Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by my newest supporters,
Emma Rachel, Jeffrey Ramona, and an anonymous contributor on Buy
Me a Coffee. Thank you so much for making the
show possible. Welcome back to Paranormal Mysteries, and thank you
for joining me as we explore the unknown. I'm your host,
Nick Ryan. I know that I haven't uploaded an episode
in quite some time, and I apologize, but I'm hoping
that tonight's show will be the first of many more
to come. I appreciate your patience and I figured that
the following encounter would be the perfect way to welcome
you back. Tonight's experience comes to us from a long
time listener, experiencer, and friend of the show named Cassandra.
Cassandra began sharing her experiences with me back in twenty nineteen,
and she has always been forthright regarding each of her encounters.
This is why when I saw that I had a
new email sitting in my inbox that involved one of
these creatures, I gave it my full attention, and I
hope that you will do the same. Cassandra calls her
experience the Skindilo. Cassandra says greeting's Nick. In the early
spring of nineteen ninety five, I was reunited, albeit briefly,
with a man I dated in the mid to late eighties.
I have no contact with him now, so I don't
mind using his real name, Mitch. He was tall, dark, handsome,
and had bright green eyes. He was the kind of
guy you might see on the cover of a romance novel.
He always wore black, and he honestly pulled it off
really well. He was suave, sexy, intelligent, and best of all,
a true gentleman. He opened doors for me, paid for
all of our outings, no matter what they were or
how much they cost, and to say that he was
well off was a bit of an understatement. Mitch owned
property in Park City, Utah, where elitists go to show
off how fabulously wealthy they are. Until Robert Redford passed away,
Park City was home to the Sun Dance Film Festival. Sadly, though,
it's being moved to somewhere in Colorado. Park City sits
along Interstate eighty, right on the western edge of the
Juina Mountains. Beautiful high desert meets up to lush pine
forests that sprawl as far as the eye can see
its breath taking up there with crisp mountain air in
cooler freshing springs. Owning property up there is in itself
a declaration of wealth as well as status. The cheapest
homes are still worth millions of dollars, and they look
at Mitch's summer house looked out over a swath of
hillside that butted up against tall pines. Horses grazed lazily
in the pasture, and deer frequently hopped the fence to
dine with them. The home boasted seven bedrooms, all with
private bathrooms, an elegant dining area that would seat up
to twenty people comfortably, to private theaters, an indoor pool
and hot tub, gaming room with pool table, dart board,
and a fully stalked bar made of New England oak.
You get the idea. It was definitely a different way
of life from growing up poor in a run down
trailer court, that's for sure. One morning, not long after
I woke, I stepped outside to watch the sun rise.
A light mist covered the ground and the birds were
singing their welcome to the rising light. Walking around the balcony,
I was greeted with a hot cup of coffee. As
Mitch sat at the little table reading whatever it was
that captured his attention in the newspaper that day. The servants,
yes he had them, brought out bowls of fruit and
cream for us to snack on while breakfast was being made.
It was peaceful and quiet, a major change from life
in the Salt Lake Valley, to be sure. But then
everything went quiet, the unnerving calm that usually precedes the
appearance of darker energies. I felt it, slithering over the ground,
like an inky tendril of the purest evil. Mitch, oblivious
to everything but his paper up to that point, looked
over the top of the newsprint and out at the field.
Getting to my feet, I walked slowly round the balcony,
trying to see what might be causing this unpleasant sensation.
But then I heard it. A woman's voice was calling
out in the stillness. Help help, I'm lost and I
don't know where I am, she cried. Now I've mentioned
before that I am both native from a Lakota Sioux
tribe and drew it with my family lines dating back
more than two thousand years. This is according to the
genealogical library that we have in downtown Salt Lake City.
Right away, I knew with every fiber of my being
that this was no woman. The hairs on my arms
stood up, and an icy chill flowed suddenly through my veins.
By now Mitch had gotten to his feet and was
now following me. His eyes were now scanning the distance
for this damsel in distress. I raised my hand to
silence his question before he could ask it, not wanting
to alert the sudden unwelcome visitor to our presence. However,
I needn't have bothered, as it already knew that we
were there. At the far end of the pasture where
the horses had suddenly run from, stood a man. He
wore only boxer shorts and was shouting in his woman's
voice just outside the fence line. Mitch was done to silence,
unable to comprehend what he was looking at. I knew, though,
with everything in me, I knew it was a walker.
I don't like saying the full name, as it's considered
a bad omen among natives, thus my calling it a
skindi loup. What the actual hell is that guy doing?
Mitch asked, breaking the silence. Don't draw attention to us,
stay quiet, I whispered, but he didn't. He called out
to the man, which went ignored. The walker then changed
tactics and began shouting in a man's voice that he
needed help and that he was injured. What if it
really is just an injured guy, Mitch asked, looking from
the creature back at me. It isn't trust me, I answered,
But then before I could stop him, Mitch whistled at it.
Now it's a known fact that you never, and I
do mean never, whistle at a walker. It not only
draws their attention to you, but it greatly angers them. Well.
The walker turned its head, its eyes locking with Mitch's
before spotting me. It was then that it led out
a roar and started running at us through the fence.
I grabbed Mitch's arm and raced for the house. The creature,
already running faster than a human ever could, dropped to
all four and increasing its speed and closing the distance
between us in a matter of heart beats. Reaching the door,
I quickly locked it and I closed the curtains, not
wanting to see the walker that was now on the porch.
What the hell is that thing? Mitch stammered, too shock
to move away from the door. It's a walker. Are
there any other entrances to the house other than this
door and the front door? I asked, pulling him away
from the door. The there's a door in the wine cellar,
he replied, his voice quivering where I asked. Following him
from the bedroom, we heard a deafening scream that was
silenced into a guttural sputter. Reaching the cellar door, I
barely got it locked before it began shaking violently. Looking
up at Mitch, I saw his skin turn visibly pale
from a light tan to a ghastly white. He was
frozen in fear, and he was unable to break free
from the terror that held him. Mitch I shouted, trying
to snap him out of his stoopor slapping him. I
watched him come back to himself, albeit only slightly. He
thankfully found his footing and then rushed from door to door,
making sure the entire house was locked up tight. The creature,
angry that it had been stopped at the cellar door,
then proceeded to run around the house looking for any
way in it could find. Down in the kitchen, the
staff were huddled together in a bawling pile, terrified of
what was trying to get in, despite not knowing what
it was, reaching for the phone so I could call
the police. I was only mildly surprised to find the
line was dead. The power was next, leaving the whole
house in eerie darkness. Trying to calmb the kitchen staff,
I spoke softly to them it was a lost cause, however,
as how do you rationally explain something like that to
people being ruled by their fear? Hours went by, all
the while the walker was pacing the perimeter, looking for
a way in, a window, a door, anything. I smell
your fear, and I hunger. It starled outside the main
bedroom window. I'm not afraid of you, Mitch replied, cocking
the double barreled shotgun he now held in his hands.
Don't talk to it, Mitch, I scolded, trying to keep
my voice steady. Seeing the look in his eye, I
knew Mitch was about to do something stupid. Sure enough,
he flung the balcony door open and pointed the shotgun
at the creature, covering my ears as he fired the
first round, then the second, I felt the bile rising
in my throat. The creature was laughing, cocking it again.
Mitch unloaded the weapon on the creature, but it did nothing.
The creature was enjoying the chaos that it was causing
in my partner. Come back, Mitch. You can't hurt it
with that, I called, begging him to listen. You can't
hurt me. You can't hurt me, it mocked in a
sing song voice, Finally getting Mitch to come back inside,
I huddled close to him, wanting this man who stood
six foot four and weighed almost two hundred and fifty pounds,
to block the creature's view of me. And it was
then that I realized something I hadn't before. Nick. We
were on the second floor of the house and the
walker was now climbing up to us. I began praying
to the Goddess to protect us like I've never prayed
before or since. And it was then that I heard it.
A small voice from somewhere behind me was telling me
to get into the closet. I listened, and I dragged
Mitch with me, locking the door. We sat in total darkness,
listening as the glass broke, the creature still mocking in
its sing song tone. Closer, closer, the steps came until
they stood just outside the closet door. Now, this closet
was more than fifteen feet long, ten feet wide, with
fifteen foot high ceilings. It was basically the size of
my bedroom in the apartment I currently live in, though
my ceilings are only eight feet high. I'm going to
savor every delicious drop of your blood. The creature growled
as it was trying to handle, But just then I
felt a warm glow wash over me from the back
of the closet. Not wanting to look away from the door,
I shifted slightly so I could catch what was starting
to appear. Out of the corner of my eye. In
the growing light, I saw the form of a Native
warrior in full dress manifesting before my very eyes. Mitch
saw it too, and he asked, what the hell is that?
It's a spirit warrior. I whispered, Now, I've shared an
encounter I had with a native entity with you before.
This guy, while familiar, was definitely not the same entity.
He looked like images I had seen at the library
of a shaman. He locked eyes with me briefly before
walking through us to get to the door. It was
a sensation I'll never forget. Slowly I got up to
my feet and began following this entity. Mitch was tugging
at my sweatpants, trying to get me to stop moving,
but I didn't. I called out to the shaman, and
I told him to use my body if he needed to.
He did. Now this next part was related to me,
as I have no memory of anything from that moment on. Apparently,
I began chanting in what Mitch said sounded like Navajo
before I opened the door. The creature stood before me,
anger radiating off of it in palpable waves. I raised
my arms and a ball of golden light began taking
shape in my palm. This light grew until it filled
the entire room, swallowing the walker in its pure energy.
The walker then screamed in agony, clutching its head. Mitch
said that in the face of this warrior shaman, the
Skindilo turned and then ran, shattering the other glass door
on its way out to the balcony. It then leapt
down from the second story, and it raced back into
the trees. I awoke some time later to a paramedic
kneeling over me, holding a tiny package of smelling salts
under my nose. I always thought the reaction to those
on TV was exaggerated. It felt like a jolt of
electricity exploded under my nose, sending shock waves throughout my
entire body. Blinking in confusion, I sat up with the
help of the EMT. He asked if I remembered what happened,
to which I answered no. Mitch then gave my hand
a squeeze, drawing my attention up to his face. He
was crying hysterically, having thought that I was dead, he wrote.
In the ambulance with me to the hospital, where I
was eventually given a clean bill of health. However, one
of the ladies from the kitchen wasn't so lucky. Apparently
the creature had scared her so badly that she had
a heart attack, and she passed away on the scene.
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I'll be right back. After these brief messages, Mitch began
losing his mind after that day. He was seeing shadows
everywhere and started carrying a gun everywhere he went. I
didn't like the person he was turning into as he
became unstable. Alcohol was consumed in great quantities on a
daily basis, and the last I'd heard, he had sold
the property and moved to another state. He couldn't cope
with all that had transpired that day. I never heard
from him ever again. Well, there it is, my unfortunate
encounter with a skindilow. If there's one thing I know
for certain, one word of caution I could express to
your listeners, it's this, Not all cries for help in
the woods are genuine. Listen and be ready to help,
but at the same time, be ready to run. But
whatever you do, don't whistle at a walker. I hope
you and your family are well and are thriving in
these crazy days. Take care, my friend Cass. After reading
through Cass's experience multiple times, I had a lot of questions,
and she was kind enough as always to answer each
and every one of them in detail. First, I asked
her what the weather was like that morning, what the
creature's appearance was like as it got closer to them,
and how this thing managed to cut the power to
the house. She had this to say, I never have
a problem answering your questions, as we don't really learn
anything if we don't question. Right, So this happened in
the spring of nineteen ninety five. There was a little
snow on the ground still outside the property as memory serves,
though I don't recall there being a lot of it.
The home sat on the south side of the mountain,
which always gets more sun. It's visible from westbound I eighty,
just before you drop down Parley's Canyon going into the
Salt Lake area. The walker looked like a bodybuilder to
a degree. He stood around five foot ten head, broad shoulders,
and muscular legs. When it turned to face us, it
didn't look like anything but a normal man. However, as
it started to run in our direction, it went from
a typical man shaped creature to something hyena shaped as
it ran on all fours, meaning the front half of
the body was higher off the ground than the back half.
As it ran, its skin was bumpy, as though it
either had ingrown hair or possibly was even a little scaly.
It only had hair on its head, shoulders, lower legs,
and chest, but it was sparse everywhere but the head.
The hair itself was long, inky black, and had a
rather greasy appearance to it. Its eyes were larger and
blacker than the darkest cave I've ever been, and I've
done a little spelunking in my youth. It felt as
though if I didn't look away, that the eyes would
swallow me whole. Its mouth stretched horribly to reveal an
ear to ear grin of sharp pointed teeth, and the
massive hands had long, spinly fingers and jagged nails. The
feet were elongated as well, as though someone put its
hands and feet in a taffy pullar to stretch them out.
They were really disproportionately long, and the smell was something
else like rotting flesh. It churned my stomach terribly, and
I'm pretty sure that I vomited from it. Those were
the only changes it made as it grew closer. But
despite what my eyes were seeing and my heart acknowledged,
my mind still registered it as human, which is more
terrifying to me. How many of these things are walking
around out there that people aren't seeing. They can make
people forget, and they can hide in plain sight, looking
no different from you or me until it's too late.
When the power and the phone line went out, I
think it was purely accidental, given the creature was clawing
and digging at the house as it looked for a
way in. I don't think it understood what the metal
boxes and cables outside were for, just that they were there.
Not an intelligent design, but just a desperation to get inside.
It never stopped making unholy cries of rage or frustration,
which obviously didn't help the situation. I then asked cass
how she was able to interpret and cope with such
a horrifying experience, and also what she would recommend to
any one who may possibly encounter something similar, and she
went on to say this in the eighties, not long
before Mitch and I started dating, the first time, I
found myself in a group of friends that was composed
mostly of Navajo. They spent six months in Utah. In
six months on the reservation in New Mexico, I got
to participate in some other activities, which was something only
permitted because of my Navajo heritage, and along the way
I became friends with their shaman. He told me that
I was an old soul, which is something that I've
heard my entire life, and that I had knowledge that
most people couldn't possess because they refused to see the
world around them. We spoke of spirits, demons, and things
that science couldn't explain. He told me that I was
a medicine woman in a previous life, and on one
of our guided spirit journeys, it became clear to him
that my soul was meant to fight the darkness that
was trying to swallow this world. He said that my
spirit animal, the owl, would always guide me on the
path I was meant to travel if I allowed my
heart to listen. I resonated with this very strongly, as
I've always had a great fondness for owls. On one
trip to the reservation with my friends, we encountered something
off the side of the road that concerned this shaman.
We were returning from a day of fishing, and the shaman,
who was riding in the front passenger seat, spotted it first.
He said he needed to perform a protection ritual on
us when we got back to keep the thing that
we saw from finding us when we slept. It wasn't
a walker, but something else entirely. It was tall, spindly, hairless,
and almost skeletal. It almost looked like what I imagine
the emaciated, mangy skin and bones dog man would look like.
That in itself was scary, and thankfully I've never seen
it again. The shaman told us that it was a
type of demon that hunted the darkness and would typically
prey upon the unwary traveler. I don't remember what he
called at, but it definitely wasn't a walker. Cassandra then
continued to explain how she was able to deal with
what she and Mitch encountered that morning. I think I
was acting on instinct, to be honest. Maybe it was
something I had learned in my life as a medicine
woman that surfaced when it was needed. Most I honestly
don't know. As I stated in my previous email, I'm
loco to sue forty three percent according to the ancestry
DNA test I did a few years ago. Could it
have been knowledge from my past life? Honestly, that's probably
what helped me in that dark nightmare Our consciousness does
not begin or end with our birth or death. It
lives on, sometimes taking possession of another body, be that
human or animal, and it guides us in our lives.
Science is now catching up to what many cultures, Native
included have known since the time of the first songs.
We are more than these bodies we inhabit. The encounter
definitely changed me. I look at the world with a
more aware sense of what's out there. Not everything we
see with our eyes is as it appears. Sometimes we're
shown things in a way our brains can comprehend to
make sense of the senselessness. Walkers quite often look as
normal as you or me, and will keep the facade
up until they're close enough to strike. It does make
me wonder, though, some of the missing person cases that
occur in the woods, could they be the victims of
a walker or possibly some other unexplainable phenomena. It's possible
our world as we know it is changing, becoming larger
and in some cases more terrifying. If there's one kernel
of knowledge I can share something that I've learned firsthand
from this encounter. It's firstly to try and calm the
racing heart and mind, Panicking doesn't help, and fear can
and frequently does cloud your mind and it overwhelms your senses.
It makes you act irrationally. The best protection from evil
entities that you have is your faith. It doesn't matter
if you're Christian, Muslim, Druid, Native, et cetera. Your faith
can protect you from the darker things, but it's not
always fail safe. Doubt is the enemy of faith, after all.
Don't go looking for the darkness because it's guaranteed that
you'll find it. Don't invite evil into your home, and
don't think that you're safe just because it's on your
TV or your phone. Should you find yourself face to
face with what could potentially be a walker, don't draw
attention to yourself and never whistle at it. It drives
them to great anger. If you're camping, take some of
the ashes from your campfire obviously not when it's a blaze,
and surround your campsite with them. Salt works as well.
Trust your instincts. Your body has a built in sense
of preservation and if you let it, it will go
into whatever survival mode the situation demands. Rosemary and Juniper
are great to keep around the house as well as
rosemary grounds you and juniper helps drive evil away. People
often say to save your house as a means of cleansing,
but sage opens a door one that swings both ways.
Do research before you run out and buy things. People
often think that buying a kit will tell you what
to do, and some of them do have really good information,
but buying commercial cleansing kits can do more harm than
good if the person you using them hasn't done their homework.
Another tool that I use is a necklace I wear constantly.
It protects against negativity and I'm certain that it saved
me from a potentially bad situation with my axe. It
had three stones, hematite, labradorite, and snowflake obsidian, and it's
wrapped with a silver wire on a silver chain. Hematite
is a grounding stone, helping one to remain calm. Labradorite
is a magical stone that surrounds one in protective energy.
Snowflake obsidian is a protective stone that guards against negativity
and evil. Specifically, silver is a calming metal that's often
linked to the moon and feminine energy, and is soothing
in its quiet strength. When worn together, they act as
a barrier protecting the wearer from evil and negativity. I
would absolutely love for others to know how to guard
themselves against creatures like this. It's a growing phenomenon that
more and more people are finding themselves f to face
with and most people are unaware of what to do.
I'm always available to help, and if this info can
help and protect others from these things, even better, Your
friend always, cass As the Night's journey comes to an end,
I'd like to thank you again for joining me and
I truly appreciate Cassandra for once again sharing her terrifying
encounter with all of us. And if you've encountered the unexplainable,
please consider sharing your experience with me at Paranormal Mysteries
podcast dot com. All experiences, no matter how strange, are
always welcome. In the meantime, have a wonderful rest of
your evening and I'll be back in a few short
days with more tales of the unexplained. And until then,
please remember, don't wait for the unknown to come to you,
get out there and find it.