The Little People Who Live Under the Hill

In September of 2012, a developer trying to build housing in Montville, Connecticut received some surprising news during a town hearing. They would need to alter their project because it threatened small stone structures that had been made by magical, dwarf-like creatures that lived underground.

Readers may be familiar with situations like this from Iceland, where construction projects are not allowed to harm the dwelling places of elves. But they are rare here in New England, where most people don't believe in fairies, elves, and dwarves. (Bigfoot, ghosts, and UFOs are another story...)

However, magical little people are an ancient tradition among the Algonquian tribes that are native to this area, and the developer was planning to build 120 units of housing on Mohegan Hill, which is the historic and spiritual home of the sovereign Mohegan Tribe. Although the hill is not technically within the boundaries of the tribe's reservation, it is still very important to them. A letter from the tribe's historic preservation officer explained the significance of the stone structures:

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The sacred stone piles on Mohegan Hill are a critical feature of the traditional landscape of Mohegan Hill; they were created by the “Little People” who live deep within the ground of Mohegan Hill. These “Little People” or Makiawisug are the ancient culture heroes of this region. These stone piles also possess powers that protect the Mohegan people from outsiders. Not only do the “Little People” still live within the ground on the Hill and continue to guard the stones, these stone piles are perceived as being made of the bones of Mother Earth and they contain messages that guide generation after generation of Mohegan People. Contemporary Mohegan tribal members make offerings to the “Little People” in hopes that they will continue to protect our Tribe.

The Makiawisug are similar in some ways to the fairies or dwarves that are familiar to people from European folklore. According the Mohegan medicine woman Gladys Tantaquidgeon (b. 1899, d. 2005), the Makiawisug are ancient beings who have lived under Mohegan Hill since before the Mohegans arrived. They are dense, bulky and born from the stones of the earth. But they are also delicate, wearing lady slipper flowers as moccasins. The Makiawisug are often mistaken for small children on the rare occasions they are seen by humans, but are quite wise. Many medicine people among the Mohegan learned their skills from the Makiawisug.

Photo of Gladys Tantaquidgeon from Wikipedia.

Tantaquidgeon learned four important tips about the Makiawisug from her elders:

1. If you come upon one of the Makiawisug, do not look directly at him. If you look directly at the Little People they will point their finger at you, which allows them to become invisible. Once invisible they will secretly enter your home and steal your possessions. 

2. To get help from the Makiawisug, leave them offerings. They prefer baskets of cornbread and berries, but sometimes they will also accept meat.

3. Never speak about the Makiawisug during the summer. This is the season when they are most active and wandering through the woods. They will be offended by overhearing your comments and you don't want to offend them. (See #1 above.) I realize I am publishing this post in the summer and it may incite discussion. Maybe you can think of it instead as a warning to avoid discussing the Little People, particularly if you are out in the woods. 

4. The Makiawisug are led by Granny Squannit, a very powerful and ancient being. Stay on her good side! Granny Squannit is most likely the modern name for Squauanit, a goddess who was one of the thirty-seven deities revered across southern New England by the Algonquians. 

These four rules come from the book Medicine Trail: the Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon by Melissa Jayne Fawcett. I think it's quite interesting that some of them are similar to rules about interacting with fairies from Europe. For example, in Europe fairies are said to be most active around the summer solstice, and Europeans who believe in fairies often don't speak directly about them for fear of offending them. In many parts of Europe it was also traditional to leave out offerings for the fairy folk, who often were said to live inside certain hills with their queen.

I suppose if you are historically minded you might say the Mohegan picked up some European traditions from English settlers and added them to their original Makiawisug beliefs. If you're feeling a little more metaphysical, perhaps you'd say that although European fairies and Mohegan Makiawisug are different beings, magical beings across the world still share a lot of similar traits.

But whatever you say about the Makiawisug, try not to say it during the summer, and certainly not if you're walking through the woods!

PS - The information about the housing developer and the stone structures is online here.

The Nashoba Brook Chamber

The weather was good this weekend so Tony and I took a field trip. My co-worker Bob had recommended that we visit a stone chamber located out in Acton, where he lives.

The chamber is located in the Nashoba Brook Conservation Area, which has 123 acres of woodlands, wetlands, and ruins. The Nashoba Brook area really made me think about how New England has changed through the centuries.

In the 1800s Nashoba Brook was used to power light industry, like this pencil factory:

 Today, the ruins of the pencil factory stand in a new growth forest:

Stone walls run through the woods and along the brook, indicating the area was once used for farmland, and the foundations of an old farmhouse can be seen near the park's entrance on Wheeler Lane. But farmers haven't worked this stony soil for many, many years.

 

The chamber was about fifteen minutes away from the Wheeler Lane entrance, and is accessed through a seventeen-foot long tunnel. The ceiling is quite low, and we needed to crouch as we walked inside. The chamber itself is off to the right of the tunnel.

 

However, the chamber itself is tall enough to stand in, and has a ceiling made of massive stone slabs. Unlike the Upton Chamber, this one had a nice dry, sandy floor, but it was still home to some large spiders. 

Why am I crouching?

It's tall enough to stand.

The Nashoba Brook chamber had fallen into major disrepair by the end of the 20th century, but was reconstructed by local volunteers. Those are some really big rocks to move! I really admire people putting their money and manpower towards preserving our region's unique features.

Huge stone slabs form the ceiling.

The builders and original use of the chamber have been lost in history, and there are various theories about this and the other mysterious New England stone structures out there. They could be Colonial root cellars, built by industrious farmers. The foundation of a blacksmith shop stands next to the chamber, and historic records refer to an ice house. Perhaps the man-made cave was made to keep ice from the brook cold in the winter?

Another theory is that the chamber, and others like it, were made by Native Americans. New England has been inhabited for 11,000 years, which is longer than many parts of Europe. It's entirely plausible that an earlier culture created the chambers for an unknown reason. An 8,000-year old stone tool was found near the chamber, but due to soil disruption it is impossible to definitively connect it with the structure.

The final theory is that the New England stone chambers were constructed by some Old World explorers whose visit to this continent has been forgotten. Phoenician sailors, Irish monks, and Viking warriors have all be posited as builders of these sites. I find this theory the most speculative, but it does have quite a few supporters.

In 200 years we'll all be gone and forgotten. The future New Englanders living near Nashoba Brook will curiously look at the foundations of our houses, our mysterious plastic artifacts buried in the soil, and this mysterious chamber. And then they'll develop some theories of their own.

The Devil's Bride

Here's a great story that happened in Salisbury, New Hampshire. It was supposedly recorded in the diary of one Asa Reddington, a soldier in the Revolutionary War.

The story goes something like this. One evening a farmer in Salisbury was inspecting his farm after a thunderstorm when he saw tall man slip out of the barn and walk into the thickening gloom. The farmer went inside to investigate, where he found a local elderly woman of sitting on the barn floor. She was known to be the town drunk, and indeed next to her was a large empty liquor jug.

The woman said, "You have to help me! I came into this barn to take escape the storm, and the Devil crept in here after me. He made me promise to marry him, and in six days he's coming to take me away on our honeymoon!"

The farmer was skeptical of her story since he could clearly see she was inebriated. However, word of her plight spread around town and Parson Seales, the local minister, agreed to help her battle Satan.

The day arrived when the Devil was supposed to take his bride. Parson Seales and twelve ministers from nearby towns brought the woman to an apple orchard, where they tied her securely to a chair. The ministers formed a circle around her, and began to pray. Devout members of the church formed a second circle around the ministers.

As they ministers prayed, a strong wind arose, shaking the apple trees. A large black cat leapt down from one of the trees, spitting and hissing. Was it the Unholy One himself? Strange things happened - the woman's chair rocked back and forth violently, and one of the ministers felt himself punched by an invisible hand. The dress of one church member was even lifted over her head by the wind -  or by some unseen demon.

Undeterred, the ministers continued praying until  the violent wind and supernatural shenanigans stopped. The black cat had long since disappeared, and the weather became calm and peaceful.

"We have been successful!" Parson Seales said. "The Devil has been denied his bride!"

The old woman became a faithful churchgoer after this and always praised Parson Seales for his great faith and courage. One Sunday morning, however, the congregation noticed that she was not present for the service. A search party was formed, and the woman's body was located at the bottom of a nearby well.

Some people in Salisbury felt the Devil had finally taken his bride. Others, more skeptical, pointed out that an empty liquor jug had been found next to the well.

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I found two contradictory versions of this story. The version in Eva Speare's New Hampshire Folk Tales, which is older,  makes it pretty clear the whole situation was concocted by the drunk woman, and doesn't mention that she dies in a well. The other version I found, in Lewis Taft's Profile of Old New England, plays up the supernatural aspects and includes the final shocking death. Taft also says the story took place in Salisbury, Massachusetts, which I think is incorrect. Richard Dorson's Jonathan Draws the Long Bow mentions a rock formation in Salisbury, NH called the Devil's Chair. I wonder if it is related somehow to this story?