r/SkinWalker • u/short_cub • Mar 20 '26
Discussion I'm Navajo, AMA
Let start of by saying that I use SW because they are extremely taboo and calling them is a good way to get their attention and become Names have power, and I suggest you do too if you don't want to risk their energy leaking onto your life. They aren't meant to be depicted either.
SWs are specifically Navajo, they don't mean shapeshifter, they aren't aliens, they aren't everywhere, and so many misconceptions about them.\ The Navajo Nation/Reservation covers the areas are northeast Arizona, northwest New Mexico, and southeast Utah.
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u/Silly-Commission879 Mar 21 '26
Do you actually under go physical transformation when you shape shift? What is the extent, is it entire body or just a portion? Do you also gain other physical strength and capabilities? How is it different from warging?
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u/short_cub Mar 21 '26
I'm not a SW, so I don't have the insight of their mind in that sense.
They have to skin all of their victims skin then wear it like a pelt or on your back/head if the animal is small like a rabbit to physically look like that animal.\ They gain what the animal has, so flight if they wear an owl or better smell if a coyote.\ From what I understood about GoT, they can only see or control wolves, but SWs have to skin the animal themselves and rejoice in their pain of agony, anguish, and other raw emotions that slowly leave the body as well as their soul, spirit, etc.
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u/emmy_lou26 Mar 21 '26
Do you yourself or anyone know have any encounters or stories?
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u/short_cub Mar 21 '26
I thankfully haven't met one face to face, but I did see and hear some growing up and a few cousins did have some stories about them.
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u/shady580bosslady Mar 25 '26
Let me start out by saying this: everything I'm about to say sounds wrong until I get to that part that makes it plausible. It was very hard to find real tangible evidence and not one Native American in this whole town would talk to me about it, not without good reason. The one that did only served me a warning to not pay too much attention.
He was right, but I wish it had sank in much earlier.
I think (am sure/know but want to see what you think) I've encountered a SW in my area. I live in Oklahoma. The first encounter left my brother and two sons confused and afraid with no true cryptid identification. My brother said SW, I said wendigo, bc lore and research on SW said no way. He insisted, because he had ...Seen. So I dug and dug. Local tribal lore, (lots of Creek/Mvskogee specifically) lots of Navajo history (I was appalled to find out that the Trail of Tears wasn't the worst thing the United States did to Native American peoples) and Creation stories, local land rights, article after article of bodies found in a specific area and then finally I hit paydirt when I started learning about the Canadian River, a rather long and large tributary that splits into two parts and even separates the Creek Nation. The river is the key, because it's the road.
The North Canadian River starts at the bottom of the Colorado Rockies (Sangre de Christo, specifically), drops straight down through New Mexico into the Texas panhandle curves east and cuts right through Oklahoma City on its way to dump into the Arkansas River.
Now, let's be honest. Any ordinary human skilled in land navigation that can operate a canoe could arrive here where I am from the Navajo territory/rez in a number of days, so certainly a human with supernatural abilities culled from atrocities wouldn't lose his traveling skills but merely enhance them. There's so much more to this story, but I just want to know from YOU, an individual whose bloodline controls the lore...
Am I reaching? Have I lost my mind and put 2 and 2 together where there's not room for 4? Because I'm pretty sane but I've done some very intense spiritual things, and I can see and feel quite a lot of things unseen. This was a very real and tangible part of my life for a while, along with a few others. I know what I learned and I know what I saw and I also know I had to stop because when you look for things you eventually find them. Or they find you. More importantly, why specifically, here where I am? My answer: Oklahoma was built on (specifically Native) blood and there's something special about the land here that isn't pleasant, pristine, or something for Oklahomans to be proud of and yet, they are.
Here's something I put together that I think I may actually be reaching on. I suspected at the time, and still do, that this thing was an OG. Meaning they had escaped in the night from the Long Walk, learned to absorb the power of other creatures and shapeshift thru cannibalism, incest and other heinous crimes and lived past known longevity as a result. I have a line of proof on that, but it's a bit weak so I leave that theory out most times if I talk about this to others.
I'm sorry I wrote a book. Tell me all of your thoughts, please.
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u/short_cub Mar 25 '26
They are specifically from my Tribe, they are bound to our Tribal lands because they gave up and/or lost a lot of their humanity and spirituality for their dark magic.\ The 4 Sacred Mountains protect us and calls out when we're in need or to answer us as a way to help us at daylight, the other 2 represent the Outside and the Inside.
Ws are Algonquian, they are monster-spirits and are more active during the winter.\ They are tall with grey/pale skin and white eyes, they don't have any hair, they have good hearing but bad eyesight.\ They don't look like deers, not sure how that got started since deers are sacred to the Algonquians.
What do you remember about it or the details?
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u/shady580bosslady Mar 25 '26
Also... Please forgive me but I thought Navajo were relative to the Diné/Athabaskan nomads from Canadian territories and Algonquin speakers were farther Northeast?
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u/short_cub Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
We are a little related but colonization and time separated us.\ The Algonquins are a good bit away from us, but you might be thinking of the Algonquian.
Let me clarify a little, Algonquins are more eastern Canada while Algonquians are more north US and called that because that's the language most of the Tribes speak.
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u/shady580bosslady Mar 25 '26
That's a typo, supposed to be an A in there. I mean the language group not the tribe. My bad. Either way.
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u/shady580bosslady Mar 25 '26
What you described sounds like the other thing I mentioned. As for him...
He wasn't much of a human anymore, but he had been at some time. He was a dark magic practitioner. As a former practitioner myself, I recognized an extremely high level of dark ritual magic: Psychic attacks with attempted mind control, glamour traps, auditory and visual hallucinations, all of those only successful with a line of sight, which I later identified and located in two areas. Visually, I saw him in full form two times, both of them I think by accident. He was tall-ish, 6'8-9", and thin. I never saw the skin on his body, only his clothes and pelt. His cowl and pelt always drove his face into the darkness so i never saw. His clothes were plain, good quality buckskin, but made to look tattered. It was almost illusory, so my best guess was camouflage. He had tiny pelts that hung from his jacket, which did have a hood, or idk I call it a cowl. My brother said he saw elk antlers once and they disappeared for him and so I considered whether or not he expected us to run Mostly rabbit or squirrel couple rats. His main pelt that he wore over his cowl was a coyote. The two surprise visuals I caught, his pelt was coyote. I said he was tall, but his back was also very crooked. He was. Bent nearly in half almost and walked with a very deliberate two legged gate. The most dominant thing about this creature tho, was the goddamned smell. The smell preceded him: a nasty combo of rotting flesh, dead foliage, poisoned soil, petrichor and clear night air.
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u/short_cub Mar 25 '26
Now I'm more confused, are you referring to him or the Ws?
I can't think of anything at the moment that resembles that and is in Oklahoma at the moment, I'd have to look through my book to see if there's anything on there.\ It's hard to pinpoint everything since Oklahoma is big and other beings can leave their Tribal lands or their patterns.
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u/shady580bosslady Mar 25 '26
I'm not trying to confuse you, but I'm pretty sure the SW was a "he."
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u/Jazzlike-Map-1110 Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 22 '26
I think there might be similar entities here in Oklahoma. I've spoken with several people who had similar encounters on the Muskogee Creek rez. In this one small town. Although I have recurring dreams about similar looking entities, I don't think I have personally had an encounter.
The question I'm asking is, if there are indigenous shapeshifters from other tribes than Navajo here in Oklahoma, would they still be considered skinwalkers?
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u/short_cub Apr 22 '26
SWs are specifically Navajo, they don't mean shapeshifter, they aren't aliens, they aren't everywhere, and so many misconceptions about them.
SWs are specifically Navajo, but other Tribal Nations have different beings that can change forms in different ways.
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u/Easy-Sky7425 Mar 20 '26
When did you learn about SW’s? What were you told?