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Cryptids

A Naked Biped, a Crow and a Pile of Pale Skin: Dawn on Highway 550 Near Aztec, New Mexico

A driver says that at about 5:45 a.m. on US 550 near Aztec, New Mexico, a 3 to 4 foot naked two-legged figure ran across the road, a huge crow flew up along the same path, and a pile of pale pinkish skin lay on the ground where it had been.

AZTEC, N.M. By Dead of Night Dispatch

Location US 550 near Aztec, New Mexico

Illustration: a two lane desert highway at dawn with sagebrush on the shoulder, a large black crow rising from the brush against a pale pink sky

AZTEC, N.M. (Oct. 17, 2026): It was about 5:45 in the morning, the driver says, on US 550 near Aztec, “pretty close the the Navajo nation.” The light would have been gray at best. Then something ran across the road.

Where it started

The original social media post

  1. u/Leather-Force-5641

    I saw a 3-4 feet tall or so naked 2 legged humanoid looking creature run across the highway into the brush on the shoulder, and immediately a huge crow flew up and out in the same path and speed as the little dude, and when I passed by I saw a pile of pale pinkish skin on the ground.

    Excerpt from the post, verbatim.

    25 points · 1 comments as of Oct 24, 2026

    View original on Reddit

    From the conversation

    See the full thread on Reddit →

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That Saturday evening, the driver, Leather-Force-5641, posted a short account to r/Humanoidencounters with a question in the title: “Skinwalker or shapeshifter?”

What’s claimed

Accounts, testimony and theories, as told by the people who tell them.

The whole account is four sentences. Here is its core, as written:

“I saw a 3-4 feet tall or so naked 2 legged humanoid looking creature run across the highway into the brush on the shoulder, and immediately a huge crow flew up and out in the same path and speed as the little dude, and when I passed by I saw a pile of pale pinkish skin on the ground.”

Then: “Any idea what it was? Not sure if a skinwalker or not since it was so short.”

So, in order:

  • A figure. Three to four feet tall, on two legs, “naked,” running across the highway into the brush.
  • A crow. “Immediately,” a large crow rose along the same path, at the same speed.
  • The skin. On the ground, as the driver passed, “a pile of pale pinkish skin.”

What we know

On the record: documents, statements, dates and places. Sources below.

That’s all there is: one anonymous post, no photo or video, and one reply, from simonjakeevan: “I have no idea what it was, but wow what an experience.” The driver doesn’t say whether they stopped or went back to look at the pile.

US 550 runs north from the Albuquerque area through the San Juan Basin to Aztec and on to Colorado. Near Aztec, it’s in San Juan County, with the Navajo Nation to the west and south.

Why “skinwalker”

The driver’s own question points to Navajo tradition. In Navajo belief, a skinwalker, often referred to by the Navajo term yee naaldlooshii, is a witch who can take the form of an animal. It’s a subject many Navajo people don’t discuss lightly, or at all, with outsiders, and the popular version that circulates online is often far from what the tradition holds. We’re noting it because the poster raised it, not to explain it.

What the driver described lines up with the online version in a few ways: something that seemed to change from one shape to another, a bird, and shed skin. The driver also noted the obvious mismatch with the stories they’d heard: the figure was “so short.”

What else it could be

Several ordinary things fit parts of this. Crows and ravens gather at roadkill at first light. A pale, hairless animal, such as a coyote or dog with severe mange, can look startlingly pink and strange in headlights. A pile of pale skin by a highway could be roadkill, a hide or trash. None of that explains the whole sequence as described, and the driver doesn’t say they considered any of it.

What’s next

The pile of skin, if it was there, would be the one thing someone could go look at. If the driver or anyone else who uses that stretch of road adds to the story, we’ll update it.

Sources

  1. Skinwalker or shapeshifter? Outsode of Aztec, New Mexico · Reddit, r/Humanoidencounters First-hand account posted Oct. 17, 2026, the same day as the sighting.