When my mother asked my grandmother what had happened, she kept repeating ” The Yenaldlooshi has found me”. She moved a couple weeks after that. 2. On The Rez Alone At Night With all of their advantages, it is said that you can kill a skinwalker if you call them by their true (human) name. One such creature that has captured the imagination of many is the skinwalker. This entity is believed to be a shape-shifter who can transform into any animal it desires. Skinwalkers have a tendency to hang around graveyards, and can dig up graves at an impossibly fast speed.

According to some, a skinwalker was once a Navajo medicine man who became corrupted and learned to possess people, animals, and more. These beings violate taboos and seek to increase their own blessings by harming others. The Navajo, or Diné, people of North America hold deep beliefs in magic and shape-shifting, exemplified by yee naaldlooshii, or the skinwalker, which is a great example of both. This entity, often reduced to a mere werewolf, is a mainstay in pop culture, leaving many to wonder: Are skinwalkers real? So this happened about twelve years ago. My family owns a farm in the heart of an Indian reservation. One Winter I was home for Christmas taking care of the farm while my parents were away Christmas shopping. As I was home by myself, way late in the night and I hear all our cows freaking out. I knew it had to be the wild dogs that are rampant in the area. So I throw on some boots, grab a shotgun, load it up, and head out to the field. This was a perfect scenario for a horror movie, it was cloudy but there was full moon, and it was breaking through the clouds just right to light up all the snow.The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation is the home of the Ute tribe. At one time, the Ute enslaved some of the Navajo people and also joined with U.S. troops against the Navajo during the Civil War. The result was that the Navajo were expelled from their lands in the Four Corners area, though they returned later. While many of these representations make for an entertaining story, it’s important to understand that these portrayals don’t always accurately represent the enduring cultural beliefs and practices of Native American communities. The legend of the skinwalker is a sacred tradition for some tribes, and these stories deserve respect and sensitivity. Final Thoughts Curse of Skinwalker Ranch is returning for its fourth season investigating reports of paranormal and UFO-related activity at the 500-acre ranch in Utah. The team, led by aerospace engineer Travis Taylor, use state-of-the-art technology to see if they can get to the bottom of the mysteries once and for all. Even though many traditional heals prove to be able to take responsibility, some of them tend to engage in corrupt activities that make them become witches in the end. The Skinwalkers are described as being mostly animalistic physically, even when they are in human form. They are reportedly near-impossible to kill except with a bullet or knife dipped in white ash.

The rest of America got its first real taste of the Navajo legend in 1996 when The Deseret News published an article titled “Frequent Fliers?”. The story chronicled a Utah family’s traumatizing experience with the supposed creature that included cattle mutilations and disappearances, UFO sightings, and the appearance of crop circles.In Navajo stories, skinwalkers are evil beings. Witches. Human sorcerers of dark magic who attain their status by committing specific atrocities such as murdering a family member. Their defining characteristic is that they can shapeshift into other creatures, such as foxes and coyotes. But mostly they turn into wolves. And unlike other humanoid canines, they can travel via magical doors between worlds, one of which is in Upper Antelope Canyon. Upper Antelope Canyon, on Navajo land in Arizona, is as beautiful as it is dangerous, due to high risk of flash flooding. Luca Galuzzi, CC BY-SA 2.5/Wikimedia