Written by : u/iced911

Year written : 2013

Okay. Before I tell my story, I will summarize what a skinwalker is to those that may not know.

A skinwalker is a being or entity that kills an organism and uses the skin as a disguise. It is mainly active at night but will observe during the day. It's favorite disguise is that of a human. A skinwalker's most noticeable traits are yellow glowing eyes and (if you can see close enough before you're killed) decaying flesh.

Anyway, I was heading to a small town in southern Utah with my wife and a couple of friends. We were on our way to see Lee, a friend of mine that we hadn't seen for a long time. We met up with him at his place and decided to hang out at a nearby lake. It was a typical quiet campsite with a fire pit and a couple of logs around it. We had a little picnic there and were exchanging stories and catching up with each other all day. Eventually, one of my friends, Bryce, got tired and decided to fall asleep in the car while the rest of us continued talking.

At this point, twilight had fallen. Erika and I were discussing something while my wife and Lee were talking about something else. All of the sudden, my wife and Lee fall silent. Erika and I quickly notice. We look at them and Lee says "Get in the car!" I asked him, "What's wrong?" And he say's "There might be a skinwalker out around." Now Erika and I had no idea what a skinwalker was at the time so we asked him to explain. After his explanation of what it was, Erika and I, being the only sensible thinkers at the moment and, Bryce just barely waking up from us jumping in the car, decide we should investigate, believing that it was probably just some kids in a nearby campsite trying to mess with us. We came to the top of the hill that was between our campsite and the next and looked for any likely candidates for the scare. None. All we could see was a couple of trees and some bushes. We even called out and there was no response.

As we were walking back to the campsite, we heard it. A rustling in the bushes behind us. We look again but see nothing. At this point we were considering that Lee and my wife may be right. We get back and it's getting dark fast so I ask them, "Is there something we can do to keep them away for a little bit?" "Yes." Said Lee. "They don't like fire." And him, my wife, and Bryce start working on a fire while me and Erika go down by the lake to collect the 2 liters we had put in the water to keep cold.

Now it's dark, and as Erika and I head back with the sodas, we hear rustling in the bushes beside us. We're both scared. We hurry back and start putting everything back in the car as quickly as possible while Lee made sure the fire kept burning. After getting everything in the car, I rush over to the fire pit and tell everyone to get in the car as I proceed to stomp the fire out. Right as the fire went out, I hear a blood-curdling scream across the lake. I felt my heart stop. Lee had said skinwalkers are fast and could make a full lap around this lake in a matter of seconds. I jump in the car and yell "GO!"

Right as the engine started and the lights come on, we see it... Coming out of the bushes in front of us... Glowing yellow eyes and what looked like a zombified coyote with decaying flesh... A skinwalker... We backed up and peeled out of there as fast as we could...

This happened two years ago and it still scares me to know how close I came to death... I am honestly amazed that we all survived such a close encounter with this... Being...