Brown Eagle’s ghost (Tate’s account)

Overview

Brown Eagle is the much-loved only son of a chief and chieftainess on G’itslEmga’lon River. His favorite food is rendered uncertainly in the translation as salmon-dip. After he dies, his parents continue to burn this food for him at the burial place. Their grief eventually leads the entire community to move to a new village. Two years later a party gathering fern roots camps near the old burial ground, where young men mockingly call the prince to come and eat his former favorite food.

A woman in the party repeatedly warns against mocking the dead. She hides her two grandchildren beneath a fallen tree and covers them with mats, then returns to confront the young people. A mournful voice approaches from the graves. Brown Eagle appears as a skeleton with empty eye sockets and outstretched arms, demanding the offered food. Panic drives some of the party into their cooking fire, while the ghost takes the others’ breath. The woman and her grandchildren alone survive the encounter.

The following day the survivors bring the community to recover the bodies. A newly established shaman proposes a coordinated expedition to the Ghost chief’s house, where the dead young people’s souls remain. The shamans frighten the Ghosts away with rattles and their powerful bones, retrieve the souls and restore them to their bodies. Awakening does not complete the recovery: four further days of work are required to remove their lingering ghostly condition.

The story ends with a warning that young people should not go out alone without their parents. Its action also gives decisive roles to the woman who recognizes danger, the survivors who report it, and a group of cooperating shamans. Brown Eagle’s return is triggered by the particular mocking summons; the tale does not assign every deceased person the same hostile behavior. Tate’s separate footnote discusses treatment of elite corpses, but it is not used here to identify the prince’s favorite food more precisely than the uncertain translation permits.

Origins & earliest records

Franz Boas, Tsimshian Mythology, based on texts recorded by Henry W. Tate, published in 1916 in the Bureau of American Ethnology’s thirty-first report for 1909–1910. Boas translated Tate’s free interlinear English renderings of his Tsimshian texts. The preface notes Tate’s editorial choices and some influence from published collections; the 1916 volume omits the original-language text.

Records & interpretation

Story 56, Story of the Ghost, complete pp. 336–339; preface pp. 31–32.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Tsimshian Mythology

   Henry W. Tate, recorder; Franz Boas, translator and editor · 1916

   Story 56, Story of the Ghost, complete pp. 336–339; preface pp. 31–32.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary textBoas/Tate 1916: Story of the GhostResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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