Never Whistle in the forest~

As a child I grew up hearing stories of "stick Indians", tall, skinny, hairy, and stinky monsters that live in the swamps and forests. I have always assumed stick Indians were baby/teen ste'ye'mah, or bigfoot as they are better known.

The legends of my people say that if you whistle in the dark, they will come running. I have always used a high pitched shrill whoop that one uses to get another persons attention to call Ki'ho'sa and his group in to me. It lets them know that I am there. The first time I ever whistled was when I was about 10 yrs. old. It was getting dark and I wanted to give them some sweet potatoes that we had left over, so going down into the canyon I whistled to get their attention. It was NOT something that I was shown to do, just saw them do it to each other and did not know what it meant, but thought if my dog could figure it out, they would too. The bag was heavy and when I did the whistle it was already dark.

Needless to say, it was a HUGE mistake! because something came charging through the brush, up the hill, in the dark at me! I could feel the ground shaking with each footfall. Silly girl that I was, I expected Ki'ho'sa and stood there waiting for him to appear. What I got was something else entirely! A bigfoot that I had NEVER seen with his group appeared,it was about 9-10 ft tall and rail skinny. I thought it was starving it was so skinny. It was growling and rocking while it stared at me. I screamed and dropped the bag of potatoes and started to run back up the canyon road. Instead of chasing me, the skinny BF stayed there and rocked! It was very bizarre and frightening to me. Upon getting back to the house, I told my uncle what I had encountered and the first thing he asked me, was if I had whistled in any way. I showed him how and he then told me that what I called down onto myself was a guardian. They grow taller and are meaner than the others. They are always skinny and are loners, even though there may be 2 or more in an area, they never interact unless it is to protect the clan/group that inhabits that area. I was told to NEVER whistle as they have been known to attack and drag off hunters or others who whistle in the woods.

I have learned to consider the act of charging,even if it is bluff charging to be an outright act of aggression. And even though this guardian had stopped his charge at me, I was wise to run. I have always said that when the Bigfoot stand still and rock, it is because they are thinking deeply, maybe trying to understand a situation. Either way, I was wise to run when I did.
The other valuable lesson learned that night: NEVER whistle in the forest! You never know who or what is nearby and may not take kindly to whistling.