Skinwalkers in Madrid's Retiro Park and other encounters with the unexplained

Skinwalkers, succubi and archangels: when the unofficial crosses your path

Claiming that a deer spotted in Madrid's Retiro Park is a skinwalker sounds like an exaggeration. But the person telling the story justifies it with the statistical improbability of that animal being there. That same logic — the improbable that nevertheless happens — runs through experiences with beings that officialdom does not recognize: absorbecabras, goblins, angels or dream entities. A look at the testimonies reveals patterns ranging from the folkloric to the psychedelic.

The skinwalker phenomenon: from the Indian reservation to central Madrid

The skinwalker belongs to the Navajo tradition, but accounts place it in Spanish urban settings. The key description: an animal that appears where it shouldn't, like a deer in a city. Those who claim to have seen it insist they weren't looking for the encounter: it was chance. The lack of concrete details about the place and time fuels the skepticism of those who consider these stories the product of suggestion or substance use.

Shared visions and the role of psychoactives

One of the most striking episodes involves five people who, under the effects of ayahuasca, claimed to see Ganesha floating inside a van. The visual coincidence among all of them is the argument of those who maintain this was not an individual hallucination. From an anthropological standpoint, it is worth recalling that the use of psychoactive substances to access non-ordinary states of consciousness is a millennial practice. The question is whether those states open the door to parallel realities or simply reflect the cultural content of the unconscious.

Dream entities: from the succubus to the archangel

Lucid dreams are another frequent channel. Some describe encounters with succubi from which they manage to wake up just before physical interaction, and one person claims to have seen, with eyes closed, a body of white light — identified as the archangel Michael — extracting a coiled snake from their stomach. The experience, which took place in Guatemala while the witness was ill, combines shamanic and religious elements. Others speak of fairies and dragons perceived in natural settings, with rivers and special stones.

Not everything is benign: some narrate a dream "claw" that prevents them from falling asleep, reminiscent of the Freddy Krueger character. The warning is not to invoke or name these beings out of respect, as the mind could open unwanted paths.

Skepticism as a counterweight

Faced with these testimonies, the skeptical stance points out that many of the accounts come from contexts where psychoactive substances have been consumed or where collective suggestion may be at work. "Psychotic delusions with goblins, succubi and even Ganesha," one comment sums up. The distance between believing and not believing is, in these cases, as wide as the one separating someone who has seen a black hand under their child's bed from someone who attributes it to a childhood nightmare.

The question that remains open: if these beings exist on some plane, why do they manifest preferentially to those who are already predisposed or under psychoactive effects? Or, conversely, is it our ordinary perception that is culturally blinded?