I think it’s indeed fair to say that the vast, vast majority of people have never spent time near Ship Rock at night.
Not that a gun would do much good against them
So even that is not an argument for guns?
Comment on I've never been in a situation where me having a gun would have made things bettter.
AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
Clearly you’ve never spent time in the desert near Ship Rock at night. Never heard the stories told by the natives and the rangers and the soldiers. Never saw twisted shapes on four legs run backwards into the brush, living rot retreating from your headlights. Never heard the desert go completely silent, not the sound of coyotes or insects or wind, while you see shadows move in the starlight. Never seen things that look like deer but aren’t run as fast as your car on highway 191, taunting you, staring at you, trying to fool you into slowing down or stopping.
Not that a gun would do much good against them, but if your car breaks down just south of the state lines near four corners, some who know the area would say shooting yourself is a better death than the alternative…
mcv@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
You purposefully omitted the last sentence specifying a gun gives you the option of a quicker death.
And I guess I’m overselling the walkers/witches/spirits a little bit. Most rangers and soldiers think guns are useful at least as deterrents if not fatal weapons. In fact usually the stories end with something along the lines of “and that’s why I keep a loaded shotgun within arms reach when I’m driving there” or something similar lol
But technically, yes, you’re right, guns are not necessarily vital.
The Navajo and Hopi and Utes and others have supposedly been defending themselves against these for much longer than guns have been in the Americas and possibly since before guns were even invented. However, afaik most strong good magic in their traditions is drawn from community. So if you’re a lone traveler who has neither a tribe that can help protect you (physically or magically) nor personal cultural knowledge of these evils, I’d argue a gun is probably the best substitute you’ve gonna get.
(Of course, just not traveling in skinwalker country at night alone in the first place would likely be the most effective method of survival lol)
mcv@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
I’m just saying that your comment started out superficially looking like an argument justifying guns in some situations, and then turned out not even being that.
I have no doubt that there are situations that would justify carrying a gun, but “you will need to shoot yourself” is not it.
And of course most people would simply prefer to avoid dangerous situations like that, or prefer the danger to be addressed in a more systemic way, if necessary. But not all danger needs to be made safe. Nature in particular just needs to be left alone sometimes.
Soggy@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Alright, well, I don’t believe in ghost stories.
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Might not be ghost stories. Prairie dogs carry the plague, and armadillos carry leprosy.
shalafi@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Rabid animals, though far more rare than most think, are why I’m always armed in the boondocks. I know, you shouldn’t splatter their blood, but if it’s me or them…
mydoomlessaccount@infosec.pub 4 days ago
Sheesh, should’ve known better than to try and make a joke around here, I guess. I appreciated it, at least. I’ve got a soft spot for suddenly making really dire, grim statements in otherwise totally pedestrian conversations
It genuinely boggles that so many people would take “the evil night-horrors” as an actual argument for this
TrickDacy@lemmy.world 5 days ago
I read this three times and I’m still pretty lost as to what you’re hinting at
AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
The area I’m talking about is one that supposedly has a high concentration of skinwalkers. There are lots of creepy stories about skinwalkers across all of the nearby states, but that area near four corners is where the Navajo nation and Hopi and Ute reservations are.
Maybe it’s just mass psychosis or a pop phenomenon, but people who regularly spend time in that area from the natives to forest service to the national guardsmen running trainings out there, will warn you about traveling at night and not stopping for anything on the road especially if its an animal that looks off in some way
MangoCats@feddit.it 5 days ago
There’s also a lot of users of “strong medicine” in that area… it can make the stories more vivid.
AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
Can’t tell if you’re referring to the weed or the peyote, but I suppose both would likely do the trick lol
teft@piefed.social 5 days ago
Probably just some animals with mange like how everyone thought chupacabras were real until they found the weird looking mangy coyotes that were the actual chupacabras.
Don’t fall to superstition just because you don’t understand something.
AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
It’s a joke post mate; I don’t believe in magic or skinwalkers. It’s just fun to hear the stories
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Sounds like good advice. Between the armadillos and the prairie dogs, I’m convinced that the entire “Great American Desert”* is actively trying to make us deathly ill.
*I’m using the term the way the stagecoach settlers did, meaning everything west of the Mississippi till the Rocky Mountains.
AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
Gila Monsters definitely give some Australia vibes. They are kinda cute chonky reptiles even if they are venomous
Rattlesnakes are another fun venomous reptile, though they’re much more common and more likely to bite you than Gila Monsters. It’s always a bit of a scare when you’re hiking and suddenly hear a rattlesnake start warning you but you can’t even tell where it is. Like pick a lane buddy, either camouflage/hide yourself or try to tell me where you are so I can avoid accidentally stepping on you, don’t try to do both at the same time lol
Of course in the reptile cases, the animals rarely bite unless you’re actively antagonizing them, but still a bit scary to have
We’ve also got scorpions everywhere out west. If you ever come out to the Rocky Mountains or the deserts around them, bring a black light flash light out at night. You’ll be able to find a ton of the fluorescent green critters crawling around in the sagebrush. They only get about 3cm long, but they are “the most venomous scorpion in North America” haha I’ve never been stung and Ive caught several before, but the venom can cause full limb paralysis, can feel like “lightning” even a while after the initial sting, and there are a reported deaths from it
And we’ve actually got a ton of different stinging/biting wasps and bees and creepy vibrant colored things like mud daubers. Oh and those Velvet Ants which are nicknamed “cowkillers” because they’re bite is painful enough to kill a cow (it isn’t really of course)
Definitely not as much diversity as Australia, and most things here will leave you alone if you leave them alone, but there are plenty of things that will, at the very least, ruin your day if you’re not careful
mech@feddit.org 5 days ago
I’m guessing it’s related to the Navajo skinwalker legends.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 4 days ago
Scared of Chupacabras or something like that is my guess.
Americans are always living in fear of something, so why not that I guess.
AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
Hey now chupacabras are much farther south and they’re actually aliens don’t you know /s
Anyway you telling me there’re no creepy stories from some cryptid or other where you live? What a shame. What stories do you tell on camping trips?
Also if you’re Canadian like your instance suggests, the First Nations people have their own it-goes-on-four-legs, and I’m wiling to bet the stories of wendigo are just as creepy as those for skinwalkers.
I don’t really believe the stories and you don’t have to either, but don’t go saying it’s “Americans” as if you don’t belong to that same continent with similar myths and legends. The native people of “turtle island” didn’t have the same borders we do today and neither did their stories and mythos
Zos_Kia@lemmynsfw.com 5 days ago
Just a cool creepy pasta
AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
It’s not but you can make it one lol
ripcord@lemmy.world 5 days ago
I figured it was some Hunter Thompson thing (Fear and Loathing or etc)