Skinwalker

Codename

SKINWALK-714843

Type

Shapeshifting witch

Region

Four Corners, USA

Location

Four Corners region (Navajo Reservation areas of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado); notably Skinwalker Ranch, northeast Utah

First sighting

Pre-colonial Navajo oral traditions; modern publicity from 1996 Utah family encounters at Skinwalker Ranch.

Alias

Yee naaldlooshii

Known associates

Ute tribe (cursed by Navajo skinwalkers); associated with Pueblo, Apache, Hopi legends

Investigator case notes

Skinwalkers are malevolent shapeshifters from Navajo legend, known as yee naaldlooshii, who gain their powers by corrupting sacred medicine practices or committing grave taboos, allowing them to transform into animals like coyotes, wolves, or bears. They possess humans by eye contact, control nocturnal creatures, and summon spirits of the dead, embodying pure evil that Navajo people avoid naming to prevent summoning them. Nearly impossible to kill except with weapons dipped in white ash, they lurk in the American Southwest, blending animalistic traits even in human form.