By OBBM Network Editorial Staff

Derived from an episode of The Buried Archive.

On a crisp autumn afternoon in 1951, a young folklorist sat on the porch of a weathered cabin outside the town of Cherokee, in the mountains of western North Carolina, and listened intently as an old Cherokee man named Sali Wolf shared a story that would change her understanding of the region’s history forever. Sali Wolf’s account, passed down through generations, spoke of the mounds that dotted the landscape, not as tombs or ceremonial platforms, but as foundations for cities that once thrived in the area.

The Mounds: A Mystery Waiting to be Unraveled

The earthen mounds, numbering over 100,000, have long been a source of fascination and curiosity. While mainstream archaeology attributes their construction to the Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian cultures, Sali Wolf’s story suggests a more complex narrative. According to him, the mounds were built by a people who possessed knowledge and skills that far surpassed those of the Native American cultures of the time. The alignments of the mounds, for instance, demonstrate a precision that borders on the astronomical, with some mounds aligned to solstice sunrises with an accuracy of less than one degree.

The construction methods used to build the mounds also pose a challenge to conventional understanding. Modern engineers who have studied the internal structure of the great mounds have found layered clay and sand cores designed to prevent slumping, a technique that matches the methods used in modern earthen dam construction. This level of engineering expertise is not consistent with the knowledge and skills attributed to the Native American cultures of the time.

A Story of Sky Beings and Ancient Cities

Sali Wolf’s account speaks of a people known as the Thunder Beings, who lived among the people of the land for many generations. They taught the people how to plant the three sisters, corn and beans and squash, and showed them how to build with stone and packed earth. The Thunder Beings married among the people and had children, and those children were tall, with some of their skeletons still found in the deepest chambers of the oldest mounds. As Sali Wolf recounted, ‘The Thunder Beings had not always lived in the sky. In the very old time, they had lived on the earth, in cities that stood on top of the mounds.’

The story takes a fascinating turn when Sali Wolf describes the departure of the Thunder Beings. According to him, the Thunder Beings announced that they were leaving, that their home was moving farther away, and if they did not follow it now, they would never be able to follow it again. They climbed to the top of the great mound in the center of their oldest city, and, as Sali Wolf told the folklorist, ‘they rose from the mound into the sky, not as spirits, but as bodies, and they became smaller and smaller until they could no longer be seen.’

A Legacy of Secrecy and Forgotten Knowledge

The story of the Thunder Beings and the earthen mounds has been shrouded in secrecy for decades. The folklorist who recorded Sali Wolf’s account never spoke of it again, and the notebook containing the story was placed in a cedar chest, hidden away in an attic in Asheville. It is only now, decades later, that this story is being brought to light, offering a glimpse into a mysterious past that has been hidden from view. As Sali Wolf’s account so eloquently puts it, ‘The air on top of the old mounds was not the same as the air below.’

In conclusion, Sali Wolf’s story provides a fresh perspective on the origins of North America’s earthen mounds, one that challenges conventional understanding and hints at a more complex and intriguing history. The mounds, once seen as mere relics of a bygone era, now take on a new significance, as testaments to a forgotten knowledge and a mysterious past that continues to captivate and inspire us today.

The full episode of The Buried Archive is available on OBBM Network TV.