At the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, United States lurks a creature thought to be a stick person, a sort of demon by the Native people, Walking Sam. It is as thin as a skeleton and black as night. It’s tall and lanky and upon its head rests a black top hat. The oddest aspect of this spirit is how it wears the souls of its victims, dangling from its arms.

Walking Sam is said to live in the woods of the reservation. A person can tell if it is nearby or even its next victim when they hear whistling cutting through the dense trees. Shortly after the victim will hear voices in their head telling them they are worthless and that they should take their own life. Same spends his time on what to say to each individual to achieve its goal.



Some say he is attempting to protect his home, the forest. Others say he is lonely and that to encourage a person to leave their own friends, he will tell people no one likes them and that they should leave. Many believe this is him attempting to send the people into the woods, where he can befriend them, but often this is where his victims end their lives.



Cases of mass attempted suicide have been reported within this reservation. Most often the victims are young adults and teenagers, people who are often impressionable. One reported case claims that within a matter of months 200 teens attempted suicide, 9 were successful. The community attributed this incident to the being Walking Sam, particularly the elders, who at times even warn the youth of the being.



One dreary day, a girl had locked herself away in her room. She had recently been experiencing a deep depression, even claiming to hear voices in her head. While she sat on her bed looking out her window, the heavy rainfall nearly blotted out the forest about 30 feet.



The voices came in whispers that day as if telling her she wasn’t even worth the voices time. The girl began contemplating her suicide when it was suggested by the voice. The rain lightened, and she listened to how her parents never wanted her from the voice. Before it could finish the thought, it was cut off as the girl gazed into the woods. Just past a few of the nearest trees, she spot something strange.



A dark face quickly darted behind a tree. She said it had no features but for a pair of burning white spots where its eyes should have been. She continued watching and never saw the entity again. She later told her grandmother what was happening to her, what she had seen. The old woman asked if the shadow was tall. The girl said it was probably 7 feet up the tree. She began to shake of fear as her grandmother describe the creature. Thin, black, skeleton-like, a tall hat. The grandmother told the girl the truth, that it was Walking Sam.



The two went to a friend of the grandmother speaking help. She supposedly placed some sort of protection blessing on the girl. The days coming, she no longer had the dark thoughts causing her depression, but when she would near the woods by her house, she could hear whistling. Whistling, coming from Walking Sam.