Native American Witch Stories: The Lost Hunters

Native American Witch Stories: The Lost Hunters I

There were these two hunters [and] they got lost in the woods. While they were hunting there came a big storm and they got lost, but they came to this deserted maple sugar camp, so they had to stop there for the night. One of them said, “I don’t feel like going in that place. [It] seems to be haunted by something. . . . I don’t feel right going in there.”

[The other one] said, “We’ll have to stop somewhere overnight rather than walk in that storm or freeze to death. We might as well stop here for the night and dry out our clothes, and we’ll start first thing in the morning.”

So anyway they went in and built a fire [and] got themselves warm. They always carried some dried meat with them anywaysome dried deer meat and moose meat for their lunch. And they seen this dead man laying in one of the bunks (bunkswhatever you call them. They made [them] out of fir boughs. The Indians used to make them. They used to use fir boughs for their bedding.) They seen this dead man lying there. [One of them says], “I’m not going to sleep here.”

“I say what harm can a dead man do us? He’ll never [hurt us]. I’m going to stay rather than walk in this storm.”

So one of the hunters there couldn’t sleep. The other one soon fell asleep and was snoring. But [the first one] he almost fell asleep once and he put in some more wood on the fire. And he could hear some noise, kind of a gurgling noise, and he looked behind and seen this dead man sucking the blood out of the other hunter. He’d come to lifemust have been a werewolf. Now this [first] man he uh threw this bone. . . behind his left shoulder to kind of ward off this uh weird creature. So he put on his snowshoes and left as fast as he could travel.

Before he came near this Indian reservation he had to cross some ice. Every once in a while he’d look behind, and for a while he seen this big ball of fire coming after him. Already he was crossing the lake, but this ball of fire was coming so fast that it was almost catching up with him. When he crossed this lake he seen this ball of fire was coming too near him. . . . Well, he started hollering to draw the other Indian’s attention. When they heard him. . . .they seen this ball of fire. So they all took their bows and arrows and fired at this ball of fire. That’s the only way that would make him turn back.

Well, [the hunter] he fell right there in their arms. He was unconscious. They carried him home [and] after they made him come to, why he told them the story about that dead man they seen in the camp. . . . Next morning they all went. . . to that place, and they found this dead man laying on the bunk right where they left him and they found this other one all [with] his jugular vein all broke open [and] the blood drained out of him. Well, they took him and buried him in the Indian burying ground, but this other one they burnt him. . . . They tied him to a pile of wood. . . and burned him. That’s the only way they could kill him so he wouldn’t bother any more people. During the last, when he was burning there they could hear the bones cracking. Pretty soon they could hear a voice screeching way off into the air. That’s the only way they could get rid of him. . . .

Source: umaine.edu