By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
On November 7, author Stanley Milford, Jr. sat down for a discussion with Brandon Adler about his new book, The Paranormal Ranger. In it, he recounts his experience as a Navajo Ranger dealing with reports of paranormal and extraterrestrial activity in the Navajo Nation, New Mexico.
The talk was part of the Burlington Literary Festival (or BurlLITFest) and was organized by the Library Speakers Consortium.
Those who registered on the Burlington Public Library’s website would receive a link to the webinar and could also pre-submit questions for Milford, Jr. to answer during the event.
Adler explained to viewers what the consortium was before the talk began.
“The Library Speakers Consortium is a partnership of more than 450 library systems across the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand with the goal of making author talks more accessible to communities of all sizes,” Adler said.
Milford, Jr. has worked in law enforcement for over 23 years and served as the Delegated Chief Navajo Ranger for over two years, through March of 2019.
During his time with the Rangers, Milford, Jr. oversaw a section called the Special Projects Unit, which investigated cases that often involved reports of the paranormal or supernatural.
The memoir also chronicles Milford, Jr.’s childhood, which he credits with being important in the development of his attitudes towards the supernatural, owing to his Native American upbringing.
“I’d always been very spiritual from an early age,” he said. “As a child growing up in Oklahoma, I’d disappear off into the woods, and even after dark at times. I didn’t really hold common fears. I would put it in the hands of my creator and let him deal with that.”
Milford, Jr. said that he adopted this same mentality when dealing with dangerous situations while in the police force.
Milford, Jr.’s father is from the Navajo Nation, and his mother is from the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma.
Milford, Jr. said that he had connections to both Native American and Western culture in his youth, spending time both on the Navajo Reservation and in Oklahoma.
Milford, Jr. said that one of his formative experiences with the supernatural was when he was in college and witnessed a skinwalker (someone who has the ability to turn into or disguise themselves as another creature).
After driving a Navajo man who he met at a movie theatre home, Milford, Jr. saw what he describes as a large greyhound dog.
“The back of this thing probably rose up at least four feet off the ground, and it was riding on all fours,” Milford, Jr. said. “It was all white from head to toe and its head was canine in form. It had a long snout that had a mouthful of jagged teeth, but the most haunting part of it was its eyes.”
“Its eyes were the colour of exit signs, like you see in the movie theatres,” he continued. “And at one point, me and this thing locked eyes. It was looking directly at me. After that, I slid down as far as I could in the driver’s seat, and I floored the vehicle.”
When Milford, Jr. got home, his father explained that what he saw was a skinwalker.
Milford, Jr. said that skinwalkers are associated with black magic and the worship of Satan. He also said that a medicine man attributed the death of one of his cousins to someone practicing black magic against his family.
Milford, Jr. spoke about the misconceptions about the supernatural within Western culture.
“I think it’s much more common than we want to believe, than we want to accept in our society,” he said. “For the most part, we’re raised, in the United States, with blinders on to pretend that that noise was just the house settling or the wind blowing. We’re taught to fear this kind of stuff, as opposed to trying to know that it exists and understand it.”
“The book is a PSA,” Milford, Jr. continued. “I hope that people are able to read it and understand that in certain respects, these phenomenons [sic] do happen. It’s not all smoke and mirrors and make-believe.”
To watch the whole talk, click here.
