Creepiest Urban Legend in South Dakota: Who is ‘Walking Sam’?
As we kickoff the first week of October, the leaves start to change color, the temperature begins to cool down, pumpkin spice is EVERYWHERE, and Halloween is right around the corner.
Well, since it's the spookiest time of the year, Thrillist has released the creepiest urban legend from each of the 50 states. When it comes to South Dakota, only one name sends chills down the back of people who have heard of him...
WALKING SAM!
According to Thrilllist, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation 103 suicide attempts have taken place as of December 2014 and are being attributed to the presence of Walking Sam! Teenagers claim the slender, shadow-like spirit Sam appears before them and commands them to kill themselves:
The idea of shadow people is also a pretty old-school urban legend going back further than history can care to track. However, the character of Walking Sam himself has existed among the Lakota and Dakota Native American tribes for some time now, with a record of him being described in Peter Matthiessen’s In the Spirit of Crazy Horse back in 1980. Sometimes known as “Stovepipe Hat Bigfoot” or “Taku-he”, the character’s been spotted by South Dakota Sioux and Little Eagle tribes as far back as 1974.
Kind of like Slenderman.
Other reports say the the creature is a shadow person or the legendary “Taku-he." You can read about Walking Sam and other urban legends or all 50 states here.
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