Skiing has always been a family tradition. It still is to this day. Some mountains have giant moguls and jumps for doing aerial tricks off of while others are simply just a left to right downhill adventure. For the younger generation it seems that snowboarding has taken over into the mainstream. Which isn’t a horrible thing. Families are still out, in nature, on the slopes and tearing up the freshly settled powder. It’s a fun sport and is a great weekend activity. There are many great resorts around the United States. They range from extremely hard slopes to fun but easy ones. It all depends on your skill level and how hard you want the adventure to be. Some skiers are so advanced they could handle any trail put in front of them and

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yet they keep returning to the easy ones. Everyone is different. Once you’re up on the slopes there’s nothing like a hot cup of coco or coffee and then lacing up your boots and heading out on to the trails.

Jackson Hole Mountain is located in Jackson, Wyoming. This mountain is one of the most popular in the entire country. People of all skill levels come from all sides of the country to ski this resort. They have heard the amazing stories that come out of here. It really is a thing of beauty. Most people attribute Wyoming to flat lands and boring terrains. This mountain proves that Wyoming is anything but that. Thousands of tourists flock every year to try their hand at the mountain. Many succeed but there is an abundance that land face first in the snow. A majority of the people don’t know the true history on the mountain. They don’t know what roams around at night. She scares most night riders and since the mountain opened up it’s night skiing this, creature, has plummeted sales. No one can figure out what it is or why it’s terrifying customers but it is. This isn’t a ghost. This isn’t the abominable snow man. This entity is a banshee.

Most people aren’t aware of banshees. They do exist and they are terrifying. Often times banshees don’t kill. They simply warn of someone on the brink of death. Even if they don’t kill, the screams they let out, to show someone is close to death is about as terrifying as death itself. The old folklore has it that a banshee is the ghost of a young woman who was brutally murdered. She now spends her time in the after life watching over families and their loved ones, warning them of something horrible. Of course not all banshees are the same and some of them roam around for revenge. Taking countless lives to make up for theirs. Banshees have been known to take on many forms. Usually she comes as a young woman with long flowing red hair or an old with grey hair, long fingernails and ratty clothes.

Tale has it that the woman from Jackson Hole was murdered on the slopes. She was kidnapped and take to the top of the mountain. On the back side there aren’t any slopes. It’s a cliff that falls for a couple hundred feet and then tapers down about half way. Two men took her up there and shoved her off. These men were never caught and Jackson Hole is now where the banshee resides.

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Jimmy and Barry are adventurists. They are the type that you see on videos and think to yourself “What in the world are they thinking”. These two could best be known as adrenaline junkies. Always looking for that next high and often times it lands them in trouble, mainly with the law. They’ve only been arrested a couple times but only for overnight deals. They don’t put anyone lives in jeopardy and harm the public in any way. The only people they risk death with are themselves. They’ve traveled the world skiing every mountain and carving out powder on mountains that don’t even have slopes made. Jimmy is the most fearless of the two. Barry is only a couple steps behind him but even he sometimes questions the adventures that Jimmy has planned. Barry has learned to trust him though. He hasn’t been led astray yet and he prays that on each next ski slope, it won’t be his last.

Jimmy called up Barry one day and told him about Jackson Hole. Barry was a little confused, mainly for the fact, they’ve skied Jackson Hole countless times. He was trying to think back but it seemed like they had skied there almost every other year. Nothing ever really changes at that mountain. Sometimes they carve out a new slope but the only differences that ever come are, sometimes the snow is great and sometimes it sucks. Jimmy told him about the night skiing. Barry was all ears now. He also told him about the helicopter drop. Barry was grinning ear to ear. If it had been possible he would of jumped through that phone and given Jimmy a giant hug. Barry had seen videos of people jumping out of helicopters and landing on the slopes. It was a bucket list item for both of them that would soon be checked off. Jimmy also told him some bad news. There had been numerous people, especially lately, that had been dying on the mountain at night. Some even vanished. Jimmy told him of the alleged girl that had been seen on the mountain. Barry took this “scary” news with a grain of salt and moved on with his planning.

Neither man had much for family. They both were loners and that’s probably why they were best friends. They’d known each other for twelve years and it had been some of the best times of either of their

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lives. Both of th

eir parents had died when each boy was younger. Jimmy had one brother who lived on the coast and Barry had a sister that did traveling for the Red Cross. Holiday time wasn’t really spent with family so the two men were usually with each other. Both of them decided this would be a good Christmas gift to treat themselves with. They planned on heading down a couple days before Christmas. They had their bags backed and headed to the airport. A few bag checks and three hours later they were sitting in the hotel room at the mountain. The view from the room, looked directly out at the mountain, and could see all the snowboarders and skiers enjoying themselves.

Night rolled around Jimmy had set up the helicopter ride. They took a cab to the airport and piled their gear up in the helicopter. The pilot went over what the plan was and thirty minutes later they were up in the air and headed back towards the top of the mountain. They reached the top and the pilot circled a couple times to find the best area to drop them off. His meters on the console seemed to be acting a little funny. The pilot made his last circle and looked back to the boys to give them the go ahead to drop down.

The banshee saw the helicopter circling up above. She flew up the mountain side and waited for it to hover in one spot. People just think they can come and do whatever they want on her mountain. How many people did she have to kill before these humans learned their lesson? The helicopter finally stopped and with a deep breath she screamed. She screamed so loud snow was falling of the pine trees that were on other hills. The shockwave hit the helicopter. It went in to a tail spin. The pilot told Jimmy and Barry to hang on. They were going down. Now all that mattered was where and how hard they crashed. The banshee let out one more scream. It completely shut the helicopter off and it dropped right

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out of the sky. It landed on top of the mountain, just teetering on the ledge. The boys regained consciousness. Barry was closest to the door. He unstrapped his boots and jumped out of the helicopter. He landed in the snow and turned around to help Jimmy. As he was grabbing his hand the ground broke loose from under the helicopter. Bot Jimmy and the pilot crashed down the mountain side. The helicopter tumbled and slammed into the rocks. Pieces of metal went everywhere. Barry witnessed his best friends death and was in total shock. He turned around to see if anyone else was on the mountain. Someone that could radio down for help. Surely someone at the lodge had heard that noise or had seen the helicopter crash down on top of the slopes. There she stood. The banshee was looking at him. She was old and pure evil. She had an aura about her that almost felt like a demon. She was standing there….silently….look at Barry, dead in the eyes.

The End