Skinwalker Attack

Skinwalker Attack
by Chei Ray

One rainy night in the middle of May, 2003, my friends and I were hanging out at around 9:00 p.m. We are the Navajo Tribe people, getting water for the livestock in Sun Rise Arizona. We were having a good time. Tony was driving; I was on the passenger seat. John and Cody were sitting in the back seat. We were telling jokes and cracking up. We got to the windmill. We started the water and waited for it to fill the barrel. We were walking around looking at the local cows. Then the water started to over flow. John ran to pull out the hose. (John is a professional sheepherder.) Then we all got back in to the truck. This time I was going to drive.

I got in and the truck would not start. I tried and tried to start the truck, I even looked under the hood to check if any thing was out of place. Nothing was. I went back into the truck. Tony wanted to go and mess around with the cows, and so did John and Cody. While they were out there, I was trying to figure out what was wrong with the truck.

Suddenly, a sound so loud that I jumped up. I thought it was just the guys throwing rocks to scare the cows. So I kept on work and looking for the problem. Then I heard the sound again. I got out of the truck and yelled for the guys to stop doing that. They started to come back. When they got back to the truck, I asked them if they threw rocks at the windmill. They all said "no." I kind of got the chills. Then we went back to where the cows were. Tony stayed with me.

Then we heard the sound again, this time it was a harder hit. Tony yelled to them and told them to stop that. They didn't answer. Usually, they would tell him, "Zhoo' yea' " (a "calm down " joke in Navajo language). He called them once more, but no one yelled back. We got worried. We started walking out into the dark looking for them. We called out their names. But no one answered. We had no flashlights. The only light we had was the moonlight, which kept coming in and out of the clouds. We could barely see where we were going.

After about 10 minutes, we finally found them. They were on the ground, almost shivering, and their eyes wide open, Tony and I thought about the worst that could happen. We have heard stories about these "skinwalkers" (or Yana glooshi). We have experienced encounters before, but not like this, or at least not with us out here in the open. We knew what we had to do, but we didn't know if there was only one or few more. Then we heard some scrambling noise in the bushes near by. Tony and I got scared. Then we heard it again, but on our right then our left, then in front of us, then behind us. This all happened in about three seconds.

We got the chills that raced up our back. I knew Tony always had some Navajo mountain tobacco or blessing cedar to protect us from the skinwalkers, but he didn't have either of them. So Tony and I made a run back to the truck with the half dead bodies of Cody and John. We heard the footsteps of something running after us. We made it back to the truck and we all got back in, then it went silent. Then the witchcraft that the skinwalkers put on Cody and John wore off.

All of a sudden, some sickly looking coyotes jumped on to the hood of the truck. There were three creatures that had the body of a coyote, but a little more human-like features. They could walk on their four legs or just their two back legs. They had eyes that were crystal, blood, and red. They had the smell of dead animals. The smell was so unbearable. We all fell back into our seat and started to scream like little girls. They started to sing or chant. We knew they were speaking in Navajo, but we were so terrified that we couldn't tell what they were saying.

Then some tall, longhaired, furry, black, creature with crystal-like eyes was just outside Tony's window, breathing heavily with the ugliest face we've ever seen. Tony looked at it and jumped back so fast and powerful, that he almost knocked out Cody. The creature blew something like powder through the window and onto us. We all stared to slow our breathing and calm down. After seconds it was quiet. We started to knock out one by one.

Next thing you know, we woke up the next day face down, ass up, in Tony's bedroom. We never found out what happen to the skinwalkers. We had a series of ceremonies that was to protect us from the sickness that the skinwalkers placed on us. The medicine man told us that the people who did this to us were after us because of jealousy. They were jealous of us because of all the things we have and all the accomplishments we've done. So, we had their power turned around to backfire on them and it was suppose to get them back with the witchcraft that they laced on us.

After we had the ceremonies, Tony went back to his house and his mom said that night we just walked through the door about 1:30 a.m., got a glass of water and went into my room. She also said we were so quite she thought we were sleeping. Up to today, we still hang out with each other. We still get water and take care of the livestock. We will never forget happened that night, but we always say, "Zhoo' Yea'".

What Is A Skinwalker

In some Native American legends, a skin-walker is a person with the supernatural ability to turn into any animal he or she desires. Similar lore can be found in cultures throughout the world and is often referred to as shapeshifting by anthropologists.

Navajo skinwalker: the Yenaldlooshii



Possibly the best documented skinwalker beliefs are those relating to the Navajo Yeenaaldlooshii (literally "with it, he goes on all fours" in the Navajo language). A Yeenaaldlooshii is one of several varieties of Navajo witch (specifically an ’ánt’įįhnii or practitioner of the Witchery Way, as opposed to a user of curse-objects (’adagąsh) or a practitioner of Frenzy Way (’azhįtee)). Technically, the term refers to an ’ánt’įįhnii who is using his (rarely her) powers to travel in animal form. In some versions men or women who have attained the highest level of priesthood then commit the act of killing an immediate member of their family, and then have thus gained the evil powers that are associated with skinwalkers.

The ’ánt’įįhnii are human beings who have gained supernatural power by breaking a cultural taboo. Specifically, a person is said to gain the power to become a Yeenaaldlooshii upon initiation into the Witchery Way. Both men and women can become ’ánt’įįhnii and therefore possibly skinwalkers, but men are far more numerous. It is generally thought that only childless women can become witches.

Although it is most frequently seen as a coyote, wolf, owl, fox, or crow, the Yeenaaldlooshii is said to have the power to assume the form of any animal they choose, depending on what kind of abilities they need. Witches use the form for expedient travel, especially to the Navajo equivalent of the 'Black Mass', a perverted song (and the central rite of the Witchery Way) used to curse instead of to heal. They also may transform to escape from pursuers.

Some Navajo also believe that skinwalkers have the ability to steal the "skin" or body of a person. The Navajo believe that if you lock eyes with a skinwalker they can absorb themselves into your body. It is also said that skinwalkers avoid the light and that their eyes glow like an animal's when in human form and when in animal form their eyes do not glow as an animal's would.

A skinwalker is usually described as naked, except for a coyote skin, or wolf skin. Some Navajos describe them as a mutated version of the animal in question. The skin may just be a mask, like those which are the only garment worn in the witches' sing.

Because animal skins are used primarily by skinwalkers, the pelt of animals such as bears, coyotes, wolves, and cougars are strictly tabooed. Sheepskin and buckskin are probably two of the few hides used by Navajos; the latter is used only for ceremonial purposes.

Often, Navajos will tell of their encounter with a skinwalker, though there is a lot of hesitancy to reveal the story to non-Navajos, or (understandably) to talk of such frightening things at night. Sometimes the skinwalker will try to break into the house and attack the people inside, and will often bang on the walls of the house, knock on the windows, and climb onto the roofs. Sometimes, a strange, animal-like figure is seen standing outside the window, peering in. Other times, a skinwalker may attack a vehicle and cause a car accident. The skinwalkers are described as being fast, agile, and impossible to catch. Though some attempts have been made to shoot or kill one, they are not usually successful. Sometimes a skinwalker will be tracked down, only to lead to the house of someone known to the tracker. As in European werewolf lore, sometimes a wounded skinwalker will escape, only to have someone turn up later with a similar wound which reveals them to be the witch. It is said that if a Navajo was to know the person behind the skinwalker they had to pronounce the full name, and about three days later that person would either get sick or die for the wrong that they have committed.[1]

According to Navajo legend, skinwalkers can have the power to read human thoughts. They also possess the ability to make any human or animal noise they choose. A skinwalker may use the voice of a relative or the cry of an infant to lure victims out of the safety of their homes.

The legend of the skinwalkers tells of God giving the people a gift of transformation that was used only against their enemies. Over time, the people began to abuse this power, thus bringing God to earth to reclaim it. Some gave the power up and others hid with it and passed the knowledge to others.

Some tribes believe that skinwalkers can use the spit, hair, or shoes and old clothing of a person to make curses that will attack that specific person. For this reason many Navajo will never spit or leave shoes outside. They also take great care to see that any hair or nail clippings are burned. Children are advised that if they urinate outside to kick dirt over the spot so that a skinwalker cannot use it to make a curse against them.