The origin of the False-faces is one of a mythical epic and also one of human adventure. Iroquois men would venture off into the wilderness to carve these terrifying and sometimes extremely humorous masks out of living basswood trees. These "faces of the forest" claimed to possess the wearer with supernatural powers, especially those of the Wind and Disease gods. Thus was born the organization of the Society of Faces or the False-face Company. Membership into this company typically followed a dream or because a clairvoyant had prescribed the ritual to cure a sickness. Ritual ceremonies or "Curing Rites" allowed these masked doctors to alleviate a variety of ailments of the head, shoulders, joints, ear and toothaches, inflammation of the eyes and nosebleeds. Among the Iroquois, three distinct societies existed: the False-Face Society, the Common faces, and the Society of Husk faces. Iroquois men belonging to the False-Face Society usually owned and carried a bundle containing a turtle rattle and one or more masks decorated with bags of sacred tobacco. Often nude to the waist, these men of the forest performed ceremonial cleansings as well as spring and autumn exorcism of disease from the settlements by blowing hot ashes, chanting with turtle rattles and burning tobacco. The Huron, as early as 1648, may have introduced the False-Face Society to the Iroquois nation where it became so firmly imbedded.

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