WITCHES: Salt Witch

 

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In the Nebraska plains, there was a tribe that was quartered and resided near where the Saline flows into the Platte. There was one chief that had met a witch. The chief was a fierce man and was a man of blood and muscle who his people gloried. However, his dear wife was his only companion and the only one to keep him in check. He loved her deeply and was heartbroken when she died. The once active chief was now becoming a recluse never leaving his home. His mourning was lasting too long for his people and they began to talk of replacing him. They needed someone who would do their duties. 

One morning the Chief left his home wearing his wardress. Without speaking a word to anyone he strode across the plain to the west. No one hears from him for a month. He was brandishing a belt of either fresh pelts or scalps. He also came with a lump of salt and a story of how it was found. 

He told them that after traveling far over the prairie he had gone to sleep on the ground. He was awoken by wailing nearby. (some retellings he's in a canoe) In the New Moon's light, he would go and look for the cause of the sound. He would find a hideous old woman with a tomahawk about to strike a kneeling, crying, younger woman. This was a surprising sight as he was 40 miles from the village. The old woman would hold the younger one by the throat and the younger would fail to break free. He would soon run over to the women.

 The old woman was then holding the younger's hair and was raising the tomahawk to strike her by the time the chief came. The chief would then see the face of the younger woman and would be filled with rage. The younger woman looked just like his dead wife. He would then protect the younger woman by burying his own tomahawk into the old woman's head. The earth would open and both women would disappear. In their place, a pillar of salt stood where the witch was. 

For years afterward, tribes would maintain that the column was under the custody of the Salt Witch. When they went and gathered salt they would pound the ground with clubs. They believed if they did this it would keep the Salt Witch from doing Evil. 

I could not find a specific tribe this was based on. There were two different tribes referenced The Otoe and the Omaha tribes. I also could not find what year or let alone century that this had happened also. 

SOURCES:

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Complete by Charles M. Skinner
Legends of America

American Folklore

Ancient Pages