Editorial Content for Indian Burial Ground

Native American author Nick Medina follows up his successful debut, SISTERS OF THE LOST NATION, with INDIAN BURIAL GROUND, another story that delves into cultural horror and its effects on modern-day reservation inhabitants.

Noemi Broussard is a grown woman who still lives with her mother and is seeking to find happiness. She believes she has found just that with her boyfriend, Roddy. That is, until the arrival of her Uncle Louie, who brings with him the unfortunate news that Roddy was struck and killed by a car on the road. In her interview with the police, the driver indicates that he seemingly leapt out of nowhere directly in front of her vehicle.

"INDIAN BURIAL GROUND is not your typical horror story, yet it still rings true to what scares all of us. I am so glad that there are authors like Nick Medina who are using their fertile imagination to tell these tales."

When Louie arrives at the scene, he finds what is left of Roddy. Most of his remains was already enjoyed by a coyote who the driver thought she saw in a hallucinatory moment post-accident, the animal’s muzzle covered in blood. Noemi is devastated and tries to take solace in cryptic text messages she sends back and forth with Roddy’s sister. Meanwhile, Louie is distant for other reasons. He knows he has seen this before, and memories of horrors from his past on the same reservation come flooding back to raise his fear level all over again.

Medina does an admirable job of jumping back and forth between the present-day happenings and the retelling of previous horrors through chapters presented from the points of view of both Noemi and Louie. The stories from the past are truly frightening and otherworldly. Louie’s memory is still crystal clear as he recalls incidents that were attributed to the legendary Takoda Vampire.

In the summer of 1986, a member of the reservation had to be this very vampire because unexplainable, supernatural events were taking place. Everything from shapeshifting creatures to missing residents and the most frightening thing of all --- apparently deceased individuals sitting up in their coffins and speaking. Such occurrences hit home with Louie, and his Grandpa Joe is very much involved in these strange activities. The much younger Louie wants to protect his family, especially his little niece Noemi, who he fears may be targeted by the evil that is consuming the reservation.

In the present, Louie thinks that there may be similarities between Roddy’s unexpected death and the same ancient evil that tormented him back in 1986. The difference this time is that he is much older and not able to fight whatever this supernatural enemy may be all by himself. So Noemi joins the fray and, together with her uncle, will seek to find the answers to whatever plague might be starting again and finally put an end to it before nothing is left of their small community.

INDIAN BURIAL GROUND is not your typical horror story, yet it still rings true to what scares all of us. I am so glad that there are authors like Nick Medina who are using their fertile imagination to tell these tales. Along with classic Native American horror writers like Owl Goingback and, more recently, Stephen Graham Jones, there is so much more to explore in this mystical culture, and I look forward to it.