As a result of the cyber-attack on our public library in late October, when service resumed a lot of us rushed in to return the books that we'd been waiting impatiently to chuck into the book return chutes. And, pow! Holds started to flow in for us. I seem to have been served up quite a selection of memoirs including this intriguing book by a retired member of the Navajo Police Service.
Milford begins each section of the book with part of the Navajo creation story and then relates his account to it. He claims to have had the ideal balance of traditional Navajo background and police/investigative training to be effective at paranormal investigation. He does seem to balance skepticism and belief fairly well. I know a little bit about what he is saying, as my prefrontal cortex is a skeptic but my amygdala is a believer. As a result, I find books like this one (and a lot of horror fiction) to be very unsettling and I quickly realized that this would be one of those “read only during sunny hours" books.
I certainly can't dispute what Mr. Milford says he has seen and experienced. Earlier this year I read The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster, from which I gained the impression that Bigfoot belief was a more Caucasian working-class thing, so I was interested to find out how the indigenous community views the phenomena. It amazed me how Navajo lore incorporates these paranormal elements quite easily.
It's a quick, interesting read which I would recommend be read during bright, sun shiny hours with snacks at your elbow and other people near at hand.
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