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Transformations: A History of Human to Animal Transformations
All legends have a beginning.
Some have spun so far away from the origin as to appear fanciful.
Today, entities like vampires, werewolves, and witches have been reduced to entertainment, showing up in books and movies.
Once, the belief was anything but entertaining. People were captured, tortured, and killed.
TRANSFORMATIONS is a brief history of the various legends.
If you are a writer, you will find among the chapters information, and perhaps, inspiration.
If you love horror books, this will be a valued addition to your library.
If you are reading this work, you probably also have a healthy appetite for the subject. Maybe, like me, you grew up watching all the horror movies about werewolves (even the really bad B-movies). Or, maybe, like me, you research and conduct paranormal investigations on unknown cryptids such as Bigfoot, Mothman, or even were-animals. Then again, you, like me, might be a fiction writer using the subject of were-animals, witches, demons, or cultural mythology.
I’ve studied the subject for years, and I’m as interested today as I was when I first learned of the possibility of transformations. That knowledge didn’t come from the movies, or books, it came from stories my family told. Even, unsubstantiated, firsthand accounts from my grandfather. He told me stories of a corn-maiden who could change from human shape to that of a stalk of corn. He always cautioned us to never pick an ear of corn that only had blonde silk, or our crop would not yield. If the silk never turned brown, it was where a corn-maiden dwelled. I think that was a lesson about not picking corn before it was ripe, but I never touched an ear with golden silk.
Some have spun so far away from the origin as to appear fanciful.
Today, entities like vampires, werewolves, and witches have been reduced to entertainment, showing up in books and movies.
Once, the belief was anything but entertaining. People were captured, tortured, and killed.
TRANSFORMATIONS is a brief history of the various legends.
If you are a writer, you will find among the chapters information, and perhaps, inspiration.
If you love horror books, this will be a valued addition to your library.
If you are reading this work, you probably also have a healthy appetite for the subject. Maybe, like me, you grew up watching all the horror movies about werewolves (even the really bad B-movies). Or, maybe, like me, you research and conduct paranormal investigations on unknown cryptids such as Bigfoot, Mothman, or even were-animals. Then again, you, like me, might be a fiction writer using the subject of were-animals, witches, demons, or cultural mythology.
I’ve studied the subject for years, and I’m as interested today as I was when I first learned of the possibility of transformations. That knowledge didn’t come from the movies, or books, it came from stories my family told. Even, unsubstantiated, firsthand accounts from my grandfather. He told me stories of a corn-maiden who could change from human shape to that of a stalk of corn. He always cautioned us to never pick an ear of corn that only had blonde silk, or our crop would not yield. If the silk never turned brown, it was where a corn-maiden dwelled. I think that was a lesson about not picking corn before it was ripe, but I never touched an ear with golden silk.
650 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 24, 2023
2 people are currently reading
About the author
Orville Burch
49 books16 followersOrville Burch has dedicated his entire vocation and avocation to peeling back the curtains on the windows of the unknown, stopping just short of being a peeping Tom.
While growing up, Orville Burch lived a family mystery. No wonder most of his writings are of the dark-side.
There were whispers, and bits of incomplete stories and legends relative to his ancestry.
His family was from the Appalachian area of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. He was born in West Virginia, but grew up in Ohio. From as long as he could remember, he was told that he was part of the Blackfoot tribe.
That part of his heritage was a treasure he embraced, as he roamed the forests and streams of rural Ohio. The mystery, however, was that the Blackfoot tribe lived nowhere near that Appalachian area. It would be a few years before he uncovered most of the story.
His family oral history was that an Eastern Blackfoot fleeing to escape slavery was harbored on a farm in Virginia. There he met a woman by the name of Burch (some stories say she was an indentured servant from Wales or England). They fell in love and were married. He, fearing that the slavers would track him down, changed his name to Burch. Eventually, they left the farm and went west, maybe as far as Ohio.
Could the story have been true?
The Eastern Blackfoot, is not the same as the Blackfeet of Montana. They are an entirely different ethnic group. The Easter Blackfoot called themselves the Saponi. They spoke a Siouan language. The Western Blackfeet or Siksika spoke an Algonquian language. It is believed by anthropologists that both tribes received their name from settlers because they wore moccasins that were stained black.
There are many people living in Ohio, northern North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia who can trace their heritage to Eastern Blackfoot ancestors. This has always caused confusion since the Eastern Blackfoot have long been forgotten by American history books. They never fought a war against Great Britain, or the United States, so there was no peace treaty signed with them. They never were a tribe recognized by the United States government.
In 1660, the Colony of Virginia armed the fierce Rickohocken tribe and issued them a contract to capture unlimited numbers of Native American slaves. The Rickohocken capital, Otari, was near Bedford, VA. The Saponi were located directly across the Blue Ridge Mountains from the Rickohockens and therefore were immediately attacked by Rickohocken slaving parties.
By 1670, explorer Johann Lederer reported that the surviving Saponi had relocated southwestward to a site on Otter Creek, near Lynchburg, VA. Not too long after that the Saponi and Tutelo moved southwestward again to the confluence of the Dan and Staunton Rivers, where they form the Roanoke River. The islands they lived on were very close to the Virginia-North Carolina line. The purpose again was to put farther distance between their dwindling populations and their pervasive enemies, the Rickohockens and Iroquois.
The presence of some Saponi descendants in North Carolina is the result of the next move by the surviving Virginia Siouans. Explorer John Lawson reported in 1701 that the Saponi and Tutelo were living on the Yadkin River in North Carolina near present day Salisbury, NC. Slave raids by the ancestors of the Cherokees pushed them northeastward into the southeastern tip of Virginia, near white settlements.
Most Saponi had become Christians by the early 1700s and had adopted European (Christian) names. In 1711 Virginia Governor Spotswood placed the Christian Siouans on a reservation known as Fort Christiana in Brunswick County, VA. The Saponi lived with other Christian Siouans on the reservation for a few years, then dispersed. In 1722 the Iroquois agreed to stop raiding Virginia Indians, but continued to attack Carolina Indians.
In 1759, a band of 28 Saponi traveled northward to Sunbury, PA.
What probably happened in the 1
While growing up, Orville Burch lived a family mystery. No wonder most of his writings are of the dark-side.
There were whispers, and bits of incomplete stories and legends relative to his ancestry.
His family was from the Appalachian area of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. He was born in West Virginia, but grew up in Ohio. From as long as he could remember, he was told that he was part of the Blackfoot tribe.
That part of his heritage was a treasure he embraced, as he roamed the forests and streams of rural Ohio. The mystery, however, was that the Blackfoot tribe lived nowhere near that Appalachian area. It would be a few years before he uncovered most of the story.
His family oral history was that an Eastern Blackfoot fleeing to escape slavery was harbored on a farm in Virginia. There he met a woman by the name of Burch (some stories say she was an indentured servant from Wales or England). They fell in love and were married. He, fearing that the slavers would track him down, changed his name to Burch. Eventually, they left the farm and went west, maybe as far as Ohio.
Could the story have been true?
The Eastern Blackfoot, is not the same as the Blackfeet of Montana. They are an entirely different ethnic group. The Easter Blackfoot called themselves the Saponi. They spoke a Siouan language. The Western Blackfeet or Siksika spoke an Algonquian language. It is believed by anthropologists that both tribes received their name from settlers because they wore moccasins that were stained black.
There are many people living in Ohio, northern North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia who can trace their heritage to Eastern Blackfoot ancestors. This has always caused confusion since the Eastern Blackfoot have long been forgotten by American history books. They never fought a war against Great Britain, or the United States, so there was no peace treaty signed with them. They never were a tribe recognized by the United States government.
In 1660, the Colony of Virginia armed the fierce Rickohocken tribe and issued them a contract to capture unlimited numbers of Native American slaves. The Rickohocken capital, Otari, was near Bedford, VA. The Saponi were located directly across the Blue Ridge Mountains from the Rickohockens and therefore were immediately attacked by Rickohocken slaving parties.
By 1670, explorer Johann Lederer reported that the surviving Saponi had relocated southwestward to a site on Otter Creek, near Lynchburg, VA. Not too long after that the Saponi and Tutelo moved southwestward again to the confluence of the Dan and Staunton Rivers, where they form the Roanoke River. The islands they lived on were very close to the Virginia-North Carolina line. The purpose again was to put farther distance between their dwindling populations and their pervasive enemies, the Rickohockens and Iroquois.
The presence of some Saponi descendants in North Carolina is the result of the next move by the surviving Virginia Siouans. Explorer John Lawson reported in 1701 that the Saponi and Tutelo were living on the Yadkin River in North Carolina near present day Salisbury, NC. Slave raids by the ancestors of the Cherokees pushed them northeastward into the southeastern tip of Virginia, near white settlements.
Most Saponi had become Christians by the early 1700s and had adopted European (Christian) names. In 1711 Virginia Governor Spotswood placed the Christian Siouans on a reservation known as Fort Christiana in Brunswick County, VA. The Saponi lived with other Christian Siouans on the reservation for a few years, then dispersed. In 1722 the Iroquois agreed to stop raiding Virginia Indians, but continued to attack Carolina Indians.
In 1759, a band of 28 Saponi traveled northward to Sunbury, PA.
What probably happened in the 1
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