Transmitting from the Mahadi Wilderness in Joshua Tree, California, now is the time for Desert Oracle Radio, the voice of the desert.

Night has fallen on the desert.

Which means it's night in America here in the season of autumn.

A black cat appeared here at the haunted temple of Santa Minerva, a suspiciously bold and friendly cat,

likely harboring an old deity.

The owls have been swooping low and hooting long into the night the fireplace is back

and use after another long summer.

A summer that felt as if it had returned,

these last few days, a common occurrence in October,

like in the old William Wilfred Campbell verses you might remember.

Along the line of smoky hills, the crimson forest stands.

And all the day the Blue Jay calls throughout the autumn lands.

Now by the brook, the maple leans with all his glory spread

And all the sumachs on the hills have turned their green to red

Now by great marshes wrapped in mist or past some river's mouth.

Throughout the long, still autumn day, wild birds are flying south. This is the time for a certain kind of story, a type of tale we often tell on this radio program.

But during these weeks of October, I will tell you a few more

and I'll worry even less about where they take place.

For they all take place in a season of growing darkness.

Tonight I want to tell you a ghost story.

Without making any claims regarding what a ghost is because I don't claim to know.

But we know some broader meanings of the word ghost from the old high German word geist, which shares the proto-endo-European

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