How I Became a Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story

Published in 2013 by Tim Tingle, How I Became a Ghost is a work of middle grade fiction that follows a young boy in the Choctaw nation and his death on the Trail of Tears. The Choctaw Trail of Tears refers to The Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the forced relocation of Choctaws from their homes in the deep south to areas further west. How I Became a Ghost has received an American Indian Youth Literature Award as well as recognition by the Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books List. How I Became a Ghost is the first in a trilogy, with the second book published in 2017: When a Ghost Talks, Listen.

Plot Summary

How I Became A Ghost begins with 10-year-old Isaac, who is now a ghost, telling the story of the day in 1830 when he learned that he and his family would have to leave their home in Choctaw Nation, Mississippi. After Isaac’s parents discuss that there is Treaty Talk between the Choctaws and Nahullos (the Choctaws’ name for white men) and that they must get ready to leave, Isaac’s mother takes Isaac out to the woods to watch old Choctaw men and women perform rituals to say goodbye to their home. While watching these rituals, Isaac experiences a warm shiver right before he has visions of the people bursting into flames or becoming covered in sores and pleading for help.

That evening, Isaac wakes to the smell of smoke and sees his room and the rest of his house in flames. Upon realizing that the Nahullo soldiers have set everyone’s homes and the church on fire, Isaac and the rest of the Choctaws run into the woods and hide from the Nahullo. The Choctaws make their way to the swamp since they feel sure that the Nahullo will leave them alone there. They build shelters and find food.

The next week, winter arrives and freezes the swamp, which makes it easy for the Nahullo to reach the Choctaws’ camp. They arrive one morning offering blankets to the Choctaw. The oldest Choctaw man is the first to accept the offer, and the others follow. Isaac’s Mother tells Isaac and Luke that they do not need the Nahullos’ blankets, and Father orders the boys to stay away from everyone else.

When the oldest man, Old Man, visits them one morning, Isaac has a vision of the man with sores again. When everyone in the swamp who took blankets from the Nahullo comes down with smallpox, Father leads Mother, Isaac, Isaac’s brother Luke, and their dog Jumper away from the swamp. They come upon another group of Choctaws who are walking along a road. Isaac’s family befriends the family, comprised of Gabe, Ruth, and Nita.

Isaac agrees to be Nita’s big brother and immediately begins looking out for her. Isaac has a vision of Nita one day in which Nita’s face is swollen and a spider walks across it. Ruth wakes everyone up the next morning when she finds Nita dead. The soldiers see that Nita has died and make callous remarks that Isaac and Father overhear. Nita, as a ghost, visits Isaac and reveals that she has a sister who went missing. She tells Isaac that finding that sister is how he can help her parents now that Nita is gone. Gabe is hesitant to talk with Isaac about the missing girl, but he and Ruth decide to tell everyone about Nita’s sister, Naomi. The soldiers threatened Gabe and Ruth that they would also take Nita if Gabe and Ruth told anyone that they took Naomi. Now that Nita is dead, they no longer worry about the soldiers’ threat.

Joseph, the grandson of the Old Man and Old Woman, wakes Isaac that night. Joseph tells Isaac that he knows where Naomi is. Joseph can turn into a panther, and he seeks Isaac out because he knows Isaac also has supernatural powers.

Isaac agrees to go with Joseph to retrieve Naomi. Joseph tells Isaac about the Choctaw councilmen who ride in the wagon behind the Choctaws and make sure the soldiers uphold their end of the treaty: that they will keep the Choctaws safe. Under the direction of the ghost of Old Man, Isaac becomes a helper in the Choctaw councilmen’s camp to gain better access to Naomi.

Joseph and Isaac take a break to visit Isaac’s family one day, and on the way back to the councilman wagon, a wolf attacks and kills Isaac while Joseph has gone off to chase a deer. Joseph and Isaac decide that since Isaac is now a ghost, it will be best if he is the one to visit Naomi. When he visits Naomi, Isaac explains that Naomi can escape and go back to her family now that Nita has died. With the help of Jumper and Joseph turning into a panther, Isaac leads Naomi away from the soldiers. Luke has arranged a place for Naomi in the bonepickers’ wagon (the Choctaws’ morticians of sort), where she is safe under the bones of fallen Choctaws until the soldiers come looking for her and set the wagon on fire. Joseph helps Naomi escape, and when one of the soldiers follows them into the woods, a wolf stalks him. Joseph turns into a panther to kill the wolf and save the soldier. In return, the soldier repairs the damages the Nahullos have made and leaves the Choctaws to enjoy their families unbothered.