Great Smoky Mountains National Park: The Legend of Spearfinger

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is no stranger to ghost stories. Over 200 cemeteries dot the park’s misty ridges and line hundreds of miles of its trails. While cemeteries are creepy in their own right, nothing is more frightening than the Cherokee legend of Spearfinger. 

According to Cherokee lore, Spearfinger is an old witch who roams the rocky ridgelines of the Smokies. Most of all, she is said to wander the north shore of Lake Fontana on the Norton Creek Trail. 

Each autumn, as a chill takes to the air and the leaves begin to change, an unquenchable thirst is said to start to boil deep within her. She uses supernatural powers to shift into the image of an elderly grandmother; the sweet image, coupled with the pleasantry of a song, is used to lure unsuspecting children away from their parents. Begging children to help an old lady find her way back home or to sit on granny’s lap while she sings a song, the innocent children, seeing their grandmother in her image, soon fall victim. 

Spearfinger’s Song

However, once she has her prey in her grasp, her sweet melody soon changes into a vicious, bloodthirsty tune.

Uwe la na tsiku. Su sa sai

Liver, I eat it.  Su sa sai 

Uwe la na tsiku. Su sa sai

With the swiftness of a cottontail and the accuracy of a pouncing mountain lion, Spearfinger uses her dagger-like and razor-sharp index finger to cut the liver out of young children, devouring them with the greatest of pleasure, licking clean her slender finger. 

As the night falls, the moon rises, and thick fog descends on the mountain slopes, Spearfinger returns to the ridges, sits with her lone raven friend, and sings her tune with giddy excitement, pondering who will be her next victim.

Uwe la na tsiku. Su sa sai

Liver, I eat it.  Su sa sai 

Uwe la na tsiku. Su sa sai