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    Ghosts Dance in an Empty House and Other Stories

    William R. Seaburg (Edited by), Laurel B. Sercombe (Edited by), Jay Miller (Edited by), Elizabeth D. Jacobs (Compiled by)

    9781496246158

    Hardback, published 1 June 2026

    236 pages, 6 photographs, 3 maps, index
    22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.5 kg

    "The volume brings out stories that have otherwise been kept in private academic collections and library special collections, making it now possible to return them to the Upper Coquille community and share them with a broader audience as well. This book will appeal to both scholarly and broader audiences, those interested in Upper Coquille storytelling traditions, and the Upper Coquille community."—Jolynn Amrine, editor of Chehalis Stories

    "This is a fascinating work. The original narratives, the background of the collector Elizabeth Jacobs, all combined with William Seaburg's commentary, make it a scholarly and engaging book."—Charles R. Menzies, author of People of the Saltwater: An Ethnography of Git lax m'oon

    Ghosts Dance in an Empty House and Other Stories comprises forty-five narratives dictated by Coquelle Thompson, an Upper Coquille Athabaskan Indian residing on the Siletz Indian Reservation in Oregon, during the fall of 1935. Elizabeth D. Jacobs transcribed the stories from Thompson and selected some for intended publication. In addition to those Jacobs chose, William R. Seaburg combed through Thompson's field notebooks and chose a handful of additional stories, as well as several cognate texts Thompson told to Smithsonian Institution linguist John Peabody Harrington in 1942 and cognates from other Athabaskan and from non-Athabaskan groups in the region.

    This companion volume to Pitch Woman and Other Stories: The Oral Traditions of Coquelle Thompson, Upper Coquille Athabaskan Indian, which collected Thompson's myths and folktales, focuses on Thompson's semi-historical tales, narratives of historical events, ethnographic texts, and personal and family stories.

    List of Illustrations
    Preface
    Foreward
    Acknowledgements
    Introduction
    Chapter 1. Texts and Commentaries
    Chapter 2. Semi-Historical Tales
    Ghosts Dance in an Empty House
    They Gambled
    Night Walker
    Night People
    Two Experiences with Ghosts
    Good, White Bird
    Grizzly Power and the Umpqua War
    Bears Are Avenged
    Thunder
    Wealth Encounter
    Dead Person’
    s Snot is Money
    Ghost (A Fast Runner Races)
    A Man Shot a Large Snake
    Chapter 3. Historical Event Narratives
    First Encounter with White Men
    Killing Indian Doctors
    A Woman Doctor Was Killed for Poisoning
    A Man Was Able to Kill a Grizzly Bear
    A Man Dodges a Grizzly Bear
    Grizzly and Panther
    A Bear Swears at a Hunter
    An Attempted Raid
    Slaves: Runaway and Hunchback
    Klikitats and Slaves
    Resuscitation
    The Big Fire
    A Bear in a Boat
    Encounter with Baby Seals
    Chapter 4. Ethnographic Texts
    Hunting Beaver
    Description of a Make-Doctor Dance
    A Doctoring Session at Siletz (1)
    A Doctoring Session at Siletz (2)
    A Woman Doctor Doctors
    A Girl Was Reluctant to Marry an Old Man
    Sibling Incest
    Chief’
    s Younger Brother
    A Doctoring Session
    Rattlesnake Doctors
    A Suicide
    A Man Visits the Frogs
    How the People Obtained Flint
    Chapter 5. Personal and Family Stories
    Coquelle Thompson’
    s Encounter with Ghosts
    Coquelle Thompson’
    s Grandmother Was Mauled by a Grizzly
    The Seal Wife
    Coquelle Thompson Is Doctored
    Coquelle Thompson’
    s Wife Is Doctored, Dies
    The Old Hunter
    A Hunt Coquelle Thompson Was On
    Appendix
    References Cited
    Index
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