Indigenous Paranormal and Supernatural Phenomena in Pennsylvania: Four Phenomena of Religious and Spiritual Significance in Indian Country

Indigenous peoples and their traditions have long been influential on mainstream American society. Indigenous religious and spiritual traditions, in particular, have had significant impacts on popular belief in the paranormal and supernatural. For example, Indigenous phenomena such as skinwalkers and wendigos have become objects of paranormal research and investigation by non-Indigenous people in recent years. While it is common practice for non-Indigenous people to group these and similar phenomena under the banners of cryptids or mythical beings, in many Indigenous communities, such phenomena are seen as spirit beings who are able to move between the natural and supernatural worlds, realms, and/or dimensions, often at will and with purpose or reason. Pennsylvania has a long and rich Indigenous presence and history, in particular with communities connected to the Lenape (Delaware), Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), and Saawanooki (Shawnee) nations. Paranormal and supernatural phenomena connected to these and other Indigenous peoples are still thriving today throughout the Commonwealth. In particular, there are four Indigenous phenomena of religious and spiritual significance – Bigfoot, Little People, Thunderbirds, and the Machtando. In this paper, we discuss the Indigenous origins and histories of these four phenomena, as well as the roles they play in contemporary paranormal and supernatural traditions in Pennsylvania. Additionally, while detailing these specific phenomena associated with Pennsylvania, we hope to provide non-Indigenous researchers of the paranormal and supernatural the tools to respectfully and accurately incorporate Indigenous oral traditions into their interpretations of anomalous phenomena.