A REAL LIVE GHOST				NAVAJO TRIBAL MAGAZINE. SEPT. 1973
Believe it or not, Arizona has a real "live" ghost. And if you have the courage for a confrontation, you can even go see her.....though it will cost you a little sleep. Eagle Woman, or her wandering spirit, is a smart apparition. She answers only in the summertime when her diaphanous gown and veil are protection enough against the night air. It's cold in Coal Canyon in the winter months when no self-respecting ghost should wander among the canyon rocks. Therefore, postpone your ghost hunt for a clear summer night. Coal Canyon is an arm of the little known Blue Canyon area of northeastern Arizona, located on the Hopi-Navajo Reservation. The Canyon derives its name from the coal mine used by the Indians for the last 1,000 years or more, It is an outcropping of the Black Mesa deposits, which is to be used by the proposed new power installation. There are two explanations for the ghostly Blue Canyon appearances. The more interesting is that of the Hopis. They claim that an Oraibi woman, called "Eagle Woman" and of the Bow Clan, became deeply depressed when she reached the age of 45. This was in the year 1882 AD. No one could comfort her, not even her son, She left the village and took the trail toward Moenkopi. She paused to rest at Coal Canyon. Apparently in her distraught condition she decided life was no longer worth living. Alone that night among the spectral rock figures, she took one long look at awesome Coal Canyon, then leaped to her death from the top of a tall cliff. Later when her body was discovered, it was left where it had fallen and was covered with rocks, as is the Hopi way in case of suicide or fatal accident away from home. But at certain times, Eagle Woman's spirit is said to return to the scene and become visible. This doesn't seem strange to the Hopis, however, for they believe that "you see a light wherever someone has died". Those who have witnessed the spectral apparition say a thin white line will appear in the midst of the night-black formations in the heart of the Canyon-usually on nights when the moon is visible. The thin white line, creeping from the tallest phosphorescent pinnacle, swiftly expands into a nebulous womanlike figure. The materializing ghost looks exactly as a ghost is supposed to look. It is diaphanous and mobile. It floats suspended in air among the solidly anchored stone shapes of the Canyon. Gigantic in size yet gracefu1 and sinuous in movement, Eagle Woman may turn her head, raise an arm, bend down to straighten the train of her long white dress as it blows gently in the night breezes. And if you will stay 'til morning, witnesses confide that Eagle Woman will come closer and closer to you...so close, indeed that at the end you feel she could talk with you, if she would. Although the White Man's description admits the spectral appearance, his explanation for the phenomenon is somewhat different. During the heat of the summer, a phosphorescent vapor will emanate from the volatile coal deposits to form the shroud for the dancing and mobile apparition of Coal Canyon. In ancient times, a searing fire is said to have developed in the vapors when struck by lightening, or from spontaneous combustion. The eerie, frightening performance will again be staged when summer comes to the Arizona Highlands. You can reach it by traveling Navajo Rt. 3, little more than 14 miles southeast of Tuba City, enroute to Window Rock. The Canyon is easily missed, but it lies within a mile of the highway, and signs point the way to the vantage point. Here you may witness Arizona's famous Eagle Woman "in action." For Trip Information Regarding the Montgomery/Boundary trip 6/21-22, l975, contact Jon Petitjean for reservations, car-pooling and trip sheet.

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