[cairo_x]

What's the deal with Skinwalker ranch? Why are they interested in it? Everything is so vague and x-filesy when people mention the ranch. Very woo woo without any actual details about what people have encountered there. What is the specific link between the ranch and UFOs?

[jcrawfordor]

In my mind, Skinwalker Ranch is one of the most clear events that should raise questions about Bigelow's credibility. NIDSci very prominently purchased the ranch and initiated a research project there which they even invited some reporters to observe. Absolutely nothing came out of it besides a couple of books which provided essentially nothing other than recapping myths related to the site which are, themselves, of dubious origin (e.g. may have been fabricated much later than their supposed origin). See, e.g., Kelleher and Knapp's book.

Note that both Kelleher and Knapp are referenced by TFA - Bigelow is perhaps the central body orbited by a dozen or so paranormal enthusiasts repeatedly involved in various schemes. Take down a list of the researchers associated with AATIP/BAASS and you will see their names come up over and over for the last twenty years of paranormal phenomena - frequently associated with high-profile research projects that quietly die with no results.

After years of work at Skinwalker, NIDSci quietly closed up shop with nothing to show for the effort and, espeically in later years, very little apparent activity besides hiring a guard to keep everyone else out of the site.

So obviously this is an opinionated answer, but I would say that there is nothing about Skinwalker Ranch besides some strange stories coming from the Gormans (previous owners of the ranch) and then a tremendous amount of confirmation bias and intrigue, most of which was only even possible because NIDSci was so incredibly shady and non-transparent about their work there despite inviting people to write books.

To answer your question more directly, there is not necessarily any connection between Skinwalker Ranch and UFOs except to the extent that the greater community (and to some extent Bigelow and his friends) have drawn tenuous connections between Skinwalker Ranch and essentially every other paranormal phenomena ever proposed. For example, on of the phenomena said to surround Skinwalker Ranch is a rumbling or deep sound from the earth, which some suggest is evidence of ongoing construction work on a deep underground military base (DUMB). DUMBs are generally associated with interaction with alien races or work on extraterrestrial technology, mostly due to Bob Lazar.

[cairo_x]

One of the most articulate and complete replies I've ever received on this website. Thank you.

Skinwalker Ranch seems like a key to understanding the state of the art in UFO research. In a word: Farcical. Almost on a 'men who stare at goats' type level of ridiculousness.

[wolfspider]

The reason they are interested in it is the accidents which have supposedly occurred there or what I reckon is the UAP and biological tissue stuff mentioned in the article. Somebody was digging a hole in the ground and got zapped by something is what I read elsewhere. They have also reported sightings of orbs flying around that zapped a dog. The explanation as to what it has to do with everything is that the equipment picks up similar energy signatures all around this place to the UFOs and there are sightings of those as well. Honestly don’t know what to think TBH but certainly not going to say I’m sold on all of this. I’ve seen plenty of weird things myself. I once saw some guy going 30 mph on a unicycle through Georgetown in D.C. and it was incredible the amount of skepticism there was just trying to convince my friends standing nearby it actually happened until they saw him later going over a bridge. They were all certain it was not physically possible. I find it humorous the pentagon got worried that forces of precognitive evil might spread into the government yet on a day to day level we’re more worried about Facebook? We are sooo not ready to deal with any of this objectively if there is any truth to it.

[not_skeptic]

To my knowledge this is some sort of urban legend thing. I looked into this world about a year ago and it seems there are a number of weird things that have basically nothing backing them up that won't die. There is endless talk among UFO enthusiasts about this ranch, this bob lazar guy, etc. These are things that really have no leg to stand on, yet get the same type of traction in UFO circles as well documented sightings like the Nimitz incident, Minot AFB, etc. I was really blown away by the real stuff, I don't get how people are seriously skeptics about these cases, but there seems to be some inability with this audience in differentiating between those cases and whatever they heard on reddit about skinwalker ranch.