OSCEOLA - A BIRD OF SUPERSTITION
The Mystery of the Swamp Magician
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: Osceola - the very word rings with defiance. The
man who bore this name and blazed it into the history
of this nation was one of the greatest Indian chieftains
who ever lived. He led his Seminole people into battle
against one of America's finest generals, Andrew Jackson,
and handed Jackson his only defeat in the great Indian
wars of the 1800s. So powerful was the Seminole nation
that they never signed a peace treaty with the American
government but chose instead to retreat to the swamps
of Georgia and Florida. Chief Osceola was a guerilla
fighter who effectively used hit-and-run tactics to
defeat Jackson's army. Because Osceola and his men would
appear and just as quickly disappear, many soldiers
under Jackson attributed supernatural powers to Osceola.
Even today the turkey that bear his name, Meleagris
gallopavo osceola, also known as the Florida turkey,
the only place where it's found, is believed by many
of the Seminole nation to be spirit-possessed.
 When
we arrived at our tent camp on the reservation late
in the afternoon, we met a couple of Jenkins' friends
from Miami, Florida. Although these men had been scouting
and had heard and seen a few turkeys, the elusive gobblers
had failed to respond to calling and had vanished. I
unrolled my sleeping bag and donned 100% Deet repellant,
which would be my shield during the entire trip from
the clouds of mosquitoes that inundated the area just
at dark. That evening as supper was prepared over a
Coleman stove, Marcelous Osceola and his wife, Etau,
came into camp. We talked about the upcoming hunt.
 Osceola
explained that the native religion of his people was
the Green Corn Dance, a faith that attributed supernatural
powers to the animal life of the swamp. "For instance,
if an owl flies through the camp during the annual festival
of the Green Corn Dance, many believe the owl will capture
someone's spirit, and he or she will die," Marcelous
Osceola explained. "Also some believe that the
spirits of our ancestors are reincarnated in the wild
turkey." When I asked Etau where this legend came
from, she answered, "The wild turkey often appears
and vanishes without ever making a sound. Sometimes
a turkey will appear in a cemetery and then in the blinking
of an eye be gone. The Osceola turkey is a ghost-like
creature that moves silently through the swamp. You
only hear him when he wants to be heard. You only see
him when he wants to be seen. When he spots you, he
vanishes. The Osceola turkey is part of our history
and our heritage."
 I
thought to myself that the reputation of the ghost gobbler
of the swamps paralleled the reputation of Osceola,
the war chief of the mighty Seminoles. Cunning, elusive
and mystical - they each dodged their pursuers with
an almost supernatural skill. I was interested in how
Osceola felt about hunting the bird many thought might
be one of his ancestors. Osceola said, "I eat plenty
of wild turkeys. If one of them is dumb enough to get
shot, he probably wasn't a very good ancestor anyway."
After listening to the legend of the Osceola turkey,
I experienced an uneasy feeling that night in my tent
until the chirping of the crickets and the distant moaning
of a bull alligator finally allowed my mind to slip
off into sleep.
TOMORROW: THE HUNT FOR THE
OSCEOLA
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