What Are They?

These creatures are told to be half-human, half-animal, or simply a human who can transform into any animal they desire. Sometimes, they can even morph into another human, taking on their characteristics, memories, and voice. This is done if you were to look into a skin walker’s eyes for long enough, and they will use your appearance in order to get close to relatives and possibly cause harm. Although, there are many claims that most skin walkers are not harmful beings, “they don’t lose control and kill everything in their path or maliciously curse people for no reason. Like humans, they do kill, and like humans, they have motivations for those acts of aggression. Power and revenge fuel their murderous intent, but such things cannot occupy the brain of a rational creature all the time, and skin-walkers don’t make murder part of their daily routine.” (L. Tom Perry).

The origins of these creatures are based on Medicine Men or Shamans, because usually these roles in tribes involve some sort of magic or witchcraft. The ritual of becoming a skin walker is “strictly forbidden” from non-skin walker people. The skin-walker-to-be will have to commit an evil deed, like killing a relative. After such as been done, they will be able to obtain supernatural powers from killing someone, and thus they will be able to have animal-like abilities and walk in dreams.