Short Mountain

 I was talking with my friend earlier, and I remembered what happened at Short Mountain. I should probably mention that, although I’m not sure if it is connected. In 2017, I was going through a lot and needed to get away, so a friend invited me up to Louisville. I spent several extremely strange and excruciating days there, and then he took me to Short Mountain in Murfreesboro, TN.

Short Mountain is billed as a “wildlife sanctuary”, but in reality it’s a gathering spot for pagans. I had been before in 2011, when the guy that gave me the tattoo on my wrist and told me I was a Northern Star suggested I go there. I don’t really know what a Northern Star is. But I went and didn’t have that great of a time, although I did hook up with a guy named Artemis in this huge gazebo with a ceiling painted like the zodiac. Oh yeah, many people who go there have names of “mythological” gods.

Anyway, my friend in Louisville took me down to Short Mountain, and there were hundreds of people camping there from all over the world because the solar eclipse was happening the next day, I think, and it was in the path. I didn’t have a tent or anything, but they put me up in what they call the “goat barn”. There’s a bedroom upstairs. I tried to sleep, but I kept feeling like this dark figure was in the room with me.

I can’t really remember the order of events very well, but some very strange things happened there.

I was in the bath house one day, and there were these two beautiful guys fooling around on the floor, very animalistically. I looked at them and thought, “If that were me, I would be sweet about it and not so carnal.” As soon as I thought that, they started to sweetly kiss. It was strange.

Then, I was outside by the fig tree, and I heard the most beautiful music I had ever heard coming from the main house. It was so delightful that it literally felt like I had taken an opiate. So I followed the sound to the music room, where I found this guy Sebastian playing the piano. I sat down, and the thought came to me that he was a vampire and using a glamor. As soon as I thought that, he seemingly forgot how to play the piano. It sounded horrible. Very strange.

I went to the smoking area to try to bum a cigarette, and this guy gave me a rolled cigarette to smoke–at least that’s what I thought it was. I had a few hits and started feeling odd, so I went to the kitchen. The woman they call Granny looked at me and said, “Wolfsbane”. They have this giant floor-to-ceiling shelf with all kinds of things in jars–very witchy.

So Granny takes me outside and gives me a real cigarette. At that point I was in such a horrible daze that I couldn’t even think. She proceeded to tell me all kinds of things about aliens and stuff, although I don’t remember. The only thing I definitely remember was that she said the biggest way they control us (I’m not sure if she was talking about aliens) was through our food. I really wish I could remember everything else she said, but I can’t.

One time I went to the back porch and found it empty, but there was a ukulele sitting on one of the tables. I wanted to play it, but it wasn’t mine. I sat down further down the porch. Then these people come over and ask me if it is. I told them no, but they asked me to play it. I had told no one there that I knew how to play music. Anyway, so I played a song I wrote on the ukulele, and the guy with long hair and green eyes shed a tear. When I was done, he said he hadn’t heard any “real music” in so long. But then his voice changed to a very authoritarian tone, and he told me I had to put hooks in my song so I can make money. I never put hooks in my songs because I don’t want to hook people.

I mostly had a horrible time at Short Mountain, although I did have a good time dancing with this older witch lady one night. Earlier I had been feeling terrible, and she got me to scrape off some cookie trays when she was washing dishes, and I felt better. She also told me I shouldn’t smoke.

My favorite spot was down in the holler. There was a trail that led down the mountain, and at the bottom is this waterfall and stream. There are these little altars with things and mirrors set up on the ground. I was told the first time I went was that it was for self-worship. And there was this circular building with a roof made like a dreamcatcher, and in the middle was a fire pit with these huge volcanic rocks in it.

My favorite spot, though, was by the stream where there was a fruit tree going with one single fruit. It looked so tasty (I have no idea what it was–something pearish), but I didn’t take it. There was a bench there, and I sat there a lot. There was a sign that said “Temple of the Unknown Goddess”. I would just sit there and cry, although I felt so good and so at peace. It’s interesting that two other trails led there–one from a Christian camp with horses and another from Ida, named after the Greek mountain of goddesses.

So during this whole time I had thought I was the physical incarnation of Jupiter. I also didn’t feel comfortable around nearly anyone until I was drawn to this older man who was walking down a path. I just felt a sense of comfort from him for some reason. I asked him his name, and it was Neptune. I remember feeling so happy because I thought he was my brother or something.

Most of the time, however, I was in extreme physical pain and mental anguish. One night they built this huge bonfire, and all the people–hundreds of them–gathered around it. In front they had people playing drums, and behind them everyone had formed small groups. I stayed by the fire because the warmth helped my physical pain a lot.

But then someone put this giant piece of wood in the shape of a goat’s head into the fire. When that happened, I felt like I started hearing people’s thoughts or something. It’s hard to explain. I just know that I would walk from group to group and interject something into their conversation, which they all seemed to enjoy tremendously. They would offer me different things to eat and wine and stuff. I felt like I was being a shaman or something. It was very strange–too difficult to really try to describe in words.

When the eclipse happened, everyone was gathering on what they called the “grassy knoll”. As soon as the moon completely covered the sun, people started howling. Some of them got naked. It was an interesting experience.

Anyway, I don’t know how this is related, and I could speculate all day on what it all means, but I felt compelled to share. So there you are–my story about Short Mountain. I’d like to visit there again (with friends) to see what it’s like now. I really miss the Temple of the Unknown Goddess. And the water. The water from the waterfall was the best water I’ve ever had in my entire life.