Elders remember the story of Thunderbird and White Feather

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1810

The power went out in the whole village.

I could see my Grandfather Thom’s face, which was partially visible by the light of candles in the room. He began his Thunderbird and White Feather story by clearing his throat. The cadence of his speech was hypnotic.

I was 10 years old when I first heard the story.

What makes a story last is that it illustrates an unrepeatable experience. An unrepeatable experience is one in which circumstances, events and people produce an outcome which is unexpected and will not be able to be reproduced.

Thom began with the circling of the black thunderbird with a 10-foot wing span above a coalmine mountain. The villagers saw the bird and considered it an omen.

Within an hour of this sighting, the mountain shook. The mouth of the mine, located about halfway up the mountain, belched black smoke.

Thom, 10 years old, worked near the mine — child labor laws were not popular in 1880.

When the distress alarm sounded, women wearing scarves appeared in the main street. They were visibly shaken. The mine was 20 miles from the nearest hospital.

On top of the mountain lived an Indian medicine woman from the Lenape tribe. She made her way to the mouth of the mine. Once there, she opened her bag and proceeded to put white powder into the mouths of the victims and mustard-colored powder on their exposed wounds.

Then she started to chant and tapped each one on the forehead with her white feather.

Photo by Edward S. Curtis
Photo by Edward S. Curtis

Eventually, the victims were transported to the hospital. All were in good enough condition to be discharged within two days. Within a few weeks, the villagers were convinced that the medicine woman practiced “white magic.” Some collected money for the purpose of buying her white feather.

She declined their offer and within a few days, she went back to her tribe and was never seen again.

As time passed, I tried to make senseĀ of Thom’s story. These are my conjectures: the position of the blast near the mouth of the mine reduced casualties. The white and mustard powders were probably a mild narcotic and sulfur for wounds. A specific mental mechanism enabled the victims to cope and be susceptible to the intentions of the medicine woman.

However, the mystery remains.

Stories of real events sometimes produce an outcome different from what we would normally think would happen. There are many unrepeatable experiences that occur in life.

Life is still a mystery.

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