Re NNG: Tuzigoot Natl. Mon., Kokopelli . . . and Jackelopes

VERY Good, John -

However Nohitsnorunsno, Ariz., actually does exist — but it has been misidentified.

The Tuzigoot Indian National Monument, just east of Clarkdale, Arizona (the home of the Verde Canyon Railway, BTW), is in fact located on the site of the ancient Tuzigoot Indian village of Nohitsnorunsno.

Tuzigoot is the name of the Tribe; the Village is Nohitsnorunsno:






But the story doesn't end there!   'Tuzigoot' is in reality the Anglicization of the Old Norse 'Trüzigût' (literally 'Truth is Good') - taken to mean 'True Believers' - which is what the ancient tribe called itself.  The ancestors of the Tuzigoots were the offspring of Leif Ericson and his fellow explorers who landed on the east coast of North America circa 1,000 A.D., and who were raised by their fathers to believe in the Holy Trinity - the gods Odin, Thor and Freja (in honor of whom Friday is named).  Needless to say, this small tribe of Indians who were in general taller and more slender than their neighbors - and whose numbers included blue-eyed and even a few fair-skinned and light-haired individuals - were subjected to both racial and religious persecution.  They held to their beliefs, however, and their superior organ­ization and technology enabled them to survive and even prosper.  Nonetheless, pressures from their neighbors caused a gradual migration to less-populated areas where they could live relatively free of harassment, and the tribe arrived in the Val Verde area circa 1250 A.D.  The village of Nohitsnorunsno was established shortly thereafter, and thrived for a time in the lush valley.  Whether due to disease, to drought, or attacks from small but fierce neighboring tribes, the Tuzigootii eventually moved away to eastern Texas, and Nohitsnorunsno was abandoned by the mid-fifteenth century.  The ruins of their largest village and the southwestern God figure Kokopelli (the illegitimate offspring of Norse trickster Freja and the mighty Thor) were long thought to be the only traces of the Tuzigoot tribal culture to have survived into the modern era.

Recent analysis of bones found in the middens at Nohitsnorunsno reveal that the Jackalope, once believed to be native to the Great Southwest, was actually devel­oped by the Tuzigootii as a primary source of protein through several centuries of careful cross-breeding of Antelope Jackrabbits (Lepus allenii) with local Pinhorns Antelopes (Antelocapra cerititos) - a small cousin of the Pronghorn Antelope.  Several of these elusive creatures apparently escaped captivity during the decline of Nohitsnorunsno, and as they inherited the fecundity of their ancestral hares soon widespread throughout the territory of what is now Arizona, New Mexico & south­western Colorado — where they often shared the habitat (but not the diet) of the Lowland Ostrich (or Meil-O'Moore bird — see [ngdiscussion.net]).

NOTE:  The stuffed and mounted "Jackalope" heads often found in hotel lobbies, bars and barber shops throughout the western United States are FAKES, which IMHO should be called RabBucks or perhaps DeerBunnies.  These fakes descend from a joke perpetrated by the Herrick brothers, amateur taxidermists, that first appeared in a hotel in Douglas, Wyoming in the early 1930s and spread rapidly across the southwest due to their popularity with naive flatland touristers (helping to keep gift shops profitable).  Unlike the fakes, made by attaching deer ANTLERS to rabbit skulls, the true Jackalope has HORNS – similar to those of the Pronghorn (Antilocapra Americana, which many people mistakenly refer to as the 'Pronghorn Antelope').  Actually, the very name 'Jackalope' is misleading, as Pronghorns are not related at all to old-world antelopes but are distant cousins of giraffes.  Perhaps the rare and illusive horned hare should be called a 'JackHorn' or maybe 'Horn­Hare' instead, but as even ordinary hares are notoriously horny we should stick to to the incorrect term 'Jackalope' with the understanding that it does not refer to a state of mind but to a seldom-seen denizen of the Great Southwest and especially NOT to RabBucks and other such fakes.  The following should make this clear:


- Prof. R. Bushnell Sperry-Hill von Roemer Starkenberg



Edited 15 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2023 05:46PM by Russo Loco.