The Creatures of Sherman Ranch

12/27/2024

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
Sherman Ranch also known as Skinwalker Ranch sits on a little over 500 acres just southeast of Ballard, Utah. Sightings of UFOs and several cryptids have been reported. Prior to settlers arriving there, the Ute and Navajos tribes claimed it was used by malevolent witches known as skinwalkers.

An abandoned structure from 1905 on Sherman Ranch. c.2016

Situated in the Uinta Basin, Terry Sherman bought this 480-acre property in 1994. The intention of the Sherman family was to run a cattle business, however unknown to them, this piece of land had a reputation for strange sightings.

In 1951, a local teacher named Junior Hicks, along with his students observed a UFO moving through the skies above the ranch. Junior Hicks then went on to record over 400 individuals events of paranormal activity in and around Skinwalker Ranch. During his research Hicks came across the fact the Ute tribe which lived in the area refused to go near this land because they believed it to be cursed.

The ranch borders the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation.

Navajo witches known as yee naaldlooshii frequently used a trail that ran across it. Besides being cannibals and necrophiliacs, these Navajo witches had the ability to shape-shift. Skinwalker translated from Navajo is equivalent to: "by means of it, it goes on all fours." Legend says the Navajo unleashed the skinwalkers on their enemies the Utes during a time of hostility, but like many weapons, once set free they could not be recalled.

According to the book Being and Becoming Ute: "It was not a friendly relationship. The Navajo were more aggressive people; they took slaves, they had Ute slaves. And there was direct conflict when the Navajo attempted to move up into Ute territory."

The land had been considered dangerous for hundreds of years. A ridgeline directly behind Skinwalker Ranch was given the nickname "Werewolf Ridge" by the locals for reasons lost to history.

In 1776, Franciscan missionary Silvestre Vélez de Escalante wrote about strange fireballs popping over his campfire in El Rey. While the Revolutionary War was fought by the colonists against Great Britain, two Catholic priests established a few missions among the Pueblo tribes, and crossed into Utah near what is now Dinosaur National Monument.

In December, 1910, new settlers who were in the area to inspect lands they purchased at the Provo government sale, noticed rumblings that sounded like explosions or distant thunder sound out at intervals, during the day and night. Homesteaders had heard the muffled detonations for the past five years since the Uintah Indian reservation opened to settlement.

Established as an agricultural homestead in 1905, Kenneth and Edith Myers bought the land that would be come the Sherman Ranch in 1934. They made a small homestead on the property's northwest corner. This was right below Skinwalker Ridge, supposedly one of the most active parts of the property. The Myers abandoned the small homestead, and moved to a home on the eastern side of the ranch. According to Mr. Hicks, the family never reported any unusual experiences but their neighbors did. The next owners were the Shermans.

In 1975, Dr. Frank Salisbury (1926-2016) wrote an article for Bioscience related to an investigation he had undertaken of several UFO sightings that came out during the 1960s, and covered the area of the Uinta Basin. Dr. Salisbury was a plant physiologist and for a time headed the Utah State University (USU) department of plant science. These weird happenings continued after Salisbury published his findings. He authored The Utah UFO Display, published in 1974. He used data from the files of Joseph Junior Hicks and the foreword was written by J. Allen Hynek. In the book is a Q & A between Salisbury and Garth Myers, the brother of Kenneth Myers who bought the ranch in 1933. The Myers initially bought 160 acres, and added parcel of land as time went on.

Salisbury also participated in a symposium titled Encounters with UFO Beings in 1977.

Abandoned homestead on the ranch

When Terry and Gwen Sherman bought the ranch it had been abandoned, and they had difficulty tracking down who had been the previous owners.

When inspecting the structures they were mystified to find deadbolt locks on the doors and windows, as well as the cabinets inside the kitchen. At both ends of the house, iron stakes and heavy chains had been installed. Terry Sherman guessed the previous tenants had positioned large guard dogs in the front and back of the home, but he had no idea why.

It did not take long for the Sherman family to start experiencing paranormal activity of all different types. They heard mysterious voices not only inside the home but around the property as well. They had UFO sightings, cryptids and poltergeist activity inside the house. They owned 80 heads of cattle and in the span of two years, fourteen of them were mutilated.

When Terry Sherman asked other ranchers about slaughter of the cows, they confirmed that their own cattle had been mutilated in the past, and that the local authorities hadn't been able to help.

It started on the first day as they were moving in. They had an encounter with a large wolf that allowed the family to pet it. Lulled into a false sense of security, shortly thereafter it attacked a small calf. They shot at the creature with a handgun and shotgun and it would not let go of the calf. Eventually it walked off into the woods uninjured, and when Terry Sherman tracked it into the woods it's prints just disappeared.

Another time Gwen Sherman drove into the ranch in her Chevette. She encountered a wolf that stood taller than her car. This would be one of several times the family ran across larger than normal wolves on their land.

There were times that beams of light could been seen dancing around the land from sky to ground. There were times when the family discovered large holes and crop circles throughout the land. The phenomena was not limited to sights and sounds, but smells as well. Occasionally a musky odor would waft through the house. At other times the sound of running machinery would be heard coming up from the ground the house stood on.

Even nearby farmers witnessed blue orbs flying around above the ranch. The family claimed that there seemed to be some type of intelligence behind the orbs and that they were quite frightening. Eventually the family ended up all sleeping together in one room.

UFOs sighted in the area came in all shapes and sizes. Some looked spherical, others just like orange balls of light and some resembled an RV. One time their dogs followed the orbs into the brush. The family heard the dogs howl in pain and the next day they were discovered incinerated. This was the event that prompted the Shermans to put the property up for sale.

One of the mysteries among many is the lack of information given by the Myers family who ranched there for 60 years. It's hard to believe the claim they never experienced or saw anything unusual, however Garth Myers who inherited the property and subsequently sold it to the Shermans, said his family never witnessed any UFO phenomena.

Among the many sightings at the Sherman Ranch was a were-wolf like creature that appeared to be bullet-proof

It took just two years for the family to have their fill of all the strange occurrences and they sold the property to Robert Bigelow for $200,000. Just a year earlier in 1995, he had founded the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) to fund research on UFOs and the paranormal. He had been spurred into purchasing the ranch due to the anecdotal sightings of UFOs, bigfoot-like creatures, crop circles, glowing orbs and poltergeist activity reported by the Shermans.

Despite their horrific experiences, the new owners of Skinwalker Ranch convinced the Shermans to remain on the ranch as caretakers for a few more years to aid in observing and documenting unexplained events. If they had any doubt about what the Sherman's had described they didn't have long to wait. The first night they witnessed yellow orbs twenty feet off the ground. They saw an animal that appeared humanlike climb to the top of a tree. They tried to kill it suspecting it was responsible for the mutilations, but just like the wolf the Shermans shot at, it was unharmed. It ran off into the snow leaving human-like footprints with large claw marks.

NIDS continued with their research. Several cattle were mutilated and it was observed that it was done very quickly and with an extremely sharp object. Incredibly in some instances researchers were only 300 yards away when the mutilations took place. Examination of the carcasses found they had been drained of blood, and 40% of the mass inside the animal had been removed.

Homestead 2 site on Skinwalker Ranch which is a hot point of activity

The researchers like the Shermans experienced UFO sightings, different types of cryptids around the ranch, poltergeist activity and other paranormal events. After seven years they had documented 100 separate incidents. The documentation however did not include any film or photographs. It eluded their cameras and recording devices, and whatever was there always seemed to be one step ahead of the researchers. They stopped research on the ranch in 2004, but maintained ownership of the property until 2016. Supposedly this was done since paranormal events had died down, and the staff were hoping that without the constant observation they had placed the property under, the phenomena would resume.

Humans who have lived or visited the ranch have not been harmed physically, but psychologically instead. In some instances some researchers said they saw a 'smiling or smirking' wolf outside their homes, which were on the other side of the country from the Utah ranch.

In 2005, Colm Kelleher and George Knapp wrote a book titled Hunt for the Skinwalker. Kelleher worked for Robert Bigelow, the owner of Budget Suites of America and Bigelow Aerospace. In September, 2018 a documentary was released based on the book. The documentary further revealed that the Department of Defense primarily funded the study.

On the night of March 12, 1997, Colm Kelleher described the following: "The large creature that lay motionless, almost casually, in the tree. The only indication of the beast’s presence was the penetrating yellow light of the unblinking eyes as they stared fixedly back into the light. It was then that I saw it—a single, obvious oval track about six inches in diameter embedded deeply in the patch of snow… It looked unusual: a single large print in the snow with two sharp claws protruding from the rear of the mark going a couple of inches deeper. It almost looked like a bird of prey, maybe a raptor print, but huge and, from the depth of the print, from a very heavy creature."

He noticed the tracks after firing at the figure.

Bigelow's team claim they never captured any concrete proof of the weird phenomena that takes place here, however they have failed to disclose what they did observe, even to the team that works for the new owner.

Brandon Fugal, a real estate developer and tech investor, announced ownership of the ranch via Adamantium Real Estate in 2020, even though they had secured ownership since 2016.

Starting in 2020, The History Channel started to record a reality TV show on the property titled The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.

Like the NIDS team they had malfunctioning electronic equipment, and unexplained illnesses suddenly afflicting team members when visiting certain areas of the ranch. Strange things seem to follow the participants home. Many of them experience vertigo and nausea. In some cases those who have investigated the ranch have experienced what is called the "Hitchhiker Phenomena".

In an interview Dr. Travis Taylor said:

We don’t like to talk about the hitchhiker too much because everybody’s afraid it’s going to trigger it or something. I have several colleagues that were putting instruments out to measure things at their house, as well as at the ranch. And we’re measuring simultaneous events occurring at both places. That may be a thousand miles apart. It just happened to me. My brand new car, so it just shuts off suddenly, all the lights start blinking on and off, and crazy, which we’ve seen happen at the ranch. And something was going on at the same time at the ranch.

Gate at Skinwalker Ranch

Fugal says he has not experienced the Hitchhiker phenomena, but he does know of team members and visitors that have. Whatever it is, has followed them home, and in some cases terrorized their families. Participants, including military operatives refuse to set foot on the property again due to the negativity of what occurred to them. Fugal said, "Even Mr. Bigelow has had experiences that have followed him, resulting in his refusal to ever visit the property ever again."

Present day, the property is closed to the public and security is high due to the high amount of trespassing and vandalism that has taken place. Paranormal activity on the property had all but disappeared over the past couple of years. The mysteries however still remain.