Skinwalkers on SPN and in Navajo culture

[liliaeth]

As I may have mentioned before, I'm writing a fic for the Gen BB that's about Skinwalkers, the SPN variety. Now of course, being me, I bothered to check up on Skinwalker lore online, and as many of you may know, Supernatural didn't really bother to be accurate in their portrayal of Skinwalkers in regards to older myths.

Now since I already wrote the fic that this one is a sequel to, I'm going to stick with the spn portrayal, but since I wanted some non human bad guys, and I'm already having Dean as a Skinwalker, I thought what if I brought up the original real mythology Skinwalkers as well. And show the difference between the two.

Making those Skinwalkers the one who are the biggest threat to the Winchesters and Bobby.

Now I need every bit of information I can on Navjo culture, and their myths in regards to Skinwalkers. Does anyone know any accurate sites? I'm of course going to have to twist a bit to explain how both groups of Skinwalkers are the same, so I don't dispute too much on the SPN version of them, but still...

Also, does anyone know how John could instantly recognize that someone is a Navajo Skinwalker, just by looking at him? I mean, he already knows that every person in the mansion he's imprisoned in is a Skinwalker, but is there anything that would instantly give them away as being specifically yee naaldlooshii?

Comments

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Try here

[liliaeth]

Thanks :-)

Just figured that if I'm going to use them as bad guys, that I might as well paint them as accurately as possible.
(and who knows, more research might actually inspire me on how to use them in more interesting ways)

[ramblin_rosie]

*wave* Hi, just happened to be passing and thought I'd weigh in with what little I know from writing my Dinéchesters AU. (It's here, if you're interested.)
As far as Navajo culture in general goes, a site I found helpful is Discover Navajo, which is run by the Navajo Office of Tourism and has some very useful articles. This site is very good, also, and has a Navajo-English dictionary. But you're not likely to find official Navajo sites that deal with the Witchery Way because it breaks so many taboos--it's a form of necromancy, as I'm sure you've discovered by now. I've seen some good fics that feature Navajo skinwalkers, though, especially The Cloak by greeneyes_fan and its remix by i_speak_tongue; you might ask them for resources. There's also the novel Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman.
One potential sign that John would recognize immediately, of course, would be the skinwalker's ethnicity. I don't know that s/he would *have* to be Diné (the one in "The Cloak" isn't), but it would ping John's radar if s/he were. Another potential sign would be if the animal form is a coyote, and s/he would definitely be wearing a piece of coyote or dog skin when in human form.

[naiveprophet.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about Supernatural skinwalkers, but I know a little bit about Navajo skinwalkers. Like someone else said above, it's not something you can easily find information on, because it's so taboo to mention them. I can help you out with the "how both groups of Skinwalkers are the same" part, as well as how John can recognize them. Here's a quote from Walking Thunder, a Dine medicine woman:

"My very first experience of seeing a skinwalker was when I was ten. I was in the house one evening and heard a door squeak. I figured it must be a cat or dog. I opened the door and saw this huge monster. It scared the hell out of me. It had brown hair and a black face. He also had pouches. This thing almost knocked me out right there. That was my first sight of a skinwalker. After that, I began seeing many of them. There are different kinds of skinwalkers with various shapes and sizes. They can fly, jump, and move fast. Now, I can smell and hear them. I can even feel them. I'm that kind of person. We believe that if you catch the skinwalker and reveal its identity, it will die in three days."