Skinwalker Ranch
Skinwalker Ranch, also known as Sherman Ranch, is a property located on approximately 488 acres (2.072 km²) southeast of Ballard, Utah that is reputed to be the site of paranormal and UFO-related activities. Its name is taken from the skin-walker of Navajo legend concerning vengeful Shaman.
Colm Kelleher and co-author George Knapp subsequently authored a book in which they describe the ranch being acquired by the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDSci) to study sightings of UFOs, bigfoot-like creatures, crop circles, glowing orbs and poltergeist activity reported by its former owners.
The ranch, located in west Uintah County bordering the Ute Indian Reservation, was popularly dubbed the UFO ranch due to its ostensible 50-year history of odd events said to have taken place there. Knapp and Kelleher cite the 1974 book The Utah UFO Display: A Scientist’s Report by Frank Salisbury and Joseph “Junior” Hicks, which details an earlier investigation into alleged UFO sightings in the Uintah County region, as partial confirmation of their account. According to Kelleher and Knapp, they saw or investigated evidence of close to 100 incidents that include vanishing and mutilated cattle, sightings of unidentified flying objects or orbs, large animals with piercing red eyes that they say were unscathed when struck by bullets, and invisible objects emitting destructive magnetic fields. Among those involved were retired US Army Colonel John B. Alexander who characterized the NIDSci effort as an attempt to get hard data using a “standard scientific approach”. However, the investigators admitted to “difficulty obtaining evidence consistent with scientific publication.”
Cattle mutilations have been part of the folklore of the surrounding area for decades. When NIDSci founder billionaire Robert Bigelow purchased the ranch for $200,000, this was reportedly the result of his being convinced by the stories of mutilations that included tales of strange lights and unusual impressions made in grass and soil told by the family of former ranch owner Terry Sherman.
Bigelow Aerospace Building (Image Source: NBC News)
In 2008, the United States Defense Intelligence Agency gave $22 million to the exotic science division of Las Vegas billionaire Robert Bigelow’s space startup — Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, or BAASS — to study “breakthrough technologies” and UFOs.
After winning the contract, BAASS was tasked with studying and generating reports on exotic science that could lead to “potential breakthrough technology.” BAASS, alongside a team of scientists, generated 38 such reports. Redacted copies of internal BAASS security reports that have been posted online indicate that, before the AAWSAP program was defunded in 2010, the company had assembled an in-house team of investigators not only to write those 38 reports, but also to travel around and look into sightings of monsters, the paranormal, and other bizarre UFO-related phenomena in Utah.
A leaked collection of unredacted internal BAASS documents confirms that the DIA-sponsored organization was not only investigating “foreign advanced aerospace weapon threats from the present out to the next forty years,” but also UFOs — and a lot of other anomalous things even more unaccustomed to attention from the government.
Among other tasks, BAASS sent its investigators to Utah to investigate sightings of strange phenomena at the infamous Skinwalker Ranch and in the greater Uinta Basin that surrounds it. Skinwalker Ranch is currently owned by real estate mogul Brandon Fugal; prior to his purchase of the property in 2016, the 512-acre ranch was owned by Robert Bigelow himself.
According to the BAASS documents, investigators were told to pose as researchers from the plentiful oil fields nearby and never to reveal the names of “BAASS, Robert Bigelow, Bigelow Aerospace…and most certainly [the] sponsors’ identity should NEVER be released or discussed in public.” The ultimate sponsor, in this case, was the DIA, the intelligence arm of the Department of Defense. Ryan Skinner, who runs a popular website dedicated to Skinwalker Ranch, was specifically mentioned in the document as a possible nuisance to their investigation. The researchers were told to “maintain a low profile.”
Mr. Skinner admitted that he would indeed often visit the ranch and attempt to sneak onto the property. While he personally thinks the ranch is home to strange phenomena, he believes that Bigelow and his personnel were attempting to unlock secrets to novel propulsion systems.
“It is clear to me Mr. Bigelow was not looking for little green men. He was looking for ways to significantly advance his aerospace company’s aspirations by discovering a novel means of propulsion,” Skinner told The Debrief in an interview. “My impression is that he believed the key to unlocking that corporate advantage was by investing in a team of scientists to study the exotic propulsion demonstrated by the UAPs commonly witnessed at Skinwalker Ranch.”
It is unclear if Bigelow was in fact attempting to glean information from UFOs on “breakthrough technology applications employed in future aerospace weapon systems,” as per the DIA mandate for the AAWSAP program. What is clear is that his team was also chasing werewolves and goblins at the same time.
In 2016, Bigelow sold Skinwalker Ranch for $4.5 million to “Adamantium Holdings”, a shell corporation of unknown origin. After this purchase, all roads leading to the ranch have been blocked, the perimeter secured and guarded by cameras and barbed wire, and surrounded by signs that aim to prevent people from approaching the ranch. In 2017, the name “Skinwalker Ranch” was filed for trademark through Justia Trademarks. The trademark was issued in 2018.
In March 2020, Brandon Fugal, 46, a Utah real estate tycoon, publicly came out as the owner of the ranch.
The Front Gate of Skinwalker Ranch prior to purchase by Admantium Holdings