Case file · Folklore / legend
Sisiutl, the double-headed serpent (Kwakwaka'wakw)
Sisiutl is a serpent with a head at each end and a human face in the middle; a glance from it could turn a person to stone, but its blood and skin gave warriors power.
1897 CE · 50.75, -126.30 · status: legend
The account
Sisiutl appears in Boas's 1897 ethnography and in carved house fronts, belts and headdresses of warriors among the Kwakwaka'wakw. It is a crest and a protector as much as a danger.
The sceptical view
Comparisons with sea serpents such as Cadborosaurus are modern; in the tradition it is a supernatural being.