Alan Place - Ghost Story Writer
Some days I wake recalling an unfinished story. Today is one of those days, I woke recalling the start of a Western short story I began several years ago about a group of American Civil War prisoners being transported to a remote fort in Kiowa territory.
The story is loosely based on one of my favourite western movies, the little-known Major Dundee, featuring Richard Harris, and Chartlon Heston.
One difference is in the film, the prisoners are being transported to Mexico to fight the Apache, as well as troops from Mexico. I saw the film because I like watching Richard Harris, and westerns, I have seen several Charlton Heston films, and he never impressed me.
In my story, the troops are being watched by various Native American tribes as the travel, none of of whom are at peace with the others, the main concerns are not who is watching them, but where they are going.
The fort they are assigned to build is at the head of a valley, with one track in, and the same track out. The real worry is a Kiowa legend the valley is cursed by the ghosts of warriors who died, and could not be buried, their souls are said to be heard as the sound os hooves on the cliffs in the valley.
