by Travis Mateer

I took this picture inside the Montana State Crime Lab on Thursday because owls are powerfully symbolic creatures. In the book Animal Speak, Ted Andrews writes this about owls:

The owl is a symbol of the feminine, the moon, and the night. It was been called a cat with wings. It has been worshipped as an idol and hated as the reincarnation of the devil. It has been believed to have great healing powers, both in North America and on other continents. Because of its association with the moon, it has ties to fertility and seduction, for the moon is the arouser of men and owls. The owl is the bird of magic and darkness, of prophecy and wisdom.

To the ancient Greeks, the owl was associated with the goddess Athena, and it was a symbol of higher wisdom. It was the guardian of the Acropolis. To the early Christian Gnostics, it is associated with Lilith, the first wife of Adam who refused to be submissive to him. To the Pawnee, it was a symbol of protection. To the Ojibwa, it was a symbol of evil and death. To the Pueblo, it was associated with the Skeleton Man, the god of death, but who was also a spirit of fertility. “Owl medicine is symbolically associated with clairvoyance, astral projection and magic, both black and white.”

I will also point out the sign, partially obscured, that lets visitors know THE WITCH IS IN. Duly noted.

I’m going to crime labs and funeral homes because I keep hearing about dead bodies, so wouldn’t crime labs and funeral homes be the natural places to go? While I am getting more insights into the scope of what might be happening, nothing concrete is materializing, just talk.

On Friday I got another story of a death in or around the river a few months ago. The man who died was a recent arrival, according to one of my homeless contacts, and he “got lippy” with the wrong people, so he ended up dead from an “injection”, is what I was told.

I asked this same homeless contact about overdoses INSIDE the Johnson Street Shelter since it opened. He said he knows of at least one, a woman who died from “China white”, which I’m assuming is heroin.

Heroin was the topic of another conversation I had, but I won’t get into the specifics with that chat. I’ve said enough in direct conversations this past week to put several new targets on my back.

Along with the new fun I’m having, there’s also been an opportunity to reflect on a case I’m no longer directly involved in, though that doesn’t mean the risk just went away. But it’s like I told the Director of the Crime Lab, something happens to me, a lot of writing will get a lot of validation.

Before the links, a song. This one started as a line in my head about a Huckleberry as I drove to see my kids, then the radio said Huckleberry as I sat at the table I no longer eat dinner at. This all makes sense in a crazy sort of way, considering other references in the song include Dogma and Buddy Christ.

The world is strange and getting stranger by the day. Buckle up.

The Music Festival Scheme Missoula Doesn’t Need, But Gwen Jones Wants + Day Of The Dead Festival Hiatus Misinformation (October 30th, 2023)

The Unforeseen Consequences Of My Involvement In The Rebekah Barsotti Case (October 31st, 2023)

This Dead Fox Investigation Is The Funniest Thing I’ve Read All Week! (November 1st, 2023)

A Judge, A Perv, And The Joke We Call Justice (November 2nd, 2023)

On The Benefits Of Not Being Dead (November 3rd, 2023)

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Thanks for reading!