Photographs emerged on Facebook earlier this year of a strange cryptid-like creature sighted near Lybrook and Counselor in New Mexico, not far from the Jicarilla Native American reservation. The creature has been labelled a skinwalker by those who have studied it, but what is a skinwalker? According to legend, a skinwalker is a person who has the ability to shapeshift into an animal. As we’ve reported here before, we suspect these skinwalker stories and string of unsolved murders are the work of a werewolf or werewolves.
The images, which have been complied into an easily accessible video on YouTube, features a creature which clearly isn’t a normal New Mexico mammal. It appears to be the size of a small pony, pale in color and very thin. Its features aren’t easy to see but they have an ape-like quality to them while the limbs are thin with prominent joints mid-way along the forelimbs. There is no tail visible and the creature has a bowed spine with noticeable, bony joints at the top of the rear legs.
The pictures were taken by an unnamed geologist who was working in an oil field area when he saw something odd and took a picture of it. The image made its way onto Facebook where it was shared so much that its true origins are now a mystery. Due to the proximity of the sighting to the Jicarilla reservation, rumors have quickly spread that the creature in the image is a skinwalker.
Skinwalker legends are common among the peoples of the Native American community across the country. While similar to the werewolf legends of Europe, the main difference is that a skinwalker has complete power over when they change to their animal form, unlike a werewolf which is largely believed to be controlled by external factors or their own emotional state.
One of the best-documented cases of the skinwalker comes from the stories of the Navajo who called them yee naallooshii ‘with it, he goes on all fours’. They could use their powers to transform into an animal shape and were part of the Antiihnii people who had gained supernatural powers by committing some terrible crime; usually the breaking of a taboo and performing the Navajo equivalent of the Black Mass.
According to the legends, skinwalkers frequently took the form of a coyote or wolf while others could transform into whatever animal they wanted, using the skin of their chosen animal as a focus to aid the transformation. When in human form, they can be distinguished by their eyes, which are said to have a glow similar to an animal’s. When in animal form, they move stiffly and in an unnatural manner. This perhaps is significant given the photo’s clearly awkward shape and joints which would not be conducive to normal animal movements.
Not all those with the ability to shapeshift in Native American cultures were evil, however. Some medicine men had the ability to travel into other states of being and one of those, using their totem animals, was to transform into an animal. They too used the skin of their chosen animal to shape shift and when in animal form, were noted as appearing in breeds or colors that didn’t exist in nature.