THE BONES BENEATH

The Bones Beneath tells a fictionalized ghost story of what might have happened to a woman who died in 1889 of tuberculosis at Mount Vernon Barracks in Alabama while being held as a prisoner of war following her capture and the surrender of Geronimo's forces. Lozen's history when she lived was one of the life of a warrior, prophet, medicine woman and protector. I admired her, and when I wished to give the spirit I saw that night in Chicago a name, her story inspired me, she seemed to be someone who might have taken on the challenge of protecting the spirits of the Illinois nation, and with that grow in spirit.

Lozen is someone I would have loved to have known.

The Bones Beneath is both a fictional ghost story and a true story. My imagination and what I felt in that house is the basis for much of this story, of something that happened to me years ago in Chicago.

The House in the story was built over an ancient Indian burial ground. It had once been owned by Al Capone's gang, there was a lime pit in the basement with human bones.

The spirit that I saw in the window that night is something I will never forget, and I believe a part of me took on Native American beliefs after that encounter, beliefs that stay with me to this day.