Steve McCullough aka Iktomi Sha & Salt Creek Sundance

[Cetan]

Actually Elmer Running was involved in the Sundance in IN the first few years but hasnt been involved with it since about 1993. Steve McCullough is not native and not an enrolled member anywhere. 

[alpine cat]

Hi folks,

I read the threat on Steve ... He never said that he is a Native, if you ask him personally he will tell you that he is white.
You are talking on ancestry ....
If you take part on a ceremony of Steve you will see, that he is accepted by the spirits .. so what?
Someone know one who have heart something from a person who know anyone ... that's theory
It seems that this forum is more interested in talking then in understanding. the spirits takes her own chice - and this choice is undepending from race, color of skin or anything else.
You know that Wine Delora said to a white, that without the whites and their interest on native american ceremonies natives will forget its own roots?

[Superdog]

Hi folks,

I read the threat on Steve ... He never said that he is a Native, if you ask him personally he will tell you that he is white.
You are talking on ancestry ....
If you take part on a ceremony of Steve you will see, that he is accepted by the spirits .. so what?
Someone know one who have heart something from a person who know anyone ... that's theory
It seems that this forum is more interested in talking then in understanding. the spirits takes her own chice - and this choice is undepending from race, color of skin or anything else.
You know that Wine Delora said to a white, that without the whites and their interest on native american ceremonies natives will forget its own roots?

Wow is this post ever misled.  Sorry Alpine.  You make a terrible case for him here.  If he's not claiming he's native to you, he's claiming it to others either directly or indirectly.  How do you explain away the news articles and web pages presented that say he's Lakota???

If he's telling  you he's white....why in the world is he running a Lakota ceremony and calling it Lakota....it's wrong either way you dice it.  These ways aren't meant to be abused in this way and the participants put themselves at great risk.  Unfortunately it has a way of coming back on them and I'm assuming that includes you as well.  Protect yourself by stepping away from it.

As for you last quote about Vine (not Wine) Deloria.....sounds more like a desperate attempt to legitimize the attempts at cultural misappropriation here.  Not to mention it WREAKS of the "great white savior" attitude and is inherently ignorant of the other things Vine Deloria has said on this topic.  It's the exact type of attitude that angers people here and in any Native community.  It's like your saying "If we didn't do EVERYTHING for you who would do it...."  But what about all the people throughout history who've DIED or been persecuted trying to keep these ways alive.  Those weren't white people and this terrible misappropriation slaps their efforts in the face.

Not interested in taking part in the ceremony of a "self proclaimed" ceremony leader.  He does not have the backing of any Lakota communities and therefore that makes any delusion that anything he's doing is somehow Lakota complete fallacy.  The ceremonies you participate in are his own interpretation of these ways.....nothing authentic.  I might as well open a church based on Jedi Knights and call it Christian.  It amounts to the same thing. 

[alpine cat]

I'm sorry for writing wrong Vine's Name ...
Well you see ... basicly spirituallity is not for sale and no one who is straight will do this.
Superdog, what I see again is, that here is no discussion possible because this is a tribunal.
Why are Lakota people from Pine Ridge are going to Steves sundance? Why?
Obviously ... he is a man who act in respect to the spirits and not for its reputation or power.

People are making people, are the webpages made by Steve?
I.e. tahcha_sapa wrote, that norman running was involved in a scandal... Was his father Elmer as well involved or is this a related discussion? Please put out the emotions and read there is nothing behind this words than the words itself.
By the way ... I respect each of you here ... but the kind you wrote, there is no respect to people ... is that mitakuye oyasin?

[frederica]

Sorry Alpine Cat McCullough's Salt Creek Sundance in in Indiana. He is not Lakota. Some of the people addressing him here are. He is not Shawnee either. He shouldn't be doing SunDances. That is what the "Protection of Ceremonies" declared in 2003 stated by Arvol Looking Horse was about.  http://www.geocities.com/wahohwahpe/ban1.html

[educatedindian]

Hi folks,

I read the threat on Steve ... He never said that he is a Native, if you ask him personally he will tell you that he is white.
You are talking on ancestry ....
If you take part on a ceremony of Steve you will see, that he is accepted by the spirits .. so what?
Someone know one who have heart something from a person who know anyone ... that's theory
It seems that this forum is more interested in talking then in understanding. the spirits takes her own chice - and this choice is undepending from race, color of skin or anything else.
You know that Wine Delora said to a white, that without the whites and their interest on native american ceremonies natives will forget its own roots?

I'm not trying to be rude, but I'm having a lot of trouble understanding you. I have to ask, is English your first language? It does not appear so. And then I have to wonder why you are presuming to know so much more than the many Natives here, and esp the Lakota in here.

The fact is, McCullough is an outsider. That is what is important, not claims of knowing better than any Indian could, from someone who is pretty obviously an outsider him/herself.

And obviously this is not a so called "tribunal" in any way, shape, or form. Do you see anyone here who has the power to put McCullough or anyone else in jail? Do you see anything except what we actually are, Native people trying to protect Native traditions? The "tribunal" claim is melodramatic posturing by someone whose probably never been through what Native have typically face, arrested for Driving While Indian. If you had grown up having lived my or any other Native's experience with police, you wouldn't make such a silly claim of McCullough supposedly facing charges.

One thing which you have not mentioned which is pretty important: Vernal Cross never taught McCullough like McCullough falsely claims. Cross's family are rightly upset that McCullough is lying and saying that he had.

[tahcha_sapa]

People are making people, are the webpages made by Steve?
I.e. tahcha_sapa wrote, that norman running was involved in a scandal... Was his father Elmer as well involved or is this a related discussion?

If you look at one website in particular that deals with Steve McCullogh's 'sundance', you will see that it is actually site that promotes the website designer's business as well as selling a book from a white author who claims that her husband is a "full-blooded Dakota" (but declines to provide a name that can provide a means to evaluate a claim to legitimate tribal claim). The website is a shingle from a  couple of shills, get it? If you ever go to a large US city, you may run into someone running an illegal Three-card Monte scam on a street corner.  Same thing.  It's an enterprise that relies on shills to perpetuate the fraud.  Shills are legal in Las Vegas casinos because they use the casino's own money to create the impression of a legitimate gambler participating in a game. 
Norman and Steve are frauds who are clever enough to see the kind of interest - money - that a legitimate Lakota medicineman, like Norbert, generates. Norman is a fraud who also happens to be an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe. Steve is a fraud who is not an enrolled member of any tribe whatsoever. That's the difference between those two.

Definition of Fraud

All multifarious means which human ingenuity can devise, and which are resorted to by one individual to get an advantage over another by false suggestions or suppression of the truth. It includes all surprises, tricks, cunning or dissembling, and any unfair way which another is cheated.

Source: Black’s Law Dictionary, 5th ed., by Henry Campbell Black, West Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minnesota, 1979.

In these two cases, with Norman and Steve, who - besides the individuals bilked of money - are the victims? The victims are the enrolled members of the Rosebud Sioux tribe and their descendants. The history, culture and spiritual values of the Rosebud Sioux are stolen and corrupted in order to meet the psychological and fiscal needs of desperate people who would otherwise have to work at real jobs like the rest of us.
Cons seem to believe that they are above the laws. That they can outsmart the rest of us who are on to them. But, the prisons are filled with cons who relied on b.s. and luck in order to perpetuate their scams. Regardless of their success, cons need to remember that B.S. only takes a person so far and everyone's luck ALWAYS runs out.

[Kevin]

"If you take part on a ceremony of Steve you will see, that he is accepted by the spirits .. so what?" (alpine cat)
I have never come across a more stupid statement in all my life! Let me guess, when this crook is doing some nuage ceremony all of a sudden everyone gets a text message from the spirits  saying, " we accept him, he is pure", right? Is that how it works? I mean, how the F else would anyone know the 'spirits' are accepting him? Oh, I should ask, do the spirits give their names???
This is wind spirit, STeve is so cool!
This is the ol' rock spirit, man! Steve really has it together, he is one of us.
This is the dead rabbit spirit, Steve really has it going
this is the spirit of the sparrows, ohhhh, Steve! you're smokin' baby, you're smokin'

I've got my cell in my hand, alpine, why ain't them spirits talking?

[Superdog]

I'm sorry for writing wrong Vine's Name ...
Well you see ... basicly spirituallity is not for sale and no one who is straight will do this.
Superdog, what I see again is, that here is no discussion possible because this is a tribunal.
Why are Lakota people from Pine Ridge are going to Steves sundance? Why?
Obviously ... he is a man who act in respect to the spirits and not for its reputation or power.

People are making people, are the webpages made by Steve?
I.e. tahcha_sapa wrote, that norman running was involved in a scandal... Was his father Elmer as well involved or is this a related discussion? Please put out the emotions and read there is nothing behind this words than the words itself.
By the way ... I respect each of you here ... but the kind you wrote, there is no respect to people ... is that mitakuye oyasin?

Others have responded and they are right on so there's no need to push it further.  I'd just like to say to you Alpine Cat that there was no disrespect to you  in my post.  No name calling...nothing of that sort.  I was only responding to your arguments as being completely misled.  Which they are and hopefully you'll read through some of the negative emotions you've generated with your own comments and see just how far off the track you are. 

Take the defensive shell off.  Read the words here more as a warning for yourself rather than trying to take sides in something you still need to learn a lot about as well.  You're puttin' yourself in a deep mess.  The amount of small lies you'll need to generate (whether you know your lying or not) to support this big lie only comes back on you and you're the one who has to pay for that....no one else....and it WILL happen. 

I'm assuming English isn't your first language by your posts.  If I'm wrong let me know...just seems like a pretty good assumption.  There's definitely a communication barrier going on, but if you open up...even with that barrier you'll start to see where truth lies. 

It's the nature of ALL human beings (no matter where you come from or what culture) to make an opinion on a person in the first few moments we meet someone and it's also human nature to HATE to admit we're wrong.

When you realize that you're deciding whether to like someone or not based on such little information and you also accept that by your own nature you hate to admit you're wrong about someone......all of a sudden people begin to become transparent and  you can read their behaviors and words together and form a better opinion on them....not a judgement....an opinion on what you can expect from them.  I'm not saying you have to all of a sudden flip over and not like Steve....but at least you can realize what to REALLY expect from him.

Superdog

[tahcha_sapa]

One thing which you have not mentioned which is pretty important: Vernal Cross never taught McCullough like McCullough falsely claims. Cross's family are rightly upset that McCullough is lying and saying that he had.

This is a very important point to keep in mind because I know how the message of Vernal's death got to Steve. Up until the moment Steve was told of Vernal's death, Steve didn't have a clue. But the moment Steve was told, he was quick enough to say that he would share that news with the people in a sweat that Steve was going to run that night.
One thing about a con like Steve is to understand how manipulative he has been all along and how he continues to perpetuate his lies. This example about Vernal is typical fare for a con artist: for who better to attribute one's "spiritual development" to than to someone who cannot challenge those claims? Vernal cannot come back from the dead to rub Steve's nose into this exceptionally disgusting pile of lies that Steve has tried to get everyone to believe is actually the truth.
The only reason Steve has not tried (yet, anyway) to attribute some kind of spiritual "apprenticeship" to Norbert Running is that Norbert is STILL alive and could and would put Steve in his place. Steve is very disparaging of Norbert because of this fact.

[MatoSiWin]

Wow, I am very glad I came across this thread.  I had been "invited" by someone I really don't know (via e-mail) to this "Sundance" ceremony... and initially thought wow, that's interesting.  Then I thought, "Hey... there's no Lakotas here, lol".  I made a few phone calls and realized that nearly all the people I talked to were touting this as a "Lakota" ceremony... yet none of them could name any Lakota elders that would be participating, and they were all wasichu (spelling?).  The red flags kept adding up, and I decided to do a search on the whole subject and it's founder, and found this site. 
I also called a very close friend (cousin) of mine who has participated in an authentic Sundance ceremony at Pine Ridge many years ago and told him some of the things that were conveyed to me, and he said, "If they want to participate in a Lakota Sundance, why don't they just come to the Rez?"  LOL. 
I'm not sure why people even do this... if they know enough about the ways to try to imitate them, don't they know what the possibly devastating side effects could be?  And don't they care that they could be exposing other "innocent" people to things they have no idea of?  I have no doubt this is a "spiritual" event... but one has to ask, "Which Spirits are we really connecting with here?"  The fact that these self-proclaimed "Medicine Men" often use these "powers" to influence women, and especially young impressionable girls, makes me feel that this is more a dance to attract the attention of Anog Ite (spelling?), whether they realize it or not.
When these people die, do they not know that they will be personally held responsible for all they do, and for all whom they lead astray?  That is why it is so important that people in leadership roles go through so much ceremony and qualification for whatever their role is... the responsibility is far greater than just this world. 

[Needs More Caffeine]

I know there was talk of some people confronting McCullough a few years ago at Sundance.  Anyone know if it happened?  Or might happen again?

He and another character, who calls himself "Chief Evans," pretty well represent themselves as "the" native voice in the Monroe/Brown County area.  As a native student organizer who in Bloomington I am always running into their followers and admirers.  When as native students groups we ask white people for support for our efforts on campus, a lot of the time we hear fawning over these two guys.  It makes it really harder to draw attention to our work in trying to get native students the same support services as other underrepresented groups...we do not seem "Indian enough" in comparison because we don't treat the stereotypes like a freaking to-do list and don't do Plains nations ceremonies that white people expect because whites learn about them from people like McCullough and Evans.  And, as MatoSiWan said, there is definitely an element of recruiting young women, particularly young women of distant Indian descent, into situations like mixed-gender sweats that have exploitative overtones. Even within the student organizations, some of these women want to be involved with us, but it's hard to help them because they are so in thrall of these self-proclaimed "Sundance chiefs" that they are defensive.   :-(   

[MatoSiWin]

Needs More Caffeine...
I agree, there is almost no point in trying to talk to those kinds of women, as they will only be defensive.  One of the reasons is because if they don't have people like McCullough to "believe in", then they would have to face the reality that the history really isn't theirs to hold.  People like Steve provide these people with a flase sense that "anyone can be Indian".  They use Lakota phrases such as Mitakuye Oyasin "we are all related" to further propagate this "belief", when in fact that is NOT what that saying means or ever meant to imply.  They encourage these people to say retarded things like, "I was an Indian princess in a past lifetime", and they use the little bit of true knowledge they have and mix it with a vast amount of false knowledge to further their own agenda.  This is why I have always said, "A little knowledge can be very dangerous". 
I remember when I was younger, one of my mentors took me to Inipi with her.  It was not one of these "open sweats" that Steve and his type promote.  It was a very tight group of friends and family, and the only reason I was there is because she was an "elder" who had a personal relationship with me and knew me well, and brought me.  But before I went, she sat me down and went over the proper ways and etiquette.  I listened, and while there, I observed.  I can honestly say, it was NOTHING like what these types of people talk about when they describe their "Sweats".  I have never gone, and never will, but apparently many people are falling for this crap.
I just don't understand why Steve couldn't just be one of those White people who respects the culture and admires it without having to possess it and claim it as his own.  there are plenty of White people who have a genuine interest in helping to keep the Indian culture protected, and they are able to remain true to who they are.  These kinds of white people are good hearted.  But then there are the Steve types, who claim respect for something out of one side of their mouths, but then exploit the very culture they claim to respect with the other side of their mouth.

[Cetan]

Is that other "chief" Evans White Face? He is from Pine Ridge, Medicine Root District I think and is related to Vernal Cross. He used to be ok but havent seen him or heard anything about him since Vernal's funeral (when the friend I was riding with gave his wife and daughter a ride back to Indiana.

[Needs More Caffeine]

MatoSiWin, it's nice to commiserate with someone about McCullough.  The pinnacle of his crap for me was when the local newspaper referred to the people at the Brown County mockery of a Sundance as "the local Lakota tribe."  Some people can be SO unquestioning of what to us is obvious fraud.  When the reporter was asked to at least do research and see, hello, there is no "local Lakota tribe" in Indiana, she did not (to the best of my knowledge) respond to any of the many letters.  So there were a lot of people who read that article and think there are tons of Lakota people chilling in Brown County, most of whom just happen to look and ACT exactly like white people...Funny thing...

Cetan, that might be him.  I only ever hear this person referred to as Evans.  I'll ask around and post after I find out.  If it is him, he's very in deep with the New Age around here.