South Dakota

Badlands

Badlands National Park

The Badlands are an eternal reminder of the power of the spirit world over human affairs. This is where thousands of Indians came to perform the
Ghost Dance, a sacred ceremony that lasted for days and was intended to the tribe members with indomitable spiritual energy. In face, the
power of the Ghost Dance religion prompted the United States Cavalry to try to crush the ceremonies, a plan that led to the Wounded Knee
massacre in 1890. But the Badlands are still sacred to the Sioux, who originally called the area Mako Sica, or "Land Bas to Travel Through".
The constant wind forms surrealistic sculptures out of soft rock, and the remains of prehistoric animals have been exposed in some areas.
Legend says that the barren area was formed in a single day, when the earth heaved forth fire to stop senseless fighting between two tribes that
once lived here.

Pine Ridge Reservation

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

In 1889, a Paiute prophet named Wovoka had a vision that was to change history. He prophesied the coming of an Indian messiah who would
resurrect dead Indians, bring back the buffalo herds, and restore peace to the land. Each spring, the messiah would renew the youth of all good
men so that no one would age past forty. Wovoka's follower's performed a dance with the spirits, called the Ghost Dance, in which they fell into
a trance and danced until they dropped. The new religion spread rapidly across the Plains and united all the Indian tribes. That is what
frightened the white men, who decided it was time to disarm the Indians. One of the earliest operations in this new effort was the rounding up of
three hundred Hunkpapa Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek on December 29, 1890. While disarming the assembled Indians, a disturbance broke
out and men of the Seventh Cavalry opened fire. Four Hotchkiss guns, each of which fire fifty two-pound explosive shells a minute, where trained
on the crowd of men, woman, and children. In fighting for their lives, the Indians managed to kill twenty-nine soldiers with their bare hands.
Fleeing woman were tracked down and slaughtered, and all the bodied were thrown into a single pit. The incident broke of the spirit of the
Indians and spelled the end of the new religion. Wovoka died in 1932, although some of his ideas survive in Southwest peyote rituals. The land
here is considered sacred to the Indian nation that almost grew out of his teachings.

Hauck, Dennis. (1994). Haunted Places: Ghost Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO landings, and other supernatural locations. New York: Penguin
Book.