As I mentioned above, the tlahuelpuchi can shapeshift into various animal forms. They change form by detaching their body from their legs (which they leave at home). They then go hunting, usually in the form of a bird like a turkey or a vulture. But before a tlahuelpuchi can enter a victims home it must perform a special ritual – it flies over the house in the shape of a cross from north to south, east to west. Coincidentally the shamans of the region cleanse the bodies of victims by uncrossing them.