Beyond Skinwalker Ranch: Navajo Nation is CRAWLING with Skinwalkers (Season 1)

I’m super excited man because every legend that we’ve ever heard about skinwalkers starts with the skinwalker curse and this is where that Skinwalker curse is said to have started. This is the opportunity to really get to the heart of this story—what is the origin of the skinwalker? What are its powers? Yeah, and how much can we measure? What data can we collect?

One of the things that I think really excites me the most is the access that we’ve got here and the people who have agreed to speak to us because this is not something that the Navajo take lightly at all. To have two outsiders like you and me come in as investigators and work side by side with Navajo licensed and badged law enforcement like Stan and John is really unprecedented.

Yeah, and we have eyewitnesses and interviews lined up with people who are going to openly share their skinwalker story—stories they can’t even tell their neighbor for fear of some kind of social shame or worse. We’re going to have to be ready for anything.

To learn more about the skinwalker phenomena occurring in Navajo Nation, Andy and Paul arrive at No Water Mesa to speak with Navajo Rangers John Dover and Stan Milford.

“How did you get involved in doing investigations on phenomenon and high-strangeness reports?”

“The people that are experiencing these different phenomena, they’re traumatized a lot of times and they don’t have anybody to turn to. The chief Ranger, he called us all in and basically said that people are asking for help and you’re going to provide help. You’re going to go out there, you’re going to listen to what they have to say. From now on, when you deal with these kind of cases involving the supernatural or the paranormal, you’re going to investigate it as you would any other case.”

The chief turns to John and I and says, “And you two are going to be the ones that are going to lead the investigations.”

One of the things that we’re really interested in learning about here is the history of Skinwalker activity. Can you tell us a little bit about what the Navajos believe a skinwalker is?

“The skinwalker is a shape-shifter. It’s somebody who’s offered themselves, so to speak, and they sacrifice somebody in their family that’s very, very dear, very loved to them in order to attain this power.”

“When you say sacrifice, you mean kill them?”

“Kill them, yes.”

“Wow.”

“When this happens, then they’re brought in to a group of people and they’re taught how to do this shape-shifting. They’ll use the skins of animals. They can change into any animal out there that they have the skin of. Once they do, they’re able to run at incredible speeds. So regular people, as well as law enforcement, have seen these things personally.”

“Most people out here have seen them?”

“Most people, yeah. And have had some experience within their families, but they don’t talk about it. The only thing that’s different with us is we’ve investigated these cases and we’re not afraid to talk about it.”

This is exactly what we need because we’re here to gather data. You know, we’re here to look for evidence. We’re here to try to put some facts to some of these stories—these things that, you know, happen throughout this region that seem connected to what we’ve seen at Skinwalker Ranch. I just think you guys are going to be the perfect guides for us to get into this part of our investigation.

Paul and Navajo Nation Ranger John Dover meet with a local woman who claims her family was forced out of their home by Skinwalkers. She requested her identity be concealed for fear that telling her story could provoke further attacks on her family.

John has told us a little bit about your story.

“I come from a big family. I’m the eighth child, so we were all surrounded with a lot of siblings, and we all remember seeing Skinwalkers where we live. As we grew older, it was continuous. We saw it to this day.”

“And when you say seen Skinwalkers, tell me more about exactly what you’re seeing.”

“Skinwalkers that run like coyotes with deformed bodies, to start. Awkward, walking beings—walking upright like a person. Yes, but later on, it got more scarier. We saw shadows. We heard banging. As soon as it got dark, it sounded like a horse who would be walking around the house, and then it came inside. One night, my son went into his room, and next thing you know, there’s a lot of commotion going on. He was fighting something that grabbed him.”

“Could you see what he was fighting?”

“It looked like a devil with red eyes, with antlers, and running into the attic. It’s where it disappeared—into the ceiling of the house. Yeah, so that’s when my kids moved out and they said, ‘We don’t ever want to set foot back on this place. We don’t ever want our kids to come back to this house.'”

“Thank you, first of all, for sharing this and thank you for being willing to let us investigate your home.”

“What the family requests is that you guys don’t get hurt.”

“We’ll be very careful. It’s no joke.”

For the next part of their investigation, Paul, Andy, and the Navajo team head to the skinwalker victim’s abandoned homestead.

“We’ve got eyes on this house in every possible way. They’ve set up security cameras throughout the home as well as additional thermal cameras to monitor any temperature anomalies on the property.”

“Why is that camera switching views? What part of the house is that?”

“There’s a different image. What’s going on there?”

“That’s the one that’s mounted just inside the door, right?”

“Yeah, just inside the door. Let’s go take a look.”

“Yeah, let’s do it.”

“Alright John, I’m going to let you lead the way because I’m going to try and keep my eye on the screen here.”

“Hey, Andy?”

“Yeah, man?”

“Cameras come down from the wall.”

“The cameras come down?”

“Can you replace it?”

“I’m going to try and get up there and fix it, but even with it falling down, how the heck were we still getting—though? I don’t understand another image?”

“Yep, that’s the weirdest part. It’s one thing if it just falls, but why was it picking up another? Seemed like another room entirely.”

“Andy, how’s that?”

“You’re not going to believe this man. The whole time you’ve been in there, there hasn’t been a single flicker. What? The signal is strong and steady.”

“Feels like they left in a hurry, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, big hurry. Warm these walls are up around 41 degrees on some of this stuff. I mean, the wind is blowing through here. You wouldn’t expect that.”

“Here’s dressers with items still in them. I mean, it looks like they just got up and ran.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a little child’s handle.”

“Weird. This is the room where there was a fight with a dark figure with red eyes, and they said it had antlers like a deer, and that thing went up through and into the attic and disappeared.”

“Can you hear this, Andy? Come here. Listen in this direction right now. Do you hear any howling?”

“It’s a very faint howling that came from this direction.”

“They’re here.”

“I don’t know how to process through the idea that they are here.”

“John, while we make our way back to the front of the house, that sounds like a good plan.”

“Yeah. The spectrum’s not moving. That’s very different than what we saw in Satan’s Butte.”

“But this—the power and consistency of this thermal anomaly… what was that?”

“I’m glad we all heard that.”

“Yeah, I heard that too. I’m telling you guys, it’s here. It’s here.”

“That was a weird noise.”

“It’s definitely here. I honestly feel like we’re hearing some sort of call, like a holler or a yell, baiting us to go further.”

“Given everything we’ve seen and heard tonight, do you think that there’s really right now a skinwalker here with us?”

“Yes, I do. I do believe that. It’s not just the intuition that’s telling me that, but it’s all the physical evidence that’s been presented around us that says yes. There’s an oppressive feeling here. I mean, you walk into it, it hits you just like a solid object. This negative energy.”