Disguised as an aged woman or a loved one, the liver-eating Spearfinger has terrified the Cherokee for centuries. It hides in the mountains, attacking children to eat their livers.
In the fog-shrouded land of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, between North Carolina and Tennessee, lies a haunting tale, a Cherokee legend that winds through dense forests and shadowy paths beneath misty mountaintops.
The legend of Spearfinger, or U'tlun'ta in the Cherokee language meaning “she had a sharp tongue,” is said to have lived in this area. According to Cherokee lore, Spearfinger is no ordinary witch; she is a malevolent being with a penchant for trickery and a hunger for the flesh of unsuspecting children.
The Legend of Spearfinger
The legend unfolds along the winding paths of the Great Norton Creek Trail, the trails along Chilhowee Mountain and the Little Tennessee River. One of her favorite places to call home is Thunder Mountain, Whiteside.
Spearfinger is said to disguise herself as a kind grandmother or family member of the children she sees in order to sneak up on her victims. While dancing in the clouds, she sang her favorite song with her raven friend:
You have a day. It's gone.
Liver, I eat it. Su sa sai.
You have a day. Su left.
Armed with a finger resembling a keen, knife-like blade that looks like a spear or obsidian knife, she lures innocent children away from the safety of their homes and into the heart of historic forests. Once under her spell, Spearfinger reveals her true form, her lips stained with blood from the liver she ate, and her Nûñ'yunu'ï, meaning “stone garment,” from her stone skin. With a single, deadly strike, she cuts her victims and eats their tender flesh.
Arrows cannot penetrate her stony skin, and she is mighty, lifting boulders without any effort. It is also said that she often clenches her right hand tightly, because she hides her heart in her palm, her only feeble point.
Spearfinger Stories
The Cherokee were traditionally very wary of strangers and suspicious of those who went off on their own. They could return as a liver-eater in disguise, and there were many stories about this.
Some stories told of her tricking people by hiding victims after she had transformed into them. She would go to their families and wait for them to fall asleep so she could steal the children's livers.
Hunters in the forest told of an aged woman with a strangely shaped hand who sang her song and scared them, so they ran away. Because Spearfinger is quick and doesn't even leave a scar, it makes its victims diseased and then die after a few days.
When the birds soar into the sky, the villagers say it is she. Her presence is marked by the graceful dance of the birds, as if paying homage to her mysterious spirit. The villagers whisper of her shadowy figure, spinning tales of her mystical connection to the natural world.
Spearfinger Place
But where did it come from? What was its purpose? Was it just a story that parents told their children to keep them away from the woods and strangers? According to the storyteller, Kathi Littlejohn of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, says that there are portals to other worlds. The upper world of the creator, the middle world of humans, and the underground world are the creatures from which Spearfinger comes.
Years ago, sometime in the 1800s, the Cherokee pointed out the site of the ruins of Spearfinger's Tree Rock, in Blount County, Tennessee. This area, opulent in history and legend, is known as Nantahala. The Cherokee name for the site is U'Tluntun'yi, meaning “Place of Spearfinger.” U'Tluntun'yi figures prominently in Cherokee legend because it is believed that it was there that Spearfinger built a stone bridge that offended the higher spirits, who struck it with a lightning bolt, giving her a body of stones.
Death of Spearfinger
The Cherokee held a great council, including towns such as Tomotley, Tenase, Setico, and Chota, which were haunted by the liver-eater Spearfinger. The Adawehi medicine man exposed Spearfinger's deception and suggested a trap: a pit covered with brush and a smoking fire. Spearfinger, attracted by the smoke, approached disguised as an aged woman. Although initially mistaken for one of his own, the medicine man recognized her trick. Despite the arrows breaking on her stone skin, Spearfinger fell into the pit, unharmed by the stakes.
The birds came down to lend a hand; the chickadee misled them into aiming for her chest, but the chickadee correctly pointed to her right hand. The hunters cut her heart with a blow to her wrist, ending her curse. Stone Man, her ally, ignored the warning of her death and continued his ominous song. The grateful chickadee was forever called the “truth teller.” Cherokee storytellers still tell the legend of Spearfinger and mark the spot where her stone figure fell.
But although the Cherokee claim to have killed the liver-eating stone witch, tales of her cackling and shrieking echoing through the mountains still circulate. Legend tells of her luring unsuspecting travelers to her lair with promises of shelter, only to devour their livers in a grotesque display of her insatiable hunger. Some say her ghost still haunts the darkest caves and craggy peaks, seeking revenge for her death.
References:
Cherokee Legend of Spearfinger
Spearfinger – Wikipedia The Scary Legend of Spearfinger as Told by a Cherokee Storyteller
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