While many are quick to assume that this legend is but one of many found in Cherokee folklore, one glaring distinction remains: Unlike many supernatural entities found in Cherokee mythology, the Cherokee referred to the Moon-Eyed people as a separate race of people found inhabiting the Earth at the same moment as they, in a time before Columbus would “discover” the Americas. The story goes that the Creek waited until the light of the full moon became even too bright for the nocturnal cave-dwellers to face, ambushed them in their weak moment and drove them from their homeland into parts unknown.Īnother account sees the Cherokee people themselves fighting the Moon-Eyed people toward the west, into what is now Tennessee, and a more recent theory speculates that the Moon-Eyed people may have sought refuge further north in what is now West Virginia. One legend finds the Moon-Eyed people driven from their home by the Creek tribe from the South. Various tales have been told over time, both ending in the expulsion of this mysterious clan to a life lived underground. With pale, white skin and bearded faces, their large, blue eyes were said to be so sensitive to the sun that they were only able to operate by the light of the moon, hence the name, “Moon-Eyed.” Mythic OriginsĪs legend has it, the Moon-Eyed people were an entire race of physically small inhabitants of a wooded area near what is now Murphy, North Carolina.
A small, pale, nocturnal race found in Cherokee tradition, the so-called “Moon-Eyed” people of the Appalachian mountains remain a legend in the area, and one that still drives researchers to learn just who these people may have been. Deep in the woods of North Carolina once lived a group of occupants mysterious to the indigenous peoples who made contact with them.
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