Skinwalkers are a group of shape-shifters common in Native American, and most especially Navajo, mythologies. Legends about the skinwalkers exist mainly in Native American tribes of the western United States and universally depict skinwalking as an evil distortion of magic or magical powers. Native American belief in skinwalkers has survived to the present day and remains a strong part of both Navajo and Quileute tribal legends.
Native American tribes regard skinwalkers as evil and monstrous because they are the product of distorted and abused magic. Enhancing this fear is the belief that skinwalkers move freely about the tribe and go unnoticed because their human shape is often devoid of any markings or signals that would expose them. The central fear is that these skinwalkers have the ability to kill anyone with just a look. Legend explains that if a skinwalker looks deep into your eyes, you will quickly fall ill and die. According to Navajo legend, the term used by Native Americans to refer to skinwalkers is naaldooshii, which translated means “with it, he goes on all fours.” Skinwalkers originate from the line of Native American medicine men who achieved the highest possible level of priesthood. Upon acquiring this exalted status, the medicine man must then commit the most evil act possible: killing a close relative or family member. The evil reputation of the skinwalker stems from this one particular act. “Having committed such a horrible deed, the individual gains enormous supernatural power from this action and channels that power into the act of shape-shifting.
Skinwalkers are not limited in the variety of shapes they can take. Many legends depict skinwalkers who transform into wolves, coyotes, foxes, crows, or owls. However, skinwalkers can transform into any animal or human form they desire. To change physical form, most legends state that the skinwalker must wear the pelt of the animal they wish to inhabit or become. Upon transformation, the skinwalker has the skills, powers, and abilities of whatever animal they have become. Those who fear the skinwalkers do so because of their violent past (i.e., killing a close relative or family member) and also because skinwalkers often use their transformative shape to attack those around them or wreak havoc on both property and people. Many Native Americans who subscribe to a belief in skinwalkers will not talk about these individuals outside of the tribe or only speak of them in hushed tones so as not to incur the wrath of a skinwalker. Should an individual become the target of a skinwalker’s attention, any number of things could occur. Many legends about skinwalkers discuss a disposition toward vandalism and violence or, at the very least, a desire to instill fear in those they attack. In their animal forms, skinwalkers will break into houses, destroy furniture, climb up the walls, run across roofs, and attack those who live inside the targeted house. Other contemporary legends also claim that skinwalkers will attempt to attack vehicles or distract drivers to provoke a car accident. Skinwalker sightings, though few and far between, provide little detail, though one report claims that a transformed skinwalker had the capability to run at sixty miles per hour.
Aside from a penchant for violence, these skinwalkers acquire new powers and abilities based not only on their chosen animal or human form, but from the inherent supernatural power needed to transform. For example, a skinwalker who chooses to inhabit another human, rather than an animal, will temporarily adopt the personality and/or characteristics of the inhabited individual. Just as a skinwalker who has transformed into a wolf will have increased speed, strength, and agility, a skinwalker who transforms into a seer might gain the ability to interpret the future. Moreover, there are some abilities that seem to remain constant across the mythologies. Many legends suggest that skinwalkers, no matter their chosen transformation, have the capability to read human thoughts and make any kind of animal or human vocalization they wish. These varied abilities allow the skinwalker to transcend any physical form and harness both human and animal characteristics.
While most believers fear skinwalkers and only discuss them in hushed tones, some legends also mention trackers who have attempted to capture skinwalkers. Though there are no listed cases of successful captures, the process of tracking a skinwalker includes several possible methods for discovering who the skinwalker is in his original human form. First, it is possible to track a skinwalker in his animal shape and give him a noticeable or specific wound. When the skinwalker transforms back into his original human shape, the wound would stay with him. Upon returning to the tribe, the tracker would look for anyone who seemed to be nursing, or hiding, a wound similar to the one inflicted. There are various mythological ways to kill a skinwalker. The first is a proclamation of the skinwalker’s full name. When a skinwalker is discovered, the discoverer must speak his full name. After this is done, the universe takes that information and, within a few days, the skinwalker has either died or fallen deeply ill as penance for the evil crimes he has committed against nature and his fellow humans. In another case, a Navajo legend claims that to kill a skinwalker one needs to shoot him with bullets that have been dipped in white ash. However, tales of those who tried this method often end with the weapon jamming or freezing up. Alternatively, some believe that shooting the skinwalker with a coated bullet will have no effect.
Skinwalker legends are not to be confused with those concerning werewolves. Though similarities in the mythologies are apparent, a skinwalker is often a fully evil witch who had gained enormous supernatural power from terrible actions rather than being subject to simple lycanthropy (the virus or curse that transforms a human into a werewolf). It should also be noted that modern interpretations of the skinwalker have taken some liberties with the mythology. In the popular television series Smallville, for example, the second season features an episode titled “Skinwalker,” in which Clark Kent is forced to prevent a skinwalker from killing locals and causing various forms of trouble. One element of the skinwalker legends that many shows have retained is the nature of a skinwalker as a villain. The popular series Supernatural, for example, showcases several villainous skinwalkers. Similarly, season one of the cult favorite show The X-Files features a Native American skinwalker who can transform into a wolf.
It is also important to note that, while all skinwalkers are witches, not all witches are skinwalkers. There is a very particular set of legends that describe what it means to be a skinwalker and the steps that are taken to achieve this particular status. Within Native American, and particularly Navajo, legends, the skinwalker continues to be one of the more menacing and complex accounts of supernatural monsters. In addition to the fear that imbues the skinwalker legend, this tradition provides believers and observers with a cautionary tale about the danger of misusing power, magic, and the forces of the natural world.
Ashley Szanter
See also Deer Woman; Monsters in Native American Legends; Shamans
Further Reading
Godfrey, Linda S. 2012. Real Wolfmen: True Encounters in Modern America. New York: Tarcher/Penguin.
Godfrey, Linda S. 2014. American Monsters: A History of Monster Lore, Legends, and Sightings in America. New York: Tarcher/Penguin.
Greer, John Michael. 2011. Monsters: An Investigator’s Guide to Magical Beings. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn.