Darting at speeds that only vehicles can keep up with, and with eyes whose red glow would chill anyone down to the bone, the skinwalkers of the Navajo (Diné) people are the most fascinating creatures within the folktales of the American Southwest. A skinwalker's existence and appearance is frightening. What a skinwalker is supposedly able to do is just as horrific, and all in the name of revenge or jealousy. Regretfully, it seems that the only way to be rid of an attack by a skinwalker is to pay outrageous amounts of money and goods for the services of a vouched-for medicine man.
Witchery Way
Skinwalkers are known to the Diné as witches who use their own powers to seek revenge. This is a supernatural power that has been attained by breaking cultural taboos. To carry out vengeful plans, the witches don pelts of any animal, but mostly the coyote or wolf to enable the process of semi transforming into those animals, thus becoming skinwalkers. When they are finished with their task, they are just as easily capable of transforming back into what can be defined as human. They are known to the Diné as “yenaldlooshi,” meaning literally ‘he who trots along here and there on all fours with it’. The witches use their own powers, or the Witchery Way, as opposed to using objects to obtain power, or what is konwn as the Frenzy Way. The Diné belief is that both men and women are able to become witches and use ceremonies and powers to invoke the ways of the skinwalkers. It has been reported in some accounts that when the victim of a skinwalker attack investigates the next day, there is no evidence of skinwalker presence. But there are other accounts that above average size animal tracks are visible. When followed, the tracks lead to a home of a Diné person.
When Creatures Attack
To be ‘witched’ to the Diné people is something that is heard as frequently as someone stating that they might have a cold or flu. The termed ‘witched’ is the Diné way of saying that they are being attacked by skinwalkers. It is thought that the main focus of any skinwalker is to disguise themselves as an animal, travel at night, cast and use spells against people, read people's minds to use their fears against them, and then robs and plunders. Therefore, these attacks can be anything from damaging property, to injuring victims mentally, to killing victims. It is believed that skinwalkers are known to attack mostly native people, and less frequently known to attack non-natives. However, it has been rumored to happen to white females from time to time. According to traditions, the attacks start when the skinwalkers climb a Hogan when a family is asleep, and drop a ground-up mixture of human infant bones down the smoke hole. Contact with this substance brings the sleeping person ill health, social problems, and death.
To Rid a Predator
Talking about a skinwalker attack with outsiders is a Diné taboo, especially if a victim is prompted to talk about it at night. It is believed that the night is the time of the skinwalkers, so all reference to them should be withheld until the day. Historically, the only way to free oneself from the attacks from the skinwalkers is to procure the assistance of a medicine man that will be able to rid the magic, by blessing the house, the family and the vehicles. The cost of the services is large, and the ceremonies can be long and tedious, at times lasting for a week or more depending on the severity of the attack. No matter the cost, victims from skinwalker attacks would pay almost anything to rid the hassles.
Skinwalkers are a small percentage of the population, but their acts of violence have not only received the attention of the Diné people for centuries, they have also been researched by a large population outside of the reservation. Skinwalkers are seen as witches, both men and women with power, who must be feared at all times, as well as neighbors with grudges. No matter what is discovered as to the identity of the witch or skinwalker in question, it seems that only medicine men that specialize in ridding the negative magic are able to ‘de-claw’ the witch-turned-skin walker, if killing is not possible or the answer.
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Brady, Margaret K. “Some Kind of Power” Navajo Children’s Skinwalker Narratives. Salk Lake City, Utah; University of Utah Press, 1993.
Gray, Hunter. “Navajo Witchcraft and the Skinwalkers.” Hunterbear.org. Hunter Gray. 7 Feb., 2004.
Kluckhohn, Clyde. Navajo Witchcraft. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 1994.
Rustywire, Johnny. “Skinwalkers West of Ganado.” Rustywire.com. Star Mountain- NavajoLife. 1999.
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