Spearfinger

The following is a Cherokee legend about an evil witch who inhabits the forests of the southern Appalachians.

Whiteside Mountain, at 4,950 feet, boasts the highest exposed rock cliff in the eastern US. It is also the the dwelling place of an evil witch, known to the Cherokee, that eats the livers of unsuspecting children. The area is littered with rocks and a jutting formation on the east side of Whiteside Mountain is known as the Devil's Courthouse, while a large boulder about halfway up the formation is known as Satan's throne.

A regular visitor to the courthouse and throne of the devil was a witch known as Spearfinger who could change shape into any natural element at will. The only way she was noticable in this guise was by the long spear-shaped finger that jutted out of the element she was emulating. Her natural form was a withered old hag, but her skin was yellow and as ancient as the rocks she called her home; she smelled like rotting flesh. Like Ludo, the hairy guy from the Labyrinth, Spearfinger had the power to control rocks and could move huge boulders with her powers and send them flying through the air at any unsuspecting Cherokee warrior who wandered too close.

Although she revelled in the destruction of any human, the witch particularly enjoyed killing children and eating their livers. She would sit in a guise as a sweet old lady by a berry patch and softly call to 'grand children', promising to braid their hair or give them some chocolate covered grasshoppers. When the kids got too close, she would lull them to sleep by singing softly and then quick as lighting, pierce their skin with her spear finger and scoop out their yummy livers.

After so many kids had been snatched away by Spearfinger, all the village warriors decided that something needed to be done. They dug a deep pit around the Devils Throne and covered it in brush and twigs to hide it. Along came a little old lady who looked so innocent and cute that the warriors were doubtful whether it could be Spearfinger. Some warriors were about to jump out and warn the peaceful old Cherokee grandmother about the hole but wild turkey ran by their hiding place, destracting them so for just enough time for the litte old lady to fall into the pit and BEHOLD it was Spearfinger! She screamed and stank and screamed some more, sending her legions of flies to attack the eyes of the warriors so they could'nt dodge the rocks she was flinging all over with her mind. The warriors threw spears and axes and nothing could pierce the hard flesh of the witch. She gnashed her rocky teeth and spit acid at them out of the pit and with every scream she would try to haul herself out of her cage with her spear finger. After hours of battle, the Cherokee warriors were becoming worried that they would be defeated. They were exhuasted and nothing they did would wound the witch. Their arrows broke and snapped like twigs around her. Spearfinger saw that she was winning and taunted them saying she would climb out the pit and tear them limb from limb. A small bird the Cherokee call tsi-kilili, the Carolina chickadee, watched all of this from a nearby spruce branch and began to sing to the warriors ."Here, here, here." The chicadee bravely alighted upon the yellow witch's deadly finger and Spearfinger could not shake the little bird loose. The warriors understood that tsi-kilili was instructing them to shoot arrows at her spear finger. They did it and the witch screamed terribly, bleeding profusely and died in the pit. The chickadee lifted in flight as the old witch died. The witch was buried where she lay, at the bottom of the pit. Some believe she turned herself into one of the rocks in the pitfall and lives to stalk today. It is still considered a foreboding of bad luck when a fly is found bussing around a rock in the Nantahala National Forest in autumn and it is always considered good-luck to greet the wise and helpful chickadee's flitting around the forest canopy.