Skinwalker

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• Navajo Nation, south-western United States · Diné (Navajo)

  Skinwalker

  skin-walker

  Shapeshifters

  

  In Navajo belief, by the Guardian's summary, skinwalkers are "said to be evil witches or wizards who can take on the form of animals". Keene wrote that the belief "has a deep and powerful place in Navajo understandings of the world" and "is not just a scary story", and this archive, like her, goes no further. Skinwalker Ranch in Utah takes its name from the belief, but the phenomena reported at the ranch are not part of Diné tradition.

  A living Diné belief, and views among Diné people differ. In 2017 Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye said the stories "are still told today" and "are a part of who we are and our culture", while Navajo citizens objected to a TV ghost-hunting episode as "a misinformed, exploitive depiction of Dine' culture". The Native scholar Adrienne Keene, after talking with a Navajo mentor, declined to explain the belief to outsiders: "It's not for you to know." The popular uses of the name, from Skinwalker Ranch and television to horror fiction, are outside borrowings that many Diné people object to.

  Earliest written source not verified

  Adrienne Keene, "Magic in North America Part 1: Ugh.", Native Appropriations (8 March 2016) (archived)

  Tradition · not evidence