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Ghost Drums


mr. E

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The following story is the only truly paranormal experience I believe I have ever had. Once I was camping with my girlfriend at the time. The man her mother was dating owned a large amount of land in a state park in Tennessee (I don't recall the name right now) and built a small cabin on a creek about half a mile down a hill behind his house, in thick woods. My girlfriend had told me about how the man had found many Native American artifacts and evidence of burial mounds all throughout the woods on his property, and had even found an Indian skeleton in a small cave as well.

That night, my girlfriend and I made a small fire and stayed up talking while I played guitar, as we sat up on the porch (the were a lot of snakes in the area). Having only candles to for light, we lit about 4 of 5 of them and climbed up into the loft where our sleeping bags were. we lay there talking for a while and then we started hearing this odd noise- a faint thoom thoom thoom of what sounded like drums. we got really quiet and listened to them for a while, the steady, rhythmic thoom thoom thoom of a drum beat. there were no roads anywhere in proximity, nor were there any other houses anywhere near because the land was part of a state park and was very secluded. we both knew about all the indian artifacts that had been found and we started getting fairly creeped out. There was no door on the cabin, only an open doorway with a curtain pulled over it. there were 2 large glass windows as well, and as the steady beat of the drums continued, from seemingly all directions, in the dim candle light I saw what looked like a face in the window, but brief to the point where I thought I simply imagined it. Trying not to get freaked out so as not to freak my girlfriend out, I just told her we should try to get to sleep.

We fell asleep, but later that night (it must have been around 3 in the morning) I woke up for seemingly no reason, and once again I heard the drums. I was once again fairly creeped out, but I didn't want to wake up my girlfriend, so I forced myself to go back to sleep. I'd like to go back out there sometime and see if I can get an audio recording of the drums, and investigate further.

I was just wondering if anyone else has had a similiar experience, and yes, i am the one who posted this story on ghost-mysteries.com, but i wanted to discuss it with people

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Mr. E,

I live on the Navajo reservation and maybe I can help shed some light on what you and your girlfriend experienced. It's not uncommon to start hearing drums at nightfall. Sometimes, the drums can go on all night long. The reason for it is pretty simple. The Native American Church will have all night long functions that are carried out in various places within a teepee and they play drums all night long.

Seeing that you were at a state park, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a ceremony going on there. Their practices are protected by federal laws.

Hope that eases your minds. :)

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Mr. E,

I live on the Navajo reservation and maybe I can help shed some light on what you and your girlfriend experienced. It's not uncommon to start hearing drums at nightfall. Sometimes, the drums can go on all night long. The reason for it is pretty simple. The Native American Church will have all night long functions that are carried out in various places within a teepee and they play drums all night long.

Seeing that you were at a state park, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a ceremony going on there. Their practices are protected by federal laws.

Hope that eases your minds. :)

probally it indeed or you be hanging around the peace pipe to long. ;)

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probally it indeed or you be hanging around the peace pipe to long. ;)

:w00t: Actually, I've smoked the tobacco (mountain tobacco) that is used in a "peace pipe" out here before and it's just not that mind altering...Definitely gives one a buzz, but not enough to imagine drums. :no:

Now, what goes on in the teepee of a Native American Church meeting is a whole different matter. They follow the peyote path.

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You know I wouldn't be surprised if there might be something to your "ghost drums". Next time you hear them you should go out in the forest and search for them.

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Yeah, it was probably some tribe holding a ceremony out there. The sound of drums cn carry a long way, even in the woods.

I think that the real mystery here is how your girlfriends moms boyfriend can "own" land in a state park?

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There obviously is the possibility that the drums might have been a Native American ceremony, so i definitely won't rule that out. However, apparently the drums weren't an occasional incident. My girlfriend's Mom has stayed out in the cabin as well and she's heard the drums many times before. It would seem to be a large coincidence that there were a ceremony going on at all those separate occasions, but hey, i don't know Native American customs. Also, the man who owns the land owns quite a large amount of it, so if there were any kind of ceremony on his land he would have known about it. Drum sounds can carry from great distances, but the drums i heard did not seem to be coming from miles away. it was a kind of ambient noise that came from all around, and i dont think there would be ceremonies taking place all around me.

As for how the man owns state land, i'm not exactly clear on the details (i don't really know the guy personally beyond him dating my girlfriend's mom), but it was my understanding that it was family land that was owned by his family before the state park was instituted, and some kind of deal was made that allowed the man to retain full ownership of his land, with the added bonus of it being part of a state park and thus under the protection of the park service.

As far as going back there, my gf and i have since then broken up, but we're still really good friends, so maybe sometime over the summer we can go back there. i'll make sure to bring a tape recorder/video recorder.

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Well, yes, drums can be heard quite often for these ceremonies. During the summer, I can hear drums almost every night (to which I mutter to my husband that "the natives are restless"--he laughs). Less frequent in the winter but they still happen.

What you should do is contact whoever administrates this state park and ask them directly if there are any native ceremonies being held out there on a regular basis. If there are, problem solved, if not, then it could be something weird or they're just using the park without informing.

Hope that helps.

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I just talked to my ex-girlfriend yesterday at lunch and she cleared up the whole state park issue for me. Apparently, her mom's boyfriend owns land completely surrounded by state park, so i guess technically it's not part of the state park, but no one lives for miles around it.

As far as contacting the state park, i could do that next time i'm down in Tennessee, but i don't travel there often. i could just ask through the grapevine, i suppose

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Hey, maybe you could try the old e-mail! The Department of the Interior actually has people on the payroll to answer questions like this! Give it a whirl. We all might learn a little something!

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