Cherokee Legends
Stories of the Nvnehi (Spirit Warriors)

These stories I am about to tell you are told as true stories, not as legends. Most Cherokee, as well as most other nations, believe in the creation of diverse types of peoples in existence, not just us, the “physical” humans. On this page, I will relate to you the stories told to James Mooney by the Cherokee of a specific type of people that inhabited several locations in the lands of the Cherokee. If you have any additional stories to tell of these people, I would gladly add your information to my page.

The “Nvnehi” (which today are usually referred to as “Spirit Warriors”) are very seldom spoken of. But there are stories that have been passed down through the generations. Nvnehi roughly translated means “people who live anywhere”. They were believed to be of an immortal spiritual race and lived throughout the Cherokee lands, anywhere from high on top of the mountains, “where trees don’t grow”, to below the mounds in the earth around Niquasi.

Now please, do not get them confused with the Aniyvwiya Tsundsi, the Little People. When the Nvnehi were seen, they were seen with the same physical characteristics of ordinary people. The Little People, however, were always reported never to being over 3 foot tall. Sometimes they were seen as being very short, even knee-high. In reference to the Nvnehi, many tribes and nations as a whole have their own stories in reference to “spirit beings” of the same type. Most were always kind and generously good hearted. Now, keep in mind, the Nvnehi were never considered anisgina (ghosts or as now accepted as “evil spirits”), nor have they been related to as “gods” in the Cherokee world.

In summary using the stories told, the Nvnehi were a tribe of people who were known to live together in townhouses. They were usually unseen by human eyes, but when seen, no obvious difference could be told. At least, not until they disappeared right before your eyes. They were considered immortal and was known to always help those in tremendous need. Could these beings be angels? But since in the general acceptance that angels do not reside in “townhouses” at least not here on Mother Earth, were they some “other” kind of spiritual beings that Creator has put here for our protection? This is what is generally accepted throughout the Americas by the original natives. As I’ve just mentioned, when these Spirit Warriors wanted to be seen, they looked just like any other Indian. They loved to dance and play their drums at all hours. If a hunter or traveller heard their drumbeat or music (which was often), and tried to find this invisible townhouse, the “dancers” would move before found and continue on with their dance. The searcher would then usually hear the music somewhere behind them or in a different direction, but none has ever been reported as having been seen without invitation by them alone.

They are considered to be a very kind race and have been known to help those in need, especially if lost in the mountains. There are stories told that when a lost traveller needed shelter or food, the Spirit Warriors would take them to their townhouses and give them what they needed before showing them the way back home.

Many, many times, the Spirit Warriors would also assist in battles if needed. One such place was at the Cherokee town of Niquasi along the Little Tennessee River. The Cherokee people across their land had been raided by a now-forgotten tribe and many were slaughtered and most everything destroyed. Even the most fiercest of the Cherokee war chiefs could not hold the raiders back. All of the lower settlements had been destroyed and the raiders were making their way into the mountains.

The peoples of Niquasi had gathered together in their townhouse and but kept watchers out on the edges of the settlement looking for signs that the immenent disaster was nearing. And then one morning, very early, it happened. The warriors grabbed all their weapons and headed out to protect their lands and families. After fighting fervently for what seemed a very long time, the warriors found they were not succeeding in pushing back the raiders. They were tired, heart-broken and had lost most of their strength, as well as their own spirit.

Just as the warriors decided it best to retreat and return to their families to fight one last battle, a man appeared in their midst. No one knew who this stranger was. But he raised his voice and told the war chief to tell his warriors to back off, he would force the enemy to retreat. Many of the witnesses said that this stranger spoke, and was dressed, as a chief from one of the Overhill settlements in Tennessee.

The Niquasi warriors fell back and watched as a large group of unknown warriors came up from out of the mound as if they were walking through a doorway. Instantly, they realized these warriors were of the Nvnehi, but had never known of their village here at the Niquasi mound. Hundreds and hundreds of these spiritual warriors kept coming out of the mound, dressed and painted as for war. But the truly strange thing that was seen this day was that these new warriors would become invisible again as they left the boundaries of the village. Even the intruders saw them disappear. They could see arrows flying towards them, feel the tomahawks coming down on them, but they could not see these supernatural attackers.

Needless to say, the raiders didn’t take long before they started fleeing. It is told they first starting south along the ridge to the French Broad from the Tuckasegee and then turned northeast. All the while, they were trying to hide themselves behind trees and rocks--any thing!-- to keep from the Nvnehi’s arrows. But as the arrows flew, they would divert around the obstacles and kill the enemy, always hitting their mark. There was no place the invaders could hide to escape these Spirit Warriors. All along the ridge, the enemy fell. Their bodies laid scattered everywhere. By the time the remnant reached the main ridge at the French Broad, only about 6 remained. These few, seeing their fate, stopped running, sat down, and pleaded for their lives.

At this point, the first stranger, who by now was the apparent chief of the Nvnehi of the Niquasi mound, walked up to those who had surrendered. He told them they had received exactly what they deserved because they had attacked a peaceful tribe. But he spared their lives and told them to return home and to tell their people what had occurred. (This is a general tradition among Indians, to allow a few to return home to tell the news.) At this point, the raiders went north to their home and the Nvnehi returned to the mound. And for a long time, maybe still to this day, the Cherokee call this place, Dayul’svi meaning “where they cried.”

It is said that the Nvnehi village is still there at the mound, at least up until the early 1900’s. During the Civil War, a large troop of the Union soldiers was going to attack a small group of the Confederates that had been posted at Niquasi. But before they attacked, the Union soldiers saw that Niquasi was surrounded by a countless number of the Nvnehi, standing as if at guard around the small town. Needless to say, this terrified the Union soldiers so much that they turned around and never attacked.

Another story is told by an old man. One day, when all the village’s warriors were off on doing different things, mostly hunting, others visiting other settlements, this particular old man was chopping wood by a ridge. Without warning, a group of attackers came upon him. He thought they were Shawnee, maybe Seneca (but wasn’t sure). He threw his hatchet at the most available target and then ran for his home to get his gun and fight until what he knew would be the end for him! He made it to his house, grabbed his gun and ran to go back outside. But upon exiting his home, he stopped short! Between him and the invaders was an even larger band of unknown warriors driving back the enemy. He joined in with this new group of friends, not asking any questions, fighting the attackers until they finally retreated across the mountain. And then after all the attackers had all disappeared, the old man turned to thank his new friends, but there was no one standing there. He was standing there alone! That was when he realized that these must have been the renowned Nvnehi.

There is another man, well-known to have always been a truthful and exceptionally hard-headed man in his town of Nottely, that told a story of when he was a young boy having spent time with the Nvnehi. The old man told how once when he was about 10 to 12 years old, he was out and playing around the river, practicing with his bow and arrows. After a while, he got bored and decided to build a trap for fish. As he was building two walls out of rocks, a man came up and asked him what he was doing. After the boy told him, the man said, “Well, that’s pretty hard work and you ought to rest a while. Come and take a walk up the river.” The boy declined explaining to the stranger it was almost time to go home and eat dinner. The man then offered to the boy to come to his house and he would give him a good dinner and then take the boy back home in the morning.

So the boy agreed and went with the man to his house. After they entered the house, the boy saw the man’s family there. They were all happy to have him there as a visitor. He ate very well and they were very kind to him. While the boy was eating, a man the boy knew, walked into the house and talked with him a bit. This made the boy more comfortable and felt more at home. When they were finished eating, he played with the other children and then later went to bed. In the morning, he ate breakfast and then the man was ready to take the boy back home.

The man took him down a trail that was between a cornfield and peach orchard. When they reached another trail, the man told him how to continue on home. The man returned to his home and the boy followed on the trail. After a short ways, he decided to look back, but to his surprise there was no cornfield, orchard, house or anything else. Just trees on the side of a mountain! He knew this was strange, but yet he wasn’t afraid and continued on until he was back at his home. There were many people there that apparently had been looking for him. They came running up to him and explained that they had been looking for him since the day before. After they asked him where he was, he explained to them and then added that he thought that Usdiskala would have told them all where he was. (This is the man he had seen at the house during dinner.) Usdiskala denied seeing him and said he had been out on the river along with others looking for the boy. Then they realized that it must have been the Nvnehi and explained to the boy that it had to be the Nvnehi because there was no house there in that area. And in this place, there have been many people report of hearing drums and music.

Yet another story tells of four Nvnehi women coming down to Nottely and attending a dance. They danced half way through the night with the young men from town. Nobody knew who they were and simply thought they were from a different town. About midnight, the women decided to go home. Some of the men had already gone outside the townhouse to catch a breath of air, saw them leave and decided to quietly watch the women to see what way they went home. The women went down toward the river, but before they reached the water they disappeared. There was nothing there to block their view and no place for the women to hide. That’s when the men knew the women were Nvnehi. Several men had witnessed this and one of them was well-known for his honesty.

Again, another man, well known to be honest, came riding hard into Nottely one day. He told the story of how on his way he had heard drums and dance songs off in an odd place. He rode over to where he had heard the sounds to find out who could be doing this in such an unusual place. But when he got there, there was no one and the drums and songs started up behind him. This had frightened him very much and the town’s people believed his story because of his reputation and reaction upon reaching town. There have always been tales of hearing the drums in this area. At least up until the Removal.

There is also another place on an upper branch of Nottely, almost due north from Blood mountain, that had the appearance of a chimney coming up out of the ground. And there would be a vapor that would come up out of it and would heat the surrounding air. The locals said the Nvnehi had a townhouse underneath there. During the winter, people would stop and warm up there, but never stayed long.

Another story takes place somewhere at the head of Tugaloo. There was a very well defined circular outline (about 3 foot deep) that was about the same size as a townhouse. Inside it was always clean, as if someone swept it out from time to time. People would throw things into this depression, things like rocks, wood, even logs. But when they would come back through, these things would always have been thrown out from the circle, far out from the hole. Again, the Nvnehi were beleived to have lived there. People would not go near it for fear of disturbing them. But later, some traders threw some logs into the hole and the logs never were removed. Thus, the locals decided that the Nvnehi must have decided to leave because of the annoying white men!

There is a place called Yahulai near the Dahlonega in Georgia. And the story of this place tells that long before the Revolution, Yahula was a well-off stock trader amongst the Cherokee. He was known to hang bells around his horses that pulled his wagon so people could hear him coming on the mountain trails. Once after a great hunt Yahula had involved with, all the warriors decided to return home. But they couldn’t find Yahula. They searched and searched, but eventually gave up, thinking that Yahula must have died. And eventually, some time after this, Yahula walked into his family’s house during dinner and sat down amongst them.

They started questioning him immediately and he finally explained that he had become lost and the Nvnehi found him and brought him back to their town, which is where he had been up to this point. He told he had been treated with the best and kindest of care, but he eventually started missing his friends and families and decided to return home, and this is why he was there at this time. His friends and family asked him to eat, but Yahula replied that he could never consume human food again since he had tasted the Nvnehi food. And it was because of this, he would have to return to the Nvnehi. His family begged and begged him to stay, but he insisted he could not do so. If he stayed, then it would be certain death, so he must choose to live with the Nvnehi. He stayed a little while longer talking with them. But he decided it was time to go. He stood up and as soon as he reached the door, he disappeared right before their eyes.

It is said that he came back often to see his people. He would become visible as soon as he entered the home, sit and talk for a while, and then again disappear as he walked through the door, no matter how many people were watching. But on his last visit, his family and friends had begged him to stay so hard that he, or the Nvnehi, became agitated and he never came again.

At the head of the creek, about 10 miles north of Dahlonega, there is an enclosure made of solid stone, no roof or doors. This is where Yahula was said to reside. There were many stories told by travellers that as they travelled at night through this area, they could hear his voice singing his favorite songs as he drove his horses across the mountains. They’d hear a whip and bells tingling as his horses would move on up the trail. But none of them ever saw him or the horses. After the Removal, no one had ever heard from Yahula again.