I took my binoculars and walked a short distance out onto Longley Bridge the other day.

I wanted a closer look at the water thundering over West Pitch. I wondered what it might have been like for Native American warriors in canoes to have been lured to their deaths – as legends have told us.

Are the stories true? And, if not, what’s the harm in enjoying a rousing tale?

Almost as soon as European settlers put down roots in this part of the state, there were stories about Indian raids and war parties coming down the Androscoggin. There are at least three stories about deceit and death at West Pitch on the Auburn side of the falls in early Colonial years.

We don’t hear much about them these days, but 80 to 100 years ago everyone knew how white settlers were saved from the marauding Indians. In some versions, signal torches or bonfires marking the dangerous falls were moved by local heroes. Joseph Weir, from Turner or Scarborough, is sometimes named as the one who moved the Indians’ markers in revenge for a massacre of his family.

My father’s lifelong passion for poetry gave rise to yet another twist on history. In a poem called “Myth of West Pitch,” he wrote of “a restless Indian princess who betrayed her tribe for a lover.”

He imagined how she moved the signal fires and caused her tribe’s warriors to be swept over the falls. Unfortunately, her “faithless trapper” left her alone and – “a leap to the roaring cascade was her only way to atone.”

The legends, told time and again with harmless intent, are a source of great discomfort to Nancy Lecompte of Lewiston. Known as Canyon Wolf, she is founder and director of Ne-Do-Ba, a nonprofit organization devoted to exploring and sharing the history of Native Americans in western Maine.

A few years ago, she presented a talk at a meeting of the Androscoggin Historical Society in which she debunked the lurid accounts of mass mayhem at the falls.

Lecompte noted the white-man-hero versus Indian-villain themes and cast doubt on the need to have fires marking a spot that would be well-known to the area’s natives.

However, Lecompte said she could see the possibility of canoes engaging in a game of “chicken” above the falls and a tragic mishap to one or more could have occurred.

So, what’s wrong with a little embroidery in the telling of a good story? Twisted history can haunt us for generations. Today’s descendants of Franco-American heritage are doing excellent work to correct many inaccuracies about their role in L-A’s past. All of us can learn more and help to convey the honest truth.

We also have new neighbors here, and we don’t fully understand them. We owe it to the Somali community to learn more about their culture and Islam, and the Somali families need to think about how they can make their lives open, interesting and collaborative with others.

It’s fun to unravel legends and find the half-truths woven into them. It’s important to remember that a half-truth is a half-lie, and sometimes a not-so-subtle agenda is the basis of an enhanced story.

Dave Sargent is a freelance writer and an Auburn native. You can write to him at dasargent@maine.com.

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