On the American Northwest Coast lies the Queen Charlotte Islands, and this has been the traditional home of the Haida Indians for centuries. This particular Native American culture revolves around the water, which they derive their food and other resources from. The Haida hunt and fish, in both freshwater lakes andthe sea. They traded with neighboring tribes, but they also had to defend themselves from those very same tribes at times. The Haida took naturally-occurring materials such as wood, stone, antler, bone, and copper and crafted them into death-dealing weapons like spears, daggers, clubs, axes, and bows and arrows. They made their armor from wooden slats and bone. In fact, their skills as warriors made it impossible for the early Russian explorers to colonize the islands. But like all other cultures, the Haida still fear the things that lurk in the dark at night. One of the most feared creatures in Haida mythology is the Ga-Git, a vicious demonic shapeshifter that was once human and feeds on the flesh and the blood of its victims.
According to Haida legend, the Ga-Git was human at one time, usually a fisherman. On occasion, these fishermen would have terrible accidents at sea that utterly destroyedtheir canoes, causing them to nearly drown. If the sea didn’t kill them, however, a fate far worse than death awaited them upon their return to shore. Horribly traumatized by their near-death experiences, these men would wander mindlessly into the deepest, darkest parts of the forests, where they would become little more than animals. They would roam around naked, choosing to survive on roots, tubers, berries, vegetation, and perhaps wild game instead of returning home to their villages and their families. Exactly why this happens is unknown, but it could be speculated that this is due perhaps to an encounter with evil spirits of the forest. Sensing weakness in their minds and their bodies, these evil spirits would take possession of their bodies and slowly begin to turn those men into monsters that were less than human, and yet something more. Eventually, these men would gain shapeshifting abilities, supernatural strength, and limited powers of flight. At this point, the men are no longer considered to be human and are instead monsters that view humans as being little more than their food.
By all accounts, the Ga-Git is a horrific-looking beast. The monster’s body is covered with heavy black fur, while its hands and feet are pawlike and tipped with razor-sharp talons. It has dark, beady eyes not unlike those of an owl, and a mouthful of needlelike teeth. The creature stinks of “filth, rot, spoiled meat, and dried blood” (Jones 20-21). It continuously lets out a deep, rumbling growl. The beast’s growls seem to be some sort of bestial language, but it is unintelligible to human ears.
The Ga-Git is said to be a nocturnal predator that hides and sleeps in the darkest parts of the forests and in dark, damp caves during the day, emerging to hunt for human meat at night. The monster primarily preys upon travelers that venture too close to its lair, whereupon it slaughters the victim with its ferocious claws. It will then feed on the victim’s flesh and blood. The monster is especially fond of ripping out and consuming the hearts of its victims. However, the Ga-Git will occasionally make forays into villages and even small towns in order to abduct people or to commit random murders. If it is feeling particularlybold, the monster will break into private homes late at night and carry off sleeping humans, kept in their dreaming state by the Ga-Git’s magic. The Ga-Git has only one thing in mind for these people, and that is to turn them into monsters like itself. In this way, they too will know the agony of the Ga-Git’s curse. If the creature so much as breathes on a human, the victim will become a Ga-Git themselves within days of the attack.
Despite its cursed nature, the Ga-Git is said to command a number of supernatural powers. This monster is a shapeshifter that is able to take on any form that it wishes, up to and including its original human form. The Ga-Git is possessed of unnatural strength, and is able to uproot large trees, shake houses (if not outright destroy them), carry off large whaling canoes (and possibly modern-day fishing boats), and can even lift a horse without breaking a sweat. Furthermore, the Ga-Git is imbued with the power of flight. However, the creature is limited in that it is only able to fly about six feet off of the ground. Only a very powerful Ga-Git is able to fly at any greater altitude (like over the top of a house). The monster also moves very quickly, making it nearly impossibleto escape from the beast’s terrible ripping claws. The Ga-Git, with its sheer strength and speed, is just about impossible to escape from and is just as difficult to fend off.
The Ga-Git has very few actual weaknesses, and there is no known way to actually kill the beast. One of the better defenses is to simply stay inside the house at night, but even thatisn’t infallible. The best way to escape the Ga-Git is to jump into the nearest body of water, whether it is the sea, a pond, a lake, or even a swimming pool. Because the monster nearly drowned once already, the Ga-Git has an extreme aversion to water. This suggests that water could be harmful to the creature, and it might even be possible to drown the beast. Of course, getting close enough to drag the thing into the water while avoiding its vicious claws and its overpowering strength is another matter altogether. Decapitation and burning the body to cinders afterwards are good bets as well. Because the Ga-Git flies so close to the ground, it is advisable to drop down to the ground in order to avoid its attack. But a man may have to repeat this tactic several times before the Ga-Git realizes that its would-be victim just isn’t worth bothering with.
In this day and age, most people view the Ga-Git as being nothing more than a scary story to keep children from wandering off into the forests all by themselves. But what if there is something more to the legends? The Ga-Git is such an obscure monster that even a casual Google search won’t turn up much of anything on the subject. An exception, perhaps, might be this blog entry. So, maybe people have just forgotten about it. In the end, maybe that’s just what the Ga-Git wants…
Sources
Harrison, Charles. Ancient Warriors of the North Pacific: The Haidas, Their Laws, Customs and Legends, With Some Historical Account of the Queen Charlotte Islands. London: Northumberland Press, Ltd., 1925. Pages 131-136.
Jones, David E. Evil in Our Midst: A Chilling Glimpse of Our Most Feared and Frightening Demons. New York: SquareOne Publishers, 2002. Pages 19-22.