; Phantoms and Monsters: Pulse of the Paranormal

Monday, April 15, 2013

Reader Submission: Living Near the Skinwalker Ranch


I received the following email today:

Hi Lon -

I recently started receiving your email newsletter and happened to listen to your show last night. Your guest (Christopher O'Brien) was talking about the Skinwalker Ranch and some of the strange things that have been known to occur there. I have been familiar with the general area for quite a long time. I lived near Roosevelt, UT when I was a boy. My family owned land south of town. I suppose we lived about 3 or 4 miles from the current Skinwalker Ranch and Bottle Hollow. This was during the 1950s before the reservoir was built in the hollow.

Sometimes we'd look east at night and see weird lights coming from the hollow area. One night I remember watching a ball of bright white light with a long tail moving along the eastern horizon then reverse course and go back the other way. My father called it a 'spirit light' and said he would see many in one night when he was a boy.

The most shocking and memorable incident I experienced happened on my 12th birthday which was in September 1959. Our family was sitting out behind the house enjoying the evening. We had a small party earlier and the last guest had just left. I had received a refracting telescope as a gift from my parents and I was eager to try it out. The sky was clear and full of stars that evening. As I scoured the sky I heard what sounded like men talking. The sound was coming from the gully on the east end of our land. As I listened I noticed my father walking towards me. He had a very fearful look on his face, like he had seen a ghost or something.

All of a sudden there was a loud 'whoop' sound and then another. I looked back toward the gully and was shocked to see 3 tall white human-like figures. The only description I can give is that they were very thin with long arms and legs. Their heads were human but looked more animal-like as we watched. They were standing still and looking directly at my father and I with shining black eyes. Then the one on the right raised it's left arm and pointed in the direction of the hollow (the area near the current Skinwalker Ranch). My father yelled out 'leave us be' and the figures crouched to the ground and disappeared.

When we got in the house my father and mother sat me down at the kitchen table and told me that these were spirits of dead Ute warriors who were killed by the Spanish and buried in the hollow. They also said that these spirits protected the sacred native lands and used magic from the heavens to scare their enemies. My parents were very aware of these traditions even though they were not Native American. As I grew older, I started to realize that we know very little about the spiritual world and that we know less about the people who lived before us.

The radio show was extremely informative and I will continue to tune in. John R.

NOTE: I was pleased to receive this email. I'll be the first to admit that I know very little about the Skinwalker Ranch and how to explain the phenomena that occurs there. Maybe there is a Native American connection to the anomalous activity. Lon

Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah

The Utah UFO Display: A Scientist's Report

Stalking the Tricksters: Shapeshifters, Skinwalkers, Dark Adepts and 2012