Home Up Thoughts Stick Ball Balanced Traditions

The Cherokee thought that killing murderers kept the world in balance.  They thought that after a person died, the spirit did not rest until the murderer was killed.  They also thought that torturing captives helped send dead spirits to the Darkening Land.  The Darkening Land was thought to be where the spirits of dead people would go to rest.  Most of the captives the Cherokee took were burned at the stake.  They even sold enemy captives as slaves.  The Cherokee considered it a tragedy if a person on their side died.