Haints of the Hills by Daniel W. Barefoot

Author:Daniel W. Barefoot
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Folklore/Ghosts
ISBN: 9780895874283
Publisher: Blair
Published: 2002-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Let the chant be full of gravity; let it be neither worldly, nor too rude and poor…. Let it be sweet, yet without levity, and while it pleases the ear, let it move the heart.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

FEW REMAIN NOW, but well into the nineteenth century, numerous stone cairns could be found along the ancient trails in the Cherokee country of the North Carolina mountains. Designed by the Indians as a method of interment and a way to memorialize the place of burial, these sepulchral monuments were constructed of large stones piled loosely together to a height of six feet or more. According to Cherokee tradition, each passerby was to add a stone to the grave. But after white settlers took up residence in the western part of North Carolina, virtually all of the cairns were violated and destroyed by treasure seekers.

Most of the pyramid-shaped stone monuments that once lined the old trail on the ridge from Robbinsville, the seat of Graham County, to the Valley River in northeastern Cherokee County have been leveled. Some of the cairns were constructed almost a decade before the American colonies declared their independence. Interred at those sites were a number of Cherokee women and children slaughtered by an Iroquois war party before a peace treaty could be finalized between the two Indian nations in 1768. Legend has it that, even though the graves have been badly desecrated over the years, the chanting voices of women and children can yet be heard in the area. Perhaps the haunting chants are the dirges of those murdered Indians. More likely, however, they are a song of gratitude for the retribution sought and claimed by Chief Talédanigíski and his warriors.

The name Talédanigíski means “Hemp-Carrier.” The Indians used hemp to make thread and cordage. Hemp-Carrier was the chief of the Cherokee settlement in the Cheoah Mountains of Graham County. When he received the grim news of the terrible carnage caused by the Iroquois attack on helpless members of his tribe, he swore revenge. After putting together a group of warriors that included the father of Junaluska—the legendary chief who was to follow—Hemp-Carrier set out after the murderers.

Days turned into weeks as the Cherokee war party made its way across the rugged terrain of the Great Smokies. In the course of their march, the Cherokees surprised an Iroquois war party that was headed south. Hemp-Carrier was not satisfied until every enemy warrior was killed and scalped.

On trekked the revenge-minded Indians from the North Carolina mountains. They hunted their adversaries until they found them far to the north. Darkness was falling one evening as Hemp-Carrier and his band, positioned in a well-hidden spot, watched the activities in the Iroquois town. Their anger mounted as they witnessed a hideous spectacle: the Iroquois women danced over the scalps of the Cherokee victims and gave loud shouts of celebration.

During the ceremony, a sizable group of the dancers walked down to the spring to refresh themselves. At that point, the Cherokees emerged from their nearby position and delivered silent but lethal blows to the unwitting victims.

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