In northeastern Nebraska, located on the Omaha Reservation near the town of Macy and just west of the Missouri River, stands Blackbird Hill. The 300-foot-tall hill was once an important visual navigational landmark, but now it’s overgrown and has all but faded into the surrounding landscape. The legend associated with the hill hasn’t faded with time, however.
The hill is the burial site of several Omaha chiefs, including Chief Blackbird who died in 1800 during a smallpox outbreak. In 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition visited the site to pay their respects to the chiefs.
Google Maps
However, the legend involving this promontory has nothing to do with Blackbird or the other chiefs interred here. Rather, it’s the story of lost love, a spurned spouse, and a horrific murder.
By Karl Bodmer (died 1893) - Cropped version of file at Wikimedia Commons Legend has it that in the late 19th century, a young couple on the east coast fell in love and promised to marry after the young man returned from his studies abroad. The unlucky young man was headed back to his betrothed when his ship wrecked and he was stranded far from home.(In the above depiction, Blackbird Hill is the peak in the center of the picture.)
Omaha Tribe It took him five long years, but the determined man made his way back to the US. To his dismay, he discovered that his fiancee had presumed him dead and married another man. The young fellow’s love was so strong that he vowed to find her and convince her new husband to release her from their marriage.Having been told that his bride-to-be had moved west, the young man traveled to California with a wagon train, but was unable to find her. He was devastated and decided to head back east to his family. Part of his journey took him down the Missouri River, a fateful route that would lead him directly to the base of Blackbird Hill. He followed a small footpath to the top of a hill where a small cabin stood…and in it, his beloved fiancee.
By Ammodramus - Own work, Public Domain The two reunited and the woman confessed that she had never stopped loving her former betrothed. Her marriage was founded on security, not love, and she promised to leave her new husband. The lovers bid a tearful but temporary farewell as the young man hid in the woods when the husband returned home that evening. The young wife recounted the tale of her lost-and-found love to her husband and begged to be released from her marital bond. The husband refused, but his wife proclaimed that she was leaving anyway. In a moment of frustration, rejection, and rage, the man brandished his hunting knife and fell upon his wife, mortally wounding her.
Omaha Tribe Overcome by sudden grief, the man quickly gathered his wife from the floor of their cabin and rushed out of the door to the peak of the hill. Without hesitation, the man leapt from the hill with his still-living wife in his arms. In those days, the river’s course ran further to the west than it does now, and the hill actually jutted out into the waters. The couple landed in the river where they both drowned. The wife’s final anguished scream hung heavily in the air.The young man had seen and heard the commotion and rushed toward the cabin, but was unable to reach the couple in time. He arrived at the hill’s apex just in time to see their fateful plunge into the icy water. Having nothing left to live for, the young man stumbled from the hill and began to simply wander. A hunting group of Omaha Indians came upon the man some time later; he was starving and nearly naked, and his feet were raw and bloody from stumbling around without shoes for an indeterminate amount of time. The hunters took pity on him and took him back to their village, where their healer cared for him until he recovered physically. The young man never recovered from his broken heart, however.
It seems that the hill never recovered from the horror either. It is said that every year on October 17th, the anniversary of the murder/suicide, you can hear the young woman’s final scream. The Blackbird Hill legend also says that no grass will grow along the footpath that led from the cabin to the top of the hill – the path the husband took on his way to end two lives.
Google Maps
By Karl Bodmer (died 1893) - Cropped version of file at Wikimedia Commons
Legend has it that in the late 19th century, a young couple on the east coast fell in love and promised to marry after the young man returned from his studies abroad. The unlucky young man was headed back to his betrothed when his ship wrecked and he was stranded far from home.(In the above depiction, Blackbird Hill is the peak in the center of the picture.)
Omaha Tribe
It took him five long years, but the determined man made his way back to the US. To his dismay, he discovered that his fiancee had presumed him dead and married another man. The young fellow’s love was so strong that he vowed to find her and convince her new husband to release her from their marriage.Having been told that his bride-to-be had moved west, the young man traveled to California with a wagon train, but was unable to find her. He was devastated and decided to head back east to his family. Part of his journey took him down the Missouri River, a fateful route that would lead him directly to the base of Blackbird Hill. He followed a small footpath to the top of a hill where a small cabin stood…and in it, his beloved fiancee.
By Ammodramus - Own work, Public Domain
The two reunited and the woman confessed that she had never stopped loving her former betrothed. Her marriage was founded on security, not love, and she promised to leave her new husband. The lovers bid a tearful but temporary farewell as the young man hid in the woods when the husband returned home that evening. The young wife recounted the tale of her lost-and-found love to her husband and begged to be released from her marital bond. The husband refused, but his wife proclaimed that she was leaving anyway. In a moment of frustration, rejection, and rage, the man brandished his hunting knife and fell upon his wife, mortally wounding her.
Overcome by sudden grief, the man quickly gathered his wife from the floor of their cabin and rushed out of the door to the peak of the hill. Without hesitation, the man leapt from the hill with his still-living wife in his arms. In those days, the river’s course ran further to the west than it does now, and the hill actually jutted out into the waters. The couple landed in the river where they both drowned. The wife’s final anguished scream hung heavily in the air.The young man had seen and heard the commotion and rushed toward the cabin, but was unable to reach the couple in time. He arrived at the hill’s apex just in time to see their fateful plunge into the icy water. Having nothing left to live for, the young man stumbled from the hill and began to simply wander. A hunting group of Omaha Indians came upon the man some time later; he was starving and nearly naked, and his feet were raw and bloody from stumbling around without shoes for an indeterminate amount of time. The hunters took pity on him and took him back to their village, where their healer cared for him until he recovered physically. The young man never recovered from his broken heart, however.
Time has changed the geography of the area a great deal. The river no longer touches the base of the hill, the peak is not quite as high and prominent, and the area is now on private property. Visitors may no longer visit Blackbird’s gravesite or the legendary hill without permission, but they can stop along Highway 75 at the overlook and explore its beautiful interpretive shelter (pictured above). If you visit at just the right time on October 17th, you may just hear a mysterious scream rising from the darkness. The young woman’s soul is still apparently unable to rest.
Have you visited Blackbird Hill? Did you hear the fabled scream? We would love to read your stories in the comments.
For another fascinating bit of northeastern Nebraska – and Lewis and Clark – history, read this article about the Shannon Trail.
OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article.
