After seeing "The Man That Murdered Himself" a few times since I discovered Alias Smith and Jones, I wandered what Native Americans in the general region of the Rocky Mountains. After coming up sort on historical answers I turned to the paranormal and I think I may have come up with a plausible answer. In Ghost Stories of the Old West by Dan Asfar, Chapter Two: Cowboys and Indians, page 69- page 72 outlines the mysterious People of the Snake. Perhaps Glenn A. Larson heard this legend and adapted it for his own use in that episode, because according to my copy of the afore mentioned book there are no artifacts that have been found to document their existence. According to the book, these people worshiped pit vipers and were said to keep to large ones; it is said that these large snakes attacked the horses of other tribes before white settlers came into the Rockies. As white settlers poured into the area they disappeared, but soon stories came about that the cattle in the area were being found dead, poisoned by something in the dead of night. So, what are your thoughts?
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"The only thing in life you have to earn is love, everything else you can steal." ~Hannibal Heyes