Skinwalkers Redux

whitealice, this is very fascinating. As one who knows zip about skinwalkers it sounds very plausible to me in all aspects, especially their use of pharmacological elements both to enhance themselves and damage their targets.

There is a feeling of oldness when you describe their activities and methods that almost reminds me of some of the voodoo practices. Makes sense as civilizations and people will learn to use what they have available to achieve the result they want.

Thanks for writing this. I'm sorry to hear about the trouble caused in your earlier thread(s) on the subject.

The_Sorcerer_(cave_art)






From here



this one

Yep, the legs are where all the force is.  In the skinwalker bounding, they're using their arms to basically continue that forward momentum.  Trying to describe it is one of the hardest things outside of saying they look like a rabbit.  One of the questions that I asked people who viewed this was whether they used palm or knuckle and none were ever able to see that well enough.

One of the things that is interesting in both the feral cases and skinwalkers are described as having misshapen muscle development in both their arms and legs.  The quadriceps are where the bulk is more significant.   Accounts of both also describe issues with standing up straight.  Between these two things, I don't think that the four legged running skinwalkers are out in the public much at all.



Hell of a hobby, Ninurta. :)  I was a bear crawler as well but pretty darn sure I wasn't allowed to continue it (known for my military posture actually lol).  Not bad for a part timer at all though.  A friend of mine's child is a four legged runner and it's interesting to watch her propel herself around my yard.  Your description is great. Thank you!

whitealice, there is a part of each bound where all of the downward force you have - the mass or your body minus the forward component of the mometnum - is exerted directly on the contact points of the hands with the ground. It might be easier on the fingers of you use knuckles, I don't know. I generally used my hands, because the whole hand allows that pressure to be spread out over a greater area. Concentrating that force on just the area of the knuckles would probably lead to permanent changes over time which would identify that individual with that practice. Perhaps another reason that the four-leggeds don't get seen in public much.

Thank you and you're welcome. It's been super hard to not discuss the subject. Cannot even begin to explain how hard it is.

@ninurta,Bassago,bonhommearmonica,Night Star,

I totally agree that it is very old. Even the Navajo will say that perhaps the skinwalkers are the most traditional. The mythologies (oral histories) of the Navajo feature stories of skinwalker type lore. Coyote, himself, is frequently described as wearing skins as if they were clothing. His wife was the first to don a bear skin and kill her own brothers in retaliation for thinking that they had killed her husband. Yet another story is of an excellent hunter who wanted to do even better and tried to make a costume of a deerskin to move amongst the deer himself undetected. One of the Yei'bi'chei shows up to help him perfect the art of animal emulation.

Bonhomme posted the picture of The Sorcerer of Trois Freres in France, a blending of human/animal, that I've looked at quite a lot when thinking about this. It's remarkable and to me, it makes infinite sense that perhaps most, if not all, hunter-gatherer societies had animal shamans who had a foot in each world--one in the animal and one in the human. Perfecting the art of the hunt would've been a necessity for such groups.

That was one of the things I asked the medicine man--what were they really and where did they come from? They were the tribe's animal shamans. They were masters of hunts, warriors and messengers. They were the physical embodiment of Coyote. Every account of them has their change from good to bad as being around the time that war broke out between the tribe and the US government. The war, itself, The Long Walk, Bosque Redondo--all are claimed to be that time period of change in status, even the medicine man. He said it was a disagreement that broke out and the skinwalkers lost but what that disagreement was about, he said he did not know. I find it interesting that accounts where individuals have seen a skinwalker up close have stated that their hair is loose on their shoulders. To have it loose outside of ceremony pretty much means one is at war if I recall correctly.

However, even if that disagreement hadn't occurred, it would've been inevitable for them to fall from grace. We changed the tribe's world dramatically with all that we did and in doing so, we probably eliminated much of the purpose of skinwalkers.

Ninurta--Apache, absolutely yes. The Navajo consider them cousins. My ex actually said that the "brujo" in the movie, The Missing was like a cleaned up version of them. That movie was really interesting to watch with a theater filled with Navajo. They got really quiet at certain parts. The Aztec, not so much any overt relationship, though they did seem to have a somewhat similar practice. They will actually sometimes come up to participate in the Navajo's annual celebrations, providing dancers, as they have some relationship with them. I've also been told that the Hopi also have a variant but I've never found anything to confirm that one.

If that's the case, it's very hush hush. While some of the tribes have a definite link with each other, the one thing they all had in common was their being neighbors. There's Pueblo features in some of the Navajo beliefs so it kind of makes sense that there might be Navajo features in Pueblo beliefs.

bonhommearmonica,

Isn't belief sometimes all that is needed?  There's definitely a huge psychological component to the entire thing but not just for the skinwalkers.  It's absolutely demanded from their targets as well. For all of their stealthiness and mastery of shadows, why do they even ever let anybody know that they are when they can just slip that medicine bundle into their victims yard with no one being the wiser?  Doesn't happen that way.  It's noisy but ordered chaos that goes on night after night. 

In our case, it always started with that crazy flute.  We'd hear it coming from some distant point and always knew right away that things were going to be going on.  The flute would keep going for a while, always off in that distance.  The real sign that it was all about to begin was the dog.

My ex's parents had a vicious dog.  She'd bite anybody that got near her except immediate family.  My kids and I were the only ones in that dog's entire life that were able to pet her and scratch her belly.  Everybody else would reach out and get a bloody hand.  She was mean as hell, very protective, and fearless. We ended up having to ditch where we were living and were staying with my ex's family.  We kind of bunkered down, figured the dog would be a pretty good repellent.  Instead, the day after they followed us there, she dug a hole that was about 4 ft long and 2 ft deep in the clay outside of our window where the kids and I slept.  So when she moved into her hole and began whimpering like a lost puppy, that was the real sign.  She didn't give up her post but she was scared as hell.

Then other noises would erupt.  Crazy mad sounds.  I remember one week, they were driving a terrified horse behind the fence for hours every night, making it scream.  If you've ever heard a horse scream, it's a horrible thing.  I've honestly never been able to get that out of my head.  Other nights, it'd be thumps, sounds of movement in the backyard, the dog whining and whimpering even more intensely.  Getting visited by skinwalkers is noisy and horrible. They absolutely want you to know they are there and that is for a reason.

What good is a curse if you don't know it exists?  The paranoia, the lack of sleep, the eclectic chaos with just the right dose of predictability so yeah, you know they're coming.  It's all for a purpose.  It's all psychological.  And really, you don't want to miss those quieter signs--the crazy flute and the whimpering dog. 

One night, a family member had a friend over and they had no clue really.  Went around the corner of the house, which kicked off the security light, and got themselves an eyeful of a skinwalker woman, just standing there in her full nasty glory, screaming out of her mind.  They ran back inside, friend ended up spending the night and you know, he didn't come back there for a few months, lol.  Can't blame him.

Very much psychological and very effective.