Myths, Legends and Mountains

The mountains stand eternal, a witness to history. Sometimes a fading gray historical marker will dot the landscape in an effort to inform motorists of people and events someone wishes remembered. More likely, the past hides unnoticed in history books or passed along with a mix of legends and myth in our mountain lore. 

Even as a boy, old arrowheads or crumbling chimneys fascinated me. The past seemed like a lost treasure with a hundred lost stories to go with it. The Southern Appalachians hold many historic places to explore, but perhaps more enjoyable are hearing the myths and supernatural tales linked to many of these places. 

The weathered Judaculla Rock near Cullowhee, North Carolina, bears thousands of Native American carvings. The intriguing lines and cupules often fill observers with amazement when they contemplate the millennia separating the artist from their audience. One glyph is said to be the seven-fingered handprint of the slant-eyed giant Judaculla, placed there when he jumped from his perch high on Devil’s Courthouse. Could stories of this wild giant who chased away people venturing too deep into the hills be linked to tales of Bigfoot that still occur today? Some say the rock serves as a cosmic map and boundary marker between this world and the spirit world.

Another cluster of impressive petroglyphs hide atop Track Rock Gap in Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest. More than 100 carvings cover several boulders near the top of the mountain pass. Many of them resemble concentric ovals and animal tracks. Some think they might be representations of the feminine, the mother to all men. Standing alone in the woods, looking at the enigmatic carvings, one wonders if they hold a secret message or serve merely as artistic expression.

Few travelers passing an intersection of two country roads in Transylvania County, N.C., seem to notice a stone marker with an affixed bronze plaque. It serves as the only sign of a vanished Native American village downstream from Connestee Falls. Three streams unite to form the scenic waterfall not far from this mysterious lost settlement. The marker states this meadow once served as the home of ancient Indian village of Kana’sta, first visited by British troops in the early 1700s. When the Anglo explorers returned a few decades later, the village and its inhabitants had vanished. 

James Mooney’s 1902 book “The Myths of the Cherokee” recounts a legend where members of the Cherokee were invited to visit the Connestee people, who led them into a cave near the waterfall. Inside they found another world, an open country and houses ranged in long rows. The Connestee invited their guests to come live in their otherworldly village, but one man refused. Upon his exit, he looked back to see not a cave, but a solid rock wall. No one since the British expedition in the 1700s has seen the Connestee people. For whatever reason, they simply migrated elsewhere—or vanished into a hidden realm behind solid rock. From the observation deck atop the falls, peer down into the gorge. There just might be a entrance to another realm down there.

It isn’t just the natural beauty of rivers, peaks and forests that can inspire, but these fanciful tales shared for generations and best recounted at night over a campfire. Some say the Little People lived underground in these hills. Old news reports say workers discovered a strange tunnel system when constructing Western Carolina University’s McKee Hall in the 1930s. “Nunnehi,” as the Cherokee called the Little People, were supernatural beings who dwelled underground. Similar to elves or fairies, the shape-shifting beings are said to help lost travelers, especially children, and can open hidden doors to a wondrous, beautiful place. Legends say the knee-high beings love singing and sometimes would warn the Cherokee of impending disasters, even helping some tribal members avoid the Trail of Tears. 

One story says they bid farewell to this earth. Thunder grew louder and the ground shook as their underground dwelling lifted into the sky, leaving an open meadow filled with scattered stones. Others like to believe they still here. Next time you find yourself alone in the woods, listen for their singing.