Within Abenaki mythology and Penobscot folklore more broadly, Mt. Katahdin is a sacred place, the home of Pamola (Pamolai, P-mol-a, Pomola, or Bmola), the Storm Bird or the god of thunder and protector of the mountain, who guards the mountain from intruding humans. Banished for eternity to Katahdin due to his trickster-like behavior by the highest god, Gluskab, Pamola is described as having “a head and face as large as four horses, and shaped like that of a man. His body, form and feet are those of an eagle and his strength is such that he can take up a moose with one of his arrow-like claws … a hideously destructive creature” (Fobes 1962, 528). More generally described and depicted as having the head of a moose, the body of a man, and the wings of an eagle, Pamola is both feared and respected, a reminder of an ancient age in which gods and spirits ruled, and animals and humans coexisted without differentiation.
Known to carry prisoners away to Alomkik, near Mt. Katahdin, Pamola is associated by the Abenaki with night, wind, snow, and storms as well as the thick fog on the summit—called Pamola’s Plumes—a stark reminder of Pamola’s power over cold weather and why climbing Mt. Katahdin remains taboo. On a dreary day in 1846, Henry David Thoreau famously captured the mood of “The Greatest Mountain,” highlighting a harshness he attributed to the transcendent and malevolent spirit hanging over the mountain. In his book The Maine Woods, Thoreau wrote, “The tops of mountains are among the unfinished parts of the globe, whither is a slight to the gods and pry into their secrets. … Only daring and insolent men, perchance, go there. … Pamola is always angry with those who climb to the summit of Katahdin.”
Indigenous to the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, the Abenaki people’s history is divided into three distinct periods. In the Ancient Age, humanity and animal life remain undifferentiated, impacted by various god-like and spirit forces. In the second age, or Golden Age, humans and animals retained the same status, but humans began to vastly outnumber the animals. In the third period, known as the Present Age, animals and humanity are finally separate and distinct orders of creation. Like other Algonquin peoples, the Abenaki share a belief in Midewiwin (also spelled Midewin; translated as the “Way of the Heart”) or the Grand Medicine Society, a mysterious religion centered on shamans—called Medeoulin—who possess spiritual power. Numerous beings are featured in the mythology: Tabaldak the creator and Gluskab the transformer are the most significant. Importantly, within this mythology, Pamola emerges directly in relation to narratives of creation, transformation, and conservation.
According to traditional tales, Tabaldak (the creator god) made both humans and other gods during the Ancient Age, including Gluskab and his twin Malsumis (a malevolent spirit god), who sprang from the dust on his hand. Holding the power to establish a good world, only Gluskab chose to do so, Malsumis instead seeking evil to this very day. Founding the Golden Age of Earth by rendering the evil spirits of the Ancient Age smaller and safer, Gluskab also taught humankind the skills necessary to survive (e.g., how to hunt, fish, and build shelter) and the wisdom necessary to thrive (e.g., all the Abenaki knowledge of art, invention, and science). However, as the “transformer,” Gluskab recognized the strain hunters caused on the ecosystem, and, after asking a woodchuck spirit for help, Gluskab then went to a mountain where Tabaldak had placed a bird spirit—Pamola—who made bad weather by flapping its wings, a final safeguard for and of nature.
Roy Dudley, the first ranger at Katahdin’s Chimney Pond, delighted a generation of children and adults with his own tales of Pamola in the 1920s and 1930s. In one tale, seemingly enraged by Dudley’s trespassing, the spirit of Pamola swooped down to chase him away, but Dudley refused to budge. In another story, while attempting to fetch some water from Chimney Pond, Dudley was suddenly soaked by a massive splash. Upon looking up, he saw Pamola standing on the Knife Edge, throwing boulders into the pond and yelling for Dudley to leave his mountain. Dudley describes Pamola’s voice as being like the breath of winter and his rage producing a sudden freeze and winter storm.
Visitors to Baxter State Park can continue to hear about the legend of Pamola from Jane Thomas, who shares stories from the Abenaki, Roy, and others. In fact, Dudley himself has become part of the Pamola legend, with tales of the two becoming begrudging friends over tea and a pipe. Visitors can hear tales of Pamola slashing open a great gash in Pamola Peak, a summit on Katahdin at the eastern edge of the Knife Edge ridge, or how every month Pamola creeps out of his cave to help roll the full moon across the crags of the Knife Edge to South Peak. Today, Pamola continues to inspire, a reference to the sublimity of nature and the sacredness of Mt. Katahdin for the Abenaki.
Morgan Shipley
See also Azeban; Culture Heroes of the Native Americans; Glooskap, an Abenaki Hero; Iktomi; Napi; Tricksters, Native American
Further Reading
Bruchac, Joseph. 1988. The Faithful Hunter: Abenaki Stories. Greenfield Center, NY: Greenfield Review Press.
Fobes, Charles B. 1962. “Indian Names for Maine Mountains.” Appalachia 34: 521–528.
Hall, Clayton, ed. 1991. Chimney Pond Tales: Yarns Told by Leroy Dudley. Cumberland, ME: Pamola Press.
Masta, Henry Lorne. 2008. Abenaki Indian Legends, Grammar and Place Names. Reprint of 1932 edition. Toronto: Global Language Press.
Neff, John. 2006. Katahdin: An Historic Journey—Legends, Exploration, and Preservation of Maine’s Highest Peak. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press.
Thoreau, Henry David. 1988. The Maine Woods. Reprint of 1848 edition. New York: Penguin.