Every culture has its stories of the macabre and monstrous. Some of the most enduring are the darkest stories of Native American mythology, originating from Indigenous nations across North America. The Rolling Heads of the Ojibwe and Cheyenne. The Windigo of the Algonquian peoples. Let’s not forget the Navajo Skinwalkers — and many others.
Through these legends, we gain insight into how Indigenous peoples passed down traditions and knowledge through mythology. These may be terrifying tales to us as outsiders, but to their origin nations, they were often practical warnings.
Without further ado, here are the scariest accounts from Indigenous folklore…
Native American Mythology: The Rolling Heads of The Cheyenne Nation
The myth of the Rolling Heads comes from an old spoken Cheyenne legend, first recorded on tape in 1960. Other tribal nations, such as the Ojibwe, Cree, Arapahoe, and Assiniboine, have passed down similar myths. In each of these, severed heads chase down, murder, and sometimes eat unsuspecting victims.
As a result, Indigenous peoples sometimes referred to these entities as Cannibal Heads. In addition, different stories describe Rolling Heads as having long, tangled hair, rolling after their victims, and appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Much like in modern horror stories.
The formula for creating a Rolling Head is straightforward: You only have to murder someone in a particularly violent way. Due to this violent death, the victim seeks revenge, and their head will rise from the grave to get it.
The victim in most Rolling Head stories is a wife murdered by her husband for infidelity or witchcraft. This tale is made more horrific with a dash of cannibalism. In those stories, the husband or murderer forces his wife to eat the flesh of her lover. However, there is a more family-friendly version in which the loving father feeds his dead wife to their children.
If you find your home plagued by rolling heads, legend says the best way to kill them is by drowning. However, others swear by tricking the heads to roll into pits or off cliffs. Unless, of course, you have shamanic powers with which to fight them off.
A similar legend from the Iroquois Confederacy’s Kanontsistónties, or flying heads, which fly instead of roll.
Perhaps one of the best-known figures from dark Native American mythology is Windigo, also spelled Wendigo. The creature has been featured in many Marvel Comics, among other popular media like movies and video games.
The Windigo’s duality is not only found in the spellings of its name. Its appearance has also been described in various ways.
One vein of stories has the monster as a strong giant. Another legend says he is sickly and thin. In traditional Algonquian tales, the Windigo is often shown as an ice-covered creature who represents the eternally starving spirit of winter itself.
Likewise, there are two versions of the Windigo’s mode of operation. One myth says Windigo would track and kill humans before eating them. However, among the Cree people, this creature has also appeared as a spirit that possesses people — a hungry force that transforms them into cannibals.
You can put your Windigo fears aside if you are reading this on a sunny beach. However, if you are in the northern woods of the U. S. or Canada, remain on high alert. This is especially true during winter as the Windigo moves through snow and ice with ease.
Legend says a shaman is needed to kill this monster. Their method of assassination can include bullets or a knife made from silver, steel, or iron. Then again, some myths argue that the job isn’t finished until the Windigo’s heart is burned.
In Defense of the Windigo
Moving out of North American mythology and into the modern courtroom… The reputation of Windigos has been sullied by several murder trials using its name as a defense.
In 1906, Canadian courts convicted Jack Fiddler, an Ojibwa shaman, of killing a woman the year before, according to the University of Toronto. However, Jack argued that he only did so because she was turning into a Windigo.
Jack, or Zhauwuno-geezhigo-gaubow, was a tribal headman who’d allegedly killed 13 other Windigos before. And though courts found him guilty of murder, they presumably decided the Windigo was blameless.
In another case, as CNews points out, a man named Swift Runner killed and ate his family during the harsh winter of 1879. His defense was that he was possessed by a Windigo.
Native American Mythology: The Mishipeshu of the Great Lakes
A lesser-known dark figure of Native American Mythology is the Mishipeshu. Even with being a less popular figure in pop culture, it was featured on the television show Grimm.
Sometimes Mishipeshu is referred to as the Great Lynx or the Underwater Panther. Descriptions vary from community to community, as Native Languages of the Americas explains. However, most accounts tell of the beast’s razor-sharp teeth, thick fur, and horns or antlers.
Some stories even claim the creature has spikes on its back and a long reptilian tail. Size doesn’t seem to matter, though, as myths say the Underwater Panther can equal a mountain lion or be gigantic.
Mishipeshu’s legend began with the Algonquian and other peoples of the Great Lakes region. Unlike many creatures from Native American myths, the Water Panther isn’t on a mission of revenge and doesn’t have a taste for human flesh. Instead, stories say it’s focused on protecting the large copper deposits in the Upper Peninsula of what is now Michigan.
The Mishipeshu allegedly resides on Michipicoten Island on the Canadian side of Lake Superior. As a sideline, the Underwater Panther is capable of stirring up storms on the lake, causing death and destruction. However, this is a reasonable creature, and you can secure calm waters by giving offerings to the legendary creature.
History is filled with stories of people who possess great abilities to do good, but then turn those powers to darkness. Few figures in any culture have exemplified that more than the Navajo legend of Skinwalkers.
The Skinwalker’s spiritual powers are usually reserved for the good works of Navajo medicine men. However, Skinwalkers have learned those powers and abused them, turning once beneficial practices into evil deeds.
Skinwalkers are a secret society and like most secret societies, they have an initiation process. For Skinwalkers, however, this includes killing a close family member, according to Ohio State University. After doing so, the initiate becomes a Skinwalker capable of shapeshifting and using other supernatural abilities.
Navajo artist John Feodorov explained these creatures this way while discussing his Skinwalker 2000 exhibition at the University of Washington — Seattle:
“A skinwalker is a Navajo witch who has the ability to change into animal forms…My cousin swears that while following coyote tracks they became human footprints. Like a wild animal that appears around the perimeter of a new housing development, this skinwalker has adapted to the new encroaching urban landscape.”
Skinwalkers, like some other Native American creatures of the dark, have shapeshifted into and been bastardized by popular culture. That includes the television series The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.
This History Channel program follows the ongoing investigation of unexplained events at a remote Utah ranch. These include everything from UFO sightings to animal mutilations, and unexplained injuries, such as vertigo and nausea. In essence, it has nothing to do with the Skinwalker of Native American folklore, and everything to do with using Indigenous legends for sensationalism.
Native American Mythology: How the Piasa Terrified European Settlers
This creature from Native American mythology may not be as terrifying to us as others. However, it may have been the first sighting to frighten European explorers.
During their two-month, 800-mile exploration of the Mississippi River in 1673, Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette and fur trader Louis Jolliet achieved several important goals for French colonists. They proved the river was a route to the Gulf of Mexico, and their voyage bolstered France’s claim to the territory. In turn, this laid the groundwork for several settlements.
Interestingly, they also encountered an Illini Nation legend brought to life on the cliffs above a river near present-day Alton, IL: the Piasa.
The Priest’s Account of the Piasa
“While Skirting some rocks, which by Their height and length inspired awe,” wrote Marquette in his Journal, “We saw upon one of them two painted monsters which at first made Us afraid, and upon Which the boldest savages dare not Long rest their eyes. They are as large As a calf; they have Horns on their heads Like those of a deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard Like a tiger’s, a face somewhat like a man’s, a body Covered with scales, and so Long A tail that it winds all around the Body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a Fish’s tail.”
Folklore says the great bird-dragon monster ate human flesh and terrorized Indigenous peoples until Chief Ouatoga hatched a daring plan. The chief stood before the Piasa’s cave seemingly offering himself as a sacrifice. However, when the monster emerged, 20 warriors stood ready with poison arrows. They fatally wounded the great beast, which then fell into the river.
The Piasa’s Life After Death
The original pictograph of the Piasa faded over several centuries. Even the bluff it appeared on has been quarried away. However, the legend and its image endure outside of Native American folklore.
Just north of Alton, a new rendering of the Piasa is displayed on a cliff near where Marquette first saw it. The monster has also become the mascot of Southwestern High School and a nearby town, named Piasa.
Owls Among The Darkest Stories from Native American Mythology
Dark owl creatures are so common in Native American mythology that we felt they should be covered as a group (flock?).
Owls are popular in many cultures. Today, we see them as wise, sometimes funny characters in fiction. One, Woodsy Owl, is even employed by the United States Forest Service. Though, with certain individuals dismantling parts of the USFS, Woodsy’s job may be in jeopardy. On the dark side of Native American mythology, however, some owls are not to be trifled with.
Tah-tah-kle’-ah of the Yakama People
The Yakama people of the Northwest tell of a particularly devious owl-witch called the Tah-tah-kle’-ah. These creatures mimicked the tribal language to lure people into their taloned clutches. They dined on human beings and had a preference for children.
William Charley, of the Yakama tribe, described these beasts this way in a 1918 interview:
“These people, the Tah-tah-kle’-ah, were taller and larger than the common human. They ate every bad thing known, such as frogs, lizards, snakes, and other things that Indians do not eat. They talked the Indian language, and in that way, might fool the Indians. There were five of them, all sisters.”
The sisters were slain in battle.
Today’s night owls sprung from the eye of one of the sisters, according to Yakama lore.
Ishkitini of the Choctaw Nation
Ishkitini is an owl god in Choctaw culture. You may recognize it as a horned owl. However, the Ishkitini differs from most horned owls in that it hunts people at night, as the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma explains. The last thing their victims/prey hear is their bone-chilling screeches, which were interpreted as an omen of death.
Stikini of the Indigenous Seminole
This shapeshifting owl predator is found in Florida among the Seminole people. It gets its shapeshifting ability by vomiting its soul, blood, and internal organs. All of which are then hung high in trees to make them inaccessible to meddling humans.
If you found yourself vacationing in the Sunshine State, you might want to keep mum about the Stikini. Legend says that mentioning the creature’s name can even result in it paying you a visit — perhaps for dinner.
Native American Folklore: The Skadegamutc Ghost-Witch of the Wabanaki
Native American mythology says a ghost-witch by the name of Skadegamutc haunts the Wabanaki, a confederacy of tribes in Maine.
The legend says a dead sorcerer is required to bring this malignant spirit into existence. The evil sorcerer manifests as a ball of light, signaling the Skadegamutc to appear. Then, the pair hunt the woods to drink the blood and eat the flesh of their victims.
Through this vampire-like practice, or so the myths go, the Skadegamutc and dark shaman maintain their immortality.
One Wabanaki legend tells of a couple who bed down for the night in a grove where an evil sorcerer was buried high in the trees. The wife gets spooked and wants to leave, but the husband tells her to go to sleep. She hears a gnawing sound in the night, but says nothing for fear of upsetting her husband.
The next morning, she rolls over to find her husband half-eaten and his heart missing.
Nearby villagers come to her aid. They decide to haul the sorcerer’s corpse down and find fresh blood still on the corpse’s face.
Afterthoughts on The Darkest Stories from Native American Mythology
When looking at any folklore, it’s important to understand these are more than mere tales. Stories are how our human ancestors passed down knowledge before the advent of written language. As such, you should always try to grasp the deeper meaning behind the old legends of any culture to truly see them for what they are.
Some of these dark stories from Native American Mythology are likely cautionary tales designed to scare people straight. For instance, the Rolling Heads encourages marital fidelity. Stories of creatures hunting humans in the woods are a way to keep children from wandering off. Even if these monsters don’t exist, there are real dangers inside dark forests.
That being said, you should avoid saying the names of any of these creatures out loud, just in case. Oh, and the next time your spouse says, “Let’s not sleep in this grove with the sorcerer buried in the trees,” you might just listen and move on.
