In an upstate area of South Carolina, which was named after the Tokina Band of Cherokee,

there exists a piece of land with the Macabre history and a giant

guardian.

I was born and raised in the same county, but hadn't heard the story until my aunt and uncle began building a home there.

The area was surrounded by pasture land, but these small patches of wooded areas had remained mostly undisturbed for decades.

Native American blood runs in my family on my mother's side.

Looking at the faces of my mother and aunts, the facial structure of the indigenous people is obvious.

There were delays in construction, but these were not the usual delays you would expect.

A septic tank had to be installed.

The contractor they hired left abruptly before the job was complete, abandoning his equipment and tools.

Days passed and the owners finally contacted the man to see why he had left the contract unfinished.

His response was only slightly apologetic. He left for a reason, and

it was not that he was a shoddy contractor. Human bones had been unearthed while digging.

At least that was his claim.

The property owners hadn't noticed any bones around the dig site

and they were perplexed.

He then went on to say that strange things had been happening there on his last day and he left. He refused to elaborate.

Later that day he returned to load his equipment and left in a hurry while my aunt was trying to talk to him.

This was strange behavior for the hospitable nature of the people who lived in the community. My aunt and

uncle never saw an invoice from this contractor. A second contractor was

hired and he too unearthed human bones. The police were called and

apparently everything was quickly settled. The septic tank was installed in

...