THE BEAR PEOPLE
DATE SUBMITTED: 11/13/14
NAME: E. Slack
WHAT TOWN IN THE MOHAWK VALLEY ARE YOU FROM: East Frankfort
PLEASE TELL YOUR EXTRAORDINARY TALE ABOUT THE MOHAWK VALLEY: THE BEAR PEOPLE?
When I was a boy, my grandfather and I would sit out in the backyard, looking up at the stars talking about everything. Occasionally, he would tell me the story about the Bear People, a tribe that pre-dated the Mohawks and all the Iroquois that once roamed the Mohawk Valley. He said this tribe was very ancient and nobody really new about them. So few people that they didn’t even cover them in schools. That their legends only lived through word of mouth stories like the ones told at the great fires of ancient times.
He said that they were called the Bear people, named after their God, a powerful Bear who could control the wind by talking to the trees and plants. The Bear People, believed that the Bear God’s spirit could be channelled through the quartz crystals (Herkimer Diamonds), native to the Herkimer area. They worshipped and believed that the quartz crystals kept away the evil spirits of the Snake Gods, who were The Bear People’s enemy. My Grandfather likened this Bear God to Jesus or God and the Snake Gods to Satan or demons.
He said that David Bowman, a guy he used to work with at Remington Arms, was a descendant of the Bear People and his family believes that they are actually the descendants of the Adena People, who are well known for building the Serpent Mound in Ohio. He said David showed him a painting of one of their myths and it gave him the chills. Something about it was unsettling in the symbols and the way the human figure was drawn.
I was in the art gallery today in Utica New York, at Munson Williams. I think I saw that painting. I am positive it was the same painting my grandfather spoke of by the way it made me feel so queasy, uneven and repulsed.
I wish my grandfather was still alive so we could talk about it. Who are the Bear People and why can’t we find more about them?
BARLOWE’S NOTE:
I have done some research and cannot find any info on the BearPeople. Could be just a myth or a tall tale told to this person by their grandfather.
