Skinwalkers
are ancient Navajo monsters who use black magic to turn into animal form and
use that ability for evil. They are men and rarely women who have gained
supernatural power by breaking a cultural taboo.
A shaman gains
the power of a skinwalker, or yee naaldlooshii in the Navajo language, by
renouncing the traditional ways of Navajo magic and adopting the teachings of
the Witchery Way. At the highest level of priesthood, he or she must then make
the final sacrifice of murdering a blood relative: a parent, a sibling, or a
child. With this destruction of their humanity, they have gained the evil power
inherent to the yee naaldlooshii.
A
skinwalker can take the form, speed and strength of any animal it wishes,
depending on what abilities it needs. Many Navajo believe it can even steal the
skin, or body, of a human being; locking eyes with a skinwalker allows it to
immerse itself into your body.
Some say
skinwalkers are easy to recognize in animal form, as they are unable to move
entirely naturally, and some Navajo describe them as distorted and mutated
forms of the animals they are emulating. Furthermore, a skinwalker’s eyes glow
like an animal’s when in human form and appear human when in the form of an
animal.
Many Navajo
can tell stories of encounters with skinwalkers. They will sometimes try to
break inside homes to attack the residents, and will often bang on the walls,
climb onto the roofs and peer inside through windows in strange, animal-like
forms. Skinwalkers are also known to attack cars and cause accidents. And that's not all; the yee naaldlooshii are also believed to be graverobbers and
necrophiliacs.
The yee
naaldlooshii can use magic to curse people and cause suffering and death. They
use a mixture called corpse powder which they blow into their victim’s face.
Soon after, the victim’s tongue turns black, they go into convulsions, and
eventually die. They can also use spit, hair and old clothes to send a curse at
a particular person. Because of this, many Navajo never spit and make sure to
destroy any hair or nail clippings.
Skinwalkers
are agile and fast enough to easily keep up with a speeding car. Some believe
they can read thoughts and make any animal or human noise they want, using
tricks like the cry of an infant to lure victims out of the safety of their
homes.
Killing a
skinwalker is very difficult due to their great power. Often people attempting
to shoot one find their guns jammed, and if the rounds do fire, they have no
effect. While the Navajo have magical protections against the yee naaldlooshii,
there is only one certain way to defeat them: if you see a skinwalker and call
it by its true name, it will die.
Skinwalker
lore is no mere children’s tales to the Navajo people. The subject is not open
to discussion, even today, and the Navajo are reluctant to talk about it to
outsiders. After all, a stranger asking questions about skinwalkers just might
be one himself.
