Spearfinger

Spearfinger, also known in Cherokee legend as U'tlun'ta' or Nûñ'yunu'ï, is a formidable stone-skinned witch said to haunt the mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, particularly around Chilhowee Mountain and the Nantahala River. She is named for her right forefinger, which resembles a sharp obsidian spear used to extract human livers, and her impenetrable skin makes her immune to traditional weapons while her heavy footsteps resound like thunder. Her most terrifying power is her ability to shape-shift into the form of a trusted grandmother or a favorite aunt, allowing her to lure children into her lap where she stabs them so quickly they do not feel the wound until they fall ill days later.

According to myth, she once attempted to build a great rock bridge to the Upper World from Tree Rock to Whiteside Mountain, an act of arrogance that the Higher Beings destroyed with lightning, leaving behind ruins at a site now called U'Tluntun'yi. She was eventually defeated after a great council of Cherokee towns lured her into a pit using the smoke from brush fires; although arrows initially shattered against her body, a chickadee named Tsï'kïlilï' landed on her right hand to reveal that her heart was actually hidden in her palm. By severing the connection at her wrist, the hunters ended her curse and transformed the chickadee into a sacred "truth teller" whose presence still signals safety and success for hunters today.