WHITE HORSE

An Indigenous woman encounters the supernatural when she touches her missing mother’s old bracelet and raises a monster.

Kari James would be the first to tell you she’s not a traditional Indigenous woman. “I was more of a work at the bar, go to the bar, thrash at a heavy metal concert kind of Indian than a powwow Indian,” she admits. In her mid-30s, Kari lives a disorderly life. She cares for her disabled father but still revels in late nights drinking and smoking at her favorite dive bar, White Horse, and enjoying the music of headbanger Dave Mustaine, the horror novels of Stephen King, and the occasional random hookup. She's mostly ignored the spiritual aspects of her Apache and Chickasaw ancestors, preferring a good party instead. Then her cousin Debby finds an old family bracelet that once belonged to Kari’s mother, who'd vanished when Kari was a baby. Kari has always assumed her mother abandoned her, but when she touches the bracelet, she experiences violent, troubling visions about the past and her family, and a dangerous monster is unleashed. Set in and around Denver and its neighboring communities, this is a unique, dark twist on the modern ghost story that deftly blends an understanding of the mysticism of Indigenous culture with the horrors of poverty, abuse, and addiction. Sometimes the plot feels a bit chaotic, but the tumult mirrors Kari’s roiling emotions. She’s haunted not only by her mother’s disappearance, but also by the death of her best friend from an overdose, a tragedy Kari believes she could have prevented. As Kari fumbles toward the truth about her family and faces off against a nightmarish entity, Wurth—who is of Apache/Chickasaw/Cherokee descent—paints a compelling portrait of friendship, love, and the quest for self-respect, offering a fierce and generous vision of contemporary Native American life.

An engrossing modern horror story that blends the power of Indigenous spiritualism with earthly terrors.