Culture

Trigo Jose Marroquin The popularized version of the Wendigo vs an illustration of the original Wendigo. Courtesy of David J. Jo. With the topic of skinwalkers we've talked about, I've mentioned Windago. With Hollywood’s depiction of Windagos, you probably see them as moose or deer and/or a monster on two legs with antlers on their head with a deer skull and/or deer shape. But in the myths, they are said to be a spirit or perhaps a walking skeleton. There are three of the Windago. The first one is from the movies. We all know about it. We love them, we know them, and they aren't that far from the truth. The modern-day "Wendigo" is said to have control over the cold, with the ability to mimic human voices, leading people to the forest to kill and eat them. It is probably the mos...

By Trigo Jose Marroquin Skinwalker art by DoubleOurEfforts on Reddit. A lot of native myths have been changed from their original stories due to the movie industry. Many people in the Navajo population don’t like to speak of these stories or tales due to the fact they’re rumored to be haunted and call the spirits to be stalkers of you. When we think of skinwalkers, we think of monsters that have no meat on their bones that Hollywood sold us like in the movie skinwalker ranch. But in reality, they look like any other human. They are Navajo witches who use animal pelts. While they may look like us, they use a magic called “bad medicine” to harm people. They are similar to curses that are placed on someone. There was a skinwalker by the name of Tall Man. He lived in an old Na...