Editing Werewolf (section)

=== Americas and Caribbean ===
{{Main|Skin-walker}} {{See also|Soucouyant|Rougarou}}
The Naskapis believed that the [[Reindeer|caribou]] afterlife is guarded by giant wolves that kill careless hunters venturing too near. The [[Navajo people]] feared witches in wolf's clothing called "Mai-cob".<ref name="SAM">{{cite book
| author = Lopez, Barry
| title = Of Wolves and Men
| year = 1978
| isbn = 0-7432-4936-4
| publisher = Scribner Classics
| location = New York
| oclc = 54857556}}</ref>
Woodward thought that these beliefs were due to the [[Norse colonization of North America|Norse colonization of the Americas]].<ref name="Woodward" />
When the [[European colonization of the Americas]] occurred, the pioneers brought their own werewolf folklore with them and were later influenced by the lore of their neighbouring colonies and those of the Natives. Belief in the ''loup-garou'' present in [[Canada]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ransom |first1=Amy J. |title=The Changing Shape of a Shape-Shifter: The French-Canadian "Loup-garou" |journal=Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts |date=2015 |volume=26 |issue=2 (93) |pages=251–275 |jstor=26321112 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26321112 |access-date=24 August 2024 |issn=0897-0521}}</ref> the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of [[Michigan]],<ref>
[http://www.gphistorical.org/legends03.html Legends of Grosse Pointe].</ref> and upstate [[New York (state)|New York]] originates from French folklore influenced by Native American stories on the [[Wendigo]].

In [[Mexico]], there is a belief in a creature called the ''[[nagual]]''. In [[Haiti]], there is a superstition that werewolf spirits known locally as ''Jé-rouge'' (red eyes) can possess the bodies of unwitting persons and nightly transform them into cannibalistic lupine creatures. The Haitian ''jé-rouges'' typically try to trick mothers into giving away their children voluntarily by waking them at night and asking their permission to take their child, to which the disoriented mother may either reply yes or no. The Haitian ''jé-rouges'' differ from traditional European werewolves by their habit of actively trying to spread their lycanthropic condition to others, much like vampires.<ref name="Woodward" />