Alley of nope

They looked they little wraiths, tiny tornados, three of them. We had just started walking down the alley at dusk on our regular walk. "What's that?" We all stopped and peered at the whirling apparitions up ahead. And then my brain parsed something out. "Uh, I think we should go back. They're skunks. With their tails all up." We backed out onto the street, but stopped there, mesmerized. "OMG there's four now!" Joined a few minutes later by a fifth one. I have no idea what they were doing, but it involved hopping around while holding straight up a tail the size and shape of a large cotton candy.