Ghost dance

The Ghost Dance, also known as the Ghost Dance of 1890, was a religious movement among Native Americans that ended with a bloody confrontation against the United States Army at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. This movement began with a revelation that a Paiute Indian known as Wavoka (also known as Jack Wilson) had during a solar eclipse. Central to the Ghost Dance religion was the Ghost Dance itself, which induced religious ecstasy. Believers in the Ghost Dance ritual were convinced that performing the Ghost Dance would eventually reunite them with their ancestors from the spirit world. Meanwhile, the world return to a primordial state of natural beauty, opening up to swallow up all other people, while the performers of the Ghost Dance floated in safety above with their ancestors and friends. Ultimately, the Ghost Dance inspired hysteria among white settlers and resulted in the wholesale massacre of Native Americans at Wounded Knee.