Spooky local place names & how they came to be
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Hello friends! Today's story is by Amanda Patchin & it's about the history behind some places in Boise and Idaho. You might remember a story that Amanda did a few months about local place names & how they came to be. I loved that story and you guys did too. So when I was thinking about what our October stories should be, I started wondering about Black Cat Road, which led me to asking Amanda if she knew any other spooky place names. And of course she did. This is a really fun story. You can listen to me read it on the podcast. Enjoy! Spooky local place names & how they came to beBy Amanda Patchin Idaho has plenty of spooky place names. An October tour of all our witchy, dark, and creepy places would take all of October, and that’s if you hurry. There are a few in Boise proper, and a lot in Idaho more broadly. Some have spooky implications but mundane origins, and others have creepy names and frightening back stories. Here are a few Halloween names and what I could discover of their stories. Coffin StreetThere are a number of streets in Idaho named “Coffin” and it is quite possible that they are named for actual coffins, however, Idaho’s State Treasurer in 1903-1906 was a man named Henry N. Coffin. A banker from Kansas, he was involved in banking in Boise before being elected to state office. He also had an absolutely beautiful home built by Tourtelotte & Co. over on Franklin in the Fort Street Historic District. Boise’s Coffin Road, Atlanta’s Coffin Street, and the one in Mountain Home could plausibly be named for Henry and his work in Idaho. Black Cat RoadBlack Cat Road is not, as one might hope, named for a spooky or unlucky encounter. Rather the road is named for Black Cat Farms (a dairy owned by the Eggers family) and the farm name came from a cat picture in the Saturday Evening Post. The Eggers had a steel cutout of a cat made and set up outside their farm and the road eventually changed its name to match the striking feline. Black cats are popularly known as a symbol of halloween and witchcraft, however they have also been considered symbols of good luck and blessing in a variety of cultures. So, while you may see a black cat cutout and think of October 31st, someone from Wales or Scotland might see one and think of prosperity or safety. Sailors often preferred a black feline for their ship’s cat hoping for good luck as well as good mousing. The witchcraft association seems to be of Germanic origin, but its roots are unclear. Seven Devils & Hells CanyonNorth and slightly West of Boise are the Seven Devils Mountains. Seven mountain peaks rising above and looking over Hells Canyon: He Devil, She Devil, Devil’s Throne, Mt. Belial, The Ogre, Twin Imps, and The Goblin loom in threatening posture. Despite the dark names, the Seven Devils and Hells Canyon comprise some of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring landscapes in the world. Spooky name or not, it is hard not to feel joy and awe upon witnessing this magnificent area. Hells Canyon is less famous than the Grand Canyon, and has less striking coloration, but it is much deeper (both average depth and absolute depth) than its more famous cousin. Hells Canyon averages about 5,500 feet and at its deepest is 7,900 feet, while the Grand Canyon averages just over 5,000 feet and at its deepest is merely 6,000 feet. The name “Hells Canyon” is of uncertain origin. For years it was known either as “Box Canyon” or “Snake River Canyon”, plain names but serviceable. Certainly the river that carved the canyon is named the Snake, and there is a long association between serpents and hell in culture, and certainly in the summer the canyon is almost unbelievably hot (although the river is inevitably cool and refreshing) suggesting a fiery place. It’s possible, though unattested, that the moniker “Hells Canyon” comes from the Seven Devils mountains. If Devils are looking down on a deep place, that place is probably hell. The origin of the Devils’ name is recorded, although there are at least two competing legends. The first is simply that explorers were awed by the mountains striking presence and that wonder turned to fear in the hard landscape. The second is more interesting, though not certain. Allegedly, there was a native American legend of a lone man wandering the mountains who was spooked by the sudden appearance of a demonic spirit. As he fled that spirit, six more appeared and frightened him further. He told the story to his tribe and it was eventually repeated to white settlers who added their own names and associations to the peaks. The peaks named He Devil, She Devil, and Devil's Throne are obvious enough. Mt. Belial is a Hebrew word that was used in the Jewish Scriptures to refer to a worthless or wicked person. The name became associated with those who were opposed to God and then via a series of references and further interpretation as the devil. An Ogre is not traditionally a devil but a mythical creature of immense appetite and violence. Gigantic and man-eating, Ogre’s were feared in many European cultures. The name itself is from ancient Etruscan and entered English via french, but the mythology of the Ogre exists throughout Indo-European mythologies. From Beowulf’s Grendel to Tolkien’s orcs to the fairy tales of Charles Perrault to Shrek, monstrous and frightening, the Ogre lurks. Imps are smaller and less monstrous than Ogres but they are full of mischief, troublesome, and difficult to find, fight or resist. The risk of Twin Imps are scary, it is because they are wild and uncontrollable - like a couple of unsupervised teenage boys - and not because they are deeply evil. Fitting symbols of the danger and fun of Halloween! Goblins are not necessarily distinct from imps in folklore and so Twin Imps and The Goblin might as well be the Imp Triplets, or the Goblin Trio. Skeleton Butte & Skull CanyonSkeleton Butte and Skull Canyon are more symbolically spooky than evil. Skull Canyon in Clark County at least makes for a spooky story. The story goes in the late 1900s a little boy named Ben was exploring the canyon with his foster parents when he found a cave full of human skulls. The origin of the skulls was never determined but they were possibly Native American. Whether they were there as part of ordinary burial rituals or if something more sinister happened, we can’t know. But I imagine that when Ben stumbled across them he had nightmares about a massacre, a plague, or sudden catastrophe causing all the deaths. Skeleton Butte, near Shoshone Idaho, is named for a single skeleton. It's not a mass grave, but the story is sad enough. A gambler named Lew Landers had lost his stake and also just learned that his home in Hailey had burned down and his wife had been killed in the fire. He disappeared from Shoshone after accepting a job recovering stolen horses. After being missing for a year his skeleton was found on the butte with a shot through the heart. Some believed he killed himself while grieving his lost wife and others thought that the horse thieves shot him. Either way, he died with his wife’s last letter in his vest pocket. Big Witch CreekOver in the Pioneer Mountains, Big Witch Creek flows east of Sun Valley and nearby Big Witch Peak shares the name. It was named by a miner but if he had a good story to go with the name, he didn’t pass it on. Miners get lonely and I suppose it’s possible that he fantasized about a nice big witch visiting him, or he had a spooky encounter one day that gave him the name. Either way, it will probably take at least a little bit of hike to go and see if the big witch exists and if she will appear to you on an October night. More namesThere are 18 different natural formations in Idaho named “Dead” something. Dead Mule, Dead Man, and Dead Horse are named mostly because of, well, a dead mule, dead man, or dead horse found in the vicinity. There is also Hangman’s Gulch, attributable to anti-Chinese violence, and Massacre Rocks, attributable to Native resistance to settlers. Naming things is fun and while some of the spooky names have genuinely sad stories associated with them, it seems that Idahoans also just like giving things slightly spooky names. And now may as well be the time to mention that as far as we know, the name “Idaho” is a made-up word. Despite several attributions to native languages, Idaho was probably completely invented and didn’t mean “Light on the Mountains” or “Gem of the Mountains” until settlers adopted the syllables and defined them. We may as well say that it means “Ghost in the Mountains” in October, “Grateful Mountain” in November, “Gift of the Mountains” in December, ”New Mountain Year” in January, “Bleak Desert” in February, and so on around the calendar. All in all, you can take a few of these spooky Idaho place names and share their story about the cauldron this month. Thanks for reading! With love from Boise, Marissa This story was written by Amanda Patchin. Amanda has a monthly-ish newsletter where she shares her booklist, selections from her fiction, and updates on what books she has for sale in the Zed Bookshop.
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From Boise
Every Tuesday, read a story about a person, place, piece of Boise history, or local happening. Every Thursday, get a huge list of things to do over the weekend. No news, no politics - just the fun stuff.