Dark figures in the night. An owl's cry on the wind. Monsters watching from the edge of the wood.

Some of the creatures in these pages might only have a message for you, but some are the stuff of nightmares. These thirty-two

short stories -- from tales passed down for generations to accounts that could have happened yesterday -- are collected from the

thriving tradition of ghost stories from American Indian cultures across North America. Prepare for stories of witches and walking

dolls, hungry skeletons, la llorona, and deer woman, and other supernatural beings ready to chill you to the bone.

Dan SaSuWeh Jones of the Ponca Nation tells of his own encounters and selects his favorite spooky, eerie, surprising, and spinetingling

stories, all paired with haunting art by Weshoyot Alvitre of the Tongva Nation.

So dim the lights (or maybe turn them all on) and pick up a story...if you dare.