In Navajo culture, a skin-walker, known in the Navajo language as yee naaldlooshii, is a type of harmful witch described as having the ability to turn into, possess or disguise themselves as an animal. The figure belongs to a broader category of witchcraft within traditional Navajo belief, and it is generally treated within the culture as a subject discussed with caution rather than openly, since detailed or careless discussion of witchcraft is itself considered by tradition to invite harm.
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Nahual, Mythical Creatures Why this is disputed. Comparative folklore scholarship groups the Navajo skinwalker (yee naaldlooshii) and the Mesoamerican nahual together as shapeshifting-witch figures, but this is a comparison across distinct Indigenous traditions, not a claim of shared origin.
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