Reading Notes: A Teton Ghost Story

-A young man is on a warpath and is resting in the woods on his jouney
-In the first forest, the (ghost) says, "I shall have company." Weirdly, an owl makes an appearance
   -The ghost is a man
-In the next wood, a different ghost says, "My son! My son!"
   -This ghost is a woman
-She makes an appearance. An old woman wearing a long fringed skin dress and a buffalo robe. A necklace covered in beads. She was "snuffing."
-She strangely picks up and drops his foot 3 times then tries to cut off the young mans foot with a rusty knife
-He said, "What are you doing?" and shot at her (with his bow?)
-She ran away yelling, "Yun! yun! yun!"
-The next morning there is a burial scaffold near him and he thinks, "Was this the ghost that came to me?"
-He comes to a third to set up camp for the night
-He hears a male (ghost) singing. The young man shouts back with no answer
-He has with him wasna (grease mixed with pounded buffalo meat and wild cherries) and plenty of tobacco
-The comes and asks him for food but the man says, "I have nothing"
-The author clearly states that this is a ghost now and it says, "Not so; I know you have some wasna."
-The young man shares some of his wasna and smoke from his pipe
-While the ghost is smoking, the young man sees that it is nothing but a skeleton
-After smoking, the ghost says, “Ho! we must wrestle together. If you can throw me, you shall kill the enemy without hindrance and steal some horses.”
-They wrestle and the ghost is surprisingly strong
-The ghost is weakened near the fire and strengthened in the dark
-The fire becomes low
-Day breaks and they still wrestle. The man, becoming weary, pushed brush into the fire
-The ghost fell "as if he was coming into pieces."
-The man won and what the ghost prophesied became true
-"That is why people believe what ghosts say."

Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913) Link

Barred Owl. Source: Wikimedia Commons