On the River: Kayaking: The Legend of Pawapicts

There is nothing like a good spooky story around the campfire. I find the mysterious Native American legends enough to keep you awake in your tent with your sleeping bag over your nose and eyes wide open. Many have heard of the Navajo Skinwalker, a shapeshifter with the ability to transform into different animals or even your friends.

14 Facts about Skinwalkers (click)

However, some legends are more local than others. The stories of the Pawapicts are exclusive to the rivers that I kayak here in Utah all the time. The perfect segway for telling these legends is the near silence of a crackling campfire in the vicinity of a local river with the background noise of coyotes, or a crying bobcat.

The early settlers here in Utah first heard of the Pawapicts or "crying babies" from the local Ute tribes as a warning to beware of the waters, for all is not as it seems. There are a few different stories of how Pawapicts came to be but the one thing they have in common in these stories is the sound that they make (a crying baby sound) and that they lure you into the water and you never return. I am reminded of the Pawapicts every time I hear of a drowning. According to legend Pawapicts vary in size, from the size of your hand to the size of a small women, and have been reported to have long black hair.

Water Babies (click)

One particular story comes right from the Provo River:

A Ute named Red Sunrise who had a friend that did not believe in Water Babies. The two men went fishing in the Utah Valley. They came upon some Water Babies drying their hair on a flat rock. They were crying like babies and the friend became a believer. The men went nearer to get a closer look. The Water Babies saw them and jumped into the river. Their long hair floated on top of the water and then the river started to rise and come nearer to the men. Luckily, the two ran away before the water pulled them in and Red Sunrise never saw a Water Baby again.

(http://historygoesbump.blogspot.com/2017/11/hgb-ep-232-saltair-resort.html)

Early settlers in Utah equated the stories to leprechauns , krakens or other sea monster like stories. Today we might relate it to Bigfoot stories. A fun read from the Daily Herald places early european leaders searching for strange unknown animals. After all, Lewis and Clark fully expected to see herds of Wooly Mammoth in there expedition across this undiscovered land.

Daily Herald Story (click)