Kushtaka Land Otter Man Tlingit

nature-spirit · United States · North America

Kóoshdaa káa, the land otter man, is the shapeshifting otter spirit of the Tlingit, a being of the sea edge that appears as a man to lure the drowning and the lost, then transforms them into land otters of its own kind. Related beings appear as 'Watsa among the Tsimshian, and Tlingit hunters treated drowned folk with caution.

Open in the interactive archive →