What was the Curse of Maman-ti, Owl Prophet?

Kiowa Shaman and Chief Used Supernatural Powers to Defeat Enemies

Oct 25, 2009

This medicine man was the force behind great War Chiefs including Lone Wolf and Satanta. His primary rival for tribal leadership and foe was Kicking Bird.

Maman-ti, also known as Swan, was a mysterious and sinister Kiowa to the white man, but was a respected medicine man and leader to his tribe. He communicated with a screech owl, a bird Kiowas believed was the personified spirit of a departed soul. Originally a member of the tribe's buffalo-medicine clan, Maman-ti inherited Dohäsan's power after the Kata Kiowa Chief’s death in 1866.

Owl Prophet’s Rise to Power

Shortly after Dohäsan's death, Maman-ti was sick with a fever. He had a vision in which he died and journeyed to the spirit world, dead men's village. This resulted in his becoming a fierce and popular War Chief and a powerful dohate, shaman. He was revered by his people and gave advice based on spiritual messages he received from an owl's skin he maneuvered like a hand-puppet.

Maman-ti – War Chief

The Kiowas regarded Owl Prophet as a person of authority, wisdom, kindness and generosity. He influenced his tribe by his superior intellect and prophecies. They relied on him to bring success to war efforts. Although he was virtually unknown to the white man, he was the covert instigator and director of almost all major Kiowa raids in the early 1870s. He planned most of their raids into Texas and led some.

In the Fall of 1873, Lone Wolf's son and nephew died at the hands of soldiers. Some warriors of his band shared the desire for revenge. Maman-ti helped recruit warriors and used owl medicine to prophesy that the planned attack would be successful. The Lost Valley battle against Maj. John B. Jones's Texas Rangers fulfilled Owl Prophet’s predictions.

Owl Prophet Lost Following

Kicking Bird led a peace faction which included Big Bow’s followers who scorned Maman-ti's prophecies. The chiefs argued about whether to stay holed up along Elk Creek or move west to the Llano Estacado. When Maman-ti’s owl skin guaranteed safety in the Palo Duro Canyon, the war group voted to go.

Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie's cavalry unit sacked AmerIndian villages in the canyon. Afterward, Maman-ti was one of the Kiowa leaders who surrendered.

Maman-ti’s Curse

The white man recognized Kicking Bird as the principal Kiowa chief and asked him who were the most incorrigible of the hostile tribe members that should be banished to confinement in St. Augustine, Florida. Maman-ti was among the chosen.

Before the hostiles left, Kicking Bird spoke to them. Owl Prophet glared at him and said the chief was a traitor to his race and he would make sure the chief wouldn’t live long. Medicine man Eagle Chief, while they were on the way to Florida, asked Maman-ti to pray Kicking Bird would die.

Owl Prophet said that although killing a Kiowa by magick would cause his own death, he would do so. He told him Kicking Bird would die in four days, after sunrise. The chief, according to the prediction, collapsed with extreme pain and died before noon. His official cause of death was listed as srychnia poisoning. Kiowas refused to accept this opinion.

When the news of Kicking Bird’s death reached the exiles, Maman-ti was silent, knowing his doom was sealed. He died of “natural causes” at the end of the journey.

Were the Kiowa correct in rejecting the official cause of death? White man ridiculed AmerIndian supernatural beliefs, including curses. Did Maman-ti die naturally or was it a result of the curse? Stranger things have happened….

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