Overview
Skinwalker Ranch is a private property of roughly 500 acres in Uintah County, northeastern Utah, south of Fort Duchesne and near the town of Ballard. It borders the Uintah and Ouray Reservation of the Northern Ute. The wider Uintah Basin had a long run of UFO reports from the 1950s on, collected by local teacher Joseph 'Junior' Hicks, who logged more than 400.
The ranch's modern story starts with Terry and Gwen Sherman, who bought it in 1994. On June 30, 1996, the Deseret News reported their account of fifteen months of strange events: craft of several sizes overhead, lights coming out of glowing 'doorways' in the air, circles of flattened grass, voices in an unknown language, and cattle that vanished or were found dead with odd wounds.
Later in 1996, businessman Robert Bigelow bought the ranch for his National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS). Its staff logged close to 100 incidents, including mutilated cattle, orbs, and large animals with piercing red eyes that, they said, were unharmed when hit by bullets. Those animal reports are what make the ranch a cryptid hot spot as well as a UFO one.
The name comes from the skinwalker, a witch figure in Navajo (Diné) tradition. Many Diné people consider it inappropriate to discuss skinwalkers, and the label was applied to the ranch by outside writers. Since 2016 the ranch has belonged to Brandon Fugal, who opened it to the TV series The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch. It is closed to the public.
Visiting
Where: Near Ballard and Fort Duchesne, Uintah County, northeastern Utah; the nearest larger town is Vernal.
Access: Private property, closed to the public. Since 2016 the roads to it have been blocked, the perimeter is watched by cameras and fenced with barbed wire, and signs warn off trespassers. Do not try to get in. The ranch borders the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, which has its own rules for visitors.
Events: No public events or museum. The TV series The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch is the only window most people get.
Timeline
- 1950s-1970sJunior Hicks collects hundreds of Uintah Basin UFO reports.
- 1994Terry and Gwen Sherman buy the ranch.
- June 30, 1996The Deseret News publishes the Shermans' account, 'Frequent Fliers?'
- 1996Robert Bigelow buys the ranch for NIDS; researchers begin logging incidents.
- 2005Colm Kelleher and George Knapp publish Hunt for the Skinwalker.
- 2007-2012A Defense Intelligence Agency-linked UFO study funds Bigelow's aerospace company.
- 2016Brandon Fugal buys the ranch; access is sealed off.
- 2020The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch premieres on History.
Reported sightings
Sherman ranch, south of Fort Duchesne
1994-1996 On the record
The Sherman family told the Deseret News of three kinds of craft, from a small lit box to one 'the size of several football fields', plus lights emerging from orange circular openings in midair. They found three flattened grass circles about eight feet across and deep, flat-bottomed soil impressions. Terry Sherman said he heard male voices in an unknown language overhead that made the dogs panic.
Source: deseret.comSherman ranch
1994-1996 On the record
Four cows disappeared without trace and three were found dead with neat holes in the left eye and other surgical-looking wounds with no visible blood. In one case, the Shermans said, a cow's hoofprints in snow simply stopped at the edge of a field, near broken branches and snapped treetops.
Source: deseret.comSherman ranch
1994 (day the Shermans took possession) On the record
As retold by Legends of America, a large wolf attacked a calf on the very day the Shermans took over the ranch. Terry Sherman said he shot it at point-blank range with a .357 Magnum and it kept hold of the calf. After more shots it let go, stood calmly looking at the men, then trotted off. No blood or sign of injury was found. This is the best-known 'skinwalker' creature story tied to the ranch.
Source: legendsofamerica.comSherman ranch
1994-1996 On the record
Over the next two years, according to the same retelling, the family reported a hyena-like animal attacking one of their horses. It was described as low to the ground, heavily muscled, around 200 pounds, with curly red hair and a bushy tail. They also reported tall, dark beasts resembling Bigfoot and exotic multicolored birds not native to the area.
Source: legendsofamerica.comRanch under NIDS ownership
1996-2000s Investigated report
NIDS researchers logged close to 100 incidents. Among them were reports of large animals with piercing red eyes that witnesses said were not hurt when struck by bullets, along with orbs and cattle mutilations. The team admitted it struggled to collect evidence fit for scientific publication.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgSkinwalker Ranch
1996-2005 Investigated report
Hunt for the Skinwalker (2005), by former NIDS scientist Colm Kelleher and journalist George Knapp, describes anecdotal sightings at the ranch of Bigfoot-like creatures alongside UFOs, crop circles, glowing orbs and poltergeist activity. These accounts are what tied the ranch to cryptid lore.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgEvidence
Grass circles and soil impressions (1996) Disputed
Reported by the Shermans; no published lab analysis.
Dead and missing cattle Disputed
Seven cattle incidents in the 1996 report; ranchers and vets usually trace odd wounds to decay and scavengers.
Bullet-proof animals Unexplained
NIDS reports of red-eyed animals unharmed by gunfire; no carcass, tissue or clear footage.
What each side says
What witnesses and researchers report
Supporters point out that the first reports came from a ranching family who told a mainstream newspaper about cattle losses that cost them money. Later, a well-funded scientific team spent years on site and still logged close to 100 incidents.
Researchers who take the animal reports seriously note that both the Shermans and later NIDS staff described large animals that ignored gunfire: a wolf that walked away from repeated .357 shots without bleeding, and red-eyed creatures that seemed unharmed by bullets. Local lore adds that the Ute consider the ranch to lie 'on the path of the skinwalker'.
What skeptics and scientists suggest
Skeptics stress that, despite years of access and money, NIDS could not produce evidence that met scientific standards, and no peer-reviewed study has confirmed anything unusual. Writer Robert Sheaffer notes the previous owners, the Myers family, lived there for decades without reporting anything strange.
Critics also see a media feedback loop of books and TV shows feeding each other. They point out that the 1996 newspaper article never used the word 'skinwalker'; the Navajo term was attached later by outside writers, which many Diné people find disrespectful.
Open questions
- Has any physical sample from the ranch's 'creature' reports ever been tested and published?
- Why did the Myers family, who owned the ranch for about sixty years, report nothing unusual?
Did you know?
- The 1996 Deseret News story that launched the ranch's fame never used the word 'skinwalker'.
- Junior Hicks estimated that more than 10 percent of the Uintah Basin's people had seen something unexplained.