Skeleton Cave Massacre


Skeleton Cave

Wikipedia: On December 28, 1872 Crook's men encountered the Yavapai and Apache stronghold at Skeleton Cave located in Salt River Canyon. Crook's force composed of 130 troopers from the 5th Cavalry Regiment led by Captain William H. Brown and another thirty Apache Scouts. The army took up a position around the mouth of Skeleton Cave and surprised the natives when they tried to leave. Surrounded, the warriors refused to surrender and the soldiers opened fire[2]. Some of Brown's men aimed for the roof of the cave to deflect the bullets and rock fragments towards the defenders. This tactic led to the unintended deaths of women and children within the cave. Others, who were personally accompanied by Crook, rolled rocks and boulders down from the cliffs above[2]. Seventy-six dead were found in the cave afterward. A few who managed to surrender were taken to Camp Grant. Among the dead within the cave was Chief Nanni-chaddi, who had claimed that no soldier would ever find his stronghold there[1]. Crook followed up this victory with another at Turret Peak several weeks later. The Apaches soon made peace at Camp Verde in 1873.

You wonder a dream place to do a hunt? I'd love to do a study here because for a long time I've wanted to do a study in a place of mass murder, never studied for spirit activity before and also wanted to do a cave study because I believe the very geology of it would help retain a haunting phenomena. So, this would be right at the top of my list.

Comments

  1. I like this. I like the fact that you don't go the usual it's abandoned and old and spooky so it must be haunted lets get some orbs route. You think these things out and approach with a hypothesis. You don't say, I know that place is haunted. You say to yourself: I wonder if it is because of X and then you test that.

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  2. Mass murder. Aptly put. At the time it was called a military victory. Who were the savages here?

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  3. When I visited Mammoth Cave a few years ago, I learned that caves are very difficult to investigate. At one point during the tour, the guide turned off all the lights and told us about his first experience in the pitch darkness. He had been with a group exploring and the newbies were left in a particular chamber alone in the dark. The group kept hearing what they thought were tour groups passing nearby. It turned out that the the sound of water was so distorted that it sounded like a group of people. There were no tour groups nearby. I certainly would love to see what you might find in a place like this!

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  4. "This tactic led to the unintended deaths of women and children within the cave."

    Yeah... right... it's amazing that the victor always gets to write the history... We are told that the American Civil War was totally about freeing the slaves... *shurgs* There's tons of evidence to indicate that isn't the case... but that's for another post.

    This post reminds me of what happened at Wounded Knee...

    I would also be interested in reading about what you learn.

    ~shoes~

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  5. I have no idea if we could access it, but I would certainly love the incredible honor of being able to respectfully study the cave and come to some conclusions. I do believe geology is a strong component of haunted locales and imagine a cave where people were trapped and murdered. I would love to see if their voices could finally be heard through recordings and see if it's possible to perform a spiritual ceremony to give peace to the location. History is miserable, but then even nowadays our current history will some day seem like a brutal history when future generations read about things like Katrina and are relieved that they have systems in place that are foolproof in such situations and no one will ever have to sit at home and watch people dying on TV and being helpless to help. Just think of how 9-11 changed our airport/airplane security? Hopefully, those things that disgust us will make us stronger in the long run. I tell my son all the time "we need the assholes on the roadway, they make our driving skills stay sharp every day."

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  6. We have to ghost hunt there, for sure!

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