The Paranormal Ranger: A Navajo Investigator’s Search for the Unexplained by Stanley Milford, Jr.

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Stanley Milford, Jr. was born to a Navajo father and Cherokee mother who divorced when he was a child.  Growing up, his life was divided between living with his mother in Oklahoma and with his father’s family on the Navajo Reservation.  He never learned to speak Navajo but learned the traditional stories, folklore, and beliefs.  He had an interest in law enforcement from a young age, so becoming a Navajo Ranger was in many ways a dream come true. 

Navajo Rangers aren’t strictly law enforcement; their duties are wide-ranging and may include anything from inspecting stock to joining a manhunt to investigating reports of unusual creatures or activity.  The latter investigations increasingly fell to Milford and his fellow Navajo Ranger, Jon Dover.  Many such reports were dismissed by the police and other authorities, but Milford had a commanding officer who felt even these seemingly off-kilter cases should be examined to show the community that their concerns were being taken seriously.

That is one of the major themes running through the book: treating people with respect and not belittling their experiences or accounts. Sometimes the things they investigated could be proved to have a non-supernatural explanation, such as a woman who kept hearing odd noises and finding strange bundles of twigs around her home; others were much more elusive.  Milford himself had some inexplicable experiences, so he has a great deal of empathy for victims.  He also set high standards for the investigations, laying out procedures to be followed just as he would for a more mundane investigation. He also began working with others who had experience in the paranormal world, such as MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) in order to get more expertise.

The book is as much about life on the reservation as it is about the paranormal, which is a plus as far as I’m concerned.  As someone who read all the Tony Hillerman books, I was aware of some of the tribes’ beliefs (the area is also home to other tribes, such as Hopi and Zuni) as well as conditions, but Milford’s vivid accounts made it all feel very real. There are few Rangers in a vast area; the terrain can be difficult to travel; and people often live isolated lives.  Milford also retells some of the Navajo stories about creation and explains a bit of their belief system about skinwalkers, ghosts, and other beings.  Some of these more or less fit into Navajo traditions; others less so. 

I liked Milford’s measured approach to the unknown.  He sometimes speculates about some of the phenomena for which he has no explanation but doesn’t try to come to definitive conclusions.  His approach is open but with a healthy dose of skepticism, though no matter what he concludes, he respects those who tell the stories.  I also like the way his descriptions make the reader feel as if they are right there with him in the heat and the scratchy vegetation.

In short, I quite enjoyed this account.