Do You Believe in Ghosts?

@Deceased What is a skinwalker?

@ShadowSister its a creature a lot of Native Tribes tell stories about. The lore kind of depends on which tribe you ask. The Cherokee version goes that a shaman made a pact with a dark spirit and gained the ability to don an animal pelt and transform into that animal. You can always tell a skinwalker in animal form as they have no tails.

@Deceased Why don't they have tails?

@ShadowSister do humans have tails? No. Ergo when a human takes animal shape, they have no tails.

@Deceased Ah that makes sense. But then, humans also can't turn into animals. So once you can break one rule about turning into another shape, you'd think it wouldn't be that hard to break a second rule about having a tail. But I understand the logic.

@ShadowSister in Cherokee lore all humans were once animals. Each tribe of Cherokee descends from a specific animal. My family come from the Wolf people. Its not outlandish to think people can turn to animals. Whats unnatural is killing the animal and taking whatever shape one wishes.

@Deceased That is helpful to understand. Thank you for sharing with me. I hope my responses were not insensitive to your culture. That was certainly not my intention. I am personally very skeptical of supernatural claims, but that is a result of my own personal history. I was heavily invested in religion and supernatural ideas for a large part of my life before I de-converted. I do my best to honor other people's beliefs now while still being committed to my non-belief personally.

@ShadowSister it was not insensitive. Apologies if I seemed curt. I was trying to be as unbiased and academic as is possible when talking about myth and legend. A lot of your questions were the same I had for my uncle and grandfather when they spoke to me about our legacy. I rather enjoyed sharing it with someone.

@Deceased You were not curt at all. Text doesn't convey tone of voice, so I just wanted to be sure. I appreciated your response. I don't know very much about indigenous tribes. I would like to learn more.

May I ask, where do you live? I am in Wisconsin.

@ShadowSister Missouri. Just a few hours from the OK state line. In the middle of nowhere but also right in the middle of everywhere 😂

@Deceased I've been through there a few times. Seems like a nice area.

@ShadowSister it has its charms. Lots of homeless people and hardcore druggies here though.

@Deceased That's lots of places. My ex's extended family lives there. We always had a good time visiting them.

@ShadowSister like I said it has its charms. It can be a nice place.