Because of my extensive work in the southwest region of the United States, one of the things that I’m asked about on a regular basis is the skinwalker.
The term comes from Native tribes of the region and is generally thought to be a human involved with dark magic. Skinwalkers gain the ability to shapeshift into other forms, most commonly a wolf or coyote. They have long terrorized residents of the area and skinwalker lore reaches far back to before the white man came to the Americas.
A few weeks ago, I filmed a segment with my friends at Crypto Four Corners detailing my personal encounter with what appeared to be one of these strange creatures. (included in my post from 9/7/13).
There’s very little written about skinwalkers and information is difficult to come by. The subject itself is taboo among the Navajo and many non natives in the region are even hesitant to talk about the topic. That’s one of the reasons that Hoss Lors’ book on the subject is important.
“Skinwalkers Shards Linger” is newly published. While it’s a slim volume of around 50 pages, the quick read is well worth it as Lors details his own disturbing encounters with skinwalkers. Here’s a tidbit from the prologue:
“…a “gifted” skinwalker can assume the shape of any animal provided the man/woman has the skin of the animal. The most common is a wolf and the formation of the skinwalker is half man half wolf or even all wolf-I have seen both.
I am no expert and I have been almost killed by skinwalkers on two different occasions.”
While Lors’ may not consider himself an expert, his personal experiences while living in the heart of skinwalker territory certainly give him a unique perspective, one that gives you a sense of this creature, and the fact that communities in the region live with the reality of these things on a daily basis.
University of Nevada-Las Vegas anthropologist Dan Benyshek is quoted in the book regarding skinwalkers;
“…skinwalkers do all sorts of terrible things—they make people sick, they commit murders. They are grave-robbers and necrophiliacs. They are greedy and evil people who must kill a sibling or other relative to be initiated as a skinwalker.”
A chilling perspective on what exactly these beings may be.
One thing that I found especially fascinating was the revelation from Hoss that Satan Butte and Utah’s Skinwalker Ranch lie on the same longitude. I’ve done a lot of research in the Uinta Basin, the location of the infamous skinwalker ranch. Both the ranch and Satan Butte are focal points for a lot of strange activity including UFOs, time distortions and of course, skinwalkers.
Skinwalker Shards Linger is available from Amazon in both hard copy and e-book.
