American Vampires

by Bob Curran

  Nevertheless, the spook light has proved something of a tourist attraction for the Joplin area. So great is its fame that each year thousands of curious individuals turn up in the hopes of seeing it. Even the Army has taken an interest and has monitored the light on a couple of occasions, but their conclusions are no more definite than those of the general public.

  There are other instances of strange lights—some of them allegedly vampiric, others not—all across Missouri. And as night falls over Missouri, lights flicker on the edges of town and along rural roads, but not the lights that one might expect—they are not the wholesome lights of windows and streetlamps. These are more ancient lights with perhaps a long history dating back to Indian times. Do they actually represent primal forces that are somehow locked in the landscape? Or are they mysterious beings that have coexisted alongside mankind for centuries? And are they things that intend to do humans harm, either by drinking their blood or sapping their energies? Be careful of the seemingly welcoming brilliance along the roadway or among the trees, because what awaits you there may not be what you might expect!

  ARIZONA/NEW MEXICO

  Take a closer look at your neighbor. Are you sure that you know them? That it is them? It might be somebody or something else. It might be a skinwalker, and it just might be there to drink your blood. Especially if you live in a place such as Arizona or New Mexico!

  Vampirism in the American southwest tends to be a little bit different from vampirism in the New England states such as Rhode Island or Vermont. It is just as dangerous, of course, but there are certain distinctions. For example, it is strongly linked with witchcraft, and the vampire does not actually have to be dead to become one of these creatures. Through witchcraft they can often take on other shapes—both animal and human—and can actually remove their skin in the style of South Carolina’s boo-daddies. However, when the skin is removed, the vampire is no more than a ball of hellish red or yellow-red light, which can often travel from place to place at amazing speeds. In the southwestern states, distinctions between vampirism, werewolfery, and witchcraft also often tend to be blurred and are usually interchanged at will. Vampires in the American southwest are therefore known as “skinwalkers,” a term that combines vampiric entity, werewolf, and evil magician.

  The idea may come from a number of traditions that have been prevalent in the area throughout the years. At its most basic, it derives from the Navajo culture, in which the original skinwalkers may have been shamans within a Native American tribe. In the Navajo language, the name for skinwalker is yee-naaldlooshii, which is also the term for an evil witch. It can also mean “one who wears a skin,” and may refer to the idea that perhaps the early shamans wore some sort of animal skin covering in order to disguise themselves. This, of course, is not unique to the Navajo or Native American culture in general, as in many early cultures, shamanistic practitioners may have dressed in such skins in order to perform their ceremonial duties (in fact, this may have been the origins of the werewolf legend). In Navajo tradition, however, certain skins may not be used for ceremonial purposes, because they often carry evil connotations. These are bear, coyote, wolf, and cougar pelts, which should not be worn. If any human dons them, he or she will be seized by the evil in the pelt and might become a witch, vampire, or skinwalker. Sheepskin and buckskin are two of the few hides used by the Navajo and the Zuni, the latter used mainly for ceremonial purposes. There is an old Navajo legend says that if a skinwalker is wrapped in a buckskin cloak, the evil will leave him or her, and he or she can return to conventional society. However, the individual would be forever tainted and might even revert to being a skinwalker or vampire at some future date unless specific remedies known only to certain shamans were carried out.

  In many parts of Western Europe, a vampire is not created through the bite of another of its kind (as Hollywood and a number of writers of such fiction would have us believe), but by an individual breaking a social or cultural taboo. (Indeed, the wearing of, say, a coyote pelt is sometimes still considered to violate a social taboo in Navajo society.) Thus, those who committed incest, were homosexuals, or who engaged in forms of anti-social behavior might be destined to become werewolves in life, but almost certainly would become vampires while still alive or after death. As far as women were concerned, it was also considered in a number of cultures (including that of the Navajo) that childless women would almost certainly become witches and vampires. Barrenness in women was considered to be a sign of their evil, and it was generally assumed that those who became vampires were evil already and that the vampirism was simply the outward manifestation of that evil. Similarly, harboring dark thoughts against one’s neighbors for a long period of time might also be enough to turn a person into a vampire. Thus, the vampires were often someone who was an outsider or who didn’t fit in terribly well with those around him or her.

  Even so, many believed that vampires lived among them. In late medieval Europe, the 1486 publication of the Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of the Witch), by the Inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, clearly placed witches and evil-doers as members of the community. From this position, they worked from within to corrupt God’s children and lead them into wickedness, working almost like the Devil’s secret agents. For many people, the most important aspect of Sprenger and Kramer’s work was to locate the evil being at the very center of the community and to define someone who was “a bit odd” or who acted slightly outside the conventional norms of society as an enemy of God. In fact, this idea formed the basis of many of the European witch persecutions of the later medieval period and early modern times. The Inquisitors tapped into a perception that had existed for countless years previously and that was even found within tribal societies. The person who did not act in the ways in which others did, who did not obey agreed communal norms, or who had exhibited either knowledge or sensibilities that were beyond those that others may have held, was always viewed with suspicion by the community. In this sense, Native American societies were little different from those of the villages of medieval Europe. The person who displayed shamanistic qualities was often viewed as someone who was “ambivalent”—someone who could help individual members of the community, but who could also turn against them in terrifying ways.

  Thus, the skinwalker could take not only an animal form if it so chose, but also a human one, as a member of the community. And it may take on the appearance of someone who is already familiar to that community—a central figure such as a local healer or somebody who is on society’s periphery and whose ways are known to be anti-social—investing them with evil and vampiric powers. It is not exactly clear how a person becomes a skinwalker. In some versions of the belief, it is done by performing a certain ceremony that draws down a spirit like a ball of light, which then possesses the individual, imbuing them with witchcraft knowledge and vampiric powers. Such ritual involves a perverted song and “unclean acts,” for the spirit that is invoked is unutterably evil. This gives the individual the power to “steal” the body of a companion (usually that of a living person) and to use it for wicked ways. The Navajo also believe that if a normal person locks eyes with a skinwalker and that gaze is held for too long, the skinwalker will have the power to drain all the good from the person’s body and perhaps even assume his or her identity. The only way anyone can tell if a person has been “consumed” by a skinwalker is that their eyes may glow in the darkness. Their breath is also foul and reeks of carrion, giving away their true identity to others. Despite being abroad in their communities during the day, like conventional European vampires, many skinwalkers strike against their neighbors during the hours of darkness.

  Navajos and members of other tribes are incredibly hesitant, even reluctant, to speak of their nocturnal skinwalker experiences. Perhaps this is because of a belief that even talking about such things will invite them back to torment the individual. Gradually, however, some stories emerge, each containing themes that concern the skinwalker. Many of these, of course
, are vague and sometimes confused, but they give a picture of the fear in which the creature is held. Sometimes the creature will attack a house in a village, banging on the walls and rattling the windows with its force. It will even sometimes climb onto the roof and roar down the chimney, terrifying those within the building. If it should climb up secretly and remove its skin high on the rooftop, then a ball of light might drift down into the room and attack the family when they are asleep. Sometimes, a strange, animal-like figure is glimpsed near the house around twilight or as the light starts to fade, and the family within knows that a skinwalker is close by. Sometimes, so legends state, the animal will venture close to the house and will try to peer in through the windows. At other times, the creature will appear in the guise of someone who is known to the family or as some member of the community. In this case, it will encourage the family to open their door and admit it. It then has them at its mercy.

  Among the Zuni Indians of western New Mexico there is a belief that the skinwalkers can sometimes enter a house by using the discarded hair, the spit, or even the shoes of the people within the place. This is done in the form of a spell, and once again links skinwalking and vampirism with the idea of malefic witchcraft. Neither Zuni nor Navajo will leave their shoes outside their doors, lest they fall into the clutches of a passing skinwalker, nor will they spit in case this is gathered up by witches and used in spells to enter their houses. Similarly, great care is taken to burn all discarded hair and nail clippings, so that these too are not used in a spell to come into the house when they are asleep. Exactly the same precautions were taken with old clothes, which had been close to a person’s body, and if children urinate outside the house, they are advised to kick dirt all over it to avoid it being drawn up and used in a spell or curse.

  In the Native American cultures of the southwest, the belief exists that many of the skinwalkers deliberately follow what is known as “the witchery way.” According to their lore, the “witchery way” has existed almost since the dawn of time and is part of a story concerning the first people on Earth who were known as “witch people.” They were able to perform all sorts of feats, which today would be seen as magic, but then were simply part of their culture. Such traditions were passed down orally from generation to generation. However, in these early times, the ways of the people were very different; they were permitted to drink blood and eat the dead flesh of corpses—things that would not be allowed today. The witches among them were mainly male, but old and childless women could also be sorcerers.

  As time progressed, other peoples settled in the plains and valleys of the American southwest and the witch people became fewer and fewer. Soon, only a few remained, most of them living in remote hills and valleys; those who did preyed on their new neighbors, becoming skinwalkers and attacking them late at night and usually to drink blood. There were also certain rites that a person could go through in order to follow their traditions and gain the powers of the original “witch people.” For instance, some can be “baptized” by using a certain dust made from ground-up corpses. The best are usually the bodies of small children or twins (especially potent) and the ceremony at which the skinwalker is “anointed” with such dust has been described as resembling a Native American version of the European Black Mass at which old gods are evoked. The central ritual of such a ceremony is something known as “the witches sing,” which is a calling on the ancient spirits to come down and take possession of the adherents, changing them into blood-drinking skinwalkers and giving them power to change their shape.

  Among Christian Native Americans, there is a slightly different story and origin to the skinwalker belief. In the beginning, all people were created so that they could change their shape in order to protect themselves from the other animals that inhabited the earth. They were God’s special creation, and he gave them this ability in order to survive on the savage Earth. Through the years, mankind gradually began to lose that ability (they had less and less need for it), although some still managed to retain it. However, those who were still able to manipulate their shape had strayed from the path that God had laid down for mankind and used their powers for evil. They practiced things that were abominable—for example, they drank blood and performed acts of witchcraft. In some versions of the belief, God asked for the gift of transformation back again, as it was no longer needed, and although most of mankind did indeed give it back, others wanted to hold onto it for their own selfish reasons and have retained and maintained that power down throughout years. Some may have retained the power by deliberately committing evil deeds or breaking taboos in order to distance themselves from God. In fact, says the legend, they are still among us today. And they are still evil by nature, trying to do mischief against those who live around them. And, they may still drink the blood of innocents when the mood is upon them. It is during the hours of darkness, according to the Christian Native Americans, that the evil nature of such people is at its height, because God has turned his face away and allowed evil its freedom. At this time, the skinwalkers go about making various noises, the most favored being that of a baby crying. This is to lure God-fearing people from their houses (as they think that a child has been abandoned) to a place where the skinwalker can pounce upon them and drink their blood.

  The skinwalker is usually described in Navajo, Ute, and Zuni folklore as being naked, albeit wrapped in a coyote skin or in the pelt of some other animal. In other legends, it is often described as a mutated version of the animal in question. However, the skin may be shed—being little more than a covering or mask that is simply worn during “the witches sing”—when the skinwalker feeds. The central core of the skinwalker’s being is, of course, the ball of shining light, the glow of which often surrounds the skin-wrapped being or the mutated beast just before it pounces.

  In many Navajo folktales, there is the common story of the hunter who shoots a strange and frightening beast that he encounters in the forest, which then escapes, wounded. The hunter follows a trail of blood, sometimes deeper into the forest, but in most cases back to his own village. There, he finds a human being who is known to him and who sports a wound, which is in a similar place to that which he inflicted on the curious beast. The implication is clear—the beast and the person are one and the same (the person is, in fact, a skinwalker, who took the beast form in order to do harm or to break taboos). This is, of course, very much in keeping with shapeshifting folktales from other countries (for example, Celtic folklore abounds with such stories) and reiterates one of the central tenets of the Malleus that something evil was living among communities in an everyday guise and possibly largely undetected.

  Similar to European vampires, in Native American lore, the skinwalker has the ability to spread sickness and disease wherever it goes. Epidemics among Native American communities are sometimes still attributed to the wandering skinwalkers, who send out and spread such illnesses as a form of malice. In this respect, their sole objective is to do harm to their neighbors and is a testimony to their evil intent.

  “Skinwalkers are purely evil in intent,” says Las Vegas anthropologist Dan Benyshek in an interview in Dr. Colm A. Kelleher’s book Hunt for the Skinwalker in 2004. “I’m no expert on it, but the general view is that skinwalkers do all sorts of terrible things—they make people sick, they commit murder, they are grave robbers and necrophiliacs, They are greedy and evil people who must kill a sibling or other relative to be initiated as a skinwalker. They are supposed to turn into wereanimals and can travel in supernatural ways.” To this, other anthropologists add that they can also drink blood or leech away the energy of, say, a sleeping person. While not accepting the truth of such folk myths, Benyshek says they are important because sometimes they can manifest themselves in very real ways within Native American society. “Anthropologists,” he says, “have conducted scientific investigations into the beliefs in Native American witchcraft because of the effects of such beliefs on human health.”

  Another anthropologist, David Zim
merman, worked with the Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department and suggests that skinwalkers may be the flipside of the Native American shamans who deal with healing and spiritual harmony. He says some medicine men may also have been trained in the “witchery way,” the dark side of the Native American supernatural, and may use this teaching to great effect in some instances. Witches and vampires are viewed with some fear, but also some great distaste amongst the tribes. Perhaps, they might even command less fear than they do in Europe. Journalist A. Lynn Allison seems to bear this out by drawing attention to the Navajo Witch Purge of 1878.

  In that year, more than 40 witches and skinwalkers were killed or “purged” in a clash of Native cultures with the U.S. government-backed economic and social realignment. This realignment began in 1864 with the “Long Walk” (resettlement) of the Navajos from Fort Wingate and Fort Canby to Bosque Redondo (Fort Sumner), which was already occupied by the Mescalero Apache. The Bosque Redondo settlement was a miserable failure and, in 1868, the government permitted the surviving Navajo to return to their lands. However, it failed to make adequate provision for them to do so. Those who returned were destitute and hungry. They made do as best they could, but in such dire circumstances, the stage was set for the return of old superstitions and traditional ways and remedies.

  In the summer of 1878, tensions began to expand and burst into flame. Some of the Navajo, who had returned from Bosque Redondo, had become slightly wealthier than others, mainly through stealing and warfare (which had always been endemic within Navajo culture) and gradually a social differentiation had opened up within tribal society. In a charged social atmosphere, deaths of livestock and unexplained sicknesses (and deaths) of tribal members raised suspicions, along with accusations of witchcraft and skinwalking. Feuds opened up between certain families and evidence of cursing was found buried in remote places, suggesting a skinwalking activity. Accusations began to fly. Because no Navajo could go and retrieve the curse items that had been found, a white trader Charles Hubbell was hired to go and get them where they were buried. He went up to Ganado Lake where the items had been hidden. According to Navajo legend, what Hubbell found was a spell written on a piece of paper (some variants of the story say that it was actually the agreement between the Navajo and the U.S. government), buried in a shallow grave. Shortly after this, the Purge began.