The badlands of South Dakota has been dubbed Hell without fire. It’s barren, full of cliff faces and straight drops into canyons. Smoke rolls from beneath the ground, some say it comes from smoldering coal veins. Others say it rises from the depths of hell itself. It’s an eerie land that seems unfit for our planet, but it’s home for many creatures. Bison roam the plains and bighorn sheep claim the mountainsides. At night the whiny howling of coyotes breaks through the quiet darkness.

Coyotes, however, are not the only thing to break the illusion of a safe and peace-filled night. The badlands are home to another creature that wails, more like screams. It does so in such a way, that it makes even the toughest badlands cowboy’s blood freeze in their veins.

In the dead of night, in the deepest darkness, a shimmering silhouette can be seen near a place called Watch Dog. A woman some say was savagely murdered by the natives. Others say it was a native woman unable to escape the vicious settlers. Either way, the banshee stalks the desolate lands waving her arms to get the attention of travelers. When approached, the specter will stand silent, calm, until asked what she wants. Then the woman will scream.

Story’s say she is often accompanied by another. A skeleton, one that walks alongside the banshee in search of music. If the skeleton finds music, it will then bring forth its fiddle and play along through the night. At the crack of dawn, with the light blue of the morning sky, the music will cease and those entranced by it’s wondrous tune will walk off to find it again. This will often result in the skeleton leading the person into one of the many canyons to their demise.

One dark night, the badlands we’re shrouded with clouds so that not even the moon shone through. Three cowboys sat around a fire. They were joking, telling stories, whistling tunes until they were all by a sound cutting through the night.

A shriek that made their faces turn pale and their blood stagnate.

They could make out the faint shape of watch dog in the near distance and at its foot stood a woman, translucent and shining in blue. Though she was a fare distance away, she appeared very pretty. Until the cowboys heard the scream again. Her arms shot up as her jaw lurched down and her eyes sank into black pits.

From behind them, the cowboys heard something stir. Two of them looked back and saw, but where the fire light broke into shadow and darkness. For a moment only the crackling of fire was heard, until a sweet melody came from the cold night. A tune sang by a fiddle crept gently from just the otherside.

The woman had faded away and the three cowboys sat staring into the fire as the fiddle playing grew more rapid, more aggressive as the night went on. Two cowboys couldn’t help, but fall into slumber.

When they awoke, the third was gone. The sun had just risen into the light blue sky and the pair set out following the thirds boot prints in the ash and dirt and sand of the badlands. When they came to the edge of a cliff, they saw the boot prints led over.

One laid on his belly and crawled to the edge expecting to find his friend laying dead at the bottom. Instead, he saw a skeleton. Next to it, a fiddle. The two decided to quickly make for the nearest town, afraid that if they were to stay another night at watch dog, they may once again hear the scream of the banshee of the badlands.