Skinwalker Ranch

UFO reports in the Uintah Basin were publicized in the 1970s. Claims about the ranch first appeared in 1996 in the Salt Lake City, Utah, Deseret News,{{cite news|author=Zack Van Eyck|title=Frequent Fliers?|url=https://www.deseret.com/1996/6/30/19251541/frequent-fliers|access-date=2023-11-24|newspaper=Deseret News|date=1996-06-30}} and later in the alternative weekly Las Vegas Mercury as a series of articles by investigative journalist George Knapp. These early stories detailed the claims of a family that allegedly experienced inexplicable and frightening events after they purchased and occupied the property.

The ranch, located in west Uintah County, Utah, bordering the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation, was popularly dubbed the UFO ranch due to its ostensible 50-year history of odd events said to have taken place there. 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".{{cite news|url=https://www.deseret.com/2006/4/22/19949762/mysteries-of-ufo-ranch-in-spotlight#surveillance-and-full-time-caretakers-remain-on-the-ranch-in-fort-duchesne-that-has-become-known-for-paranormal-activity-the-property-is-still-owned-by-the-national-institute-for-discovery-science|title=Mysteries of 'UFO ranch' in spotlight|last=Whiting|first=Lezlee E.|date=April 22, 2006|work=Deseret News|access-date=2020-03-15}} 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 Robert Bigelow, founder of the National Institute for Discovery Science, purchased the ranch for $200,000 in 1996, this was reportedly the result of his having been 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.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4i4uAAAAIBAJ&pg=1210,1600389&dq=robert+bigelow+ranch|title=Utah UFO research gets money boost|last=Van Eyck|first=Zack|agency=Associated Press|date=Oct 24, 1996|publisher=The Modesto Bee|access-date=24 February 2010}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}[https://www.techbuzz.news/brandon-fugal-and-the-secret-of-skinwalker-ranch-on-the-history-channel/ Why Utah's Brandon Fugal Bought an Otherworldly Ranch, and What He's Seen There: Part 1] TechBuzz, 3 May 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021[https://techbuzz.news/why-utah-s-brandon-fugal-bought-a-haunted-ranch-and-what-he-s-seen-there-part-2/ Why Utah's Brandon Fugal Bought an Otherworldly Ranch, and What He's Seen There: Part 2] TechBuzz, 4 May 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021{{Cite web|author=Zack Van Eyck|date=1998-08-10|title=Private UFO study takes a public turn|url=https://www.deseret.com/1998/8/10/19395824/private-ufo-study-takes-a-public-turn|access-date=2021-07-05|website=Deseret News}}

In 2005, Colm Kelleher and co-author George Knapp published a book, Hunt for the Skinwalker,Kelleher, Colm & Knapp, George: Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah (Paraview Pocket Books, 2005 {{ISBN|1-4165-0521-0}}) in which they describe the ranch being acquired by Bigelow to study anecdotal sightings of UFOs, Bigfoot-like creatures, crop circles, glowing orbs and poltergeist activity reported by its former owners.{{cite book|last=Griggs|first=Brandon|title=Utah Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff|publisher=Globe Pequot Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0762743865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXi0RNY7MmIC&q=%22skinwalker+ranch%22&pg=PA102|page=102}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Kelleher and Knapp's book was read by Defense Intelligence Agency official James Lacatski, who contacted Bigelow and obtained permission to visit the ranch. Lacatski had a supernatural experience there, which Bigelow relayed to his friend Harry Reid. Reid and Ted Stevens, a UFO experiencer, quickly agreed that the ranch deserved attention and inserted a line into the Department of Defense budget appropriating $22 million to study unidentified aerial phenomena.{{cite magazine |last1=Lewis-Kraus |first1=Gideon |title=How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously |magazine=The New Yorker |date=30 April 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Benson |first1=Eric |title=Harry Reid on What the Government Knows About UFOs |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/03/harry-reid-on-what-the-government-knows-about-ufos.html |work=Intelligencer |date=21 March 2018 |language=en-us}}

Skeptical author Robert Sheaffer believes the phenomena at Skinwalker to be "almost certainly illusory", given that NIDSci found no proof after several years of monitoring, and that the previous owners of the property, who had lived there for 60 years, say that no supernatural events of any kind had happened there. Sheaffer considers the explanation reliant upon the fewest assumptions to be that the Sherman family invented the story "prior to selling it to the gullible Bigelow", with many of the more extraordinary claims originating solely from Terry Sherman, who worked as a caretaker after the ranch was sold to Bigelow.{{cite web |last1=Sheaffer |first1=Robert |title=Claims About a Government "UFO Program". How Much is True? |url=https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/claims-about-pentagon-ufo-program-how-much-is-true/ |website=skeptic.com |date=May 2020 |publisher=Skeptic Magazine |access-date=12 August 2021}}

In 1996, skeptic James Randi awarded Bigelow a tongue-in-cheek Pigasus Award for funding the purchase of the ranch and for supporting John E. Mack's and Budd Hopkins' investigations. The award category designated Bigelow as "the funding organization that supported the most useless study of a supernatural, paranormal or occult [claim]".{{cite web|url=http://www.randi.org/hotline/1997/0014.html|title=The Pigasus Awards|last=Randi|first=James|date=1 April 1997|publisher=James Randi Educational Foundation|access-date=13 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314115746/http://www.randi.org/hotline/1997/0014.html|archive-date=14 March 2014|url-status=dead | quote=Category #2, to the funding organization that supported the most useless study of a supernatural, paranormal or occult, goes to Robert Bigelow, of the Bigelow Tea family. Mr. Bigelow not only gave large sums of money to Harvard University's Professor John Mack and to million-seller author Bud Hopkins on the strength of their 'alien abduction' beliefs, but also purchased (for a purported $230,000) a 'haunted ranch' in Utah where UFO attacks and 'interdimensional portals' had shown up, in the wake of mysterious 'cattle mutilations.' Mr. Bigelow lives in a walled-in home in Las Vegas.}}

In 2023, ufologist Barry Greenwood, writing in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, criticized the $22 million research program led by James Lacatski. He emphasized the lack of any documentary evidence from the ranch after many decades of exploration and characterized Skinwalker as "always in the business of selling belief and hope".{{cite journal |last1=Greenwood |first1=Barry |title=Skinwalkers at the Pentagon |journal=Journal of Scientific Exploration |date=2 May 2023 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=127–131 |doi=10.31275/20232857 |url=https://journalofscientificexploration.org/index.php/jse/article/view/2857 |language=en |issn=0892-3310|doi-access=free }}

• 1934–1994 — Kenneth and Edith Myers
• 1994–1996 — Terry and Gwen Sherman{{cite web|last=Banias|first=M. J.|title=This Is the Real Estate Magnate Who Bought Skinwalker Ranch, a UFO Hotspot |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/brandon-fugal-owner-of-skinwalker-ranch/|website=Vice|access-date=2 April 2020|date=10 March 2020}}
• 1996–2016 — Robert Bigelow
• 2016–present — Brandon Fugal,{{cite web |url=https://www.saltlakemagazine.com/high-strangeness-at-skinwalker-ranch/ |title=High Strangeness at Skinwalker Ranch |last=Porter |first=Christie |date=June 7, 2022 |website=saltlakemagazine.com |access-date=July 4, 2022}} via Adamantium Real Estate LLC{{cite web |url=https://apps.uintah.utah.gov/ords/ucdev/r/public-searches/property-search |title=Uintah County Property Search |website=uintah.utah.gov |access-date=July 4, 2022}} (search Adamantium Real Estate LLC){{cite web |url=http://co.uintah.ut.us/departments/a_-_e_departments/community_development/interactive_map/index.php |title=Unitah County Plat Map |website=co.uintah.ut.us}} (parcel search)

In 2016, Bigelow sold Skinwalker Ranch to Adamantium Real Estate LLC for around $500,000.{{Cite news |last=Blumenthal |first=Ralph |date=2021-01-21 |title=Can Robert Bigelow (and the Rest of Us) Survive Death? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/style/robert-bigelow-UFOs-life-after-death.html |access-date=2024-01-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} After this purchase, roads leading to the ranch were blocked, the perimeter was guarded by cameras and barbed wire, and signs were posted that aimed to prevent people from approaching the ranch.{{cite news|title=Skinwalker Ranch activity shifts from paranormal to prosecutable|last=Murdock|first=Joshua|date=24 September 2016|url=http://www.ubmedia.biz/news/article_016cb90c-7bb9-11e6-bc72-b31e0ebb7cec.html|access-date=16 June 2019|website=UBMedia.biz|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616173436/http://www.ubmedia.biz/news/article_016cb90c-7bb9-11e6-bc72-b31e0ebb7cec.html|archive-date=2019-06-16}}

Adamantium Real Estate, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, filed a U.S. Trademark application for the service mark "Skinwalker Ranch" on February 15, 2017, and was approved and registered on April 14, 2020, with the mark applicable to "providing recreation facilities; entertainment services, namely, creation, development, production, and distribution of multimedia content, internet content, motion pictures, and television shows."{{cite web |url=https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=87336178&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch |title=U.S. Patent and Trademark Office - Trademark Status 'Skinwalker Ranch' |website=uspto.gov |access-date=October 27, 2021}}{{cite web |url=https://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn87336178&docId=ORC20200329025849#docIndex=0&page=1 |title=U.S. Patent and Trademark Office - 'Skinwalker Ranch' |website=uspto.gov |access-date=October 27, 2021}} (registration certificate, Apr 14, 2020){{cite web|url=https://trademarks.justia.com/873/36/skinwalker-87336178.html|title=Skinwalker Ranch – Trademark Details|publisher=Justia Trademarks|access-date=July 1, 2018}} An additional trademark filing to expand use on "cups and mugs, shirts and short-sleeved shirts, sports caps and hats" was filed by Adamantium Real Estate, LLC on June 21, 2021, and was approved and registered on July 12, 2022.{{cite web |url=https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=90785789&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch |title=U.S. Patent and Trademark Office - Trademark Status |website=uspto.gov |access-date=October 27, 2021}}

In March 2020, Brandon Fugal, a real estate developer and tech investor, announced ownership of the ranch. In 2022, Fugal announced a partnership with the Hutchings Museum Institute in Lehi, Utah, designed to "better understand the environment and historical significance" of the ranch.{{Cite web |date=29 September 2022 |title=Hutchings Museum Institute Research Team at Skinwalker Ranch |url=https://johnhutchingsmuseum.org/skinwalker-ranch-exhibit/ |access-date=7 April 2023 |website=Hutchings Museum Institute}}

• List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{citation|author=Colm A. Kelleher, George Knapp |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-4165-2693-3 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |title=Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah}}
• {{citation|author=Frank B. Salisbury, Joseph Junior Hicks |date=2023 |isbn=978-1-59955-778-6 |publisher=Cedar Fort Publishing & Media |title=The Utah UFO Display: A Scientist Brings Reason and Logic to Over 400 UFO Sightings in Utah's Uintah Basin}}

• [https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/tv/a62351045/skinwalker-ranch-paranormal/ How This Remote Utah Ranch Became a Paranormal Activity Hotspot] Popular Mechanics
• [https://www.utahbusiness.com/why-a-millionaire-real-estate-mogul-bought-skinwalker-ranch/ Why a millionaire real-estate mogul bought Skinwalker Ranch]
• [https://enzari.com/2021/02/brandon-fugal-supercar-owner-steward-of-skinwalker-ranch/ Brandon Fugal – Supercar owner & Steward of Skinwalker Ranch] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320134137/https://enzari.com/2021/02/brandon-fugal-supercar-owner-steward-of-skinwalker-ranch/ |date=2021-03-20 }}

• [https://www.skinwalker-ranch.com Skinwalker Ranch Official Website]
• [http://www.skinwalkerranch.org SkinwalkerRanch.org] – Property maps and updates from local researchers investigating the ranch
• [https://johnhutchingsmuseum.org/skinwalker-ranch-exhibit/ Hutchings Museum Institute] – 3D scans of various sites across the ranch

{{UFOs}}

Category:1934 establishments in Utah

Category:American urban legends

Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1934

Category:Buildings and structures in Uintah County, Utah

Category:Cattle mutilation

Category:Ranches in Utah

Category:Reportedly haunted houses

Category:Reportedly haunted locations in Utah

Category:Supernatural urban legends

Category:UFO conspiracy theories in the United States

Category:UFO sightings in the United States