Charles Phillip Whitedog

Thursday, February 8, 1996 by Dave Winer.

This story has been floating around the net, attributed to Charles Phillip Whitedog. I don't have an email address for Mr. Whitedog.

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About 1966 or so, a NASA team doing work for the Apollo moon mission

took the astronauts near Tuba City where the terrain of the Navajo

Reservation looks very much like the Lunar surface. With all the

trucks and large vehicles were two large figures that were dressed in

full Lunar spacesuits.

Nearby, a Navajo sheep herder and his son were watching the strange

creatures walk about, occasionally being tended by personnel. The two

Navajo people were noticed and approached by the NASA personnel. Since

the man did not know English, his son asked for him what the strange

creatures were and the NASA people told them that they are just men

that are getting ready to go to the moon. The man became very excited

and asked if he could send a message to the moon with the astronauts.

The NASA personnel thought this was a great idea so they rustled up a

tape recorder. After the man gave them his message they asked his son

to translate. His son would not.

Later, they tried a few more people on the reservation to translate

and every person they asked would chuckle and then refuse to translate.

Finally, with cash in hand someone translated the message, "Watch out

for these guys, they come to take your land."

Charles Phillip Whitedog, Ojibway and Network Man

Multimission Ground Systems Office (Mission Control)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA