Land of Shadow. Ghostly tales and places of the southwest

Black Tears

According to legend. While camping in an undisclosed part of new Mexico, a group of Apaches consisting of 75 warriors was ambushed in a surprise attack orchestrated by US troops.
Fifty of the Apaches were killed quickly but the other twenty five managed to reach their rifles in time and started a running battle that eventually led them to a cliffs edge.
Faced with an undignified end at the hands of Calvary soldiers or a warriors death they chose the latter and as one man, turned and leapt from the edge and into eternity.
Much later, after the Calvary had gone. The Apache women and children who had remained hidden ventured out to recover the bodies of their loved ones.
It is said that the tears shed that day by the Apache women were so many and so sorrowful that upon hitting the sand under their feet, they immediately became a glossy black stone.

Legend claims that if you have an Apache tear upon your person you need never weep again as the women cried enough on that day for all the generations to come.