The Bloody Tipi

Written by Anthony Dion Vibanco

Here’s another true story. This one is about one particular visit to my grandparents old cabin in Lake Tahoe. Everyone always laughs when I tell them this but I had a horrible nightmare one night that the cookie monster chased me around the house and eventually caught me and tore me apart because I didn’t share my cookies with him.

Clearly this developed into a raging fear of the psychotic monster and honestly I don’t get why he is appealing to anyone in the first place. Focusing back on the story I realized lot’s of strange things happened here. One day me and my sisters were walking the small pathway between everyone’s houses when eventually we came across a tipi. We looked at each other in excitement and unaware of the events that would unfold. We stepped up in the white snow and crunched with the 2 or so steps forward. 

We walked in and as I looked around from left to right. Dry blood began to layer on top of everything. There were lanterns, tools, baskets and dolls made of sticks and leaves. We freaked out and ran back to the house and told our grandparents. We went back and there was nothing. It was like it didn’t exist at all. I remember touching it and immediately recognizing that it was dried up blood. That night we were heading to bed and we had this make shift tipi that we liked to sleep in. 

See we were the only native kids in the family and we were living with our predominately white family, so buying us things like tipis, bow and arrows and Pocahontas dolls was the norm for us. One toy that didn’t fit the stereotypical “norm” that we had, was our Lite Brite. I absolutely loved to play with it and honestly it was a safe place for me. I remember inserting the different pieces into the light and falling asleep. I woke up randomly in the middle of the night and the Lite Brite was gone. I still had a few pieces underneath my stomach and in my hand. 

I figured my Meemaw turned it off and moved it but she knows how much I love and rely on that light and wouldn’t have left me in the dark like this. I got up and looked around the room. When I looked up I could see pieces of the Lite Brite on the stairs almost like a bread crumb trail, leading up to the living room room area. See I’d have to pass the master bedroom to get to the kitchen and living room area and I was too afraid of my Grandpa. He was a Sheriff and I did not want to fuck around and find out. But looking closer I could see the light illuminating from the Lite Brite. It had to be my grandparents. I looked around and realized everything felt still and empty. I was alone in the tipi and my sisters were gone. I looked behind me and the sliding glass door was open. 

I called out to my sisters but got no reply. I stepped outside and could see footprints out in the snow. They resembled bare feet and I immediately freaked out and ran to go get my peepaw, but he was gone. So was my Grandma. I was alone. 

But what happened, did someone take them? I put on my boots and jacket and went outside to follow the footsteps. They eventually led me to the bloody tipi. I called out and stepped inside when this time the blood looked fresh. It was puddled and mixed in with the snow on the floor and was slowly spilling from the top of the tipi. 

I screamed and went to run out when I was stopped dead in my tracks. There was a large wolf standing there just staring at me and growling. I looked around to see if anyone was nearby to help and that’s when I noticed more glowing yellow eyes revealing themselves to me. I turned around and saw the lantern was lit and glowing. I don’t know how this was possible but I grabbed it and tossed it at the wolves before taking off. I remember screaming and crying for help when I made it back and realized I wasn’t even being chased at all. I turned and slammed the door shut and locked it and collapsed back. I stopped and waited to see if the wolves would show up. 

Nothing happened. I was quiet and the only noise was coming from the pounding in my chest. I heard a big slam against the window and I jumped and screamed. I began crying when again another slam. But there was nothing outside. That forced me to focus and look closer when I realized the slam was coming from snowy hand prints banging on the glass. Big, small, at the very top of the window, the bottom and all the edges. I stepped back and screamed “STOP!” 

That’s when I started to hear screaming and began seeing blood reveal itself in the snow. It was splattering against the window and mind you there is no one or anything outside. 

It was like an invisible attack against an invisible person and all I could see was the damage. I cried and began rocking and that’s when I remembered my Lite Brite. That was my safe place. I ran back up the stairs, grabbed the Lite Brite and ran back to my Peepaws room. I closed and locked the door and turned it on and started putting the pegs in. I closed my eyes and I couldn’t open them again. It was like they were being forced shut. I tried as hard as I could to open them and that’s when I awoke. I was sleeping in my Peepaws room and it was suddenly New Year’s Day. I looked around confused as hell and terrified to tell everyone what I saw. My older sister looked at me and knew something was wrong. She nodded her head to the living room outside the bedroom and I followed right after. 

She asked what was wrong and I was scared my grandparents would hear so I grabbed her hand and pulled her downstairs to not only tell her what happened but to see if there was anything wrong with the sliding door window downstairs. We head down and there’s nothing wrong at all with the windows. I couldn’t believe it. I told her what I saw and what happened. She told me to calm down and volunteered to go outside and check it out. But there was something wrong with the way she called me. My name is Anthony and she called me by my middle name Dion. I always wished my name was my middle name and she knew that but she never called me Dion. I stared and asked why did you call me that? She said call you what? 

I looked and everything felt wrong. I ran to slam the door shut. She tried to beat me to the door but failed. I stepped back and she screamed a dark gargle-like sound.

About a second into the scream it was cut off and suddenly I was there during the day and my Grandma and little sister were outside in the snow banging to be let back inside. I remember crying and letting them in when my grandma grabbed me and put me into the room into timeout. She called my mom or peepaw shortly after. I remember spacing out and being exhausted from everything I had seen. 

Later that night there was a little girl that came to me in a dream. I felt a light touch on forehead and it moved my hair back. I shot up and immediately she explained “It’s Okay, I just have something to show you. You shouldn’t wander out. You can bring something back with you.” I was confused until i recognized the doll in her hand. It looked exactly like the one i saw in the bloody tipi. I slowly rose and asked what came back with you?” “A monster.” she said ready and with confidence. I knew i could trust her, I could feel light coming from her. It was warm so I said “show me.”

She grabbed my hand we made our way out the sliding glass door and into the snow night. The yellow hue of the lights showed small powder snow falling as we split the snow we walked on. I began to see a girl playing the woods as a man was behind her cutting trees for wood. She stopped and looked toward my direction when i realized she was looking beyond me.

I turned and saw yellow flashing in the distance and turned back to her to see that she was intrigued and curious. Without uttering a sound she began to skip towards the flashing yellow lights when it became definite on what she was seeing. It wasn’t a fire but a reflection of eyes that were tired of waiting and began to run at her. 

She  explained she thought they were wolves until she and her father ran back to the tipi and they began to stand on two legs and grew in height as they stood. They’re eye sockets were empty but still glowed a light. Frightened they turned but as they did this the monster struck their backs pushing them forward. They tried to cut through the tipi and weren't able to do so. I understood now that what I was hearing and seeing was her family being attacked and the aftermath of it. 

I began to sob and turned to her and she smiled and said I had a gift. crossing dimensions and being on the other side of different timelines while things were happening. I was doing this in my dreams and stumbled on what I think was a shape shifter.  A Walker. I’ve always kept this to myself but to be honest i don’t know what timeline I jumped too or if i ever even made it back to the right one. I have no memory of what happened before seeing my grandma outside with my sister but apparently I was being a bad kid. I never understood how I could’ve done that while being where I was.