September 2010

In the middle of nowhere, about a hundred miles east of Salt Lake City, lies a parcel of property with a long history of strange and terrifying occurrences.  The property is called Skinwalker Ranch, after the legends of the local Ute tribe, which holds that the property is the stomping grounds of the skinwalker.

The skinwalker is a Native American shapeshifting deity, attributed largely to the Navajo people.  The skinwalker is a malicious witch or warlock who can change shape by wrapping the skin of an animal around themselves.  Much like the werewolf of Western myth, the skinwalker's primary hobby is terrifying and attacking others. 

Skinwalkers may attack passing cars, or fling themselves at the doors and windows of a house in a furious attempt to get at the people inside.  The skinwalker can also emulate the call of any animal or person, and uses this power to lure people outdoors at night so that the skinwalker can attack them.

Investigators like the Ghost Hunter teams use a lot of expensive, specialized equipment in their investigations.  But you can hunt ghosts on your own without blowing the budget!

Bells are an inexpensive method of detecting the presence of a ghost.  The use of bells as an interface with the spirit world goes back hundreds of years. 

"Bell, book, and candle" is a phrase that has been in use since medieval times to indicate travel to the spirit world, banishing a spirit to Hell, or calling a spirit forth from the darkness.