[OT] Local or Urban Legends

[Krieg]

As promised earlier...

Cornstalk's Curse

Point Pleasant WV sits at the confluence of the Ohio & Kanawa rivers. It is the oldest town south of Pittsburgh on the Ohio. Tradition holds that the name comes from none other than George Washington who referred to the area as a “pleasant point” while surveying land in 1770. To the Shawnee it was “Tu-Endie-Wei” or “mingling of the waters”.

In 1774 a fierce battle was fought between the Shawnee with their allies led by Chief Cornstalk and Virginia militiamen under the command of Andrew Lewis. The Shawnee were forced to withdraw, primarily a result of bad luck. Shortly thereafter Chief Cornstalk signed a peace treaty with the colonists promising a cessation of hostilities.
Later one of the militiamen would say of Chief Cornstalk "When Cornstalk arose, he was in no wise confused or daunted, but spoke in a distinct and audible voice, without stammering, or repetition, and with peculiar emphasis. His looks while addressing Dunmore were truly grand, yet graceful and attractive."

The battle of Point Pleasant as it was to be known was the final battle of Lord Dunsmore’s War & is now officially recognized as the first battle of the Revolutionary War (by act of Congress in 1908).

Cornstalk was true to his word & never again attacked colonials. Unfortunately this was not the case for other Shawnee who continued to skirmish with settlers at the behest of the British. In 1777 Cornstalk & two other Shawnee went to Point Pleasant to warn the Americans that the rest of the Shawnee nation was planning on forming an alliance with the British. The commander of the garrison felt it prudent to hold onto the three Shawnee until a decision was made.

While being held Cornstalk shared information with the Americans & helped them draw maps of the Ohio valley north of the river. His son came to join him during this time.

Tragically during this time a settler out hunting was killed by a group of Shawnee. In retaliation a mob stormed the room in which Cornstalk & the other Shawnee were being held & murdered them.

Legend says that with his final words Cornstalk uttered a curse…

“I was the border man’s friend. Many times I have saved him and his people from harm. I never warred with you, but only to protect our wigwams and lands. I refused to join your paleface enemies with the red coats. I came to the fort as your friend and you murdered me. You have murdered by my side, my young son.... For this, may the curse of the Great Spirit rest upon this land. May it be blighted by nature. May it even be blighted in its hopes. May the strength of its peoples be paralyzed by the stain of our blood.”

Since then pretty much any disaster or tragedy that befalls the area around Point Pleasant (the Silver Bridge Collapse, the Monongah Mine Collapse, the airplane crash that called the Marshall Football team etc etc) is commonly accredited to Cornstalk's Curse.

 

[Bloodsparrow]

Asside from the Winchester Mystery House I don't really know much in the way of spooooky things here in California.

Where I am from, on the coastline, just opposite Catalina Island, there is an abandoned Air Force Base on the cliffs that overlook the ocean. It is said that there are a series of tunnels under the base, leading down to the beach, and all around the local area. Part of the reason that the base, and the tunnels, are closed is because the land there is unstable.

As one usually finds with unstable and abandond tunnels, there are stories of a Satanic Cult holding their services down there, and opening up portals to places "Man is not ready for" (TM). The other theory was that there was a covert Gov't group using the Air Force/Satanic Cult as a cover to do research into... "Things Man was not ment to know" (TM).

It's pretty interesting to note that, while the area is getting rather built up. The abandoned base and the land around it remains undeveloped.

 

[Bjorn Doneerson]

I looked into the story more. It was Betty Andreason Luca. Through hypnotism she relived her experience which involved meetings with "The One" which she could not describe, but braught her great pleasure. I guess she was very religious and believed the aliens to be angelic in nature. There was one very amazing part of her hypnotism therapies I saw on a website:

Hypnotist: "Okay. You've seen the One. Do you feel different about anything now than you did before?"

Betty: "Everything is so wonderful!"

Hypnotist: "Is there anybody that you don't like?"

Betty: "No."

Hypnotist: "There are some people, shall we say, that aren't as nice as other people, right?"

Betty: "No, everybody is nice. They are just growing, that's all. If one doesn't understand another one, they are just growing, that's all."(http://www.near-death.com/experiences/triggers19.html)

An amazing outlook if you ask me.

 

[Hawkeye]

Betty and Barney Hill weren't the first abduction case. Those took place in the 50's. Betty and Barney Hill's case is the first report of UFO abduction, with no conscious memory of their abduction and time lost. It is probably the first fully documented and throughly studied case. I think it might also be the first report of the Grey Aliens.

Hawkeye

 

[Kilmore]

I'll try to post a number of St. Louis area legends. We got quite a few.

On the banks of the Mississippi River just north of Alton Illinois, about 30 miles upriver from St. Louis, there is a painting of a ferocious monster on the bluffs right over the river. The Indians originally painted it there many centuries ago, though the original was blown off by quarrymen in the early 19th century. The painting has been recreated.

Anyways, the legend says that the monster was a huge horrible monster that was large enough to carry off a full grown deer, though it preferred fresh human meat. It had glowing red eyes, the beard of a tiger, the horns of a deer, a man's face, and green, red and black scales all over it's body. It's tail was so long that it could pass over the monster's head and back around under it's legs. It's mouth held rows of sharp teets and it had the talons of a great eagle. It liked to swoop down from it's home in the caves of the bluffs and snatch Indians paddling down the river in their canoes.

It was called the Piasa, "devourer of men".

Hundreds of brave Indian warriors tried to slay the monster. They all died to the last man. Entire villages were destroyed. The great Illini chief Ouatoga desperately sought a means to destroy the monster. He spent a month in solitude fasting and praying to the Great Spirit. Eventually a vision came to him and he knew what he had to do.

Ouatoga stood boldly upon the bluffs over the river, offering himself as a sacrifice. He eyed the monster circling in the sky, and the Piasa spied him standing there defiantly chanting his death song. With a ferocious roar, the Piasa plummeted out of the sky towards Ouatoga. Then, as the Great Spirit directed, twenty of the strongest and bravest warriors of the Illini tribe sprung out of the bushes around the chief and sank poisoned arrows into the great beast.

Howling in rage and pain, the monster plummeted into the Missisippi River and died.

I have read accounts that white people in the 19th century had discovered a cave on the bluffs of the river near the painting full of ancient human bones.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

It was called the Piasa, "devourer of men".

Actually, a friend of mine had been doing research on the Piasa - both the Ouatoga vs. Piasa legend and, in fact, even the name Piasa seem to date back only as far as the 1800s. The original version of the painting (which I've seen a reproduction of), notably, lacks wings. The whole thing resembles an aquatic bull, basically. Given where on the river it is, its original appearance, etc. it seems that it was actually a missipeshu (I pointed out a resemblance between the name Piasa and the -Peshu at the end of that, while my friend thinks the name derived the French word pailissa or palisade) which was a sort of manitou or water spirit, which to the Indians likely would have embodied the rapids at the bend in the river.

But, the story of the demon bird's better.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Monkey Dog was the one I heard about the time I started driving. Standard strange animal roaming around at night down a dark out-of-the way road. It was the make out hook, you get a date, do the movie then tell the story of the Monkey Dog and then go to that out-of-the way road.

 

[teitan]

Krug, wow, nice summation. I have about 40 stories that aren't really known myself and sharing them on the D20 Modern board as Cthulhu and D20M ideas...

Jason

 

[The_Universe]

and again...

bump!

 

[The_Universe]

and again...

bump!