Today was gorgeous in Diomede, AK. The sun was out and the wind was only blowing 15mph; it was practically paradise. Naturally my roommate and I decided to go for a hike up to the top of the mountain. The only problem was that all the adults were already up at the top picking berries (women) and shooting birds (men). That left two high schoolers and a few elementary kids to take us to the top. We told them to lead the way and instead they just wandered around the rocks for a bit. Now, it was an easy climb for them, seeing as how they are half mountain goat, but for my roommate and me it was pretty much hand over hand and foot over foot praying to God to spare us. Which is when I came face to face with the human skull. I stopped and looked up to realized the kids had led us into the graveyard.
Here on Diomede there is no 'ground' to bury people so they simply put the bodies in wooden coffins, put rocks on top to keep the lid down, and place the coffin on the rocks. This works like a charm until there is a rockslide. Then the coffins break open and the bodies tumble down the mountain. What I had almost stepped on was an intact skull, minus the jawbone that had rolled down from the graves higher up. Everywhere I looked I saw graves, some open, some covered in moss and grass--the skull was growing some bright green moss--and huge boulders. The kids just hopped around the bones and the rocks telling us who the people were. One kid pointed out her mother and her grandmother's grave, thankfully, neither were broken open, and another kid pointed out his cousin's grave. You could tell his grave was new because it was made out of metal as opposed to the wooden boards. I didn't know what to do. These kids just told us not to touch the bones or the wood otherwise we would be haunted. Then they proceeded to tell us about every gory death, mythical death, and ghost that is on the island. I knew I shouldn't take a picture, but I couldn't help it. I took one. But then I felt super guilty, so I deleted the pictures.
