There are some locations around the world where alien sightings just seem to thrive.
Roswell New Mexico, Area 51, and Easter Island are all apparent hotspots for extraterrestrial
activity.
But there is another, slightly lesser-known location where the supernatural strangeness
racks up and up, as well!
Many have never heard of the Skinwalker Ranch, but its legend is growing...
This is Unveiled and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; is this ranch
an evil alien base?
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The Uinta Basin and Mountains, in Utah, form a quite incredible and diverse landscape,
even under ordinary circumstances.
But add into the equation that, for decades now, the region has also been a hotbed for
alien and paranormal activity... and the mystique surrounding the place only grows.
UFO sightings have actually been catalogued here since as far back as the eighteenth century,
when Spanish explorers reported seeing strange crafts at night.
Into the twentieth century, and the reports of UFOs continued to rise and rise.
In 1978, for example, a mother and son reported seeing a silver disc surrounded by green flames.
They called the cops and, upon arrival, the police reported seeing the UFO as well.
With so many local sightings just like this one, there have been various books published
and documentaries filmed, detailing hundreds of potential close encounters.
At the centre of most of the Uinta sightings, though, is the creepily named and suitably
mysterious Skinwalker Ranch.
According to local legend, it plays host to an ancient curse.
History shows that two Native American tribes, the Navajo and the Ute, once lived peacefully
in Utah.
But that peace became strained particularly during the American Civil War, when the Ute
fought against the Navajo and forced them out of the state.
Upon their return, the Navajo are said to have placed the Skinwalker curse along certain
territories in the region to plague the Ute, with today’s Skinwalker Ranch caught right
in the middle of it.
In Navajo culture, a Skinwalker is a malevolent, shapeshifting witch figure, able to transform
into or possess certain animals.
They’re purveyors of evil magic, and encounters with them often result in life or death struggles
for the victims.
The legend of Skinwalker Ranch specifically begins with Terry and Gwen Sherman, who moved
on to the property in the mid-1990s.
Straightaway, they noticed that heavy-duty deadbolts had been fixed to the doors and
windows, inside and out, suggesting that the previous owners had for whatever reason felt
the need for max security.
Early on, they also noticed a wolf, reportedly three times larger than usual, hunting their
cattle.
When they shot at it point blank, it allegedly walked away unscathed.
As if that wasn’t strange enough, the Shermans also reported seeing unusual lights in the
sky, and that such sightings were often followed by the unexplained disappearance of more of
their livestock.
According to some accounts, even their pet dogs were lost at the ranch, never to be seen
again.
All in all, as the weirdness increased, the Shermans were so haunted by their experiences
there that they sold the property just eighteen months after moving in.
When they shared their story with reporters, though, the ranch became a place of major
interest… and was then purchased by the millionaire UFO enthusiast Robert Bigelow.
The mystery around the Skinwalker Ranch is now fuelled by more than just the Shermans’
account, though.
In fact, one local teacher, Joseph Hicks, has estimated that about ten percent of the
population in the Uinta Basin has seen something supernatural on or around the site.
These reports usually focus on aliens, so much so that the ranch is considered by some
to be an alien base, but there have been various other types of phenomena reported, too.
In 1997, the biochemist Colm Kelleher claimed he saw a large humanoid beast, for example,
with yellow eyes and a massive footprint.
There have been other Bigfoot-like reports, too, down the years, as well as more stories
of animals disappearing, crop circles appearing, and more unusual lights in the sky - with
claims that the Utah authorities were once even forced to stop filing UFO reports because
there were simply too many of them.
Whether it’s the work of the Skinwalkers or something otherworldly, the debate goes
on.
Various investigations have been staged at the ranch to try to determine what’s really
happening, and whether the claims of alien base have even an ounce of truth to them.
But here’s when things get even weirder.
When researchers from the University of Alabama visited in 2019 for a documentary, they also
experienced several strange happenings… with one of the professors, a Doctor Travis
Taylor, ending up convinced that there was indeed something wrong with the property.
He reported that conditions at the ranch had caused camera equipment to fail many times
seemingly without reason, and that balloons used to measure electromagnetic activity also
disappeared while they were there.
It goes higher, though, because the US government has also been involved in the Skinwalker Ranch
in the past.
In 2007, the Defense Department launched the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program,
to study UFOs; it was started by Senator Harry Reid at the request of Robert Bigelow, the
then-owner of the ranch.
Upwards of twenty-two million dollars were ultimately spent on the AATIP, with reports
that Skinwalker Ranch was one of its main focuses.
Regardless, Robert Bigelow is no longer the owner of the property, selling it to Brandon
Fugal via an appropriately mysterious shell company called Adamantium Holdings in 2016.
Today, all roads to the ranch are closed off, and it’s surrounded by fences, barbed wire,
cameras and warning signs.
Importantly, none of the investigations at the site have ever been able to capture the
multiple reported phenomena on camera… but owners and researchers continue to describe
various things they can’t explain nonetheless.
The likes of Robert Bigelow have attracted their fair share of sceptics over time, but
there are still plenty of people, from near or far, who believe there’s something more
- whether it’s a Native American curse, a supernatural hotspot, or an extraterrestrial
landing pad.
So, if you’re in the area and see something you can’t explain, you’re certainly not
alone.
What do you think?
Is there anything we missed?
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