Navajo Skinwalkers and Legends

Nick Redfern comments on Navajo Skinwalkers and Legends about the high strangeness in the four corners area: Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. This sounds like a fascinating documentary and I can't wait to get my copy.

Another author that writes about one of the four corners is Chris O'Brien, who writes the "Mysterious Valley" series, about the UFO, high strangeness, cattle mutilations and other Fortean events in Colorado. And for something about Utah, there's Hunt for the Skinwalker, of course, but also The Utah UFO display: A biologist's report by Frank Salisbury.

Poll Results: American Indians And The Paranormal

I’ve had a poll up for awhile now, asking: Anomalous Researchers: Are You of Native Descent? I did this because the meme is that those with American Indian blood are more prone to UFO, psychic and paranormal experiences, and/or are drawn to them. The poll isn’t to be taken all that seriously, it isn’t scientific in any way, just a casual question.

69 people responded (thank you!) and here are the results:

Yes, enrolled in tribe: (9%)

Yes: (38%)

No: (46%)

Don't know: (7%)

Total Votes: 69

I’m not sure what to make of the “don’t know” and come to think of it, I don’t know why I included that. So by a teeny margin, it seems there is a majority who are Native that are involved in this field.

I’ve been working on an idea for some time, but haven’t figured out yet what to do with it exactly; what direction to take. And that’s the area of Native American myths, issues and the overall culture in the UFO and paranormal field. There’s a combination of appropriation, exploitation, sensationalism, marginalization, trivialization, and respect by those who “use” Native American traditions in their work. There are many who claim to be Indian who aren’t. Well, we can’t make that assumption, but one often wonders for obvious reasons. there are a lot of self styled medicine men, shamans and guides out there who have questionable backgrounds in this regard.

There’s the cliché of the haunted house or building or area being on “old Native burial grounds” and yet, this is the case many times. During the spiritualist seance days, it was common for the medium to have a deceased American Indian as their guide.

Treated with a sort of spiritual awe and envy, even while being trivialized and exploited, the Native American culture continues to be a theme in paranormal matters.

So, where I’m going with this I’m not sure yet. (Yes, I consider myself Native, of Lenape and Cherokee descent.)

Thanks for voting, and now here’s the next poll.

A Navajo Bigfoot Story

This was sent to me by a good friend of mine, who is the creator of The Granmother's Circle Gathering here in Eugene. She had fowarded this to me from one of her contacts.

CHINLE, Ariz., Jan. 31, 2008

I don't pick up hitchhikers for free.

They either have to teach me a Navajo word I don't already know, or tell me a story.

Lately, I have been hearing the same story so often, with so many variations, I'm beginning to wonder if it's true.

It is the story of a creature I've come to call "the Navajo Bigfoot." According to at least five different hitchhikers I have picked up over the last three years, there is a Bigfoot-like creature roaming in the Navajo Nation.

It is about 7 feet tall, black, hairy and apelike, and has feet about a foot-and-a-half long. None of the hitchhikers had actually seen it, but they all knew people who had.

Most people seem to think it resides somewhere between Summit and Fluted Rock, but a man from Navajo Mountain swore it lives somewhere up there. (Maybe there are two.) Footprints have allegedly been found as far south as Klagetoh.

Some folks say the creature has supernatural powers. It reportedly appears at some gatherings, and one man told me several friends of his at a ceremonial gathering saw it appear and then vanish into thin air.

The Bigfoot might have been around a very long time. A middle-aged man remembered his father telling stories of such a creature, saying it appears when times are about to get really bad.

But, if it is something supernatural, it apparently still needs to eat.

A woman told me all the ranchers near Fluted Rock know about the monster, because they will find dead sheep that appear to have been partially butchered with some kind of blunt knife. And the giant footprints are sometimes around.

A man I picked up near Ganado said a neighbor of his had chased it across Highway 264 on horseback once, but it was so fast that it got away.

Another guy said he visited one of the Apache reservations and was surprised to find they have similar stories ... except the Apache Bigfoot is white while the Navajo one is black.

I'm not saying I believe these stories ... for all I know, there's some kind of conspiracy among the hitchhikers to pull one over on hapless drivers.

All I'm saying is, if I'm driving late at night and some big, hairy, barefoot guy sticks out his thumb on the side of the road, I'm going to keep driving - unless he has a mighty good story.