Skin Walkers?

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Info take from:

https://allthatsinteresting.com/skinwalker

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/navajo-skinwalkers/

https://www.wjhl.com

The Uinta Basin is a section of the Colorado Plateaus province, part of the enormous Intermontane Plateaus division. It is also a geologic structural basin in eastern Utah, east of the Wasatch Mountains and south of the Uinta Mountains.

For as long as humans have lived in the Uintah Basin, they’ve seen strange things in the sky. In the 1970s, Utah State professor Frank Salisbury wrote a detailed, profoundly investigative book about hundreds of UFO sightings seen in the basin, called “The Utah UFO Display: A Biologists Report.”

However, the weird stuff goes way beyond strange flying anomalies. For 15 generations, indigenous tribes, including the Utes, have referred to this ridge as being “in the path of the skinwalker.”

In the Navajo culture, a skinwalker is a harmful witch who can turn into, possess, or disguise themselves as an animal.

The legend of the shapeshifting entity known as the Skinwalker has primarily been seen as a hoax. It’s hard to believe that a human-like figure has been transforming into a four-legged animal and terrorizing families in the American Southwest for centuries.

While not precisely proven, the Navajo Skinwalker has profound roots in Native American lore.

So, what is a Skinwalker? As The Navajo-English Dictionary explains, the “Skinwalker” has been translated from the Navajo “Yee Naaldlooshii. The literal translation means “by means of it, it goes on all fours” — and the yee naaldlooshii is just one of many varieties of Skinwalkers, called ‘ánti’jhni and is considered one of the most volatile and dangerous witches.

For the Navajo people, witchcraft is just another part of their spirituality and one of the “ways” of their lives. Witchcraft has long been part of their culture, history, and traditions. Witches exist alongside humans and are not supernatural beings.

The Navajo believe there are places where the powers of both good and evil are present and that those powers can be harnessed for either. Medicine men utilize these powers to heal and aid members of their communities. At the same time, those who practice Navajo witchcraft seek to direct the spiritual forces to cause harm or misfortune to others. This type of Navajo witchcraft is known as the “Witchery Way,” which uses human corpses in various ways such as tools from the bones, and concoctions that are used to curse, harm, or kill intended victims. The knowledge of these powers is passed down from the elders through the generations.

The Navajo are part of a larger cultural area that includes the Pueblo people, Apache, Hopi, Ute, and other groups that also have their versions of the Skinwalker. Still, each consists of an evil witch capable of transforming itself into an animal.

Among these tribes, several stories and descriptions have been told throughout the years about the Skinwalkers.

Sometimes, these witches evolved from living their lives as respected healers or spiritual guides, who later chose to use their powers for evil. Though they can be male or female, they are more often male. They walk freely among the tribe during the day and secretly transform at night.

To become a Skinwalker, they must be initiated by a secret society that requires the evilest of deeds – the killing of a close family member, most often a sibling. Kind of like the soul stone. After this horrible task has been completed, the person then acquires supernatural powers, which give them the ability to shape-shift into animals. They are often seen in the form of coyotes, wolves, freddy foxes, cougars, dogs, and bears but can take the shape of any animal. They then wear the skins of the animals they transform into, hence, the name Skinwalker.

Sometimes, they also adorned animal skulls or antlers atop their heads, which brought them more power. They choose what animal they want to turn into, depending on the abilities needed for a particular task, such as speed, strength, endurance, stealth, claws, teeth, etc. They may transform again if trying to escape from pursuers.

Because of this, the Navajo consider it taboo for its members to wear the pelt of any predatory animal. However, sheepskin, leather, and buckskin are acceptable.

The skinwalkers can also take possession of the bodies of human victims if a person locks eyes with them. After controlling, the witch can make its victims do and say things that they wouldn’t otherwise.

Some traditions believe Skinwalkers are born of a benevolent medicine man who abuses indigenous magic for evil. The medicine man is then given mythical powers of sin th...