S1:E6 The Legend of the Skinwalker

There are things going on in this world that cannot be explained. Things that move in the night, through the cover of darkness, which can never be fully seen, or unseen. They move about as animal, or half animals, or humans, yet they are neither. They are masters of mimicry. They may call out to you with the voice of a loved one, yet you know it cannot be that loved one. This week we bring to you, the legend of the skinwalker. 


We’re breaking some rules to bring you this episode. The rule according to the Navajo tribe is never to talk of the Skinwalkers...But, we’re willing to break the silence and if your listening well I guess you’re brave enough to hear it. A wise Navajo man once said, “You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.” Are you pretending to be asleep?

If you’ve never heard any stories of the Skinwalker, I’ll give you a little bit of spine tingling background about them. They are said to be dark witches who are no longer fully human, yet they still possess the ability to shapeshift, thus we get the term “skinwalkers”. Saying the name itself gives me chills because it has an unnatural feel to it.

The skinwalker folklore is very prevalent in Native American culture, especially within the Navajo tribe, although elements of this lore exist within the Hopi, Ute tribes as well. Although it is said that a skinwalker can be several different types of supernatural creatures, it is always commonly implied that they are dark, evil and unnatural. Their body image distorts and can appear as many different things, such as someone you know, or various types animals such as a coyote, deer, owl, goat, or even a bear. They leave behind a trail of mayhem and literally smell of a foul decaying rot. Usually if you see a skinwalker, it’s a bad omen that someone may get sick, hurt, or even die. That’s why many native americans do not speak about the skinwalkers because it is said that if you do, they will know, and it will draw them to you. This past weekend…we just make have just learned that the hard way.

All last week I immersed myself in native American stories/folklore/personalaccount, just pouring over everything I could find. Luckily I was able to find several really good accounts to share with you, not realizing that soon…I may have a story of my own. This past weekend we stayed at a hotel in Ashland. Just to get away and hang with the kids. We had a great time, except the reservation got messed up and I kept feeling like we should go somewhere else. But we swam and ate and played DND like some nerds. And settled into bed. As we laid down, and tried to fall to sleep a bird began to chirp. Which was odd. Tom… I think you were the first one to be liked, “Do yall hear that?” It was persistent and annoying. It was also odd and mechanical sounding and just seemed so out of place. I looked out the window and didn’t even see any trees except for a few saplings maybe 2 ft tall twigs really. The bird calls continued on and on. It literally kept us awake. At one point I even said, “Lets just go outside and see where it’s coming from and throw some damn rocks.” But immediately I had this voice in my gut say, very strongly, “NO! That’s what it wants you to do.” But I kept this to myself because I didn’t want to frighten the kids…or Tom. Eventually we fell asleep but I tossed and turned all night and woke many times. The next morning…Tom told me his dream. So yeah…

We came home and have gone about our business but I couldn’t get that creepy bird out of my head so I ended up posting it on our facebook page, if you haven’t checked it out yet, you should. But anyway, one of my buddies (who is also an avid listener, whats up Brent) is a ghost investigator as well. He has a fb page and youtube called Appalachia Uknown, which has some awesome videos you should check it out! So anyway I posted about the event, thinking I’d get nothing, but mstly I just wanted to get it out of my head. When brent sent me a video and said, you have to check this out.(CLICK HERE FOR FULL VIDEO) I’ll play you the audio. It’s from an investigation they did in west virginia in a cemetery. {put audio here] From about the 8 minute mark you start hearing the same weird bird noises we heard in the hotel in ashland, up until the screech at the end. Here is what Brent sent us after we finished watching the video. “Ok, so now I can tell my tale of a possible skinwalker. Assuming you heard the scream/screech on the video I linked. What you heard was the mimicked cry of a Barred Owl. I say, mimicked, because it did not have the chatter before or after and it was vocalized, not done the way a bird would sound. A few weeks later we went back. This time we saw the owl. Only, it was weird. We saw a white figure shoot up from the ground, as if a blanket were lying down and someone yanked it up into a tree. Then resting on a branch was this owl, staring right at us. So, we walked towards it, me keeping my IR camera trained on it. One thing about owls, they do not have orbital eyes. They are more tubular, so they can't move in their head. Where the owl is facing it's head, it's eyes are looking that way. The eyes were not round. They were tear drop shaped, like a human’s eye. Then there was the eye shine, or lack thereof. Even in IR it had no eye shine, just black eyes. As we got about 30 yards from it, it leaped from the branch and flew into the woods, disappearing from view. Then came another scream. Only this time it started out as a female primal scream and turned into the screech from the video. It lasted a good 15 seconds. Could that be a skinwalker, a changling, or just a really scary owl?”

WOW was all I could say. This really creeped me out. It gave me chills all over my entire body! What did we hear? Another friend of ours on the UITC facebook sent us another CRAZY experience she had with a skinwalker! This one comes from DJ, she says…

“I hate talking about it but I will. I was told when you talk about them, they know. Anyway..... my sister was talking to a native American. I think he was out west of us. We live in Kentucky. He had told her before, that he could shift and he mentioned skin walker sacrifices to her and he said that if she stopped talking to him, he would come here and watch her and she would know when she saw him. I see spirits and paranormal things a lot and I have since I can remember. I didn't know about what he said to her but at my mom's, which is beside my sister's house, I saw a tall skinny white figure with the head of a dog.... kinda like a husky head and it had black eyes and I knew it was bad. I made my mom and niece and nephew go inside immediately. I was in my van, so I left as soon as they were in the house with the door shut. The next night at my house, my daughter was outside saying good night and bye to her boyfriend and they saw a figure watching them from the driver's side of my van through the window. My daughter said it was shaped like toby's (our husky) head and tall and skinny. She knew nothing about what I saw at mom's. I went out to see if I could see it but I didn't see it then. I burned a juniper stick around my van and around my house and we prayed in the name of Jesus and I haven't seen it here anymore. That guy tried to call one more time the day after it was at my house. My sister and I look alike...I feel like it may have thought I was her.... idk.
On a side note....a few days before I first saw it at mom's, my sister said she was driving and out of the corner of her eye she saw a tall white skinny thing running fast enough to keep up with her at 60mph. She said it looked like what I said. None of us shared what we saw altogether until my daughter saw it. I'm planting juniper all around my house toward the end of March.”

This one creeps me out and I believe it to be authentic simply because…so many skinwalker account report of them having dog or wolf like heads and running alongside their vehicles upwards to 60 miles per hour! I’m glad DJ and her family are safe. I want to thank her for sharing that interesting account with us. Also, thank you guys for listening to us!

It is said that one, usually a witch or medicine, becomes a skin walker in the most heinous way. By killing their loved one. That kind of darkness is reserved for the most foul of beasts. It is said that they are taught by other skinwalkers, and usually travel in packs. I have also read that there is a song they must sing, but the words to that song are thankfully unknown.

The only way to kill a skinwalker is to call it by its true name! Once its identity is revealed it will die. Navajo elders also warn their children and grandchildren to never go into certain areas at night, and to never look a skinwalker in the eyes.

Thanks for listening to this bone chilling episode. We are going to sage ourselves now LOL. We urge you to stay safe out there, stay well, and be blessed. A VERY Special thank you to Brent of Appalachia unknown for sharing his awesome video and his account. GO check Appalachia unknown on youtube or facebook, or head on over to our facebook, we’ll post a link so you can find him and his other spooky investigations! Also, a HUGE thank you to DJ and her hubby for listening and for allowing us to share her story. 


Check Out These Awesome Links for more Skinwalker INFO!!!


Navajo Rangers!!

APPALACHIA UNKNOWN YOUTUBE!!


http://www.native-languages.org/kentucky.htm.

CHIEF DAN TELLS ABOUT SKINWALKERS!


Red river gorge skin walker stories: https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkWoods/comments/aym8or/a_weird_night_in_red_river_gorge_ky/


A great Article about Skinwalkers!!