The Deer Woman, sometimes known as the Deer Lady, is a shape-shifting woman in Native American mythology, in and around Oklahoma, the Western United States, the Pacific Northwest, the Eastern Woodlands and the Central Plains. She allegedly appears at various times as an old woman, or a young beautiful maiden, or a deer. Some descriptions assign her a human female upper body and the lower body of a white-tailed deer.
The Deer Woman is said to sometimes be seen as a beautiful woman just off the trail or behind a bush, calling to men to come over. Deer Woman is often said to have all the features of a normal young woman, except her feet which are shaped like deer hooves and her brown deer's eyes. Men who are lured into her presence often notice too late that she is not a natural woman and are then stomped to death. Other stories and traditions describe the sighting of Deer Woman to be a sign of personal transformation or a warning. Deer Woman is also said to be fond of dancing and will sometimes join a communal dance unnoticed leaving only when the drum beating ceases.
According to Ojibwe tradition, she can be banished through the use of tobacco and chant others say that you can break her spell by looking at her feet, which are in fact hooves. Once she is recognized for what she is, she runs away.
However, the Deer Woman does have a good side, as she represents fertility and love, protects women, children and men who don't harm her, watches people move in and out and helps women who are having difficulty conceiving for childbirth.
In honor of Halloween, let us turn our trivial attention towards the crossroads (in Latin, trivia is literally where 3 roads meet) where myth and reality meet, and speak of things that go bump in the night. West Virginia may have its Mothman and New Jersey its Jersey Devil, but Oklahoma's regional "Boogieman" of choice differs somewhat in that she is female- Deer Woman. Fittingly, deer also appear as physical manifestations of the boundary between worlds in many stories, including C. S. Lewis' Narnia series and Tolkien's Hobbit.
Deer Woman can trace her origins to many of the eastern Woodlands and Central Plains tribes that came to Oklahoma, although her legend extends even into the Pacific Northwest. In traditional cosmology, she is a type of supernatural being distinct from spirits or Gods. Among the Cherokee these beings are called Nunnehi "the People Who Live Anywhere" or Ani Yunwitsandsdi, literally "Little Men." Their function is similar to that of European Fairies- in turns both helpful and devious, but usually their ire serves as punishment for the violation of cultural taboos.
There are many variations of her story, describing her as everything from Nunnehi to Witch or normal Human originally. In her more beneficent aspect, she is associated with fertility and love, but when crossed has quite a dark side. While the Jersey Devil delights in mischievous chaos, and the Mothman serves as an omen of tragedy, Deer Woman operates much more directly, literally with a vengeance.
Most commonly she is depicted as the mortal victim of a savage rape, her body being found in the woods next to a sleeping fawn who lay down beside her so that she would not die alone. Since her attackers went unpunished, the Gods (or Nunnehi, or sometimes even the Deer themselves) grant her wish for justice, whereby she is reborn as a half Human/half Deer. In this guise she lured her former tormentors out into the woods, unaware of her true nature. When they noticed too late that she had hooves instead of feet, she trampled them to death. Afterwards she lived on, continuing to punish those who would prey on feminine innocence.
According to Ojibwe tradition, she can be banished through tobacco and chant, but in most tales, the only way to save oneself from Deer Woman is to look at her feet, see her hooves, and recognize her for what she is (before she gets you alone). The legend is meant to show that attraction does not a proper pairing make, and that men ignore or usurp the power of women at their own peril. To recognize the truth the story conceals is to save oneself from misfortune. To ignore the moral is to proceed inexorably into the death dance with Deer Woman.
