Happy Halloween – A Bit of Local Lore for You!

North Carolina Ghost Stories – The Moon-Eyed People

~Kevin E. Spencer, Author, North Carolina Expatriates

The physical evidence of their existence can be found on both mountain balds and shrub-covered, wind-blasted peaks. They can be seen on the ridges that splay out from the mountain tops throughout the Southern Appalachian mountains of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and even Alabama. The ruins are beyond ancient, and according to Cherokee oral history, were built by a race of people that occupied the high country before the Cherokee and with whom the Cherokee fought an ancient war.

Across the high ridge tops is left evidence of this war. Some are reinforced natural rock formations; others are entirely “man” made. The most famous of these can be found just over the North Carolina-Georgia Border at Fort Mountain State Park. Here you can see the remains of an 850-foot-long stone wall that varies in height from two to six feet. The wall stretches along the top of the ridge. It is believed to have been built in the half-century after Christ walked the earth on the other side of the planet.

But just WHO built these walls, and who did the Cherokee go to war with for possession of the High Country? The Cherokee have a vast and interesting cosmology. They believe that various supernatural beings and races coinhabit their world, such as the Yunwi Tsudi and the Nunnehi. These races interact with humans occasionally, sometimes, but always at their own discretion. (Think Irish Leprechauns, Scottish Fairies or German Heinzelmännchen/Gnomes).

But what is really interesting is that the Cherokee oral tradition is adamant that they didn’t go to war with any of these supernatural peoples. They insist the Moon-Eyed people were human. They were small and slightly built, with beards (remember, facial hair is rare among the Native Americans) with large, luminous blue eyes, and pale, even perfectly white skin…but definitely human.

Eventually, the Moon-Eyed people are defeated by a Cherokee attack during a full moon. Attacked at their base near the towns of Murphy and Hiawassee, the brightness of the full moon blinds the Moon People, and they are driven out of the highlands toward the west. Eventually, the Moon-Eyed people are forced underground, where the darkness works to their advantage. There they live to this day.

Interestingly enough, associated with the exploration of every significant cave system in the South, are curious, unexplained happenings. Most of these occur in complete darkness. In the early days, it was lantern wicks suddenly going out; today, it is electric-driven lights that fail. Nearly every deep cave guide, from Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave, to Lookout Mountain’s Ruby Falls Cave System, to North Carolina’s Linville Caverns, can tell you of someone who has felt a touch or playful shove in the dark, or heard voices where no voices could be, or even seen “children” hanging around tour groups deep underground that can not be accounted for later. The histories of the explorations of the systems are rich with such “ghost” stories.

It makes one wonder not only who the Moon-Eyed People might actually be, but also if they’ll ever want their ancient homelands back.