Dublin's "Cursed" Memorial Golf Tournament & The Legend of Chief Leatherlips

The crown jewel of professional golf in Ohio is the Memorial Tournament, held every spring at Dublin’s Muirfield Village Golf Club.  This renown course, designed by Jack Nicklaus himself, has long been rumored “cursed.”  More often than not, it seems, this storied contest suffers inclement weather, the kind of which leads to delays and shortened holes.  

Is there any truth to this lore?  The allegation is that the spirit of long dead Chief Leatherlips of the Wyandotte Nation is not happy about the course’s location near his grave.  It’s said that he commands the heavens each year to plague the tournament once again.

As is true with most Ohio Folklore episodes, the history behind the legend is more telling and profound than any supernatural claims.  Come hear the tale of one man, a Native leader, who inspired not only his people, but White settlers alike.  

His example guides us yet today.  More than any golf game, or the weather on any given day in May, what matters is our integrity.  

He died for his.

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And as always, keep wondering…

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to Ohio folklore. I'm your host Melissa Davies. Today, we're diving deep into a central Ohio legend that's been told and retold every spring. In an attempt to explain away something as regular as Rainy Days in May, we've touted a trite story about an unsettled Native American spirit, exacting justice from behind the veil. It's a trope repeated in American folklore across the country for centuries, countless tales of disasters of all sorts, from earthquakes to droughts, floods and famines. We search for explanations for the mayhem. Our misfortune couldn't just be the result of weather patterns, climate changes, or other such forces beyond our control, right. In the cosmic universe of rights and wrongs, such misfortune must serve as some kind of punishment. a deeper look at our history must reveal our transgression, confirming our notion that the world is just that we are truly in control of things, and that bad things happen because of the bad things people do. It's a very American way of understanding hard times the view that if we're just smart enough, had we made the right decision, all could have been averted. Our need to make sense of things is an ache that's been passed down through generations. And when it comes to life and death situations, it's not hard to understand why we grasp for some kind of rationale. Only what we're talking about today bears no dire outcomes. No one dies. In fact, no one really suffers much more than a pair of muddy cleats. or at worst, a last chance to win Ohio is crowning Memorial golf tournament. I'm talking about the quote cursed Memorial tournament at Dublin's Muirfield village golf club. reports that this yearly world class PGA tournament is plagued by supernatural forces began appearing in newspapers in the early 1990s. However, unusual weather disruptions have been occurring long before then. As early as 1979 a windchill of 13 degrees greeted players as they took to the course. Columbus native Jack Nicklaus himself had designed the course and opened it only three years earlier. 10 years later and 1989 snow blanketed the fairway in mid May. In 1990, the play was halted early on account of storms. In 1997, torrential rains saturated the course causing an extension of the tournament an entire day, just to complete an already shortened course. In 2001. Tiger Woods himself toughed out six rain delays before winning his third of five Memorial victories. A deluge of biblical proportions plague the 2013 tournament, allowing play to resume late in the evening under lift, clean and place rolls. This left no time for the shot matches the highly anticipated tools that pitted golf royalty against one another. These persistent weather events hampering this renowned golf competition is reported on worldwide. professional players from around the globe return every year, bracing themselves for the worst Mother Nature can dole out. Yet of all the examples I just laid out for you. One year stands out among the rest. The events surrounding the tournament in 1993 would bring forth the narrative which remains yet today. The tidy supernatural explanation that accounts for nature's wrath on game day. It's the reason local news anchors needle their meteorologists every year about the forecast for the tournament. It's the reason local high school math teachers instruct their students to conduct a statistics project, determining if the poor weather is actually anything out of the ordinary. The tale of what occurred in 1993 set the stage for the oft repeated lore. It's a story worth digging into. After suffering multiple rain delays over the previous four years straight, Arnold Palmer's wife, Winnie Palmer suggested that they might do something about it. She told Jack Nicklaus, his wife, Barbara Nicholas, the rumor that Muirfield village had been built over an old cemetery. An old wives tale suggested that a girl last gen left at the grave sites would mollify any angry spirits. without skipping a beat. Barbara did a bit of research and found no evidence of any cemetery beneath the course. However, she did discover a nearby grave site of the chief of the Wyandotte nation, Chief leather lives. It took considerable persuasion, but she eventually convinced jack to take her there before the start of the tournament. After driving less than four miles crossing the mighty Scioto River, they arrived at a grave marker erected in 1889, in the honor of leather lips, chief of the Wyandotte Tribe of Indians, executed on this spot June 1 1810. This tombstone still stands at the corner of Riverside Drive and Stratford Avenue. As instructed, the couple left the ceremonial glass of gin on the hulking granite marker, the homage didn't work. The rain began before play even started, and an inevitable suspension of tournament was necessary. Without much to lose. Barbara snuck away this time on her own to leave a second glass of gin, and hopes of yet winning the unsettled spirit over whether by luck or by appeasement, the clouds began to clear after her third trip to the grave site. On the tournament's second day. The account of the whole story was published in local newspapers. This planted the seed for the enduring legend as it's become today. We finally had an explanation for the unlucky weather of Ohio's most esteemed professional golf tournament. And just as with most Ohio folklore episodes, when we start to peel back the layers of this lore, we discover historical truths that teach us a bit more about who we are as Ohioans, our faults, our failings, and our ongoing efforts to grow into something better. The oft repeated trope about a modern structure being built over an ancient Indian burial ground was stretched to fit the current circumstances. What we have here is not a Native American Cemetery, that the burial of one man, a chief no less with the unusual name of leather lips. It's a grave site located not on the golf course grounds, but just a few miles east across a picturesque Scioto River, whose waters flow south through Columbus before eventually joining with the Ohio and the Mississippi. Just how did this singular centuries old graveside become associated with something as modern and bourgeoisie as a bunch of weather frustrated, mostly white men and polo shirts and khakis. Barbra Nicolas may not have known it at the time. But her efforts to engage the supernatural to stave off the rains sparked an interest in Dublin's long forgotten native history. For just being one grave site, it's substantial to say the least, taking up an entire corner lot. The granite marker which was laid in 1889, is surrounded by manicured lawn. A rustic stone fence marks the outer border. It fits well with the 19th century vibe. Five modest steps lead up the small embankment where locals are known to leave trinkets and flowers. This native leader gone now for more than 200 years, is remembered with reverence and with all. No wonder many believe to spirit yet powerful enough to command the heavens. The first written account of the 1810 execution of wind at chief leather lips was documented in the 1854 book entitled The history of Ohio. From its earliest settlement to its present time. It documented Ohio's transformation from being once inhabited by native peoples to the growing settlements of European immigrants. One of the most notable aspects of this grave marker in particular, is that it was erected by the descendants of white settlers. Leather lips, his influence on the growing white population was significant, perhaps even unparalleled in his day. Some of that influence remains as you'll learn further on, but let's start at the beginning with the written account as recorded in this historical reference in 1854, only 44 years after the execution itself according to author's wh carpenter and Ts Arthur, Chief leather lips an elderly leader of the Wyandotte nation had been charged with of all things. Witchcraft. This charge notoriously difficult to prove or unproved resulted in a sentence of death. Leather lives had been convicted by a contingent of elders from neighboring tribes, not the least of which included Shawnee chief to come see, and his brother known as the Prophet. They sent a group of about six executioner's to his encampment, about 12 miles north of Columbus on the Scioto River. There, these executioner's conducted a council which took about three hours throughout chief leather lips was calm and dispassionate, as he listened to their charges against him. Some local white settlers who had befriended leather lips and his tribe were summoned once the council began. On arriving, they pled with his accusers to spare his life. They offered up a prized horse and other goods to appease them, but to no avail. With the Council convened, the executioner's walked leather lips to his village, the group partook of a meal of freshly butchered venison. The chief then took pains to wash himself in the rivers waters, put on his most sacred ceremonial buckskin and painted his face. His demeanor was calm. As the hour of His death approached. He shook hands with those who were there to witness it. The white settlers who came to know and love him. He then shook hands with his executioners. With the voice surprisingly strong for his age, he began chanting and singing in his native tongue. As he marched to a shallow grave, freshly dug. The group followed behind him. On reaching the spot, he knelt down and stopped singing, he began a prayer to the great spirit. On hearing his words, one executioner knelt down beside him, and joined in the praying, and when their words ceased into silence, one of his executioner's drew a tomahawk from under a cloak, he stepped quickly toward the chief, raising the weapon high and bore down with all his force on leather lips head. He fell forward, laying motionless in the shallow grave, his wound gaping. After a couple of moments of stunned silence, one of the executioner's noted fresh beads of sweat forming on leather lips, neck and face. Exalted he claimed this was evidence of the witchcraft, that leather lips was attempting to rise from death. In response, the tomahawk was raised three more times, coming down again and again on the porch chiefs had. And when the deed was finally accomplished, to the executioner satisfaction, he was finally buried. Such was the account confirmed by white settlers who claimed to have witnessed it firsthand. Reports were that they were inconsolable and their grief. Notably, the response of the Wyandotte tribe members themselves were not even mentioned in the book. It's as though their perspective didn't even matter. Fast forward 45 years in a local organization called the Wyandotte club, erected the grave marker which stands there today. It's the memorial which still receives various tributes, including flowers, tiny statues, and glasses of liquor meant to hold off the reins. One summary of this local lore was printed in the November 10 1901 issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer. At the time, the grave marker was one of only four in the whole of the United States, dedicated to an American Indian. Of all the countless native peoples lost by that time. What was it about chief leather lips that drove such an effort to immortalize his legacy. For one thing, the narrative had begun to shift. His charge of witchcraft had evolved into something else entirely. By 1901. The going story was that the real reason for leather loves execution was that he dared oppose Shawnee chief to come sees plans for an armed rebellion against white settlers. And 1795 the Treaty of Greenville, Ohio, concluded aggression that had been occurring between Northwestern tribes and US forces led mainly by General by Anthony Wayne. It was sold as a treaty to end all treaties that would lead to peace between white settlers and their native counterparts. The leaders of most tribes within the Ohio territory signed it, including wind chief leather lips. One notable exception was the legendary warrior chief to come see of the Shawnee. His plan was to organize native tribes into a confederacy that would create an independent native state and stop the development of further white settlements. And the decades that had passed since his death, tales of leather lips skill as a peacemaker had grown. In fact, the name leather lips, given him by whites, reflected the durable truth of His words. His integrity was as strong as the most enduring material known at that time, leather. He had been called a friend by white leaders, they could make deals with him that they knew would be enforced. So when he signed the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, he meant it as he meant all his promises. The story as told by white writers and historians of the earliest 20th century was that leather lips believed to come sees war, foolish and worse, futile. 20 years after leather lips death in 1830 Pottawatomie chief Shabana acknowledged the hopelessness of tech companies campaign stating the pale faces would soon bring an army like the leaves on the trees and sweep them into the ocean beneath the setting sun. Leather loves saw this awful truth bearing down on his people. Many believed his attempts at peace were a valiant effort to spare more lives. Leather Lopes was deeply revered among the Wyandottes and indeed among many neighboring tribes. His reputation for truth and honesty preceded him. It was his drive for peace and compromise, but the white settlers that made him a threat to to come seize drive for war. This then was the true motive of his execution. In order to convince all tribes to join the Confederacy to come see and other leaders needed leather lips out of the picture, a contrived charge of witchcraft, which he could not disprove suited their purpose well, this way, they didn't have to denounce his leadership, which would not have gone over well with the native population. Instead, to come see his group was fighting evil forces of another plane and dimension altogether. Witchcraft. Shot Tayrona the other lips name and the why and tongue was dead, as was his campaign for peace with the white invaders of native lands. This history has been the accepted narrative for decades, touted and newspaper articles, encyclopedias, and historical archives. An official account is also listed in the archives of today's Wyandotte nation, which is situated in Oklahoma's NorthEastern corner. Chief leather lips reputation as a martyr in the cause of peace remains. The nation's concluding statement on his legacy is that in any case, a good man died rather than break his written pledge, and it is good that later generations had seen fit to honor his name and his memory. Chief leather lives legacy has been cemented, literally as you're about to learn. In May 1990, just a few years before the cursed Memorial golf tournament legend took hold. The Dublin Arts Council finalized plans to construct a large monument. Chief Leonard bareskin, the then leader of the Wyandotte nation in Oklahoma, travelled to Dublin to help break ground on the limestone sculpture, raising a peace pipe to the heavens. He then lowered it to his waist and made gestures while turning in the four cardinal directions. He then gave a brief statement to those gathered, explaining that in signing the treaty of Greenville, Chief leather lips had signed his own death warrant. And keeping true to his word. He gave his life in hopes of maintaining peace. In closing, Chief bareskin said he must have known he was going to die. I'd like to think he made peace with the great spirit. Chief leather lives monument remains open for visitors. It's situated about two miles south of his burial site. The oversized head, built into a hillside is made of limestone blocks stacked 10 feet high and overlooks CYO Park. It gazes over the Scioto River, the historic waterway where he and his tribe fished, camped and traveled all their lives. One of the pieces of stone within the monument is from the Methodist Indian Mission and upper Sandusky, pulled from the Sandusky river by Wyandotte tribes people themselves before their final removal from the state in the early 1840s. The aim of this monument is to serve as a reminder of not only leather lips controversial death, but of his life, of his commitment to his word of his integrity and of his enduring devotion to peace. So what are we to make of the folklore surrounding this story today? On the surface, it seems that this critical piece of Native American history has been overshadowed by a golf game. Many central Ohioans today only no leather lips as the long dead Wyandotte chief who curses the memorial tournament every year with inclement weather. This store is rooted in fiction and happenstance. The truth of the matter is that spring brings rains and outdoor event held at this time of year is bound to run into problems on a regular basis. Yet in search of an explanation, we've spun a tail to account for it. And looking to ensure sunshine, we've participated in a kind of superstition, an effort to beseech a long dead spirit to control the heavens above our heads. The awful truth that underlies this lore is the fact that the US government and the state of Ohio by extension treated native tribes not as people, but as trifles to be overcome our own government in its unending hunger for land and power, made and broke treaties with Native leaders time and again. Our own integrity on such promises was non existent. It's no wonder why many tribes like the Shawnee found themselves scrambling for a way forward if the whites couldn't be trusted. If their word was worthless, who can blame any group for going to war, in an effort at self preservation? Leather lips could have easily justified war. Instead, he chose peace and confronting the oppressive powers that be, he stayed true to his character and the values of his people. It's an example worth remembering in our world today, fraught with division and hateful politics. Had the white leaders of our ancestors held true to their word. Perhaps we'd be living in an Ohio blessed with native tribes still living within our borders. Instead, what we're left with today is the powerful example of a man who gave his own life rather than break a promise to an oppressive government. It's a lesson far more weighty than a delayed golf game. It's one I hope we all consider the next time a little rain falls on the land we hold dear. This concludes today's episode on the legacy of cheap leather lives. I hope you've enjoyed it. If so, please rate review and subscribe to Ohio folklore on Apple podcast. It helps people find the show. You can find Ohio folklore at Ohio folklore.com And on Facebook. And as always, keep wondering