[Art credit: Knightkamia, Raven Mocker; Raven Mocker | Myth and Folklore Wiki | Fandom]
Note: Numbers below correspond to the map found on the main page.]
Other Fairies of the Cherokee Realms
Two little people with names, who are quite notorious: Tsawa’si, who helps hunters (who should always be fasting until sunset) sneak up on deer, and Tsaga’si, who also helps with the hunt but is known to trip people in the woods. De’tsata is said to be a child that ran off to the woods to avoid a “scratching,” and so is probably a ghost. He scares up flocks of birds and hides shot arrows and game that has fallen from a tree. If one says, “De’tsata, you have my [insert], and if you don’t give it up I’ll scratch you,” he will usually give it up. However, it is not advised to attempt contact with any of these entities.
There are “water-dweller” fairies, the Yunwi Amaiyine’hi, that are helpful to fishermen when asked.
The “Fire-carrier,” or Atsil’dihye’gi, follows behind people at night with a light. No one knows what it looks like, and whether it’s a ghost, a witch, or a fae spirit of some kind.
Raven Mocker Witches
Of all witches and wizards the Raven Mockers are the worst. They look withered and old and are male or female. They add years to their lives by stealing and eating the hearts of the dying. They fly through the air in a fiery shape with arms outstretched and with the sound of a rushing wind and sparks trailing behind. They occasionally make a sound like a raven when it dives, thus their name. They turn invisible and torment the dying. Only the proper Indian magic (or a saint) can see them, and once seen they die in seven days (401-2). The dying must in general be protected by spiritual power since witches and demons want to see them damned at the end of their lives.
The Lower Thunders in the Falls
The lower Thunders, suffragens of Kana’ti, still hold all the great waterfalls of the Cherokee lands, particularly Tallulah Falls and Toccoa Falls in Georgia, their chief seats. Kana’ti’s personal corner of the spirit realm is far in the west above the sky vault (near where the sun goes down), and he wraps himself in lighting and rainbow (he is called Red Man because of the red on the rainbow in his dress, though there appears to be a Red Man and Woman living in the east, also associated with the Thunders and opposed by a Black Man in the West).
The lower and less powerful Thunders live in cliffs and mountains, and under waterfalls. They speak in a great roar, coinciding with the crashing of the waters. They travel on invisible bridges from ridge to ridge and mountain to mountain where their invisible townhouses exist. These lower Thunders are mischievous, and caution should be exercised around them. They can appear walking underwater one moment and then up on a cliff the next. Though they can don wigs, their heads are generally smooth as pumpkins, and they look the size of a man. They plunge under the waters and have their abode in caves within the deeps. They exhibit both male and female forms, and their furniture and attire are turtles and snakes, and some of them ride and fraternize with the Uktena demon snakes and keep Great Horned Beetles as their “dogs.” They can read thoughts, and their eyes can flash with lightning and their voice clap with thunder and strike a man into a fear-induced swoon. They can cause swelling of the lower joints of the hand if one points a finger at a rainbow as they still regard this as their special possession, despite it being the True God’s symbol of peace to mankind now. They will attempt to lure people away with dance, and the follower will find heretofore unknown paths that they will lead him along, before taking him underwater to their lairs. If one is so led by them to see their fantastic realm, he must never speak of it. (Time passes much more quickly there.) Seven days from the telling such a one will die. Because many of them tend toward the demonic, their weapon against man is many times a curiosity that kills or a spastic, loud energy that can lead to violence [Draw a bald man or woman riding an Uktena with a turtle, the comon water turtle or saligu’gi, for a saddle and two slimy snakes for arm bands. Also include Phanoeus Carnifex or Great Horned Beetle (Eastern Hercules Beetle or Scarab Beetle?), as this is the “dog” of the “Thunder Boys” (308)]
- 51. Toccoa Falls (outside the town of the same name):
The Water Cannibals
The other underwater spirit people are evil fairies, possibly warped to the point of being demons, though some of them occasionally behave in friendly ways toward men. These are the water cannibals. They live in towns at the bottom of deep rivers and live upon human flesh, especially that of children. They stalk the land just after daybreak and go about from house to house until they find someone oversleeping, who they shoot with invisible arrows and then carry away dead. They replace the body with a shade or image of the dead man or child, which acts just like the real person for a period of seven days, but then withers and dies, leaving the bereft to think their loved one has simply gotten sick and died. Meanwhile, they have gone and carried their cargo back to their riverine settlement where they feast on the bodies. Therefore, when near a river, it’s imperative that one be awake at daybreak. Wake up the children with the warning, “The hunters are among you.” These evil beings can also read thoughts. They are demons of sloth, gluttony, and possibly lust. Avoiding these vices is the best defense: arise early and avoid overeating. Early morning car break-ins are sometimes these cannibals being frustrated that they cannot attack such a person. A dying Indian man living near Tikwalitsi (Tuckaleechee), near Townsend, Tenn., was abducted by the water cannibals but was nursed back to health by them in their underwater town and released, inexplicably.
- 52. Tuckaleechee, TN:
Miscellaneous Spirits
There are “white people” spirits at Gisehun’yi “Where the Female lives,” on Tuckaseegee River, about 2 miles above Bryson City, Swain Co. They were seen there washing clothes and supposed to be of the same sort as the Agis’e’gwa or “Great Female,” a spirit invoked by the conjurers.
- 57. Gisehun’yi vicinity, east of Bryson City, southwest of Kituwah:
Nature Spirits/Animal Guardians
Every element of the natural world was given a spirit guardian, or husbandman, by God. A prominent nature spirit is the A’wi’Usdi’ or Little Deer. It’s about the size of a dog and white, with branching antlers, and always travels with a large herd of deer. It is the guardian of all deer, and if a deer is improperly or rashly killed, or killed in a spirit of waste and wantonness, or prayers of thanks are not uttered afterwards, the Little Deer will afflict the careless or greedy hunter with rheumatism. The Little Deer can only be spotted by experienced hunters, perhaps once in a lifetime, after extensive prayers and fasting. If he is shot, he reappears later, being immortal, but a piece of his antler is an unfailing talisman that attracts and dazes all deer ever after, so it is highly sought after. Similar power emanates from the down of the young antler of a deer, which should be kept with deer hunters if they’re fortunate enough to find some.
The Great Rabbit, or the Easter Bunny
Gregory Bald Mountain is the home of the Great Rabbit (the mountain is Tsitsu’yi, or Rabbit Place, in Cherokee, which also houses a mystical bear townhouse). He is larger than all other rabbits (as large as a deer) and their chief, and is known as a trickster. He is an immortal spirit guardian of rabbitkind rather than just an abnormally large rabbit. He presides over their townhouse located mystically within this mountain. All eastern tribes regard the Great White Rabbit as a hero-god, trickster, and wonder-worker. Algonquian say he is the incarnation of the eastern dawn that brings light and life and drives away the dark shadows which have held the world in chains (233). These rabbits and the Easter Bunny are one and the same. It is no coincidence that Christ permitted a rabbit to be the first witness of his resurrection on Easter morn. As the angelic (or at least “good fairy”) guardian of rabbitkind, the Great White Rabbit has therefore been the harbinger of the Resurrection day ever since and inspires in families gift- and treat-giving on Eastern morn.
Other Spirit Guardians: Panthers and Fish
There are spirits who look like panthers but live inside mountains. They have townhouses and do the Green Corn Dance and talk. One enters their realms at the heads of mountain streams. One will die if he spends time there with them and then goes back home (324). They may have left with the extinction of panthers in the Eastern Mountains.
The fish have a chief spirit guardian called Dakwa’ who lives in Little Tennessee River around Toco (now Toqua) creek (named for him) in Monroe Co., Tenn. The spot is called Toqua now and is submerged after the damming of the river. There’s a Toqua recreation area and boat ramp there now. The place is traditionally called Dakwa’i or place of the Dakwa. The Dakwa once swallowed a man who then cut himself out of its stomach with mussel shells. It manifests as a fish big enough to easily swallow a man (320). There is a Dakwa’ for each side of the mountains, with the North Carolina one living in the French Broad River, 6 miles above Warm Springs in Madison County, NC, and 30 miles below Asheville.
- 63. Tennessee Dakwai:
- 64. Vicinity of NC Dakwai:
Killer Hornet Spirits
On Cheowa Maximum, a bald mountain at the head of Cheowa River, on the Graham/Macon County line, called Sehwate’yi, “Hornet Place”: a giant hornet patrolled the area, likely the guardian of beekind. There was another hornet, big as a house, that attacked the town of Kanu’gala’yi (Brier place or Briertown) on Nantahala River, in Macon Co., NC. It would catch children and carry them off to their doom. It was called U’lagu’. Eventually, near Franklin, NC—seeing the nest at the fountainhead of the river Tugaloo in a deep cavern on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge—Cherokee warriors prayed to the Great Spirit (as they knew God) to destroy the demon, and He heard their prayer. He struck with a terrible thunderstorm the mountain that the monster had nested in. Half the mountain was sheared away, leaving a smooth granite cliff half a mile long and 1,200 ft high (called White-side Mountain or the Devil’s Courthouse. Sicknesses, or the spirits that cause them, are banished by Indian prayers into a crevice in the mountain because it is an entrance to the Darkening Land, so be on guard against sickness here). The destruction of Ulgagu’s habitat allowed the Indians to slay the spirit beast (the wayward guardian of beekind). God then granted the Cherokee the phenomenon of the “balds” which grace many of their mountains, so that enemies and evil spirits/beasts would not be able to use them to hide out ever again.
- 65. Sehwate’yï, “Hornet place, is Cheowa Maximum or Cheowa Bald, along with Swim Bald, where one monster hornet spirit lived and sunned and sallied forth to afflict men; east of Robbinsville, NC:
- 66. Whiteside Mountain (the Devil’s Courthouse), near Highlands, NC:
Common Animal Meanings and Associations
Snakes have a spiritual connection with rain and thunder and are allies with deer and ginseng. Killing snakes should be avoided. If you are bitten in a dream, you should seek medical attention as if a real snake bit you, as it was a snake “ghost,” or demon. Owls can be embodied ghosts or disguised witches, and their cry can be an evil omen. Eagles are very sacred, which must mean their spirit guardians are very powerful. The Redbird was thought to be a daughter of the sun (or its spirit guardian) while the Mockingbird was thought supernatural and its heart thought to make one quick to learn. Chickadees chirping means a long-lost friend is coming or an enemy is plotting mischief while the tufted titmouse is a liar (286).
The Serpent Demon of Soddy-Daisy
At Chickamauga Gulch, north of Chattanooga in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., is a serpent demon who demanded blood tribute from the Cherokees in ages past. The demon would make a loud hiss the day before the human tribute was to be delivered, and the Cherokees, out of fear, would reluctantly deliver up ten of their most beautiful maidens to its appetite. They would be led to the summit of a cliff (probably the southwestern ridge) and left to be consumed.
- 86. Chickamauga Gulch (there’s a trailhead at 354 Montlake Rd, Soddy-Daisy, TN 37379):
Cannibals in the Tennessee River at the Suck
At the Suck (the mouth of Suck Creek, 8 miles below Chattanooga on the Tennessee) there used to be a series of whirlpools that would swallow boats whole. At the bottom of these whirlpools lives a great company of people, along with their townhouses. These entities are of the water cannibals, and they used to try to grab people caught in the whirlpool and pull them down to their doom.
- 87. The Suck:
Leech Place
A giant leech, whether physical creature or demonic spirit, no one knows, similarly would cause the river to boil and foam and then would spray up and sweep away anyone near a natural rock bridge that used to go (or may still go) over the river. The spot is in Murphy, North Carolina, just above or below the confluence of the Valley and Hiwassee Rivers. The bodies would be found later with their noses and ears eaten off. It is in a deep hole in Valley River, just below the old Unicoi Turnpike ford at Murphy.
- 76. Vicinity of Leech Place:
Wicked Spear-finger
Another terrifying demon is the U’tlun’ta, or Spear-finger. She can take any shape she likes but in her truest form she looks like an old woman, with her body being covered by a skin as hard as rock that no weapon can penetrate. Sometimes her walking sounds like thunder. Birds scatter at the sound of her voice. She has a long, stony forefinger of bone on her right hand like a spearpoint, which she stabs with whenever she’s near enough. She devours the livers of her victims. Sometimes she was called Nun’yunu’wi, or Stone-dress, on account of her skin. She can easily lift and carry immense rocks and bind them by smacking them together. Her most notorious haunt is in Monroe County, Tennessee, in the saddle of Chilhowee Mountain where the Little Tennessee River flows through.
- 88. Where Spear-finger haunts in Tennessee:
In North Carolina she attempted to create a magical rock bridge from Nunyu’tlu’gun’yi or the Tree Rock on the Hiwassee River (probably near Murphy, NC) to Sanigila’gi (Whiteside Mountain) near Highlands, NC. But God ordered this abomination struck down, and lightning smashed it and scattered the pieces near Tree Rock.
- 6. Probable location of Tree Rock:
She can be found in any part of the mountains, particularly near the heads of streams (which are always liminal places) and along the dark passes of the Nantahala River (and its stream heads, so on the south side of Clingman’s Dome), ever hungry for livers. A demon with a hunger for livers could point to a desire for control of the future and the anger and power necessary to shape the world according to one’s will. Emotions of angry, driving, willful control could spring from Spear-finger’s influence: this is what she inspires and what she feeds off of in the less spiritually adept. Again, only those purified of these passions would she attempt to literally kill and eat the livers of.
Spear-finger’s Death?
However, that fact makes her especially dangerous to children, who are purer of heart (and liver). She is known to sweetly beckon them to her lap, where she puts them to sleep and then accomplishes her evil purpose. She can even pierce and steal a liver before a victim even knows what has happened, and his death will only occur later. She often gains proximity to a victim by taking the form of a family member or acquaintance. However, she cannot shapeshift when beheld by somebody. The greatest practical defense is to stay in groups while in the mountains. If one of the party gets isolated, the person who comes back to the group may actually be Spear-finger. She can be observed from a ways off singing a pretty song with chilling words: “Liver, I eat it, Su sa sai.” Because her only weak spot is the hand which she keeps balled in a fist (because her heart is there) (and which contains the sharp spear), all attacks against her must be aimed there. She was killed once after the Cherokee trapped her in a pit and were guided to her weak spot by a Chickadee (after the Cherokee were deceived by a titmouse). However, being an immortal demon, it is unlikely that she departed the earth permanently after that and is still assumed to haunt East Tennessee, and especially the Noland Creek Trail area along the north shore of Fontana Lake (on the NC side of the Nat’l Park) where she has been sighted. This is an area of deep woods with pioneer ruins and cemeteries scattered throughout. A ghost of a settler, however, is known to lead lost hikers to safety with his lantern near this trail.
- 89. Noland Creek Trailhead (Lakeview Drive East Parking #2):
The Stoneman
There is also a Stoneman, Nun’yunu’wi, who is a demon akin to Spear-finger and a cannibal. He uses a bright, magical stone cane to guide him to his victims, and it can turn into a bridge and ferry him across ridges. He was weakened by the sight of seven menstruating women, then smothered and burned. Red clay paint and an U’lunsu’ti stone were all that was left of him. The paint granted wishes to those who painted with it (319-20). Like Spear-finger, however, whether he has been totally banished from this world is doubtful.
Another Great Lizard Spirit
On Joanna Bald near the head of Valley River, on the line between Graham and Cherokee counties is a place called Diya’hali’yi, or “Lizard Place”: a great lizard with glistening throat haunted this place and would sun itself on the rocky slopes. It was likely a guardian spirit of reptiles.
- 90. “Diyâ′hăli′yĭ, “Lizard place,” from a traditional great lizard, with glistening throat, which used to haunt the place and was frequently seen sunning itself on the rocky slopes”:
Turtle Lord
The Turtle Lord lives at Saligu’gi, “Turtle Place,” a deep hole in Oconoluftee River, half a mile below Adams Creek, near Whittier, in Swain Co. A monster turtle has been seen here.
- 4. Turtle Place:
Eddying Buffalo Guardian
Tsuta’tsinasun’yi, “Where it eddies,” is a deep hole at the mouth of Cockram Creek of Cheowa River, in Graham Co., where an eddy is caused by a buffalo that lives under the water here. It must be the guardian spirit of the buffalo.
- 91. Where it eddies (north of Lake Santeetlah, off Hwy 129):
At a creek at the head of Chestatee River, north of Dahlonega, in Lumpkin Co., is another Walasi’yi, “Frog Place,” now Frogtown. The name is applied to a mountain to the northeast (Rock Mountain?) where there lurks a frog as big as a house, a frog or amphibian guardian (416).
- 3. Vicinity of Frogtown, GA:
Gili-dinehun’yi, or “where the dogs live,” is a deep place in Oconaluftee River, in Swain County, a short distance above Yellow Hill (Cherokee) and just below the mound. Two “red dogs” play on the bank there but live under the water.
- 9. Where the dogs live (below former Nununyi Mound):
Untsaiyi, the Gambler
The Suck, part of the Narrows of the Tennessee River, is just above a place where the currents produced something called Untiguhi (“Pot in the Water”) or the Boiling Pot in the river. (The Boiling Pot was caused by the Thunder god throwing his half-spirit lightning son and some roots into the river in a boiling pot in order to cleanse him of his skin blemishes. The river still eddies at that place where the supernatural concoction did its work.)
- 92. Boiling Pot (Pot in the Water). There’s a Pot Point Nature Trail on the north side; Untsaiyi lived across the river by a large flat rock that is probably submerged now.
Again, right beside this spot in the river, on the south side by a large flat rock, probably at the base of Racoon Mountain, lived a spirit called Untsaiyi, the brass-skinned voracious gambler, a trickster, and a shapeshifter. This spirit gave man the gatayusti or chungke (stone wheel and stick) game played by the Cherokee. The sons of Thunder drove him from this place across the earth and to the western edge of the world, in the Pacific Ocean. He is buried beneath the waves there, face up, with a stake driven through his chest into the ocean floor. Two crows stand atop that pole which reaches from the bottom of the sea up above the waves. Any critters (especially beavers) which attempt to free him are scared away by the crows. He cannot die until the end of the world and the consummation of all things. The place where he is buried is called Kagun’yi or Crow Place. (He also played his game on the north side of Hiwassee, just below Calhoun, TN, where there is a striped or grooved flat rock (464).
- 93. Vicinity of Hiwassee haunt of Untsaiyi:
Death Serpent at Lenoir
At Lenoir, on the north bank of the Tennessee, at the junction of the Little Tennessee, in Loudon Co., an eddy in the stream is caused by a large serpent who, if seen, is an omen of death (414).
- 94. Vicinity of Death Serpent area along north bank of the Tennessee:
Yawa Ghost
At the Yawa place, a spot on the south side of Yellow Creek of Cheowa River, in Graham Co., about a mile above the trail crossing near the mouth of the creek: a ghost haunted a round knob near here, and would walk about yelling Yawa! while invisible guns sounded. It may be a dead soldier.
- 97. Probable Yawa place knob:
