My First Lesson of the Stick Indians.

This was where I was first told as a child NOT to run around unattended. When I stopped and asked why? I was told very reluctantly about the spirits that live in the hills and forest. There Stick People were the ones in particular that I was being warned about. The following information explains a bit about them and why we choose to not talk about them but only in warning.

Native American Legends: Stick Indians

Name: Stick Indians
Tribal affiliation: Salish, Lummi, Yakama, Cayuse
Type: Antagonists, monsters, bigfeet

In the traditions of many Salish and other Northwest Indian tribes, Stick Indians are malevolent and extremely dangerous forest spirits. Details about Stick Indians vary from tribe to tribe (they are described as large, hairy bigfoot-like creatures by the Salish, and as forest dwarves by the Cayuse and Yakama.) In some traditions Stick Indians have powers to paralyze, hypnotize, or cause insanity in hapless humans, while in others, they merely lead people astray by making eerie sounds of whistling or laughter in the woods at night. In some stories Stick Indians may eat people who fall prey to them, kidnap children, or molest women. They also take aggressive revenge against people who injure or disrespect them, no matter how unintentionally.

Not too many traditional legends regarding Stick Indians have been recorded, in part due to taboos related to these deadly creatures. "Stick Indians" is an English euphemism; saying the actual Salish names of these beings in public is considered to be provoking their attacks in some tribes, a belief many Native people still adhere to today, choosing to refer to them only in English (if at all.)

Stick Indian Stories

The Story of Stick Indians or Tsiatko:
Legends about the Stick Indians from the Puyallup tribe.

Recommended Books of Related Native American Legends
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In the Shadows of Mountains:
Collection of legends from the Copper River Ahtna tribe.
Our Voices: Native Stories of Alaska and the Yukon:
Collection of legends and oral history from the Athabaskan tribes.

http://www.native-languages.org/morelegends/stick-indians.htm