Forbidden Valley West of Rachel, Nevada
Written by Cowboy George
A short time after the turn of the century, a prospector by the name of Joe O'Brien was with his Shoshone Indian companion and they were looking for signs of gold in the area now known as the Nevada Test Site, which is now closed to the public. O'Brien was a "blood brother" of the Shoshone Tribe and his Indian name was Hono-goy, which means "tall mountain with no bush on top." O'Brien was bald-headed and over 6 ft. tall.
Their long prospecting trip lasted for too long and they found they had run out of water. They traveled among lava rock, and their horses were almost done in.
Finally as the evening started to cool the hot desert, the Indian muttered, "water pretty soon."
Eagerly O'Brien urged his Indian companion to take the lead. Reluctantly he led them staggering into a small valley, hidden by towering black volcanic buttes and at the base of a cliff under a rocky shelf, there was a small spring of clear water.
After O'Brien drank and watered the horses, he started to make camp. The Indian objected to making camp in the valley by the hidden spring, saying it was bad medicine. O'Brien didn't scare that easily and wouldn't move away from the spring that night. The Indian decided to stay and Joe insisted that he tell him why the valley was bad medicine.
Around the campfire the men could see arrowheads and pieces of bone and obsidian.
As they lay under the stars the Indian, after much probing by O'Brien, told him this story.
"This area is haunted by the spirits of the dead. This area is off limits to my tribe. Many, many seasons ago, long before white men, a disagreement between the Shoshone of the south and the Piutes of the north, led to an agreed-upon line separating the two tribes. Both tribes violated this line and much killing and warfare took place. At last the chief and elders of both tribes met in council and agreed to send their brave and strongest young men into the hidden valley by the spring to fight till the strongest young warrior won and then the hidden valley and hunting ground would belong to the victorious tribe. Fighting lasted all day and into the night. Fighting was hand to hand, and the valley floor ran red with blood. When the sun rose in the morning only two warriors were left. The remaining two Indian braves were bloody, exhausted and would not give up. Finally one killed the other and the one brave left died of his injuries.
"Later it was determined by the chief and elders of both tribes that it was the will of the gods that no tribe shall have the valley. And till this day, the spirits of the warriors are in the forbidden valley by the spring, known as Nirragwinavah."
Maybe this is the reason why so many unexplained activities are happening west of Rachel.
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Updated on 02/01/06 07:04 PM