§ 277. Some ghosts are beneficent, but most of them are maleficent. They know all things, even the thoughts of living people. They are glad when the wind blows. Bushotter’s younger brother was crazy at one time, and a doctor or peźuta wićaśa said that the sickness had been caused by a ghost.
INTERCOURSE WITH GHOSTS.
§ 278. Lynd says: The belief in the powers of some Dakotas to call up and converse with the spirits of the dead is strong in some, though not general. They frequently make feasts to those spirits and elicit information from them of distant friends and relatives. Assembling at night in a lodge, they smoke, put out the fire, and then, drawing their blankets over their heads, remain singing in unison in a low key until the spirit gives them a picture. This they pretend the spirit does; and many a hair-erecting tale is told of the spirit’s power to reveal, and the after confirmation.[200]
GHOST STORIES.
A few ghost stories of the Teton collection will now be given.
§ 279. The ghost husband.—A young Lakota died just before marrying a young girl whom he loved. The girl mourned his death, so she cut her hair here and there with a dull knife, and gashed her limbs, just as if she had been an old woman. The ghost returned and took her for his wife. Whenever the tribe camped for the night the ghost’s wife pitched her tent at some distance from the others, and when the people removed their camp the woman and her husband kept some distance behind the main body. The ghost always told the woman what to do; and he brought game to her regularly, which the wife gave to the people in exchange for other articles. The people could neither see nor hear the ghost, but they heard his wife address him. He always sent word to the tribe when there was to be a high wind or heavy rain. He could read the thoughts of his wife, so that she need not speak a word to him, and when she felt a desire for anything he soon obtained it for her.
§ 280. The solitary traveler.—Once a solitary traveler was overtaken by a tremendous thunderstorm near a forest. So he remained there for the night. After dark he noticed a light in the woods, and when he reached the spot, behold, there was a sweat lodge, in which were two persons talking. One said, “Friend, some one has come and stands without. Let us invite him to share our food.” The listener fled suddenly, as they were ghosts, and they pursued him. Though he looked behind now and then, he could not see them; so he ran with all his might towards a hill, and escaped from them. As he was ascending a divide of the Bad Lands, all at once he heard the cry of a woman. He was very glad to have company for the rest of the journey; but no sooner had he thought about the woman than she appeared by his side, saying, “I have come because you have just wished to have my company.” This frightened the man, but the ghost woman said, “Do not fear me, else you will never see me again.” So they went on silently till daybreak. Then the man looked at her, but her legs could not be seen, though she was walking without any apparent effort. Then the man thought, “What if she should choke me?” Immediately the woman disappeared like the wind. (See § 245).
§ 281. The ghost on the hill.—One day, when the people were hunting the buffalo, a strange man appeared on a hill. He wore a winter robe, with the hair outside. When he was descending the hill the people became alarmed, but he continued to advance. The young men rushed to meet him, taking bows and arrows. They could not see his face. They tried to shoot him, but each arrow passed by him on one side or the other. So they finally fled, as he was a ghost.
§ 282. The Indian who wrestled with a ghost.—A young man went alone on the warpath. At length he reached a wilderness, encountering many difficulties, which did not deter him from his undertaking. One day, as he was going along, he heard a voice, and he thought, “I shall have company.” As he was approaching a forest he heard some one halloo. Behold, it was an owl. By and by he drew near another forest, and as night was coming on he had to rest there. At the edge of the forest he lay down in the open air. At midnight he was aroused by the voice of a woman, who was wailing, “My son! my son!” Still he remained where he was, and continued putting wood on the fire. He lay with his back to the fire, placing his flint-lock gun in readiness before him. He tore a hole in his blanket large enough to peep through.