway, you know, just to be on the safe side? I tell you, this is really interesting to me too, because I was looking it up where they were driving. It turns out this is a beautiful drive, and it's a cultural treasure that comes up on pretty much every road trip planner app there is as an ideal drive. I found a PDF brochure on the Osage Nation website about it, and we'll have a link to that here in the show notes. But here's what it says about the Osage Nation Heritage Trail. Looking for an adventure that will take you off the beaten path? Look no further than our scenic byway tour. This incredible journey will take you through some of the most breathtaking landscapes in the country while providing educational information about the Osage Nation along the way. The Osage Nation Heritage Trail Scenic Byway is an incredibly scenic and historic route that spans over 65 miles along U.S. Highway 60, starting from the western border of the Osage Nation near Ponca City and the Arkansas River. This byway passes through the capital of the Osage Nation, Pawhuska, or Pawhuska, I'm just not sure how to pronounce that, and ends near Bartlesville, Oklahoma. This route is perfect for anyone who wants to experience the beauty of Oklahoma and learn about the rich heritage of the Osage people. What makes this byway so special is the abundance of byway turnout locations. These locations offer amazing views and informational panels that provide fascinating insights into the history and culture of the Osage Nation. The panels highlight the contributions of the Osage people, the beauty of the tall grass prairie, and the oil and ranching heritage of the Osage Nation reservation. Each stop is a great opportunity to learn more about this unique region and its people, traveling along the Osage Nation Heritage Trail Scenic Byway is a great way to explore the wonders of the Osage Nation reservation. Whether you're a history buff or a nature lover or just looking for a scenic drive, this route has something for everyone. So why not take a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and embark on a journey through this beautiful and historic route? You won't regret it. So this drive sounds awesome, except for if you do it at night and don't hold your breath in the right places. Because this is like, this is calling me. I love road trips. And I was like, God, this sounds amazing. I would love to do this. Yes. You and I love road trips. So many of our listeners do, I imagine, as well. And this sounds terrific. I mean, it sounds lovely. And you can't imagine anything low, black, hanging, you know, demon cloud. Right. Affecting any part of the trip. But then again, it's at night and it's a certain stretch. And you would not know these. As you were alluding to before we read the letter here, that this is literally perhaps tribal knowledge, as they say. This is not shared with anybody else. And so, again, I do wonder if it affects you more if you don't know about it, if you're more ignorant. And then that leads me to wonder about, what about the flat tire? What is it about the fog? Is this, well, one, my one thought about this is the, we talked about this quite a bit now because it comes up so much in that people seeing mists and fogs. Yeah. And that goes back to the beginning of paranormal encounters and descriptions. And then. And the horror movie. The fog. Yeah. Not only the fog, but Stephen King's The Mist. And that being a byproduct of opening another portal. And that's a fascinating concept. I didn't really put together when I first saw the movie. Other than. Right. Blue, purple monsters come out of it. And. Yeah. Yeah. Perhaps not one of his best allotted Stephen King movies, but I enjoyed it. And it had a lot of creepy concepts in it about what if that happens. And everything on the other side is just horrible and. Yeah. And can kill you in 10 different ways. But in this, we just talked about this recently on A Dead Letter. And it's about what do other people see? If you're seeing the fog, does somebody else at another perspective actually see a more formed object or creature? Right. Or if you're seeing the formed creature, do other people just see the fog or mist? Yeah. Or is it always just a mist? Yeah. So certainly we've heard a lot about, I mean, it's such a common thing too, with the supernatural and ghost hunting and people seeing, you know, black miasmas of a blacker than black fog. It's not just like mist or smoke or something like that. It's got a real weight to it. So those are curious kind of things. But then you do wonder about the aftermath and the flat tire. And our author here, Ouchmouse, describing herself as a, quote, skeptic believer, unquote, we totally get that. So then I do wonder if the flat tire, was that just a coincidence? But also my critical side, yes, I have one. My critical skeptical side of the brain would say, well, possibly, but it's also a facet of what's called heuristic thinking or heuristics, which psychology today would explain as a heuristic is a mental shortcut that allows an individual to make a decision, pass judgment, or solve a problem quickly and with minimal mental effort. While heuristics can reduce the burden of decision-making and free up cognitive resources, they can also be costly when they lead individuals to miss critical affirmation or act on unjust biases. And in this point, this connects, this heuristic thinking connects to a concept for which the Latin phrase says, post hoc ergo propter hoc, which translates to after this, therefore, because of this, and refers to the fallacy of assuming that one event caused another simply because it occurred first. Right. I'm saying it's like, sure. I ate a steak and cheese salad for lunch and three hours later, I have gastric distress on a terrible level. So obviously that cheese was bad. Right. But it could have been the steak or it could have been, oh, I forgot. I also threw in some questionable shrimp I forgot about. What you're getting at here is you think maybe the flat tire is unrelated. Well, obviously that's a choice, right? That you just, there happened to be a nail or you just had a flat and it happened to be in that stretch and it happened right after this other thing occurred. So, you know, that's the rational, skeptical theory on that because what else happened? Well, you had something very unusual and for me, it's like that black fog cloud, whatever it was, does not seem natural. I've certainly driven through patches of weird fog that suddenly arose and I was just thinking about it. You know, that was, I've told this story before about Jill and Roger and myself driving through Point Pleasant at like four in the morning, 3.34 in the morning and a weird fog coming up, just enveloping the car. And then it just kind of quickly dissipated. And our first thinking was like, well, that's weird, but we didn't really leap to that some kind of spirit. Yeah. It was just like, it's late at night. It cooled off quite a bit. There's a body of stagnant water nearby. It's probably natural. It just seemed a little odd. Right. A lot of it for me is also the feeling you get. And yeah, you can amp yourself up when you're expecting something strange to happen. We certainly were wondering if it could, and then the fog came up, but I think the consensus in the car was just like, Ooh, this is kind of spooky, but, but not an entity. Right. Well, and what's interesting about this too. And by the way, you did mention on another DLO, we had brought up the fog, the story of our friend, Max Kelso that, and he came on to a junk drawer number 26. If you're a Patreon member, you can listen to that. It's a great story. He came on and talked about when he was a Boy Scout summer camp. Max was talking about seeing this strange fog in the woods that was approaching him and his friends who were in the distance looking at him and trying to find him said, who was that man you were talking to? So to them, it looked like a human being. And to him, it looked like a fog to the, your earlier point. He'd sent in that story a long time ago. Then we eventually got to it. And then he told it live at Monster Fest. So, but the other thing about the fog that's interesting too, is when we talked about this when we had Linda Godfrey on for her book, Monsters Among Us, she's passed away, but that was a great show if you can go and find Monsters Among Us episode of our show, which there's also a podcast called Monsters Among Us, which is a great show, by the way. But our episode, we had Linda on and she talked about that book. And in the book, there, there were these cases of this sort of green mist or green fog that seemed to be actually accomplishing things like making a roadkill that they had left out as bait on a fence disappear. The fog came in front of it on the trail camera. And then when the fog passed, the roadkill was gone. So strange stuff there. But the other interesting thing about this story though, is that Ouch Mouse said in her story, low black clouds slid in front of our truck and hit the front of it, buckling the truck and moving on. You know, she made it clear it didn't feel like they ran over anything, but they had a collision with something that felt solid, even though it appeared to be a mist or a fog. So that's interesting to me too. Whatever the reason they got the flat tire, to your point, you know, that's actual physical interaction. But the other thing too, Forrest, that I want to talk about was like, they had to stop. They had to pull over and they wound up getting towed back to where they came from, which to me is a little bit, maybe has some symbolism to it. But they had to go back to Ponca where they had started out and they didn't get a chance to complete their journey that night. So I think that's pretty interesting too. Certainly could be, but also it could have been the shorter distance. Actually, I did look on the map at where this happened because she describes pretty much the exact spot. And yeah, they are just a little bit less than halfway to their destination. So... No, I did think about, right, the irony or symbolism of having to go back where you're started or being cast back by some unseen force, compelling, some unseen compelling force. But on the other hand, we don't know the information, you know, did their destination, did they not have a AAA? Was it too far to tow them to their destination and then have the AAA go back? You know what I'm saying? There's other factors that we don't know about. So we're kind of... Yeah, that's true. And, but also I think it's hilarious that you may be having an encounter with an old-timey curse, but you still got to call AAA to get out of that situation. Well, who are you going to call, an opposing positive force that pulls you all the way home? No, it's... Yeah, you know, that AAA guy shows up, gets out, and he's wearing a scuba mask or he's holding his breath the entire time. He's just using his hands. Well, that's a good point. I would want to talk to the AAA drivers who have to cruise that stretch. Is that a stretch where anything more strange occurs than someplace else along the highway there? And... Yeah. And again, you're going to get, you know, the rational, quote unquote, skeptical viewpoint. It's like the Bermuda Triangle. It's like, well, when you really crunch the numbers, you know, the Bermuda Triangle doesn't have any more strangeness to it than any other part of the ocean. It's just that it gets all the attention and people think things happen more. And maybe they're causing things to happen because they're making mistakes, because they're expecting things to happen there. And so if you take the real, the bunky turn of it, then you'd have to crunch the data. And then like, I guarantee the data is not going to show anything more unusual than any other stretch of highway. Sure. Or stuff happens. But no, I'm of the belief that there are patches and there's all kinds of strange roads, like, you know, Crybaby Bridge and, or the Crying Woman stretch of road. There's one, geez, well, Shades of Death Road where strange stuff happens. Also, there's also a stretch of road, uh, just outside of, uh, Detroit called Knock Knock Road. If you drive along it, you will hear scratches or knocking on your car. I think it's, uh, Denton Road, if I can remember correctly here, but we actually know somebody, you and I, whose dad had an experience, I think when he was younger, driving along that stretch of road and claims that he heard, uh, knocking on the car or scratching. Yeah. What is that? Is it a natural phenomenon? Are people mistaking something? Are you just amping yourself up? So it's the whole gamut of, uh, you know, from belief to skeptic possibilities and anecdotes of this. So, but I do believe the people that, like our friend's dad who tell stories like that, that something did happen and it's no doubt unusual, but I'm not sure of the cause. But in any case, like I said, I, it was probably, if you know about the, uh, the cure to this, probably best to do it anyway. Well, I'm super interested in more history from the area. And like we talked about in the cold open, ouch mouse, I just wanted to let you know, tried to look up anything about the Indian meridian and weather anomalies, couldn't find a thing about it. So I don't know if your husband has suggestions on where we could find more info. I did find the Indian meridian, which was interesting. I hadn't heard of that, which is, uh, I guess just a demarcation that came from historically. Have you heard of it before? The name is vaguely familiar, but I'd not heard any information about it other than, I think people mentioning in passing, you know, when you talk about things like the 39th parallel, I do wonder what parallel it's in. Well, it's vertical. It's a longitude. But you've heard of, uh, strange areas being sacred along lines of energy, supposedly, uh, like ley lines, L-E-Y line. And, uh, I think first it was a theory put forth by Alfred Watkins in the 1920s, the old straight track and that, uh, ancient monuments like Stonehenge and, uh, all these, uh, ancient people sites, these Neolithic sites, when you plot them on a map, they do line up. There is some geometric patterning going on here and that they were known to the ancients for being, uh, places of power and energy. And an even, uh, crazier idea is that this was known to the military, uh, these, these lines and locations and that many military installations are also placed along ley lines. Right. Because, uh, somebody, whoever had power to, to plot these things out also knew about this and want to take advantage of the earth's natural energy grid. So, well, whatever you believe, I do believe that there are areas, uh, I was just thinking, uh, talk about road trips when we were in North Carolina and you had driven me past, is it Pilot Rock? Uh, Pilot Mountain. Pilot Mountain. That's it. And it's just what I was thinking at the time, like whatever you believe or want to believe in the, you know, magical properties of it, just looking at it, same thing with Devil's Tower is just being near it. And, uh, it's an awe inspiring experience. You are as a human being compelled to, uh, to be drawn to it and, uh, it'd give a little bit of reverence just for its natural beauty. And the fact that this thing just pops up out of the, uh, out of the, uh, the landscape. And so it demands to be reckoned with. Yes. And recognized and respected. And just a brief overview, by the way, on the Indian meridian, this is in, uh, longitude 97 degrees, 14 minutes, 30 seconds west from Greenwich, which extends from the Red River to the south boundary of Kansas. And with the baseline and latitude of 34 degrees, 30 minutes north. And it's a, an arbitrary survey line. It was part of a land survey done in 1870. And, uh, it's just an arbitrary point about one mile south of Fort Arbuckle and six miles west of present Davis, Oklahoma. And the north south line was designated as the Indian meridian. And then there's an east west line designated as the Indian baseline. And it's in the National Register of Historic Places. So that's kind of interesting. I don't know what about weather anomalies there, though. I did try to find something on that and couldn't find anything. So maybe if anybody knows about that, let us know. It's, I guess its initial point is marked by a stone, one of only a few remaining original initial point monuments in the lower 48. The meridian and the baseline form a grid of six-mile square blocks, which are then divided into one-mile square sections. So, but if something's going on there, there's nothing about it that we could find online. Well, Ouch Mouse, thank you so much for sending this really cool story in. Glad you and your husband made it home safe in the long run. We'd really like to know where you're supposed to start holding your breath and where to stop for our next trip out there after dark. And also, how long do we have to train to get ready? Because I can do about 60 seconds, maybe, without practicing for a few days first. What would be great, though, is some kind of light on your dashboard, maybe, that's GPS-enabled. It comes on when you should hold your breath, and then it turns off when it's safe to breathe again. If you have a story like this or any other kind that's suitable for this show, send it in to Dead Letter Office at AstonishingLegends.com. The Astonishing Dead Letter Office is hosted by Scott Philbrick and Forrest Burgess, and is executive produced by Tess Feifel. The show is edited and mixed by Sarah Voorhees-Wendell at VW Sound. The theme is based on the Astonishing Legends theme by Judson Crane at Founder Music, arranged by Alan Carissia, who composes all the other music in the show. Tommy Beaver Design created the logo. The announcer is John Bolton. That's me. Stories are lightly edited for length, content, and readability, but otherwise presented as they're sent to us. We're always looking for more Dead Letters, so if you have a story of your own you'd like to share, email it to deadletteroffice at astonishinglegends.com. Please include how you would like to be credited. First name only? First name last initial? Anonymous? A pseudonym? Let us know. 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