Observations placeholder
Major Newell - Indian Stories – The experience of a Native American Indian chief
Identifier
023576
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Major Cicero Newell - Indian Stories [precis by Dr Robert Crookall]
[He] said that he fell asleep, "awakening" to find two of his own people, dressed in white robes, asking him to go with them. He told his squaw that he would go with these men, but she did not hear. He felt "as light as air" in his new body and when he saw his inert physical body, concluded that he had died. Leaving the earth, he saw "what looked like a great shining river which, he was told, led to the land of the Great Spirit."
As the banks of the river were becoming lighter and they approached the shore, he saw friends who had died years before. Returning and looking at his body which was bound with cords ready for burial he said, "I dreaded to go back into it." Then he "fell asleep" and awoke in it.
His struggles to get free drew the attention of his mourning squaw and children. They cried for joy but he said, "I had my old heavy body to carry again."