My name is Brad and I’m 39. I live in canada in the province of Saskatchewan and i believe that ive encountered a skinwalker. To start with, let me tell you a bit about the area.
Saskatchewan is a beautiful and wild place. With a landmass of 652000km2 and a population of a little over a million people. It’s a lot of open space and not a lot of things to fill it. In places you can see for what feels like 100 miles with nothing to obstruct your view. The air has a special clarity to it and throughout the spring and summer months it carries a feeling of birth and life and renewal that can’t really be explained only experienced.
It’s definitely way too cold for way too much of the year but seeing the harsh winter disappear is really something to behold.
One day the ground is covered in snow and ice. The temperature is below zero and my dogs can barely be talked into walking down the steps from the deck to the lawn to do their business. Then Seemingly a day later, the snow is all but gone, the sun is shining and having to step outside no longer feels like a punishment.
Then all at once everything explodes into a flurry of activity. Trees that were bare and lifeless yesterday are suddenly green. The sky is filled with insects you hoped would not be back. Mosquitoes the size of small pigeons buzz through evening skies redolent with the smell of earth being turned in the fields. The preparations for another year’s labour. Saskatchewan grows grain crops that feed the world.
It’s funny really, I’ve lived here all of my adult life having come from Toronto at 18 and I still regularly stop and look around in breathless wonder at the sheer beauty that surrounds me.
It’s called the land of the living skies because of the sunsets we enjoy here. They are like nowhere else in the world and have to be seen to be believed. Red, orange, pink, purple and golden light splays through cloud laced and darkening skies and after more than 20 years I still stop and watch.
But my favorite time has to be late fall. When the leaves have all gone off the trees and the night time frost doesn’t melt during the day. Sometimes late at night you can step outside into the still and frozen hush and look up into a clear sky dripping with diamonds and see the northern lights dance and play through the air.
I recall one night shortly after moving into this town standing on my deck at about 1am. The world was asleep. The highway is too distant to hear the occasional car traveling down it in the night and the 4 mile access road into town was empty of traffic. I was alone and I felt it. This great weight of solitude.
I looked up and saw the northern lights. You never really get used to it. Watching bright green streaks of light flash and ripple across the sky is awe inspiring.
Suddenly the stillness was broken by the sound of a pack of nearby coyotes and as I stood there watching the sky listening to the animals yipping and howling that sense of isolation came over me stronger than ever and I’m not ashamed to admit that I wept until the tears dried cold on my face.
Not out of sorrow but from gratitude. Because I felt like this display of simple and natural beauty and life and the majesty of the universe had been meant for me alone to see and experience and keep with me always.
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I’m not going to tell you the name of the town I actually live in. I dont want to take even a small chance that someone would come looking but ill tell you a bit about it.
I guess the first thing to say is that it’s small. You can stand at the southwest corner and see both the northern and east edges of town. It wouldn’t take long at all to walk every street in town and see all we have to offer.
We have a population of around 500 people. The business district is entirely contained to one block of main st and boasts a post office and a bank among a few other shops.
It’s a quiet place. A safe place. You can send your kids out to play and not worry about who they might encounter. The biggest concern we’ve faced this year was the morning a cougar was spotted in town. Not even a big deal as long as you keep your pets inside. Cougars are afraid of people and will avoid a confrontation whenever possible.
We have a school which teaches kindergarten through grade 12 all in the same building. This past year’s graduating class was about 6 kids.
It’s a nice place. It’s my home. And until recently somewhere I felt safe.
Thursday August 11 was a day like any other. It was warm but overcast and raining on and off all day. I was disappointed because there was supposed to be a supermoon that night, the last one of 2022. I wanted to see it but figured the sky would still be cloudy and I’d be shit out of luck.
But come about 9 pm the cloud cover blew away and slowly dying sunlight was streaming through my living room windows. Daylight fades slowly this time of year on the prairies so it would be awhile yet before the moon would be visible.
I was enjoying a quiet evening at home as usual. Just relaxing on the couch and watching some TV. My two dogs were particularly energetic, chasing each other through the house and playing tug of war with different toys.
Sam, the younger of the two is an SPCA rescue of no determinate breed. I saw a picture of him on their website and was instantly in love. He was a little ball of black fuzz and a partial ocular albino. He has one normal dark brown colored eye and the other one is a very pale blue. He can see equally well out of both of them they’re just different colours. He’s dumb as a sack of hammers but he’s happy. He’s my good boy.
Juno came from a friend who’s dogs had puppies. She’s half pitbull and half black lab but her appearance and mannerisms are 100% blue nose pitbull. She’s loyal and fierce and protects her home, yard and her dad as though she expects an enemy invasion is imminent. She’s also chubby, silly and in truth a huge suck. She’s about 90lbs but fully believes herself to be a lapdog and cannot handle life unless someone is loving on her at all times.
Juno is the self appointed keeper of all toys and treats. Sam is not allowed to play with anything unless Juno gives her express permission and she is not usually in a sharing mood even if it’s a toy she hasn’t so much as sniffed at in weeks. Sam absolutely knows how much it pisses her off to see him with “her” stuff and he uses it as tactic to make her chase him around and fight over whatever the item in contention is. A game to him and a mission for her, it had been going on for about an hour and the sounds of claws on hardwood and barking growling dogs was starting to get a bit tiresome.
The sun had set by now and looking out my back door I could see the already bright moonlight pouring through the glass. It’s not uncommon for me to take the mutts on a night time walk before bed and I thought that it would make a good excuse to get outside and have a good look at the moon. Hopefully the dogs would burn off some this crazy energy they seemed to have by the time we got home and settled in for the night.
We have a particular that route we usually take. My house is right near the edge of town and within minutes we can be away from the houses and the reach of streetlights.
We walked up the block and past the school and very soon we were strolling down a gravel road. To my left and right fields of canola almost ready for harvest blew gently back and forth in the night breeze. The smells of life and growing things lifting from the earth with the escaping heat of the day.
Overhead the sky was crystal clear and the moon looked every bit as large and bright and as detailed as I could have hoped for. The night sky was alive with distant twinkling jewels and the moon was a brilliant glowing centerpiece casting more than enough light to see by as we made our way along the road.
Sam and Juno don’t really need to be leashed on our night time jouneys as they always stay close enough for me to at least hear them and if I call they are both well behaved enough to come back to me right away so I’ve never really worried about it. I’m sure they enjoy the freedom of wandering wherever their noses take them and they usually stick together so I just let them explore as I stared up into the huge incredible moon and my thoughts began to wander…
And that’s all I know. I couldn’t tell you a single thing I thought about while I walked that dark road. I dont remember any of the landscape as I passed but as my thoughts returned to my surroundings, I realized I didn’t even know where I was.
An almost crippling sensation of disorientation washed over me and I found myself short of breath and almost in a panic as I wondered, how had I gotten here? I mean I had been lost in thought for a couple of minutes but surely no more than that. I know the area around town well having spent many hours walking and driving along the backroads but nothing I saw looked familiar to me at all.
I took a glance around quickly and didn’t see Sam or Juno anywhere nearby and my panic quickly increased. I called out to them and did not at all care for the shaky quality of my voice. I was scared. I had no idea where I was or how long I had even been walking. That time was somehow lost to me. In my mind I had left the house no more than fifteen minutes ago and there was no way I could be lost.
I heard a loud rustling and shaking in the long grass to side of the road and I was more than a little relieved when the dogs came running out of it to my side.
I bent down to them, petting them both and taking some comfort from their warm and familiar bodies. I started to calm down a little and began looking around to try and identify where I was or the direction home lay in.
I stood in the middle of the road and looked in one direction and then the other. Behind me, maybe half a kilometer back I saw thick woods begin abruptly, and the road disappeared in its shadows. I must have come through that way but I definitely don’t remember any woods. Nor can I think of anywhere near town where there’s a forest of any size.
In front of me the road continued on for maybe only another 100 meters and I could see a sign with a blinking red light above it. I didnt need to get any closer to make out what the sign and light were indicating. It’s a dead end.
I didnt know what to make of this at all but at least it narrowed down which way to head. I turned and began walking back down the road towards the strange out of place forest.
At this point the dogs seemed to pick up on my feelings. They were walking just in front of me, staying close together and sniffing the air in front of them cautiously.
We were about 5 minutes into the woods when I realized there weren’t any animal or insect noises at all. There was no buzzing of night feeding mosquitos, no chirping of birds. No sound of small animals like raccoons moving through the brush. Saskatchewan is teeming with wildlife and night time in the prairies is a symphony of life moving on apace. Small animals eating and being eaten. The hoot of an owl riding soft thermal currents and hunting for field mice and rabbits. I heard none of these common and comforting night time noises and now that I had noticed it the silence seemed heavy and somehow sinister.
I quickened my pace as my anxiety grew and suddenly a terrible smell carried on the breeze hit me like punch in the face.
The smell of death and rot is not uncommon here. We have a huge population of animals like deer and moose and finding one dead in a field or by the side of the road is just a thing that happens.
The smell that assaulted my senses that night was similar but on a scale I can’t explain. It was bad enough to make my eyes water and the bile rise in my throat.
And then I began hearing sounds in the trees to the right side of the road. Quick running footsteps in short bursts and coming closer. Like someone was running from tree to tree, pausing at each one to hide briefly, maybe to make sure they couldn’t be seen, before coming a bit closer.
The dogs heard it too. Sam immediately tried to twist himself between my legs to hide forcing me to stop walking. Juno lowered her head and hackles raised began growling deep in her throat. A low and dangerous sound, obviously a response to something she considered a threat.
As I stopped moving the footsteps in the trees also stopped. I looked in the direction they were coming from but not enough of the moonlight was making it through the trees for me to able to see more a foot or so into them.
I decided that we needed to get the hell out of there and fast. Even if it wasn’t all the way home or I still wasn’t sure where I was I wanted to be out of those woods right now. I began moving again almost at a jog. Sam stayed on my heels and Juno ran in small bursts beside me, stopping every few steps to stare barking and snarling into the trees. I called her name to keep her close by and with me and my heart stopped when I heard it echoed back to me from the woods.
It sounded exactly like my voice at first. Repeating over and over. But as I listened the voice got lower and more evil sounding.
Juno started going ballistic. Racing back and forth along the tree line barking and growling and losing her shit like she was going to murder whatever it was that was frightening her. I tried calling her back to my side but she was beyond paying any attention to me in her rage and terror and she took off between the trees.
I screamed for her to come back but I heard her barks getting further away. She didn’t get far and the sound cut off completely all at once.
I didn’t know what had happened. I couldn’t see anything. I couldn’t hear her anymore. Sam sat at my feet shaking and whimpering. I didn’t know what to do, I’ve never been so scared in my life but I had to help my dog if she needed it. I told Sam to stay and took a step towards the treeline. I heard my voice echoed back again. Stay Sam and then a low dark laugh.
I got three steps into the woods when a dark figure stepped out from behind a tree about twenty feet in front of me. I couldn’t make out any details except its massive height - it looked to be at least eight or nine ft tall - and then I saw it’s eyes. Two burning yellow orbs floating in the darkness where it’s face was. An evil sickly light shining from them.
I froze in absolute terror. Every hair on my body standing on end and feeling like an electrical surge of fear was coursing through my veins. I turned and ran. I was out of the trees and back on the unfamiliar road in a blink and running as fast as I could go. I saw Sam race past me and continue on into the darkness. I can’t blame him. I wish I could run that fast.
I heard something big racing through the trees on my right and turned to see the shadow of the creature easily pacing me through the woods. It’s terrible glowing gaze fixed only on me.
Suddenly it veered out of the woods and straight at me. I tried to spin around it but I felt sharp claws dig into my skin and powerful arms wrap around me and I was hurled to the ground.
I couldn’t move. The smell was all around me, filling my head and lungs and making it hard to breathe. Whatever it was had flung me away from itself to the road and I heard it approach me slowly. I kept my eyes tightly closed. I felt it’s hands on me as it leaned down towards me and it’s breath on my neck and I was sure it was about to tear out my throat.
I squeezed my eyes closed even tighter and waited for the pain.
Suddenly daylight was searing my closed eyelids.
I sat up in bed confused and disoriented before relief flooded through my body and I actually laughed out loud.
A dream.
Still chuckling to myself I got up and answered the call of nature, then went to let the dogs out into the yard to do the same.
But I couldn’t find either of them. Standing in the kitchen I called to them several times but neither of them came. I began searching the house. I checked everywhere on the main floor even opening doors that had been closed to check the rooms behind them but nothing.
Beginning to panic I started down the basement stairs and heard a low whimper. I got to the bottom and called out to them again.
The whimper came again, along with a quiet shuffling from the far corner of the basement and I made my way over there.
I found Sam curled up tight and shaking, obviously beyond terrified behind a pile of stuff that’s stored down there. He had worked his way in behind a stack of boxes and was clearly trying to hide. Juno wasn’t with him. I reached down and stroked his head speaking to him softly. He gave me a half-hearted lick on my hand but I couldn’t comfort him or convince him to come out from his hiding place.
I decided to let him be for a few minutes so he could see that everything was okay. But where was Juno?
I searched the rest of the basement with no luck. She just wasn’t there. I began running through the house not really thinking about what I was doing, just in a blind panic to find my dog. I found myself in my bedroom again and decided to look out into the backyard.
I pulled the cord to lift the blinds and in the middle of the screen were three long slashes. The screen was cut to shreds. Even with the morning sun high and bright in the sky my blood turned to ice as I stood there looking at those tears.
I turned from the window and walked through the house to the backdoor where I put my shoes on and made my way outside. Juno wasn’t in the yard either. I checked all three of my sheds but was only greeted by the usual stuff. Pop cans ready for the recycling depot and the various instruments of lawn maintenance and stuff that has no place in the house anymore but hasn’t made it to the dump just yet. But no Juno.
I walked back through the yard to the gate leading to the front of the house and through it. In my front yard there is a small tree and on the side facing the street someone had nailed a squirrel through the chest. It was just hanging there, blood running down the tree trunk but still wet so it couldn’t have been there very long.
On the sidewalk under the tree I found three strange symbols written in what I can only assume was blood from the squirrel.
I dont know what they are or what they mean but looking at them scared me. As I stared at them it’s like I was held in place and couldn’t look away. The world around me began to fade out and from inside my head I heard a pulsing drum beat.
I bit down hard on my lip. Hard enough to draw blood and the world came sharply back into focus. The drums disappeared and I blinked and shook my head trying to clear it. What the hell just happened?
I had no answers to my self query and so I decided to move on. I got my hammer to remove the nail, some gloves and the garden hose and did what needed to be done to clean up the awful mess before any kids could see it and carried on trying to find Juno
I spent the better part of the morning walking up and down the streets of my little town calling for her but she never showed up. A bunch of neighborhood kids saw what I was doing and came to see if I needed help. I gave them a description of my girl, thanked them, and kept on looking.
By mid afternoon I had covered every street and back alley three times and saw no sign of Juno. I decided to jump in the car and tour around the backroads outside of town. I cruised in growing circles around and around but still found nothing so I did the only other thing I could think of. I went home and made up a pile of missing dog flyers and put them up everywhere and then just sort of walked around town again hoping I would spot her.
By sunset I still had no idea where she might be. I decided to head on home and make sure Sam was okay. I found him still cowering in the same spot in the basement but this time after about an hour of coaxing and reassuring him I was able to get him upstairs.
I made a light supper of smoked sausage and perogies but I didn’t really want it. Neither did Sam, I couldn’t even interest him in sausages. He was still terrified.
We called it a night around 1130 and went to bed. I lay there for a couple hours staring at the ceiling and stroking Sam’s head. I was scared and tired and sad. Terribly worried about Juno and I didn’t think I’d get any sleep at all.
The next thing I knew I was being woken up by barking from my backyard. I looked over at the bedside clock to see that it was 3:02 am. Sam wasn’t in the bed beside me anymore. I heard the barking again and quickly sat up, throwing back the blanket. I knew that bark as well as my own voice. Juno was outside.
I ran to the closed back door and was about to throw it open when I heard the whining coming from the basement again, louder this time. Sam was back in his hiding spot. I thought it was strange that he wasn’t at the door himself waiting for his best friend to come home but in my excitement at having Juno back I didn’t spare much time thinking about it.
I quickly unlocked and pulled the heavy storm door open to see an empty deck. Hearing Juno bark again I realized she was out in the dark yard instead of waiting at the door to be let in.
I have an outside light that’s motion activated and works on a timer so when you first turn it on it only stays lit for 30 seconds before shutting off again. I flipped the switch up and opened the screen door to step outside.
I immediately recoiled from the smell. That odor of rot, death and decay that I was surrounded by in my dream the previous night. The air was thick and heavy with the stench.
I covered my mouth and nose and walked further out onto the deck so I could see the yard beyond it. Just out of the range of the light I could see my dog.
She sat there in the shadows looking away from me. Feeling wary and confused I called to her asking her where she’d been all day. She began to turn her head towards me and the light clicked off behind me.
I quietly whispered “Juno…?” And as she looked at me her eyes lit up with the same unearthly yellow glare I had seen in my dream the night before.
My breath caught in my throat and I stumbled backwards tripping over my own feet and landing sprawled on my back. I heard Juno start to growl down low in her throat and I began to thrash backwards towards the door in utter desperate terror.
The growl turned into the same evil laughter I remembered from my dream as I found the wall and regained my feet, throwing myself back through the door and into the house.
I slammed the storm door shut and heard Sam from the basement once again. This time not whimpering but howling in fright.
My heartbeat was pounding in my ears. I was shaking and crying in abject fear. This couldnt be real this had all been a dream. I made my way to my sliding glass patio doors and looked out into the yard once again. She - it - was still there. Just sitting in the middle of the yard staring into the house with those demon lantern eyes.
I sat in the dark kitchen all night listening to Sam cry out his fear in the basement. I couldn’t leave the window to comfort him. I was terrified of what might happen if I didn’t watch the thing in my yard that looked like my poor lost pup.
Just before dawn it got up, made its way towards the fence and vanished in the shadows.
That was three night ago now and it’s come back every night since. It wakes me up at 3 am without fail barking and chuckling under my bedroom window until I get up and watch it. I tried ignoring it last night but after about twenty minutes a tapping and scraping sound started on the window and im terrified of letting things escalate any further. I dont know what this thing wants or how to get rid of it. I dont know why or how it looks just like my dog or what it wants from me, only that I’m scared and sleep deprived and I feel like I’ve lost my grip on reality.
I’m afraid to look. I’m afraid to not look. I’m afraid of what will happen to me or to Sam if this thing decides that it wants in the house.
The only thing I’m sure of now is that it will keep coming back. Night after night after night.