Skinwalkers: The Navajo Mysteries, Amazon Prime
While you wait for the fourth season of Dark Winds, check out director Chris Eyre’s first go-round with the work of author Tony Hillerman in the 2002 miniseries Skinwalkers: The Navajo Mysteries. With Adam Beach as Navajo Tribal Police Officer Jim Chee and Wes Studi as Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, the episodes follow investigations based on the novels Skinwalkers, Coyote Waits, and A Thief of Time. As in Dark Winds, Eyre expertly weaves in tension and supernatural lore, giving these tales a touch of the uncanny while offering sobering glimpses of life on the rez.
Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn’s Treasure, Netflix
“I think it’s a good rule of thumb that most treasure hunts end badly,” says journalist Ben Wallace at the start of this three-episode look at the quest to find Santa Fe art dealer Forrest Fenn’s buried riches and the misfortunes of those who tried to claim it. With only a cryptic poem penned by Fenn to guide them, thousands of amateur treasure hunters—many of them completely unprepared—ascended the mountains north of Santa Fe and throughout the Rockies in search of the elusive chest. Before the treasure’s 2020 discovery in Wyoming by medical student Jack Stuef, five people perished, leading to calls for Fenn to end the hunt. From software engineer Justin Posey’s purchase of some of the Fenn treasure at auction—and burying it again—to hunters who tore their families apart with their obsession, the documentary is both an exciting adventure tale and a fascinating look at the human cost of greed.
Unsolved Mysteries: The Roswell UFO Incident (Volume 5, Episode 4), Netflix
Netflix rebooted the classic true crime series in 2020 and used the 1947 Roswell Incident to cap the fifth volume. Honed to tell complex stories in a short period of time, Unsolved Mysteries examines the incident through reenactments and documentary material that includes rancher Mack Brazel’s initial discovery, the government news release about the UFO, and the Department of Defense and FBI shutting down the story and pressuring witnesses to remain silent. Commentary from UFO researchers Donald Schmitt and Kevin Randle deepens the mystery, but ultimately only provides more fodder for conspiracy theorists.
Interested in more New Mexico legends? Read our deep dive into Billy the Kid's real story and the myths that shaped his legacy.