Tradition: American Mythology
Alternative Names: Takaluma, the Phantom Chief, The Ghost of the Saline River
Category: Ghost
The Myth
Takaluma is the ghost of an ancient Indigenous chief who haunts the valley of the Saline River in Ellis County, Kansas. According to a tale recorded by Floyd Benjamin Streeter, the phantom appears as a powerful, imposing man whose physical presence is accompanied by a terrible, otherworldly yell. Although he can be seen clearly, he is not bound by the physical laws of the living: bullets pass harmlessly through him, and anyone attempting to touch his hand finds only empty space. He identifies himself as Takaluma, a great chief of the Inciennes, and claims to have wandered beside the river for more than a thousand years.
The encounter begins when a cowboy herding cattle along the Saline River travels back toward his camp late at night. At a river crossing below a settler’s claim, his horse suddenly refuses to move. A horrifying yell breaks the midnight silence, and the rider sees a powerful Indigenous man standing before him. The cowboy instinctively draws his revolver and fires, but the apparition remains unharmed. Laughing mockingly, Takaluma speaks in fluent English and explains that no mortal bullet can injure his spirit. The cowboy, initially terrified, becomes curious and dismounts to build a fire while the phantom tells his story.
Takaluma recounts that his people came from the west in ancient times, crossing a great body of water that he says was once only a narrow stream. They traveled east for many moons before discovering the beautiful valley of the Saline River. Finding abundant game and a landscape suited to settlement, they built their homes there. Their prosperity did not last: a terrible pestilence swept through the community and carried its people away to the Happy Hunting Grounds. Their dwellings decayed, leaving no visible trace of the people who had once lived in the valley. Their rest remained undisturbed until white settlers arrived and disturbed their burial mounds with plows.
The phantom reveals that his restless wandering began after someone unearthed his father’s bones and carried away the skull. Since then, Takaluma has been compelled to search for it for an hour each night. Although he knows who committed the desecration, he claims that he cannot enter human dwellings to retrieve the stolen remains. He therefore asks the cowboy to use his influence to have the skull returned to its resting place. Takaluma warns that if it is not restored within two months, another spirit will be sent to search for it, one powerful enough to enter any building. When his allotted hour ends, the phantom bids farewell and returns to his damp burial mound. The story closes with the hope that the stolen skull will be returned, allowing the dead to rest and preventing further supernatural disturbances.
Sources
Sackett, Samuel John. Kansas Folklore. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1961. https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Sackett%2C+Samuel+John%22