This investigation took place a day prior to Christmas as our final jaunt prior to 2012. Happy Hunting Grounds Cemetery is one of these forgotten burial grounds up in the high desert. There is no easy way to get to it and sure enough only its ghost know of its tales. It would not be a hard investigation but it was brutally cold which is why its so hard to find anyone for our team due to the fact that most people think the paranormal is only a summer venue. But sometimes the best time to be out looking for the unknown is in the middle of an icy winter.

Last year ago around this time I was up roaming Death Valley which is a truly fascinating place including its scenic beauty and level of strangeness. This year I had decided to take a less thrilling approach and hit up this little cemetery that very few know about.

Tammy and I spent almost an hour offroading down many rocky dirt roads. We had to be really careful because even though its high desert its mixed with pines thus as of recent there have been multiple bears sighted near the burial ground. When I say bears were talking more then even in the sierras recently so yeah! Getting out looking around through the heavy brush can have its dangerous there was no way I was going unarmed on this trip just in case.

We ventured on out to an area called Pine Nut it was home to the Washoe people for many centuries however its also a very harsh wilderness. At night you can drive these roads for hours and everything looks the same. I drove along steep drop offs all the way to nearly the top of a mountain range where I could see the smaller towns below. I had no idea even how to find this cemetery although there are some ranches back here none of the roads are labeled and thus our investigation was looking rather dismal.

I ended up taking this one road that led go this giant dumping ground. When I say dumping ground I mean beer bottles, appliances, cans, garbage, toys, furniture etc A few times I had gotten out of my truck thinking I found the cemetery and it turned out to be a stack of wood or rocks. I was rather upset by the dumping grounds especially when I found more then one in the middle of the wilderness. I had gotten out a few times to do some nightvision filming I never seen anything like this in a long time so I could only imagine how the cemetery was going to look.

The temperature was at that time about 4 degrees I continued to go down a few unmarked dirt roads one of them came out onto some ranch. I am the king of turning around while farmer john is looking out his window believe me lol. I was starting to think that this place didn't exist at one point I even found what appeared to be a foundation in the middle of the desert probably of some old homestead that once sat up in these hills. It was so bone chilling cold up here and I was constantly having to look all around me for beer as I was out in the desert looking for this burial ground.

Finally I decided to go up this hill and as I was turning the corner I spotted a post with a wreath on it. I knew I had found our destination and lucky we did because I was about to call it a night go home drink a brew lol.

Happy Hunting Grounds Cemetery

There is nothing happy about this place that is the first thing that came to mind as I pulled up and two of the cemeteries fences were in a state of decimation. Most of the cemetery was surrounded in chicken coop wiring while many of the plots were scattered along side of the road. Immediately I could feel a presence here it was obvious that even though the cemetery is not as old as most in NV that this place suffered major abuse.

The cemetery sat up on a hill overlooking the town although below everything looked like a world away from a world. You can imagine how many folks had there fireplaces lit with their stockings hung meanwhile St. Lord Rick is looking for the ghost of Christmas in the icy desert lol.

From what I could count there were only about 13 graves all unique in their own ways. It didn't take to long for us to attract attention though as a local rancher about a mile away shot his gun twice in the air hoping to deter me. Of course it takes more then a gun to scare me out of a cemetery id be more worried about being eaten this time of year due to the lack of food up in pine nut this time of year.

There were a few interesting observations I made here for one the flag was ripped to shreds clinking and clanking in the high wind. There were two tree stumps carved into grave markers while on the fence was a hand crafted native American dream catcher or something similar to that which was hand weaved. There were allot of little trinkets hanging off the fences and wood post. There were fake flowers scattered amongst the graves. While two concrete slabs were cracked in half possibly from tremors in the area.

It was obvious that this was a poor mans cemetery and most of the plots were not very elaborate. There was one plot that had a pile of boulders around it while another one was just a wood post. The families buried here were buried here by those who more then likely went to Lowe's and designed there own family plots. For example one of the stones was hand poured concrete in a wood frame with a small copper engraved plaque sat on top of it.

The entire cemetery looked in pretty bad shape and it was obvious it was not very maintained. There was a small white cross that had a giant red vase next to it and some flowers hell this may have been the only decent gravesite here. Some of the interments were not buried very deep while at one plot the ground caved in meaning the coffin must had collapsed. Trust me it happens in quite a few cemeteries but nonetheless it just makes the investigation more eerie.

I was enjoying the view below of the town and Tammy was off exploring. I could not even feel my hands at this point and generally I am the last one to ever get cold. But when you cannot feel your feet or hands then maybe its a good time to go. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary here I heard some movement never seen any animals though. I never felt alone here either but at the same time all I can do is wait to examine the evidence.

It felt good to get back into the truck although right now my heat is not working but it was better then being out in the elements. Although there has not really been any snow temperatures in the sierras and high desert drop below freezing. That is why I enjoy carrying a nice hot coffee with me on my investigations so it makes it all good.

Getting back home however would not prove easy as getting out of this place is like a maze. Getting lost just means more money in the gas tank or freezing your ass off a couple hours more haha. I actually went looking for another cemetery never found it but found a very secluded dirt road the entire way back to my place. I enjoy offroading back here as many months ago I seen something strange back here cross the road. So now and then ill take this road joy riding at night just to see if I can catch anything interesting on film.

I did find an old burial ground near this road but we probably will not visit it nor investigate it for a few months. But it just goes to show you the type of locations that we visit. Many of them are very offbeat some of them nobody even is aware of. Allot of them require four wheel drive and some are just needles in a haystack. I grew up back east and I have come to realize investigating there and here are entirely separate worlds they truly are. The cemeteries are much different just as the terrain is opposite of what you would expect. I had a great time I just wish we were not working shorthanded right now we can always use more investigators to help with each case.

No matter how big or small the location is were always going to treat it on our site as a temple. Every location I visit is special and being this was the last one of 2011 it really was a really cool offroading adventure in search of ghost of the high desert crossroads.The only part that was a downer is that we didn't have our meter with us as it broke at another ghost town. So sometimes you have to go on instincts and know when to draw the line when it comes to what is haunted and what is just plain forgotten!

We want to take the time to wish everyone a prosperous and fruitful New Year as we delve into 2012.
Cheers,
Lord Rick
Founder, Author, Producer and Talk Show Host