Hoodoo

Hoodoo



The Legend of Bryce Canyon,
As Explained By a Paiute Indian Elder



A very long, long, long time ago
The Legend People lived in this place
There were a very great many of them
They did not belong to the human race
They had enormous supernatural powers
They wisely ruled this very ancient land
They were called To-when-an-ung-wa
They were magnificent beings most grand

They would sit in sage, lengthy councils
Pontificating about life and all of creation
They could speak, fly, and even shape shift
Theirs was truly a wondrous, peaceful nation

They dressed as colorful plumed birds and furry animals
Or as great lizards and wise snails, and other such things
But eventually, these Legend People came to be very evil
Soon their terrible misdeeds, disaster to them would bring

You can still see them in this ancient place today
Still standing in long rows, and some sitting down
Some of them still desperately clinging to one another
And each of them, now wearing huge immortal frowns

One sad day, they began to fight and even to hate one another
And very horrifically, they began to steal and to cheat
and to lie So one night, in total disgust, Coyote turned them
all into red stone
And here at night, in the eerie moonlight,
you can still hear them cry
“The name of this place is Angka-ku-wass-a-wits
(Red Painted Faces),
And this is the story the people tell.”



ÿ2008, Mr. Ed

Bryce Canyon National Park covers almost 36,000 acres in southern Utah, and it is truly a magical and mystical place; a place where one’s imagination can easily run wild.

The park is known for its numerous eerie, red-faced, ‘Hoodoos,’ or tall thin rock spires, which inspired this fascinating Paiute Indian Legend.

If you stand in the canyon long enough peering at these odd shaped Hoodoos, you can actually see many different images and frozen facial expressions in these ancient stones – and you can quickly realize how this legend came to be.

Bryce Canyon was designated as a protected National Park in 1928. It is named after pioneer Ebenezer Bryce, who arrived here in this vast surreal landscape with his family in 1875. His famous quote: “This is a hell of a place to lose a cow.”