About

Skinwalker Alert refers to a series of creepypasta videos in which people receive emergency alert system broadcasts or warnings to enter lockdown because there's a skinwalker in the area, a skinwalker being a cryptid that can shapeshift into any animal. Skinwalker alerts started appearing on sites including TikTok and YouTube as early as October 2021, becoming increasingly popular over the following years.

Origin

A skinwalker is a cryptid based on Native American legends of a person who can shapeshift into animals.^[9]

The earliest known example of a skinwalker alert video was posted by TikToker^[1] @skinwalker.lockdownn on October 30th, 2021, garnering over 81,500 views in two years (shown below). In the video, the user shows what appears to be an amber alert-like text warning about a skinwalker. The TikToker says their parents aren't home and starts packing up to survive the skinwalker attack.

Spread

On November 21st, 2021, YouTuber^[2] jtcdxx posted a mock-up of a skinwalker alert warning, garnering over 45,000 views in two years (shown below).

Skinwalker alert videos became increasingly popular on TikTok throughout 2023. On February 5th, 2023, TikToker^[3] @y2k.4ng3l1c posted a video about receiving a skinwalker alert, garnering over 130,000 views in eight months (shown below, left). On February 11th, TikToker^[4] @roleplayvids..xo posted a similar video, garnering over 1.3 million views in the same rough span of time (shown below, right).

On February 26th, TikToker^[5] @paranormal._.gurls posted a video about receiving a skinwalker alert that gained over 14 million views in eight months (shown below).

On September 16th, TIkToker^[6] @skinwalkerstiktok posted a video of a fake skinwalker alert at a school in Ohio, garnering over 45 million views in a month (shown below, left), On October 13th, TikToker^[7] @spookings posted a video of people panicking in the streets while a siren plays, claiming it's a skinwalker alert in London, garnering over 1.5 million views in a week (shown below, right). On October 19th, HITC^[8] reported on skinwalker alerts.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References