A Work in Progress is Hard Work

By Courtney Pierce

Do you believe in ghosts?

When I've been asked that question in the past, I offer a hesitant nod, followed by a wink and a smile. I didn’t really believe in ghosts beyond the normal psych-out from watching a scary movie. Being alone in the house can get me going, too, with a sudden unfamiliar noise, a flicker in the reflection of a darkened window, or ethereal images in flashes of lightning. However, my research for my latest work-in-progress, Big Sky Talk, led me down an interesting path through the ghost department.

Big Sky Talk is part Montana ghost story, part Native-American folklore, and part love story for those of us who have a few miles on our shoes. The story’s fuel is a grown woman’s grief over the loss of her elderly father. She starts life anew, but she can't hide.

Here’s a quick run-down of the premise:

“A wounded grizzly bear is on the loose in the sleepy suburb of Many Lakes in Kalispell, Montana. The mauled remains of its shooter, a known poacher, lay on a slab in the morgue under the scrutiny of Russell Knowles, the Sheriff of Flathead County. With one month to go before his retirement, Russ hopes this case will be one of his last.

Professional photographer Aubrey Cenderon is a new resident of Many Lakes. After the death of her father, the move to Montana will renew her passion for the outdoors and fulfill her father’s unrealized dreams. She looks forward to capturing wildlife with her camera lens, hiking the mountain trails, and sitting by the wood stove to finally grasp that she’s a 62-year-old orphan. But the bloody paw print on the lake shore behind Aubrey’s house is the size of a serving platter . . . and it’s fresh. Aubrey has a lot to learn about the dangers of living in Big Sky Country, and she’s about to get a crash course.

A knock on the door from Sheriff Knowles will change Aubrey’s life. Living in Montana is suddenly full of complications, and Russ’s concern for Aubrey’s safety comes with two serious ones–their instant mutual attraction and his insistence that she buy a gun. But using a gun won’t be an easy decision when Aubrey finds out why the injured grizzly-on-the-run is hunting specifically for her.”

It's an emotional dive into the fantastic.

I’m only at the fifty-percent mark into my first draft of Big Sky Talk, but the story is already rich in layers. My editor is licking her chops for the manuscript, but the more I research Native American folklore the deeper those layers become. Now that I live in northwest Montana, I’m in a unique position to tap into the wisdom of the Blackfeet and Salish tribes. I have access to almost too much information. I’m only a 40-minute drive from Glacier National Park, where thousands of years of Native American spirituality wrap around me like a blanket. 

There are several stories that are recounted in Glacier Ghost Stories by

Karen Stevens, a local Indie book that I gobbled up in one sitting. Spirits really do call Glacier National Park home. According to the real-life testimonials of the staff who work in the Park's historic lodges, campgrounds, and on the trails, ghostly run-ins are not only documented, but the stories are also corroborated by visitors and guests. 

The strangest stories are relayed from the housekeeping staff and caretakers of the Park's grand lodges built by the Great Northern Railway in the early 1900s. Be prepared for an eerie experience in Room 30 at Belton Chalet. Guests consistently report consistent details of a woman weeping all night in the room. Also, a little Indian girl in buckskins has been seen walking the halls at night and knocking on doors. If followed, she leads guests to the stairway, where she suddenly disappears.

Glacier Park Lodge

Glacier Park Lodge is host to several spirits, most of which are Native American. The hotel sits on what used to be Blackfeet territory, which was the site of a particularly violent battle. There are regular reports from the housekeeping staff about a light female voice responding, "I'm in here" to a knock on the door. A double check of the schedule reveals the room is listed as unoccupied. A second knock produces no response. Upon entering the room, no one is there. Bellmen frequently pass women in old-fashioned garb on the stairs, only to have them disappear into thin air. In the Moccasin Room, the bar located in the Lodge's basement, bartenders and visitors alike have frequently seen two ghostly men sitting at the counter. The gift shop sports a life-sized carving of an Indian, whose gaze appears to follow shoppers.  

A trickster ghost haunts the gift shop at St. Mary Lodge. Upon opening the shop in

St. Mary Lodge

the morning, the staff frequently find that items have been pulled from the shelves and strewn across the floor. Dreamcatchers have also been removed from their boxes. And when the Lodge closes for the winter, the staff hears voices and "non-paying" guests moving around the empty hotel. It's no wonder. For hundreds of years, the trails of the St. Mary Valley were home to Native Americans, trappers, and hunters. Mountain men apparently make a lot of noise.

Lake McDonald Lodge

Lake McDonald Lodge sits on land that was deemed the "Sacred Dancing Place" of the Kootenai tribe. Could the spirits from these ceremonies be the cause of strange odors that grace the air and disappear? What about the complaints of noise from a loud party in Room 308 when the employees know the room is unoccupied?

And what about the ghostly pets that crawl into guests' beds at the

Many Glacier Hotel

Many Glacier Hotel? When the hotel closes down for the winter, a man in a top hat is frequently seen in the upstairs halls. In an interview with the hotel's caretaker, he was asked by reporters whether the incidents were true. The caretaker said, "If I say yes, then I'm crazy. If I say no, then I'm a liar."

It's hard to deny that something otherworldly is going on in these grand ole' dames of Glacier National Park. Maybe I'm gullible, but I want to believe, so I do. It's like method acting, I guess. To write about magical events, I have to be an "all in" believer, not just a "Daydream Believer."

While the majority of my research has been centered around the reincarnation beliefs of the Native-American tribes, the story is infused with personal details. They say that the most important people in our lives remain with us in various forms. In every culture there’s a unique bond between fathers and daughters—good and bad—and a father’s loss is life-changing for a daughter. The grief process can be filled with heartache, anger, regret, or unfinished emotional business. The last is at the heart of Big Sky Talk. 

My goal is to be both factually authentic and personal, but the two don’t always seamlessly meld together. An author can’t fudge on details to make the story fit together. It would be like trying to shove a marshmallow into a piggy bank.

Reincarnation beliefs vary among North American tribes, but there are a few universal principals: nature and the spirit world are intimately linked, the "spirit road" for the dead leads to the Milky Way, and that reincarnation, in either human or animal form, provides continuity to the soul. I chose to make one of my secondary characters of Blackfeet or Salish descent. I haven't settled on which tribe my character will be from yet, but my continued research will certainly guide me to make a choice.

As in my first three books, Stitches, Brushes, and Riffs, I’m thrilled to be back in the world of magical realism. I’ve always wanted to write a ghost story and to explore all of the exaggerated emotions that go along with creating one.  

Using reincarnation as the heart of my story allows me, the author, the supreme indulgence to button up all that unfinished business after the loss of my own Dad. Like my character of Aubrey Cenderon, I sense that he's still around in spirit. I'm sure he'll be reading over my shoulder as I write my character's conversation with a reincarnated grizzly bear, a dialogue of all the things I'd wished I would've said to him in those final days of his life. 

On second thought, forget the over-the-shoulder stuff. Dad would've wanted me to read it to him aloud. 

And so I will.

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. She spent 28 years as an executive in the entertainment industry and used her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. She studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and Authors of the Flathead. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com 

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Coming in 2021!

When Aubrey Cenderon moves to Montana after the death of her father, the peace and quiet of Big Sky Country becomes complicated with a knock on the door from the sheriff. An injured grizzly bear is on the loose and it must be eliminated before it kills again. The sheriff's insistence that she buy a gun for protection will present Aubrey with some serious soul-searching, because the grizzly-on-the-run is hunting for her too . . . for a different reason.