New Mexico Native American Lore: Skinwalkers, Kachinas, Spirits and Dark Omens

By Ray John de Aragón

Pull on the uncanny threads from the legendary tapestry of New Mexico's Native American heritage.

Ancient Indian history and present Native American cultures are woven together in the Land of Enchantment. The threads of these tales stretch back to Mimbres burial grounds and prehistoric trade routes. Stories and traditions tie the land to its people, in spite of the cycles of slaughter and theft that have threatened to pluck them apart. Descend into the kivas of Chaco Canyon or seek out the high mountains where the clouds mark the stones. From legends of the Salt Woman to the legacy of the Ghost Dance, Ray John de Aragon examines the mysteries of the mesas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Aug 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781439675618

Ray John de Aragón

Traveling storyteller Ray John de Aragón has thrilled audiences with his frightening and enthralling tales of ghosts and the supernatural. Holding advanced degrees in Spanish colonial history, arts, legends and myths of New Mexico, he has presented on these topics for the New Mexico History Museum, the Museum of International Folk Art, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, the University of New Mexico, the College of Santa Fe and many more. He has published fifteen books and has written for and been featured in more than one hundred publications.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

When a man does a piece of work which is admired by all we say that it is wonderful. But when we see the changes in day and night, the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky and the changing seasons upon the earth, with ripening fruits, anyone must realize that it is the work of someone more powerful than man, it is the Great Spirit.

—Santee-Yanktonai, Sioux Indian

The rich region of the Land of Enchantment is host to several Native American tribes that flourished for thousands of years, with some still vibrant today. Nineteen pueblos, Apache and Navajo sacred lands, historic sites and reservations are visited religiously by thousands of national and international visitors annually. They attend ritual dances and ceremonies and participate in gatherings that celebrate Indian foods, customs and native arts. Locals, of course, not only take pride in this fantastic heritage; they also take part in and visit these sacred places and lands.

The Navajo gave Pueblo Indians the name Anasazi, meaning ancient strangers. The Pueblo and other tribes believed in Skinwalkers. These were powerful supernatural beings that could be seen running through the night and that could transform themselves. Skinwalkers sometimes turned themselves into fiery balls, leaving streaks of color and light behind them. At other times, they were humanoid figures looking down threateningly from cliffs, mountains and mesas.

The shaman, the antithesis of an evil spirit, knew how to counteract malevolent witches, who disguised themselves as animals or creatures associated with death. For the Navajo, hogans protected them. For ancient Pueblo Indians, kivas were spiritual sanctuaries. Sweat lodges cleansed the mind, body and soul. All Indians in New Mexico believed and still believe that there are life-and-death struggles. Some in the past held that wearing pelts of animals could provide not only supernatural powers but also protection. This book covers shifting shapes, the underworld, the mysterious Sun Dance, the Ghost Dance, monsters, little people and the belief among New Mexico Indians that their ancestors came from the Pleiades, the stars.

What stimulated my interest in this marvelous subject of Native Americans in New Mexico was both strange and complex. As a boy in 1957, growing up in Albuquerque, I was enthralled with K Circle B Time, a children’s program sponsored by KOB-TV 4. As an eleven-year-old, I set a plan in motion. I went to the Doghouse, a popular hangout on Central Avenue for teenagers and young adults. I thoroughly enjoyed a Cherry Coke. I then went to the TV station, determined to meet Dick Bills and his Sandia Mountain Boys, a local western band. The lead guitarist was Dick Bills’s nephew Glen Campbell. Jim Morrison, who eventually sang with the Doors, was there on some of the visits I made. As kids, we loved singing the K Circle B Ranch theme song:

Riding on the trail to Albuquerque,

Saddlebags all filled with beans and jerky.

Headin’ for K Circle B,

The TV ranch for you and me.

K Circle B in Albuquerque.

Yoodle ae, ee, ae, aeeee, aeee…

A-l-b-u-q-u-e-r-q-u-e in Albuquerque.

As children, we all learned how to spell the name of our city. My family and I lived near a popular nightclub, the Gay Nineties, a reference to the 1890s. My bedroom was near the parking lot. Glen Campbell and his group played there. I often went to sleep at night listening to the country-and-western music. When I finally met Campbell and the members of his band at the TV station, I was ecstatic. At KOB, we all got eight-by-ten-inch signed glossy photos of Dick Bills, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. My favorite actor was George Gabby Hayes. He was such a neat guy. I prized these mementoes, as did all of us. As children, we were engrained with thoughts of lawmen against outlaws, good against evil, those wearing white hats against those wearing black hats and the perpetual Mexican bandidos. I prized a Hopalong Cassidy knife, a product of the popular western TV show. The American cavalry fought against Indian bad guys. How could we forget that? We were brainwashed as children.

The actor Wallace Beery did a marvelous job portraying a Mexican bandido—or at least I thought as a little boy. Beery and the other actors playing his bandido companions all had fake Spanish accents. Beery also portrayed Pancho Villa. We thought this was real history, depicting and telling true stories. We did not know, as many do not realize today, that history can be interpreted in film to fill the needs of those who want to depict it to suit themselves. Later, Marlon Brando was a fantastic—and realistic, we thought—Emiliano Zapata. His false Mexican accent was a highlight of his marvelous film career. I went to the Kimo Theater in downtown Albuquerque. My dad always gave me a quarter to see movies. I sometimes got enough money to enjoy a box of Cracker Jack and a soda. I could hardly wait to get to the little plastic toy inside the box of savory and sweet popcorn. As a nine-year-old, I loved seeing Randolph Scott. He was a favorite western star who appeared in many films. I saw Comanche Station, The Last of the Mohicans, 7th Cavalry and Scalp Hunters, the latter starring the famous Burt Lancaster in the lead role as a heroic and courageous Indian fighter. We all cheered the U.S. Cavalry as they chased down and defeated the Indians by killing them off. TV and movie depictions of the Battle of the Little Big Horn left a strong impression on our young minds. We saw good and decent cavalry soldiers fighting the bad and terribly malicious Indians. General George Custer and his valiant men made a famous last stand against natives—played by non-Indians using fake accents, whooping it up for the viewers.

We played cowboys and Indians as kids. Invisible Indians were always hiding around corners, behind fences and in other sneaky places as we fired our cap guns and reloaded. Later in life, as we were growing up, a TV comedy called F Troop poked fun at the Indians. It was all in jest. In my young and impressionable mind, I have never forgotten a cavalry sergeant asking the chief, How did your tribe come to be called the Hekawi Indians? The chief answered with something like, Because many moons ago, we traveled over mountains, valleys, hills, and across rivers. We traveled for long, long time. When we went over another mountain, one of our braves asked when we got to the other side, ‘Where the heck ah we’? We have been known as the Hekawi Indians ever since.

I can only imagine how Native Americans, especially children like us, felt when they viewed those films and popular series such as Wagon Train. In that show, the wagon masters prepared travelers, which included men, women and children, for safety. The Indians were attacking the poor white travelers from the East. (In reality, these travelers were encroaching into Indian territories.) Guns were at the ready against bows and arrows. In these depictions, various tribes communicated by smoke signals, so covered-wagon crew leaders instantly knew they would be attacked by warring Indians. Circle the wagons! would ring out loud and clear. Of course, the Indians were always easily killed, especially when the heroic American cavalry came to the rescue. Many of us also saw the Lone Ranger and his trusty Indian companion, who always uttered kemosabe. As children, we did not know what that meant, but we did know that Tonto was not very intelligent. The Lone Ranger was smart and instantly sensed danger, in contrast to the Native American, in this early TV series.

William Shatner was another famous actor who played an Indian. As Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek, Shatner saved the day for a planet that faced destruction in the episode The Paradise Syndrome, which aired on October 4, 1968. While his ship was going through repairs, Captain Kirk beamed down to investigate planet Amerind. He discovered that this mysterious planet was the home of mixed Navajo, Mohican and Delaware Indians. Kirk called himself Kiroke. He saved an Indian boy who had nearly drowned using CPR, and the stunned Indians believed he had brought the boy back from the dead. He was hailed as a god, and they all bowed down to him while they covered their faces. Kirk took the place of Salish, the medicine man, and dressed in native gear. Salish’s betrothed maiden, Minamanee (played by Sabrina Shaf), had woven a ritual cloak for the medicine man. She placed this on Kiroke and pulled off the medicine badge from Salish’s head and placed it on Kirk, the new, revered medicine man. Kirk and Minamanee fell in love, but as Kirk came out of a bout of memory loss, the Indians found he could bleed after Salish fought him in a duel. They threw rocks at Kirk and the maiden. She was mortally wounded and died. Kirk returned, heartbroken, to his ship and saved Amerind from an asteroid. William Shatner portrayed an Indian in White Comanche, a spaghetti Western released the same year.

My father, Maximo de Aragón, was a traveling salesman during my childhood. I got to go with him to some of the Indian pueblos, where he sold his merchandise at stores. I remember Isleta Pueblo, San Ildefonso Pueblo and others. As we neared San Ildefonso, driving south from our hometown of Las Vegas, New Mexico, we saw one huge, colorful billboard after another proclaiming to tourists and travelers, See real live Indians, turn right at next road. See live Indians perform their dances and see their rituals.

Tracking Indian artifacts at Los Chavez. From left to right: Max de Aragón Jr., Maximo de Aragón and Ray John de Aragón. They are searching family land for shards and arrowheads, circa 1957.

There was a contradiction between what I saw on film and what I personally experienced. I had an Apache friend in high school. I worked alongside Navajo friends at Henry Hillson Company, a popular Western apparel store. In college, I had Pueblo Indian friends and, later, Algonquin Indian friends and those of other tribes as well. I experienced friendship and trust on a deep level with these very dear people.

I

EARTH AND SKY GODS

1

CRADLES OF THE PAST AND ANIMATING FORCES

You must speak straight so that every word you say may go as sunlight into our hearts.

—Chiricahua chief Cochise

A mysterious group of Indians in New Mexico disappeared long before the Spanish explored the territory in the sixteenth century. These were the Mimbres. They lived in the Mimbres Valley in southeastern New Mexico and were a branch of a group called the Mogollon,