Ghost Dogs of the South by Randy Russell

Author:Randy Russell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Folklore/Ghosts
Publisher: Blair
Published: 2001-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Freeman Joshua returned often to the tree he couldn’t see and walked often to the edge of the invisible lake.

The area occupied by Marietta, Georgia, was a major city of the Cherokee. Sewell’s Woods was sacred ground. Its location was forgotten among the Cherokee during the Trail of Tears.

The Cherokee respected bears above the other animals that inhabited the earth, because bears had once been human. Freeman’s ancestors believed bears could speak to humans if they wanted to, but chose to talk only among themselves. There was a place in the forest where the bears gathered in late autumn before finding their winter sleeping lodges. There, the bears told each other their stories.

It was the place that the great white bear lived throughout the year. He held dominion over the bear community. He also served as an adviser and healer. He devised a way to cure a bear of any injury, even one that might otherwise prove fatal. If a bear could make its way to the place now called Sewell’s Woods, it would be made well by wading into the lake.

Woodland bears once traveled to the lake through all hardships. Though many bears could no longer find their way back, Freeman understood that the lake was still there. It was an enchanted lake and could not be seen by man.

The lake also provided its curative power to all other animals of the woods, including foxes, frogs, and birds. The magic of the lake was so powerful it could even cure a man of his injuries.

But the white bear made it impossible for humans to see the lake. If they could see it, too many of them would come. They would take the lake away from the bears. Atag-Hi, the name of the lake in Cherokee, was so beautiful it could not be resisted by men were it visible to them.

An ancient Cherokee belief allows a way for the enchanted lake to be found by humans, although they will never actually see it. On rare occasions, the furious beating of thousands upon thousands of wings may be heard as waterfowl rise from the surface of the lake. It is a lake that can be heard but not seen.

In some Cherokee histories, the claim is made that the mist rising from the lake can be seen from the peaks of the hills surrounding it. But this ethereal vision occurs only in moonlight and has not been documented by the Cherokee in modern times.

Freeman Joshua knew he was blessed to have been shown the place. After much consideration, it was his decision that the sacred healing place of woodland animals should be kept to the animals themselves. Any old dog could find the place. For men, even his own children, learning the location would ruin it for all wild things.

The lake was smaller than it had once been, he imagined. Few animals could find their way to be healed because so many roads and houses had been built, so many fences. The protected trails to the enchanted lake had rapidly been erased by civilization.

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