Sunday, June 2, 2013

Besh-Ba-Gowah: Native American Ruins



(Interestingly, whenever Julie and I go to Native American sites, we always run into an animal protector. At Casa Grande ruins, they had an owl. At Montezuma's castle, they had an angry blackbird protecting the ruins. Here, at Besh-Ba-Gowah in Globe, Arizona, they had a bushy tailed red squirrel. I know what you're going to say about the video. I'm rather ADD, huh? Welcome to my world when I go places. I want to see everything at once and am easily distracted by things. I've always been the kid growing up in the DC area, going to the White House and noticing how birds were nesting in a tree, rather than the home of the president.)



This lovely site (Globe, Arizona) is probably my second favorite Native American ruins site I've seen so far. I'd put Montezuma's Castle first and that's because of the scope of it and the view. This place is amazing because you can walk around in it and there are desert botanical gardens, an indoor museum with information and a video, as well as a very charming gift shop. It's almost like walking a labyrinth. You go into a different mode. I can feel it in the land and the stone that is filled with copper and turning green from rain and oxidation.

Most of y'all know how I feel about archaeology. I grew up digging up Civil War and Revolutionary War and even Native American relics on our property. I have a great respect for relics of the past and as a psychometrist, touching objects is critical for me. I often tell people, you can know what I intend for you if you see which hand I touch you with. My right hand puts out my energy and I use this to support someone I want to comfort or heal or even to subdue or dominate someone I want to get some control over. My left hand, however, will be used when I want to know someone's intention or see if they are feeling well or are okay. My left hand is my read hand. My right hand is my sending out energy hand. So, while walking around these ruins, I used my left hand. We stopped at a ceremonial room dug deep into the ground to create an echo chamber for chanting and we did an EVP session. At one point, I sang out some notes to see if I could trigger a past memory for the place of chanting. When the evidence is reviewed, I'll let y'all know how that came out.



The pueblo is 700 years old. Besh-Ba-Gowah means "place of metal." The land in this mining area is rich with copper. It's believed the earliest residents were the extinct tribe, HoHoKam. They abandoned it around 1100 and then in 1225, the Solado Indians built up the pueblo. The Apaches eventually took over, naming it Besh-Ba-Gowah. With the importance of metals, this location was an ideal one for water and metal. It was abandoned some time around 1600.

This is a truly amazingly peaceful place. Lots of birds and hummingbirds, butterflies and squirrels. It's very spiritual feeling, very peaceful and you can hear the winds whistling softly. If you come in the springtime, the cacti are blossoming and it's totally insane. Globe offers some very interesting things including the Noftsger Hill Inn that I'm writing about this week, a wonderful schoolhouse turned B&B that is happily haunted. I highly suggest this place and for those who are in Phoenix, it's a gorgeous drive, just over an hour away and one of the most beautiful desert drives I have ever seen with huge boulders, amazing geology, a cool tunnel, crazy overlook views and charming old mining towns.

Here's the info:
Besh-Ba-Gowah Archaeological Prk
150 N. Pine St. Globe, AZ 85501
928-425-0320

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