Shampe Monster - Choctaw Tales
One of the misconceptions and errors made by many bigfoot/sasquatch researchers is taking the Native American tales of giant, hairy beings and lumping them all together and calling them Native names for bigfoot. Not exactly correct.
While there are many hairy, and non-hairy, giants in Native lore, they are not all necessarily bigfoot or sasquatch. A theory to consider is that perhaps there are different races of bigfoot and sasquatch and perhaps these different Native beings belong to those different races. They may not be what we commonly think of as sasquatch. Or they may be something else altogether.
One such being is the Shampe of Choctaw lore.
It is said to be a malevolent, ogre-like monster. Some say he is a giant, looking like a gigantic Choctaw, hairless; other tales talk of him as a large, hairy man, hairy like an ape. This leads some to equate him with the bigfoot/sasquatch legend.
Depending on the tale, he is said to try to abduct Choctaw women; in others, he is said to eat the flesh of man.
The Shampe is known to have a smell that is so overpowering men cannot stand it. In fact, some tales tell that the odor is so strong that many people have died just from the smell. The female is said to smell like a skunk. They will make a whistling noise as they stalk through the forest.
The Choctaw will not live in areas where the Shampe is said to be or where one has been seen. To find a Shampe, you must go into the deepest part of the forest. And then look for a big, dark cave, for that is where they live. They cannot stand the brightness of the sun nor bear the open air. The Choctaw say he lives so deep in the woods that no Choctaw has ever found where he lives. But then, they have no desire to find the being.
The smell of blood attracts the Shampe. He will follow any hunter carrying wounded game. Although it is said that his vision is not good, he has a very keen sense of smell. He can trace any person or animal. When the Choctaw are caught or chased by the Shampe, they will drop their small game like rabbit or squirrel. For the Shampe will stop to eat and may be drawn off the trail by the blood of those small creatures and enable you to get away.
Shampe followed the Choctaw people on their journey from the western states to their more eastern homes those years ago. It was said that all the Shampe returned to the West years later. But today some Choctaw still hear whistling sounds in the woods and catch the strong odor. They still drop small animals when they think Shampe is near. Because you may never know if all the Shampe have returned to their homes in the West.
UPDATE: A reader had commented that they knew only of the Trail of Tears when the Choctaw were removed from their lands and forced to march from the eastern states of Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, into the west (Oklahoma.) The referral above of the move of the Choctaw from the west to the east is covered below. Reference: Wikipedia.
Early 19th-century and contemporary Choctaw storytellers describe that the Choctaw people emerged from either Nanih Waiya mound or a cave. A companion story describes their migration journey from the west, beyond the Mississippi River, when they were directed by their leader's use of a sacred red pole.
The Choctaws, a great many winters ago, commenced moving from the country where they then lived, which was a great distance to the west of the great river and the mountains of snow, and they were a great many years on their way. A great medicine man led them the whole way, by going before with a red pole, which he stuck in the ground every night where they encamped. This pole was every morning found leaning to the east, and he told them that they must continue to travel to the east until the pole would stand upright in their encampment and that there the Great Spirit had directed that they should live.
— George Catlin- Smithsonian Report[25]
Nancy
This Post By TCC Team Member Nancy Marietta. Nancy has had a lifelong interest in the paranormal and cryptids. Nancy is also a published author and her book, The Price of War, has been met with great reviews.
[Please Note: Sadly Nancy passed away at the first of January, 2022. We will continue to honor her and her research by sharing her work. RIP Nancy. -Thomas]
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