On the Fringe Episode 4 “Koni Anukasha” Choctaw Spirit People
On the Fringe is a documentary-style episodic television show that is contracted to go on-air in 17 countries and over 120 million homes in Central Europe in the late summer/fall of 2009. The show is hosted by Justin Minor, along with the entire research/film crew of Jordan Hughes, Keith Foster and Joe White.
The show focuses on legends, myths and folklore from around the nation, telling these cryptozoological/paranormal/historical stories. “It’s a road trip to the unexplained…and sometimes the other side.” Say the shows producers, Possum Valley Entertainment.
In the fourth episode of the series, the On the Fringe crew stayed close to home once again (episode 2 focused on Bigfoot in Leflore County) to do a local legend. Its entitled, “Koni Anukasha” Choctaw Spirit People. PVE is based in Eastern Oklahoma with offices in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The crew wanted to do this investigation for several reasons. One of which being simply that it is Native American Folklore. The show Host and Co-Producer, Justin Minor is part Native American. “Between Choctaw and Cherokee heritage, I’m nearly half Native American. Native American myths, legends and folklore have always just enthralled me. I love it. In addition, being that the shows entire focus is myths, legends and folklore and that we’re all about the paranormal and unknown…it was an easy choice.”
The “Little People” is a cross-cultural phenomenon. Nearly every Native American Heritage Group has their own legend of the “Little People”, and all of the legends are strikingly similar. Even the Europeans have their legends. Fairies, Brownies and Wraiths all have nearly exact similarities with Native American Little People. Many of these stories even pre-date the inter-mingling of these cultures…basically, they couldn’t have borrowed the idea from each other. “This lends a lot of credence to the legitimacy or possibility they could exist” says the shows Director of Photography and investigator Jordan Hughes.
The crew went deep into the woods, into the Choctaw Nation, to try and find these spirits. After many hours of investigation, First Assistant Camera and Camera Operator Keith Foster seemingly caught something on tape. “It was a moon-less night. I was using the Hi-8 and scanning across the ravine and front of me below the ridge-line. At one point, something caught my eye in the camera…it was strange because it was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. But there it was…a faint light in the distance. It was incredible. Then all of the sudden it was like we were under attack. Things kept falling all around us. It sounded like rocks being thrown. We still don’t know what it was, but we were able to rule out almost any man-made origination…and it IS interesting that the legend ends with ‘so if you ever see a faint light floating through the forest in the Choctaw Lands…”
The crew has finished all thirteen episodes of season one, but claim “Koni is still our favorite episode.”
On the Fringe is not domestically distributed on American Television at present, but you CAN see the show. It’s available online through the shows website, amazon.com and CreateSpace.com.
To find the Choctaw Spirit People episode, use the following URL in your internet browser: