The Death Song
Location: Bogus Bluff
Curses / Cursed Places, Indigenous & World Mythologies
by @wisconsinwizard
The death song is a legend attributed to the Ho-Chunk. It is also closely associated with other legends surrounding the German immigrant Paul Seifert, a man who found many American Indian relics during his lifetime. The song itself was believed to haunt a place called Big Eagle Cave, also called the Death Song Cave. This cave was believed to be somewhere around Richland County, north of the Wisconsin River, but was not to be confused with the similarly-named Eagle Cave in the same region.
According to the legend, one day three Ho-Chunk youths departed from their village to hunt for deer in the hills, and did not return. After they had been missing for two days, the local chief, Great Eagle, feared that the boys might have been captured by the Sauk, and so sent a group of warriors out to search for them. The warriors were able to quickly pick up on the trail of the boys, and followed their tracks through a ravine, which ended at the mouth of a cave. A few of the warriors fashioned torches and entered the cave to search for the boys, with the other eight warriors waiting outside.
After the warriors who entered the cave failed to return, the eight remaining men called out into the cave for their comrades, but received no reply. As the warriors strained their ears listening for any sound from within the cave, they began to hear an unearthly “death song” coming out of the cavern, at first, quietly.
The term “death song” among the Ho-Chunk typically referred to a song which was sung by someone whose death was upon them. These might be sung by those going out on warpath, as part of a Farewell Dance, or might be sung by a prisoner who expected to be tortured or executed. The most notable historical instance of a death song was the one sung by the Ho-Chunk murderer Red Bird, when he surrendered himself to the authorities. However, the “death song” that came out of the cave was much more than a standard death song. The song the warriors heard sounded strange to them, but also more beautiful than any song they had heard before. As they continued to listen to the haunting melody, it began increasing gradually in volume.
As the time passed, with the strange song their only company, the curiosity of the warriors only grew. Finally, six of the eight remaining warriors took up their arms, and entered into the cave to investigate. Like all who had entered before them, they did not return. The last two remaining warriors, terrified, returned to their village and reported what had occurred to their chief, Great Eagle.
The following day, Great Eagle himself led one hundred warriors down to the cave. After setting up base at the mouth of the cave, the chief sent thirty warriors and five torch-bearers into the cave. Once again, all who entered disappeared, and the death song’s eerie melody started up once more.
Great Eagle next attempted to solve this mystery by tying a rope around a single volunteer, and sending him into the cave. Not long after the volunteer entered, the rope went slack, and the men pulled the rope back out only to discover an empty loop. There was no sign of the man who had been sent in, nor were there any markings on the rope. It was as if he simply vanished into thin air.
In the next attempt, the men linked their arms together, forming a human chain, which entered the cave single-file. Soon after entering, the man who was second in the line noticed the first vanish without a sound. Thinking that he simply might have lost hold of the first man, he reached forward into the darkness and likewise disappeared. The third man in the chain reported this, and the surviving men quickly backed out of the cave. With no apparent means of solving the mystery, Great Eagle retreated and simply forbade anyone from entering the death song cave, to prevent it from claiming more lives.
Many months after these events occurred, a strange man arrived at the village, emerging out of the woods. He had pale skin, silken white hair, and a long beard. He was entirely blind, and did not speak the Ho-Chunk language, but was accompanied by a ten-year-old boy who served as his guide and interpreter. The young translator was of particular note, as he looked identical to one of the first boys who had disappeared. He furthermore seemed to have a strange look about him, his eyes were said to seem “too old for his years.” The resemblance to the missing boy was so strong that the missing boy’s mother declared that this translator must certainly be her son. The translator, however, insisted he was not the missing boy, and that he had come from a tribe to the far northwest.
The pale blind man proved to be a skilled healer, far more skilled than any of the local healers. Soon, the Ho-Chunk had taken to calling him “the Great Healer.” The healer and his young translator spent a good deal of time living among the Ho-Chunk, and performing many acts of healing for the community. This state of affairs continued, until one day when Great Eagle told the Great Healer about the death song cave they had encountered months before his arrival.
Through his translator, the Great Healer asked the chief to show him the cave. Great Eagle obliged, and brought the blind healer to the mysterious cave. The whole tribe followed, eager to see what would happen. Without hesitation, the Great Healer and his young translator entered the cave, and those outside once again heard the death song.
However, this time the song sounded much louder and closer than it ever had before. It was so loud, in fact, that the leaves of the trees were stirred by the noise, swaying to the rhythm of the strange song. Then, suddenly and abruptly, the song simply ceased.
Out of the silence, the gathered tribe heard footsteps echoing from the cave. The Great Healer emerged, alone, his young translator nowhere to be seen. With his blind eyes closed, and a serene look on his face, the Great Healer lifted his arms towards the sun, and began to sing. He sang in an unknown language, and to the melody of the death song. Not one person attempted to stop the old man as he walked down to the river, singing the death song. He boarded a canoe and, without a paddle, began drifting down the river, never to be seen again.
It took several days for someone to muster up enough courage to investigate the cave once more. Two of the bravest men in the village ventured in, determined to discern just what had happened. This time, neither man disappeared, and the two found themselves traversing a long, winding tunnel. At certain points the cave grew so narrow they had to crawl, but they pressed onwards. Eventually, the tunnel ended, coming to a stop in a large chamber deep beneath the earth. Within this chamber, they witnessed hundreds of skeletons, which were all prostrate, bowing before a large, empty throne that had been carved into one of the cavern walls.
The two men quickly retreated the way they came, and told their story to the chief. Great Eagle and the elders of the tribe discussed all the events that had occurred, and eventually concluded that the cave must have been sacred to some spirit. To prevent further explorations and disappearances, Great Eagle ordered that the entrance of the Death Song Cave should be buried under earth and stone.
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