Case file · Folklore / legend
Spirit Mound and the little spirits
On 25 August 1804 Lewis, Clark and ten men walked to Spirit Mound in today's South Dakota, which the Sioux, Omaha and Otoe avoided as the home of small, dangerous spirits with sharp arrows that killed anyone who came near.
1804 CE · 42.87, -96.96 · status: legend
The account
Lewis recorded the belief in his journal and the men climbed the hill, seeing great herds of bison from the top. A later Lakota story tells of a war party nearly destroyed by the Little People. The site is now a state historic prairie north of Vermillion.
The sceptical view
Clark suggested the strong winds keeping insects off the hill drew birds there, explaining why it seemed alive; the tradition is respected today as Native belief, not as a claim to test.