Skinwalker Ranch — officially known historically as the Sherman Ranch — is a 512-acre property in the Uintah Basin of northeastern Utah, near the town of Ballard on the edge of the Ute Indian Reservation. For decades it has been the most systematically investigated private property in the United States for paranormal phenomena, hosting documented reports of glowing orbs, landed craft, cattle mutilations, shapeshifting creatures, electronic malfunctions, and unexplained injuries to both animals and people.
The Ute people of the region have traditionally considered the basin to be cursed, the result of a historical conflict between the Ute and the Navajo that left the land associated with skinwalkers — Navajo witches capable of transforming into animals. Modern paranormal history of the ranch began after 1994, when Terry and Gwen Sherman purchased the property. Within weeks of moving in, the family reported a wolf-like creature three times the size of a normal wolf that attacked their cattle and was impervious to gunfire. Over the next eighteen months the Shermans experienced luminous discs hovering over their pastures, strip-mutilation of cattle, invisible voices, and repeated sightings of large bipedal creatures.
In 1996, the Shermans sold the property to Las Vegas aerospace billionaire Robert Bigelow, who established the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) and stationed a team of biologists, physicists, and former military intelligence personnel on the ranch. NIDS investigated the property for eight years, producing internal reports that included thermal-camera footage of anomalous objects, physical samples, and witness statements. In 2007, journalists George Knapp and Colm Kelleher published 'Hunt for the Skinwalker,' summarising the NIDS era.
In 2016 the ranch was purchased by real-estate entrepreneur Brandon Fugal, who opened it to the History Channel's 'The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch' television series beginning in 2020. The show has documented anomalous radiation spikes, hardware failures at specific GPS coordinates, and drones experiencing instantaneous altitude loss. Skinwalker Ranch remains the most intensively monitored alleged hotspot of paranormal phenomena in the modern era.