Legend Of Evil Spearfinger And The Cherokee Who Were Guided By Celestial Beings

Ellen Lloyd – AncientPages.com – She is long gone, but the Cherokee have kept the legend of Spearfinger alive. She was an ancient, evil witch who used her supernatural powers to cause harm. No one knows how she did it, but she had a strange power over stones and could move heavy rocks no normal man could push.

It was almost impossible to detect Spearfinger, until it was too late. Credit: Public Domain

Legend tells Spearfinger had a special and unusual relationship with stones. Her body was covered by a hard skin of rock, making it impenetrable, and warriors could do little harm to the witch. Her greatest enemy was the Stone Man. She and the Stone Man chased for the same food – livers- but he had stronger powers and could use his magical staff to create bridges to other mountains.

Spearfinger Was  A Master Of Deception

Spearfinger was a shapeshifter; as such, she could transform herself from an ugly, old woman into a beautiful young female. Her deadliest weapon was her sharp finger, which resembled a spear or awl, which she used to cut her victims. This is why the Cherokee called her U'tlun'ta, which means "the one with pointed spear”.

Being a master of deception, she always hid her deadly finger and used it as an element of surprise. She was evil and showed her victims no mercy. Those who had the misfortune of encountering her lost their life, but killing people was not enough. Spearfinger wanted more, and so she ate her victims, who were both adults and children.

The Cherokee Feared Horrible Spearfinger And Bouncer

Legends of the Cherokee tell Spearfinger outlived generation upon generation of man, hiding somewhere along the eastern side of Tennessee and the western part of North Carolina.

In Western North Carolina, “the Nantahala River and Patton’s run have surprisingly deep roots in myth and history. The Cherokee, the only original residents of these mountains we know much about from historical records, considered the river and all their rivers holy.

The word Nantahala itself comes from a corrupted version of the Cherokee name that makes reference to the deep gorge. It is Nun’daye’ll, the place of the noonday sun. The Cherokee called their rivers Yungwi Gunahi’ta or Long Man. The sound of rapids was the voice of Long Man and murmured wisdom that only children and Cherokee shamans could understand. Rivers were central to the Cherokee rituals of birth and death, war and love. Immersion in their water purified the Cherokee people and readied them for every tribal occasion.

 Photo credit – Goodman Darkness - Fair Use

To the Cherokee, the nature of rivers was diverse and contradictory. While Long Man was sacred and purifying, he was also a place of fantastic and dangerous beings: haunted whirlpools, giant leeches, and evil spirit folk. Two of the terrible beings associated specifically with the Nantahala were a giant snake called Uw’tsun’ta or Bouncer and the ogress Spearfinger. Bouncer lived on the east side of the gorge where the sun shone first. The snake would lurch all the way across the valley, darkening the entire river when it moved. The Cherokee feared Bouncer so much that they refused to live in the deepest part of the gorge.” ¹

Spearfinger, on the other hand, who was a shapeshifter, liked to haunt the darker passes of the Nantahala Gorge.

Many Tried To Kill Spearfinger

The Cherokee tried several times to kill Spearfinger, but how do you harm a creature whose skin is made of stone? They tried to drown her, but their attempts failed, and she always survived and returned even more furious than before. Once, the Cherokee dug a pit and covered it with leaves, twigs, and small, brittle branches. The evil witch fell into the pit, and Cherokee warriors rushed to the place and set it on fire, but even this was not enough to get rid of the fearsome creature, and the evil witch survived.

Celestial Beings Helped The Cherokee To Defeat Spearfinger

Legend says that when the Cherokee were out of options, celestial beings appeared and helped them kill Spearfinger. Those celestial beings were birds that flew down from the sky.

A small, beautiful and intelligent bird helped the Cherokee to kill Spearfinger. Credit: Public Domain

According to the Cherokee legend, “a small bird the Cherokee call tsi-kilili, the Carolina chickadee, watched from a nearby spruce branch and began to sing to the warriors. The Cherokee know the chickadee as a truth teller. The bird swooped into the pit, singing, “Here, here, here.” The chickadee bravely alighted on the yellow witch’s deadly finger, and try as she might, Spearfinger could not shake it loose.

The warriors understood that tsi- kilili was instructing them to fire their arrows at her right hand. They did so, and as an arrow struck the witch’s palm she let out a piercing scream. Her wounded hand poured forth a great quantity of blood. The chickadee lifted in flight as the old witch withered and died.” ²

The Cherokee legend of Spearfinger has become very popular. Spearfinger appears in books and movies that are appreciated by those who enjoy Native American mythology or are simply interested in folklore.

Updated on December 12, 2023

Written by Ellen Lloyd - AncientPages.com

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