The Navajo are a tribe of Native Americans whose earliest settlements lay in the southwestern United States,

primarily in what are now the states of New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona.

Along with their own ancient tribal war history, throughout the Pacific Island campaigns,

Navajo men proudly fought alongside fellow Americans during the Second World War.

The now-famed Navajo code talkers and their unusual language was used to great effect

for the encryption of American radio transmissions, which confounded the Japanese cryptologists who intercepted them.

But the Navajo people also speak about things which confound the rest of us.

They tell stories about strange things that creep and crawl around the wild desert expanses

and forests of the Americas, legends which persist until the present day.

One such popular Navajo legend is about evil witches, something that native people call

Yeh not Loshi. With it, he goes on all fours.

Skinwalkers. Such a creature is considered half person and half animal. It starts as a medicine

man or woman who once used their powers of healing for good, but for some reason they turn to evil, to murder,

and to eating the flesh of their human victims.

And so they are cursed.

They are believed to be immortal.

The only way to destroy one is to kill them in their animal form.

Not only do Skinwalkers bring pain and suffering

to their victims, but they can crawl inside a person's mind and control them. They can make

them hear things and see things that are not really there. Or so the legends go. But while the Navajo people continue to pass down stories

about encounters their ancestors have had with these creatures, it seems there are more than a

handful of American service members who, while out-training in the field, have likewise come

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