When I left the reservation for college, I moved to a small town across the state. The town was one of the oldest in Dakota Territory, and I was happy to be living in a place that had roots that went back as far as they did. I loved history, and this felt like a place I could explore and be a part of. I was very wrong.

Not long after I moved into the dorms, strange things started happening. I'd hear grunts and furniture moving in the room next to mine, but when I'd ask my RA about the person who lived there, she'd look at me like I was crazy. No one lived in that room. No one had lived in that room for years — it was intentionally kept empty. These noises happened so often I decided to change dorms. Well, the noises combined with my perpetually-nude roommate and her boyfriend.

The next dorm I lived in was the oldest on campus. Built after a massive flood destroyed most of the town, the dorm was large and always dark — even at noon on the brightest day. Something felt off about the building from the very beginning, but I decided that as finals were approaching, I really didn't need to deal with naked roommate and her creeptastic boyfriend on top of studying.

I was given my own room, and at first I was very excited to have the space all to myself. The excitement was very short-lived, however, as I began to notice things move out of the corner of my eye. Little balls of light shifted and bounced over things. Occasionally, I'd dream that something big and black was standing over me, but I was determined to ignore the supernatural and creepy now that I was off the rez. Still, I had my adviser send another Native in to smudge my room. To be honest, smudging only seemed to make things worse (and this was the only building I found that to be true in). I began seeing more and more shadows and creepy balls of light. I knew that if I looked directly at them, the light-balls would turn into fully-formed ghosts. I avoided looking at them for as long as I could, and I did my best to ignore the deep, deep dread I felt every time I was in my room.

I'd only been in my new dorm for a week and a half when I decided that I couldn't take the darkness anymore. I'd been ignoring strange things for the past few days (including my iPod randomly playing Don't Come Around Here by Tom Petty whenever I walked into the room), and I thought that more light might make me feel less afraid. I went to the local Walmart and bought a large strand of Christmas lights and some scented candles. When I got home, I took the lights out of their box and looped them in a circle on top of the plastic bag they'd been in.

I sat on my bed to do homework, and while I was reading, I noticed a huge ball of light move from the window (where the sage was) and bounce along the desk I had placed the lights & bag on. A huge gust of wind rattled the window and scared me half to death. It had been a quiet, windless night just a minute before. I looked around to see if anything had been knocked over, and I saw the Christmas lights curling slowly around the plastic bag. I was transfixed. There was nothing pulling either end of the light strand. No object placed on or near them that would drag them around by force of gravity. There was nothing natural about the way it caused an airbubble in the bag to form and rise as it twisted faster. The bubble resembled a head, and the lights looked like it was strangling its throat. The dread I'd been denying washed over me. I knew it was a threat.

I ran out of the dorm so fast that I only managed to bring my laptop and a change of clothes. I found out later that a girl had overdosed in the room next to mine in the first dorm I was in, and that Natives never stayed long in the last. Scary things would happen to them and each and every one of them would bolt. I also found out that my college town had a long and horrible history of Natives being murdered/massacred, with the most recent murder taking place in the 80s. I decided to transfer out of that hellhole, and thank goodness I did. I know of few Natives who stayed in that town for long. Creepy things followed them everywhere, until they too were forced to run for the hills.