Skinwalker

"And what would authority do when they found me? Capture me? Imprison me? Torture me? Remember what the situation's like here. A white man with a shady background and a bad reputation suddenly have a Native American woman tied up in his basement with multiple fresh wounds on her naked body. A woman, mind you, is already on the news for couple of weeks with suspicions of being the victim of a racial hate crimes. How long it would take for your family to abandon you? How long do you think it would take for the whole nation to raise up against you? How long it would take for your entire world to crash?... Haven't thought that far into your plans yet, have you?"

- A Skinwalker.

A skinwalker is a person and/or creature that possesses the supernatural ability to transform into any animal they desire. There were originally a type of harmful witch but was recently classified as a creature of the night.

Overview
The Navajo skinwalker is known as 'yee naaldlooshii' (Navajo for "by means of it, he/she/it walks around on four legs") and is a variety of Navajo witch. It is apparently far more common for men to be skinwalkers, though it is possible for women as well.

There are many other horrific tales about things that skinwalkers perform on their victims, such as using a poison powder of corpse dust made from ground infant bones (preferably the finger and skull bones of twin infants) to kill them with.

Navajo witches, including skin-walkers, represent the antithesis of Navajo cultural values. While community healers and cultural workers are known as medicine men and women, or by other positive, nurturing terms in the local, indigenous language, witches are seen as evil, performing twisted ceremonies and manipulating magic in a perversion of the good works medicine people traditionally perform. In order to practice their good works, traditional healers learn about both good and evil magic. Most can handle the responsibility, but some people can become corrupt and choose to become witches.

Description
Skinwalkers are most frequently seen as coyotes, wolves, foxes, eagles, owls or crows and are not creatures to be trusted. Some Navajo believe that skinwalkers have the ability to steal the face of a person, and some believe that if one ever locks eyes with a skinwalker they can absorb themselves into a person's body, or that one's body might freeze up with fear, allowing a skinwalker to channel that fear to gain power and energy.

A skinwalker can transform into any animal by first wearing a pelt of the animal in order to properly transform into said animal. Similar lore can be found in cultures throughout the world and is often referred to as shapeshifting by anthropologists. Because it is believed that skinwalkers wear the skins of the animals they transform into, it is considered taboo to wear the pelt of any animal. In fact, the Navajo are only known to wear two hides, sheepskin and buckskin, both of which are only used for ceremonial purposes.

Appearances
Their physical appearances often appear to be Native American in origin, with facial features and skin color reminiscent of the Navajo, from which the original legends were first told. They are mildly attractive but otherwise unremarkable. Their aura, however, is what is most distinct about them.

Personalities
In human form, Skinwalkers exhibit typical alien behavior. Quiet, distant, and seemingly uncomfortable in their own skin, they may be confused or completely disregard human customs.

Myths and Legends
Primarily detailed in many Native American tales, these entities are sometimes portrayed as either practicing witches, or aspects of the trickster deity Coyote or something worse, from the shared mythology of many indigenous American peoples. Skinwalkers are considered one of the most fearsome monsters from Native American Mythology. In those myths, they have a few extra powers, including Telepathy, Voice Changeling (mimicking animal and human sounds) and the creation of poisonous/disease ridden "Witch Powder" or the Magical Eye. Some cannot fully shift into their animal forms and have a deformity (awkward gait, over-sized feet, etc.) revealing their true nature.

Being very similar to Werewolves and other paranormal shape changers, most skin walkers' abilities are largely powered by dark ritual, and the breaking of native taboos (such as cannibalism, incest, and murder, especially of family members) or are heralded to create them. Each tribe's version differs in details. Most Skinwalkers are differentiated from their brethren by being able to take multiple shapes, but are not free-form shapeshifters. The myths usually describe them as humans who wear only an animal skin, or an abomination of human and animal forms.

Another legend states that a skinwalker is, or was, a shaman in its human life. As a rite of passage, they kill their entire family to drain and absorb their souls. They then can transform into any animal they desire, and any person. It has the ability to mimic voices that are familiar to a certain person, as a method of luring that person out.

Those who have talked of their encounters with these evil beings describe a number of ways in which a skinwalker will try to inflict harm. Some describe hearing knocks on the window or banging on the walls. Others have spotted an animal-like figure peering in through a window. According to Navajo skinwalker legend, they are seldom caught. Those who do track a skinwalker and learn of their true identity must pronounce the name of the evil one in full. Once this happens, the skinwalker will get sick or die for the wrongs they have inflicted against others.

Non-Native interpretations of skin-walker stories typically take the form of partial encounter stories on the road, where the protagonist is temporarily vulnerable, but then escapes from the skin-walker in a way not traditionally seen in Navajo stories that take place away from home. Sometimes Navajo children take European folk stories and substitute skin-walkers for generic killers like The Hook.

Skinwalker sub-species

 * Skin Dancer

Quotes

 * "Skinwalkers? Oh yeah. I've heard of them. They're supposed to be evil Navajo witches that can shape-shift into any animal to help them hunt any poor sap during the night. Bastards have such a reputation that the Navajo people won't talk about them at all even if you paid them. At first you might think it's another 'Wendigo' case but it's not. They're not spirits...they're people. At least I think they're people. But that's the scary thing about them...you'd never know you were standing next to one." - A Hunter.


 * "A skinwalker is a type of witches, I supposed one could say it that way. In Navajo culture, witches are those who have been corrupted by dark magic while training to be medicine men or women, eventually performing twisted ceremonies in a perversive way to gain more magical power. No one sure why they can turn or possess animals, mainly because of how discretive the Najavo toward those don't trust - Stop looking at me that way Black - though after several experiments with some skinwalkers, I think it might have something to do with curses. Those of both a divine and demonic magic." - Matt Wright.

Trivia

 * Killing one is either simplified to accusing the creature in public while in human form (which robs it of power and it dies in 3 days) or an involved, lengthy ritual.
 * The term is never used for healers in Navajo folklore.

Images Sources

 * (Skinwalker.jpg) Skinwalkers by Vollelune
 * (Va studios skinwalker by remarin dcyd46x-fullview.jpg) VA-Studios: Skinwalker by Remarin
 * (Vassilios-bayiokos-shaman-skinwalker-spirit-2-low.jpg) SHAMAN SKINWALKER SPIRIT by Vassilios Bayiokos
 * (Skinwalker by gianlucaromano d77dctl-fullview) SKINWALKER by gianlucaromano
 * (Emi-dimitrova-skinwalkers-final.jpg) Skinwalkers by Emi Dimitrova
 * (Skinwalkers.jpg) Skinwalkers by michalivan
 * (881a1142883379.57dafed8791a4-1.png) SKIN WALKERS RANCH PART 1 by Chad Lewis
 * (Tomis-jb-skinwalker-full-parchment-small.jpg) Beyond The Pale Monsters - SkinWalker by Tomis JB
 * (Skinwalker Old.jpg) Skinwalker by ???
 * (ChangingSkinwalker.jpg) Changing Skinwalker by ???