Hallowe'en is a reminder that the modern age swept aside beliefs in whole pantheons of natural deities, including some very frightening demons. One of the latter is the
Kushtaka. This evil spirit, profiled on Brad Meltzer's
Decoded episode about Alaska's mysteries, is so troubling to local native peoples that the site of television interview was purified after Meltzer's crew departed.
Kushtaka, or 'land otter man': "Canoe prow ornament representing Land-Otter-Man, Tlingit, from Sitka, Alaska, USA. Found at Nass River, British Columbia, Canada, in 1918." Image Source: Werner Forman via Heritage Images.
The Kushtaka is a soul-stealer, shape-shifter and otter-spectre feared by the
Tlingit and
Tsimshian peoples. These days, otters are viewed as people-friendly creatures. Perhaps it is their human expression that made them the subject of shape-shifting mythology. The Kushtaka is rather like the equally malevolent Native American monster, the
Wendigo. Kushtakas are also
sometimes likened to sasquatches.
It is believed that the Kushtaka
lures people away to their deaths in deep waters. It usually takes the form of a person known to its victim, such as a kindly grandmother beckoning to her ill-fated grandchild from the edge of the forest. It will imitate the cries of a drowning woman or baby in waterways to lure would-be rescuers into treacherous rivers. It is also known to call sailors along Pacific American coasts to their deaths. Kushtakas are said to whistle in a telltale, low-high-low tone.
There are some Kushtaka stories online. Kushtakas make war on humans by spreading a plague amongst them in
this legend from the Tlingit people. In
this story, they take possession of women in a community and incite a bloody conflict. And in
this story, a helpful but still spectral Kushtaka haunts a bereaved couple by appearing to them as their dead son and bringing them fish to eat. Those whom the
Kushtakas help or harm run the risk of becoming Kushtakas themselves.
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