Okay /x/, I have a list of questions about fleshgaits/skinwalkers/etc:

>tactics to defend against one
Maybe know how many people are in the party?
>hmm, we came here in a party of 10, now there's 11 HMMMMMM

>>19080328
No one knows because no one has fucking saw one. the only information about them is in fucking green text stories

i doubt they are real

>>19080328
why do you guys keep slandering our navajo friends? These aren't skinwalkers. It's called a fucking wendigo. They can mimic voices, disguise themselves as humans, and love to eat people. Fleshgait is a fucking stupid term people made up because they don't know lore for shit.

>>19080456
This. A lot of these encounters already fit shit that other mythology covers. Like 90% of weird time lapses, missing people, "skinwalkers", etc., are right out of fairy mythology. Because the cute little fairies you know today was never the only fairy. There was a whole category of fae beings.

Skinwalkers are just people who are witches in Indian folklore and change into animals like a controllable lycanthropy. Calling the current skinwalker legend a skinwalker just muddies the actual definitions. And modern "skinwalkers" sound a lot more like ye olde fairy encounters, wendigos, etc., than dark shamans disguised as animals.

But I don't expect that to change anything, because like the dude I quoted said people don't know mythology and lore for shit. Skinwalkers as most know them have stories dating back fucking forever, and are separate from Indian skinwalkers entirely.

>>19081085
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spearfinger
Case and point for something that sounds an awful lot like an innawoods Skinwalker

>>19081099
Not really. That's pretty different. Skinwalkers (not the Indian one) usually have traits from things like fae beings, ghouls, etc. Shapeshifting, imitation, luring people away, and all that are far more like those beings than what you posted. I'm sure Indians have beings like the skinwalker, but that ain't one of them and what they call a skinwalker is usually an evil shaman who disguises himself as animals, it's a human with dark powers, not an otherworldly being.

>>19080328
Just call them Skinwalkers.

>>19081099
case "and" point.
this really rustles my jimmies.

Areas with caves, lava tubes, and abandoned coal mines. There are any lurkers that use these things.

>>19080328

And rather than bicker about definitions, let's answer what you asked.

>Where would they be found?
Obviously secluded areas. Wilderness mostly.
>What are some warning signs that one is near (smells, sounds, all that stuff)?
Usually things go really quiet (which usually indicates a predator in nature), foul smells of death and other things. Usually anything really out of place. But some stories don't have any of these and a person just encounters one, so it varies and it's hard to tell what's bullshit made for a spooky campfire story, and what was something a person feels they really encountered.
>What would some good tactics be to defend yourself against one?
Don't go near one. Usually it is that easy. Any being relying on deception isn't very strong outside of its element which is why it has to use deception rather than just eating your face off like a mountain lion. Most stories have them trying to lure people away, which probably means it isn't particularly strong or powerful and relies on you being a fucking retard to catch you off guard. I'd say a knife, gun, or just avoiding it entirely work best.
>What weaponry would work against one? What would NOT work against one?
As said above, anything might work. They are said to be scary and big, but then one has to wonder why they don't just pick people off and drag them away if they are that tough. Having to use deception shows it isn't that much of a threat or it fears being found out. Otherwise why not just kill these lonely wandering people rather than just butchering them like any other predator would? It must not be strong or anything because, as said, predators that rely on deception and mimicry generally suck/are weak and catching people unaware is their only viable hunting method. So, unless it does what it does for shits and giggles, it's probably not the biggest danger you'll ever face. Either in the natural world or other supposed cryptids who hunt people.

>>19080328
>fleshgaits
No one gives a fuck about navajo skinwalkers so just call them skinwalkers.

>>19081318
That was exactly my point. Spearfinger is a myth of something that sounds like the /k/ "fleshgate" skinwalker. It shapeshifts, mimics human speech and has prominent claws. And yeah they have alot of elements in common with Fae, but that at leasts hints to the Native Americans encountering these things too, along with legit Navajo Skinwalkers.

>>19081506
God damn autocorrect why you gotta do this to my posts.
>Reeeeeeeees internally

>>19081506
Spearfinger differs a lot and is apparently dead now and only the stone man is alive. So, it can't be her nor does the myth resemble the stories. No "skinwalker" stories talk about having to hide hooked fingers, having impenetrable skin, or even appearing as an old woman. The only similarity is shapeshifting and everything else is radically different. Yet fae and ghouls fit almost to a T.

>>19081528
Lots of greentexts mention the claws on these things, and "I shot the thing with a 30.06, it sounded like I hit wood and the thing barely flinched" comes up too.

>>19081602
The issue is you take half these stories seriously. A lot of them show themselves to be bullshit by mixing up different legends into one. Whether it's mixing up the rake, skinwalkers, actual skinwalkers, bigfoot, wendigos, and a million other things into one to make for a creepy story. So, once they are clearly retarded and mix up different myths into one, yeah, it may make for a good campfire tale, but it's pretty shit if you're trying to understand what a skinwalker is or does. And there are far better myths that already describe shit just like them without having to take into account random greentexts and every other story at face value. And spearfinger isn't like those other beings, is dead according to her own legend, and has a bunch of differences that set it apart as its own being even if it was still alive. The standard skinwalker looks humanoid, but hits off uncanny valley levels of wrong, have hands since it can gesture and wave (albeit oddly, so no hidden claws), are fairly poor at imitating people (unlike spearfinger who rolls up like a normal person chilling and even tricks everybody except for her hiding her hand and a bird tipping everyone off), and tends to try to lure people away, unlike spearfinger who came to them. And I could go on.

But try ghouls: can imitate people but seem strange, lurk cemetaries and other abandoned areas of wilderness looking for people to lure away and kill, are actually horrible looking without the mimicry and look like weird abominations, and can be avoided by simply not going near them or running. They aren't smart or super strong and they need you unsuspecting and close to claw you, so it makes sense why a lone person can encounter one and not die.

Faeries are a bit different and more diverse, and it depends on what kind we are talking about.

>>19081653

Hit character limit. So, faeries are generally diverse as said before. There isn't one that fits every one like the ghoul fits a skinwalker, but certain ones I do see creeping into skinwalker tales. Fuzzy people (not being able to focus on them like the goatman story), no faces, imitations that are almost perfect and blend in well, trying to lure you off, warped perceptions of time, etc. Certain aspects fit but not all, but a lot of these elements creep in and the goatman branch of "skinwalkers" seem pretty much all fae related. Faes are generally borderline supernatural and reality gets weird around them, while ghouls (and skinwalkers) are basically presumed to be animals/creatures and physical things you can avoid and all that while with fae it's just like nothing makes sense and your perceptions are warped. Fae are more supernatural in that respect. But it is also a broad umbrella encompassing a ton of different beings with different motives, abilities, etc.

>>19081653
Yeah, fair enough. Generally with this sorta topic I take the "For the sake of the argument every story is true unless proven otherwise"
Ghouls do seem quite similar, and a fair deal of cultures have the "Spooky thing that lives in the woods, shapeshifts and tries to lure people away to eat / turn into them." creature in their folklore.

>>19080328
>THAT FUCKING PICTURE

HOLY SHIT I GENUINELY HAVENT BEEN THIS SCARED ON /X/ IN AWHILE

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Ok so I live in a more Rural part of Missouri and I have actually seen one of these things, I have been told by people who are well read on the Subject that what I saw was a fleshgait.

>Summer of 2016 Eastern Missouri ~10PM
>Be Me
>Walking home from a neighborhood friends' house, hilly, wooded, rural area
>Walking in the stretch of neighborhood with no street lights only shitty porch lights to light the way
>hear someone banging/breaking into a garage door behind me
>turn thinking it might be a meth head trying to break into a garage door and am about to yell at him
>Stop
>I am frozen by what I see
>See Pale Skinny naked "man" as tall as the garage door (pic related is basically what I saw)
>Stops tampering with it when I look, like it can feel me staring at it
>Does an about-face turn and looks around
>I see these huge black eyes on this small head looking in my direction, soulless colorless eyes.
>It looks straight past me down the road, never staring directly at me
>Does a right-face turn and quickly walks to the back of the house
>At This point I am fucking terrified!
>I run Home as fast as I fucking can, what usually takes about a 5 minute walk, I cut down to a 1 minute fucking sprint
>I get home slam my door shut and collapse on the ground from exhaustion
>Now that I think back on it, had it not been for that one house I was near not replacing it's porch light, it would have saw and killed me
>TFW 2 fat lazy lesbians inadvertently saved my life by being fat lazy lesbians.