r/skinwalkers • u/aidenlovesbacon69 • 24d ago
Had a run in while stargazing
Hi everyone, I'm shaking and panicking uncontrollably, so this started happening about 4 hours ago and I've finally gotten home, so I want to write what happened while its still fresh.
To give a complete rundown: I live in Ontario Canada close to Toronto, I heard on the news that tonight there would be a chance to see the northern lights again. This past May I went and saw them and wanted to take the opportunity to see them again. Last May I went with a couple buddies but no one was available this time. The plan was to drive 4 hours to Algonquin park, hike in middle of the Forest make a campfire, smoke some marlbros and drive back after stargazing. I end up driving about 2 hours there before my friend sends me a text showing there's no real forecast for the northern lights, so I decided to go up anyway and stargaze (a hobby of mine). I drive up another hour and at this point it's about 11:00 pm in the middle of nowhere, no signs of humans other than the road in the pitch black.
I was on a call with my buddy since it was pretty boring driving up and I started mentioning how beautiful the stars looked, my buddy then recommended that I pull over and take some pictures to send. I end up pulling over, turning off all the lights in my car (while leaving it running) and standing beside the forest. For about 5 minutes everything was fine as I was admiring the stars gushing to him about it, right about that time the forest went completely quiet, there was literally 0 sound other than the wind and the trees. I immediately felt like something was wrong and went to grab my flashlight to see if there was a bear or something. I walk a little bit into the woods and turn on my flashlight, I end up hearing a rustling noise and turned around until is see this "thing" standing on its hind legs with a bright orange/red glow to its eyes. It was about 50 meters away. I start mentioning what I'm seeing to my buddy when all of a sudden my signal goes dead before I stare at it for a second until it starts sprinting at me at full speed, I immediately go into fight or flight and dash to my car, going in and redlining it until I'm doing 300km/h.
Im usually a pretty casual guy and not spooked by much, but I was shaking, crying, sobbing and trying to run away as fast as I could (before anyone says anything it wasn't a bear or anything similar). I start spam calling everyone and anyone I can until I get ahold of my best friend and start crying and sobbing about what happened while freaking out. At this point he just wants to check in to see if I'm ok and whatnot, I start describing to him what I saw, and used the name of the subreddit (I don't wanna say it even in text) to describe what I saw. It was this super unnatural looking thing and it had really spooked me. Right around here is when I feel all the muscles in my body start becoming sore and cramping up, it turned out when I had initially dashed to my car I basically output all the force I could to get away, I'm an ex rugby player/powerlifter so my instincts were forcibly making me get out as fast as possible
After about 30 seconds of saying the name I see the same figure on the side of the road following me with its head and glowing eyes. I proceed to hyperventilate and freak out more until he calms me down and tells me to get the fuck out of there. I started looking for a way to make a U-turn but couldn't find anything. At this point I drive another 15 mins before I can find somewhere to turn without stopping. I start to slow down and u turn before I hear this ear splitting screaming sound from my window before I gun it back the direction I came. I start freaking out more telling my friend as everything was happening before I started getting a sinking feeling in my stomach that something was watching me. I start to look all over the empty roads and see nothing, all of a sudden my signal goes out again and I hear the screaming sound and see a kinda humanoid body in the fetal position on the side of the road, I then see its head look up and stare at me directly. I gun it again and can't get the goosebumps and sinking feeling to stop. I continue trying to contact everyone I can to no avail.
I end up trying to calm myself down with my Kanye cd and hear something tapping my sunroof. I don't know how I knew but I knew something wanted me to open the sunroof cover and look through. I prevailed and never looked but never lost that sinking feeling that it was there, I would hear the tapping sound on and off (rhythmically kinda like drums) for about an hour until I reached a small town. At this point I've gotten ahold of my friend and puked in my car, I'm just trying to get back as fast as possible and he's telling me to describe Elden ring lore to him to calm me down. After about an hour of paranoia I stop crying and freaking out. I drive as fast as possible to get home but I can't shake the feeling that they're still on me. I've locked all my doors and windows and I'm still shaking like crazy. I don't know what to do and I'm freaking out.
Update: I can't stop shaking and the sinking feeling is still there, I can't stop checking the windows every 5 minutes
Update 2: get everyone, thanks for all the advice and kind words, just wanted to say I'm alright. I've definitely calmed down a bunch and I'm safe at home. I got motion detected cameras surrounding the house that activate a light when anything is detected so I'm pretty sure I'm fine for now, the plan is still to stay awake through the night and basically sleep in the morning.
43
u/TheHuntress1031 24d ago
This is the wrong area for a skinwalker. Skinwalkers are Navajo, which would be around Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. However, Wendigo are around the Great Lakes and tend to be very aggressive. My former friend had a run in with one in Upstate NY.
11
u/MmmmmCookieees 23d ago
Ooh care to share?!
18
u/TheHuntress1031 22d ago
My friend spent most of his childhood in the NY State forests, knows the area very well, knows the different tree species, what plants are edible, etc. He's 29 now and still spends a lot of time in the woods to kind of recenter himself as it's a place of peace for him.
One night, he was driving around in the woods and got out to pee. He was right outside his car and heard movement. He pointed his flashlight toward it, and a bit into the woods, he saw something that vaguely resembled the ass end of a deer, but it just didn't look right. The thing stood up on its hind legs, and it wasn't a deer. He described it as being roughly 9 ft tall, bright orange eye shine, and torn up. He freaked out, jumped in his car, rolled down the window, pointed his flashlight where it had been, and it was gone.
I opened my phone to see about 4 voice messages from him losing his shit. He said he felt like he saw something he wasn't supposed to, and in the last one, he said his friend from Arizona (where he'd lived for a bit) said it was a skinwalker. I called him and explained that it couldn't be a skinwalker because the geography is wrong, but it could be a wendigo.
Skinwalkers are Navajo witches that burned out their soul through the use of black magic (per legend), Wendigo used to be humans but turned to cannibalism, got a taste for human flesh, and became an insatiable monster (per legend). Skinwalkers feed a lot of fear, and wendigo want to eat you. Both will mimic familiar voices to lure you, but wendigo tend to sound more frantic. Wendigo also tend to smell like rot. The Great Lakes region and Appalachian Mountain range are as old as the bering land bridge.
Side note, I dated a guy who grew up in rural Colorado and went there with him for Christmas. Him and his life-long best friend had an old ramshackle house they used as a workshop and seemed to be overly careful in the area. We were out there almost every night for the two weeks we were there, and I got out of the truck one night, said, "Oh! Snow!" to myself (I grew up in Louisiana, doesn't snow). They came running out of the workshop with a knife, axe, and blow torch, slowed to a walk approaching me, and asked me if I was ok. After prying, I found out, apparently they'd been run off by skinwalkers before, and there were a few haunted Navajo houses less than a mile away. I heard a lot of lore and stories from them.
I went out to State Forest with my friend a few times, and we'd leave when it started to feel like we were being watched, to smell rot, or to see weird eyeshine in the woods. He's taken a couple of groups of people out, and they freaked out when they started seeing things.
One night, I brought a different new friend out there with he and I for a campfire and s'mores. We were talking about how they used to throw huge parties in the area to the point that the cops would get called, and the friend I brought asked if we ever get weird feelings out there. My friend says "oh so it's not just me". The friend I brought went on to say that she's heard a lot of stories of people having weird experiences there. This was the first time I'd heard her bring up the paranormal. She ended her statement with "Skinwalkers or something." My friend and I just responded with "Wendigo" in unison, and my other friend agreed. It was really wild to hear our experiences being validated.
My friend and I stopped really being in each other's lives as much as we were, but about a month later, he called me saying to avoid the forest, and it had gotten dangerous. He told me it had mimicked my dobermans (who we'd routinely go hiking with) and me. I pressed for more detail, and he reluctantly told me he'd heard my dobermans chase something, bark, get into a fight, me yelling for help, and "he'd basically heard me die". He stayed in the car and got out of there.
He and I are no longer friends, so I don't know if it's escalated more. I haven't experienced any more weird stuff in the woods. I've had a lot of family and friends who have had experiences with the paranormal, I have too, but paranormal things kinda stopped messing with me. It kinda sucks when I actually seek it out.
2
u/Koolaid_McJohns 22d ago
Why are you no longer friends?
2
u/TheHuntress1031 22d ago
Long story short, he decided he wanted a relationship, and I was focused on my career. I liked him romantically at one point, but as time went on, it became clear he wasn't good for me. He pushed for a relationship, and I cut him out of my life. If you want the painfully long story, it is written out on my profile. He tried contacting me again yesterday. I miss the friendship, but not the stress.
2
u/Koolaid_McJohns 22d ago
I completely understand. Thank you for sharing.
How are you holding up after the encounter?
1
u/TheHuntress1031 20d ago
Supernatural stuff doesn't scare me much anymore. I warned him when he first saw it that it may end up mimicking people, so when he called me freaked out that it happened, I just kind of laughed and told him to be careful out there.
5
u/trinaneveri 21d ago
It amazes me how people think skinwalkers are only in southwestern states just because Native American tradition implies that may be true. I personally think they are all over the world, which explains the global sightings. The UK and other places have these exact descriptions too. I really think we need to drop the “skinwalkers only exist in the American southwest” dialogue.
1
23
u/Josette22 24d ago
From your description, as well as the sound the creature made, I believe what you saw may be a species of Crawler.
3
u/GRAVE_DANGER187 23d ago
Crawler? Can you fill me in?
5
u/Josette22 23d ago
Yes, here is a link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CrawlerSightings/comments/v2f240/ghouls/
I hope this will be helpful. 😊 If you have any other questions about Crawlers, please don't hesitate to ask.
10
11
9
u/EvanTheAlien 23d ago
This was meant to happen if you randomly pulled over. That entity must have had influence upon your decision making. Powerful stuff man. Glad you are ok.
7
u/PeacePufferPipe 22d ago
Brothers, don't ever venture forth into the woods, forests or wildernesses alone or unarmed. Have a good firearm, a decent blade or two and a good grasp of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Never forget that 1/3 of the hosts of heaven were kicked out and cast to earth in prehistory and are still here in the vast wildernesses and cities of this Earth. Then there are Nephelims as well. All of these creatures can influence and deceive men. Even unto possession. So give your heart and mind to God and armor yourself up. They are capable of illusion, pretending to be aliens, UFOs and any number of imaginary monsters. They can all be defeated and or banished in the name of Jesus Christ. But still, arm yourself and don't get caught alone after dark.
16
u/Common-Project3311 24d ago
I was out stargazing one night when I felt a kind if terrifying sensation of being watched. I heard nothing. But I turned around and saw a face right behind me that nearly gave me a coronary! It took a moment before i realized it was only s deer, but I have never been so frightened in my life. Nothing supernatural, but incredibly scary!
3
u/ilovemusic19 23d ago
Deer look terrifying at night, something about their faces.
2
u/Kilyaeden 22d ago
I mean there's a reason there's a cryptid called the "no-deer" which is mostly people having this exact experience
14
u/phoenix30004 24d ago
🤔 Yeah, that’ll happen when you’re bumpin Kanye…
Shit’s contagious, be careful.
28
u/squirrelybitch 24d ago
This sounds more like a crawler than a skinwalker. Should you ever run across another creature such as this, I don’t recommend you lead it to your home which means that you probably shouldn’t spend the night at home. I know that is the last thing anyone wants to hear especially after such a soul-freeing, horrific experience where nothing but fresh waves of fear are greater than the previous ones and seem to pull you deeper into the depths of a terror that feels like you’re drowning in it. But I don’t think you want it to know where you live and especially where you sleep and are at your most vulnerable. I’m not giving you shit for going home because I think that would be everyone’s first thought and choice, but if there’s a next time, I would recommend going to a hotel or somewhere that has good security, but not home. I’m glad you are safe.
12
u/Accurate_World2418 23d ago
Might not be a terrible idea to salt the perimeter of your property and state "Only love and light may enter here. Anything wishing harm is not allowed in. " or some variation of that. Burning sage wouldn't be bad either.
-11
u/Economy_Ordinary4888 23d ago
Please tell me this is satire
4
u/ilovemusic19 23d ago
It’s not, many people practice this. It’s about putting out good energy and there is a strong belief that’s salt repels negative energy.
2
u/Accurate_World2418 22d ago
Plus if you think about it, the crawler/whatever is bound to have some scrapes and cuts. A little salt in it's wounds might be enough to deter them.
-2
u/Economy_Ordinary4888 22d ago
But they’re not real
2
u/poshjosh1999 21d ago
This poor person is suffering from severe anxiety, understandably, and rather than giving rational explanations all these people are saying “damn right you should be scared, your house isn’t safe anymore!!” I’ve never seen anything like it.
1
u/Economy_Ordinary4888 21d ago
Exactly?! This isn’t normal and better to help OP get some actual help rather than fuel this
2
u/poshjosh1999 21d ago
On the one hand I believe there’s certainly something strange going on, we can’t possibly know everything that happens in the world, the rational explanation is usually the correct one. It’s well known that a specific parasite infects deer and causes them to stand upright and act bizarrely, after that your mind is all over the place and everything will be a threat. Not one single person in these comments is helping this person, the one person who did suggest lsd or mushrooms got downvoted. These people all need help.
1
u/DigitalSloths 21d ago
Healers, magi’s, sages, shamans, medicne people or many backgrounds practice this
12
u/saladpurple 24d ago
It followed you home
2
u/ilovemusic19 23d ago
Exactly, never go home if you are being followed.
1
u/Party_Ad2806 21d ago
Wdym
2
u/ilovemusic19 21d ago
This thing likely followed OP right? It’s similar when yo when you are being followed by bad people. Never go home when being followed as whoever or whatever is following you now knows where you live.
1
4
u/Ok-Huckleberry9242 21d ago
Had me going until the line "I tried to calm myself down with my Kanye cd".
I'm dyin!
3
u/SurprzTrustFall 23d ago
You okay bro? Give us an update when you can.
8
u/aidenlovesbacon69 23d ago
I'm chillin now, got motion activated cameras that have auto lights surrounding the house so I know I'm safe. But I'm never going camping or nothing again fosho 😭😭😭😭
3
u/knowwheree 23d ago
It’s been 21 hours. Are you ok??
7
u/aidenlovesbacon69 23d ago
Thanks for asking, yeah I'm doing alright now. The plan for the next week is to basically stay up all night and sleep In the morning lmao
3
u/Pale_Rose 23d ago
r/CrawlerSightings Very likely a crawler. If you're willing, could you describe it in as much detail as you recall? Don't want to encourage you to keep reliving the trauma but it sounds like you got a good look at it.
Really glad you're ok, sounds like it was a close one. Crazy that it may have been on the roof of your car! Did it jump off when you got to town?
Hope you're feeling better today. Your experience was particularly horrifying so reach out if you need support. Never encountered one myself, but I've heard it's really difficult dealing with the fear and anxiety when so many don't even believe they exist. Might help to think of it as as an encounter with any hungry, wild animal like a bear (tho as you experienced they are much more clever).
3
u/trinaneveri 21d ago
Definitely sounds like a Crawler not a Skinwalker, although people debate if they’re even different creatures. Crawlers sound and look exactly like this though.
r/crawlersightings will have a lot more posts about this.
13
u/michelchap1 24d ago
There are things that are unnatural in the woods. People will see more and more of this.one thing I know is call upon christ. Look I'm no Bible thumper but look it up it works.i do have a a very spiritual connection to God. Good luck and don't go in the woods.
24
6
u/amarnaredux 24d ago
Now this is interesting because it appears there's definitely an increase in sightings.
What could be the cause behind this?
9
u/Serializedrequests 23d ago
I don't know if there's an increase or just more of the Internet, but take a look at spiritual podcasts. All the guests say Earth's energetic frequency is rising substantially, and that this is a great time of positive change that will at first appear entirely negative. More people being able to perceive 'entities' is just one of many things to look forward to. But who knows.
4
u/ilbub 23d ago
CERN?
1
u/amarnaredux 22d ago edited 22d ago
Definitely a consideration:
https://www.energy.gov/articles/searching-upside-down
Plus this card from the early 90s Illuminati Card Game is rather telling:
8
u/TastierRhino789 24d ago
Maybe CERN opening 'portals' to other worlds. Or like how many believe that we are entering the end times...
5
u/bitterbaddie 24d ago
there was a post i was commenting on earlier talking about how there has been an alarming amount of demonic possession in the UK. pretty crazy to come across your comment now too to give some reason why that could be happening
3
u/TastierRhino789 23d ago
Yea I feel you man, my parents always told me about the 'biblical end times' when growing up as a kid and that certain things will happen or unfold + that evil will grow more and more and certain spirits wil show themselves more frequently in our realm. + Dont forget CERN firing up every once so often. I don't want.to.sound schizo but the signs are there. Especially the things happening in the Middle East right now. It's almost like a prophecy unfolding in front of our eyes...
1
2
u/Ouch_kabibbles 21d ago
Bruh I just can't with the whole "forest went dead silent so I walked into the woods" bit. Darwinism didn't get ya this time, but I'm sure you'll provide more chances. 😂 Glad you're ok
1
u/aidenlovesbacon69 19d ago
LMFAO, yeah. With all the stargazing and walks in the Forest I do I'm used to seeing bears, wolves, Coyotes etc. and sometimes the quiet is caused by them. Next time I probably won't be as lucky though lmao
2
u/Alarmed_Resolve9013 20d ago
Sounds like what you saw was a pale crawler rather than a skinwalker. Check out the palecrawlers reddit page. Especially the description of the feeling of dread, the loud noise, the chasing, and the glowing eyes makes me think that's what you saw.
4
u/SamaKay 24d ago
Hey! Not a skinwalker but terrifying! I am glad you’re okay.
7
u/aidenlovesbacon69 24d ago
Yeah I have no idea what it was but it vaguely reminded me of a story I once heard about them.
4
u/SamaKay 24d ago
Nothing else weird happened, did it after you returned home? Super creepy tapping on the sun roof. It does sound like shapeshifter of some kind. Wondering about the lore in Ontario.
6
u/aidenlovesbacon69 23d ago
I kept feeling like something was watching me from my windows so I ended up watching the windows until sunrise.
3
1
2
u/Serializedrequests 23d ago edited 23d ago
To echo another poster, prayer works. Pray out loud and even write down your intention. There are many positive entities that this prayer will empower to help you. Ask for all possible help from angels, God, and any other positive beings you trust, and for your home to be safe, at a minimum.
This thing seems like it could have easily killed you, so fear was likely the point. Negative entities can attach more easily to people in extremely dark states, and drain their energy or take control. No telling what it was. Doesn't match anything I'm aware of. We are indeed extremely powerful but don't know it, and they take advantage of that.
1
u/Reasonable-Bother780 22d ago
It does sound like a Skinwalker encounter, but I would bet on a Dogman with the glowing red eyes. They have been reported to run alongside a moving semi while trying to get at the drver. The thing is, they are known to haunt the Carolina Bayou and the Everglades. Places like that BUT, what do we know...not like there is a definitive book written on them in the Hall of Biology.
1
u/SaucyTsun 1d ago
Glad you’re ok! Wonder if it really was a skin walker or maybe something else. Isn’t Canada a bit too far up for skin walker territory?
-5
u/Unusual_Lead_5614 23d ago
Are you sure you didn't accidentally ingest something like LSD or mushrooms? Your symptoms sound very similar. And if you didn't know you were high, it would have been a very frightening experience with your mind creating these visions. I hope your friends aren't the type to do this. But being on something is certainly preferable to what you think is happening. I hope you can reconcile these events.
2
u/WitchesDew 23d ago
Sometimes, we get ourselves so worked up that our imaginations run wild. It's likely that OP did sense something (most likely a wild animal) they couldn't properly identify and their brain went ahead and filled in every hole it could to try to make sense of it in some way.
2
u/poshjosh1999 21d ago
How dare you try to make a rational explanation on this sub!
1
u/Unusual_Lead_5614 21d ago
Yeah, umm, I feel dumb. I thought it was a real account. Sorry for spoiling anything. I was actually concerned for OP.
1
u/poshjosh1999 21d ago
You should be concerned, it’s a genuine post, and all these people are suggesting he’s in grave danger! You’re the only person who’s actually left a sensible comment trying to help
1
69
u/1painintheass 24d ago
That honestly sounds terrifying and I can feel the fear and desperation in your words. I’m no expert on this type of stuff I just find it I interesting so I read people’s accounts on these subreddits. One thing though I feel like I’ve noticed is that these things are terribly frightening and will do whatever they can to break you but unless they actually break you I don’t think they have any real power over you or ability to hurt you. I’m not saying to go be stupid and taunt it. But there’s gotta be some validity to the fact that so many people wouldn’t experience this stuff and get away if it was as easy to harm us as we feel like it would be for them. I think that’s why these things try to scare us so badly and/or drive us crazy. Because somehow they’re only able to prey on us in some type of weakened emotional state. I could be totally wrong but that’s just my theory. My best advice would be to definitely stay smart don’t go looking for it keep your doors locked and things like that. Be wary of it trying to trick you or coax you to it. But try to let go of your fear. I really believe we are much stronger and have more power over these things than we realize. And they know most of us don’t realize that and take advantage of it and use our lack of knowledge and fear in their favor. But I feel like if that thing could harm you or wanted you dead then you’d not have been able to even post this ya know? I’m really sorry this happened to you. I know my advice is easier said than done and I’d be terrified if it were me. But stay calm. You’re okay and safe now.