The anomalous environment in the Uintah Basin called Skinwalker Ranch is as popular as ever with the History Channel show “The Secret Of Skinwalker Ranch” and the latest U.S. Department of Defense approved “Skinwalkers at the Pentagon: An Insiders' Account of the Secret Government UFO Program” by James Lacatski, Colm Kelleher PhD, and journalist George Knapp. Both platforms are introducing new audiences to the hotspot that includes UFO sightings, orbs, cryptids and other paranormal activity. So, what’s next for the ranch?
Season 3 of “The Secret Of Skinwalker Ranch” has been greenlit, and ranch owner Brandom Fugal is optimistic of the future.
“Our current investigation at Skinwalker Ranch has yielded the best evidence regarding the reality of the phenomenon,” Fugal said. “We continue to document compelling and sometimes troubling incidents involving UFO/UAP activity correlated with electromagnetic anomalies, and hard data utilizing our sophisticated scientific and surveillance platforms, with credentialed third-party experts engaged and witness to the events.”
The show does practice science on display to mainstream viewers to try to measure the paranormal occurrences which as many before like Robert Bigelow’s National InstituteFor Discovery Science has tried to do, but with the ranch it’s not always easy to control the variables or get desired results. Chris Cogswell, host of the Mad Scientist Podcast, is a self-professed “general skeptic.” Cogswell, who has a PhD in Chemical Engineering, believes “so far the view is far too wide, and hypothesis is unfalsifiable.”
“The core of any true test is having a falsifiable hypothesis, controls, and variables, which allow you to systematically test a system based on external input,” Cogswell said. “Even complex systems where rare events are studied such as zoology, sociology, and astronomy utilize this basic testing structure.”
Kelleher has seen first-hand how the ranch manipulates the variables at hand. How do researchers convince traditional science to take these events more seriously when they aren’t able to control the variables at all?
“When they first began studying meteorites they were not able to control a lot of the variables,” Kelleher said. “Persistence, creativity and resources showed that the study of meteorites was possible. Likewise, long running data gathering programs like Project Hessdalen in Norway and Skinwalker Ranch in Utah show that some data can be slowly and painstakingly gathered with resources and time, but it takes years, not months. I believe the UAPTF and the eventual successor will give many in mainstream science the cover they need to openly discuss these topics. I personally am a lot more optimistic in 2021 than I was in 2010 that more scientists are beginning to take the UAP topic seriously.”
Legendary journalist Knapp’s new book “Skinwalkers at the Pentagon” provides an historic framework of AAWSAP (Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Application Program) and shocking new revelations of some of what was studied, and some of the lingering effects of the ranch.
“One thing the book does is to make it clear that the UFO mystery isn't just about UFOs, and that anyone who wants to dive into this research should understand that it is way bigger and more complicated than chasing lights in the sky,” Knapp said. “The peripheral phenomena long associated with UFO incidents have always been part of the bigger picture, even though researchers--even Ufologists---have been reluctant to acknowledge it. The Utah ranch is unique in that it has such a concentration of paranormal phenomena in one place, as if it is trying to teach us that they are are related somehow, but the ranch isn't the only place where this is true, something we tried to prove in the book.. BAASS/AAWSAP investigated a huge number of cases that involved UFOs as well as other bizarre phenomena that occasionally had profound effects on human health. The so-called hitchhiker effect that was documented at the ranch is not actually unique to the ranch. It dates back to the very beginning of the modern UFO era. People remember that Kenneth Arnold saw a flying phalanx of unknown objects, but they forget that he then experienced an explosion of paranormal events in his home, similar to the intelligence agents who visited Skinwalker. As we reported in the book, some of them are STILL experiencing weird stuff in their homes, though it has been more than a decade since they visited the Utah property. That's pretty damned spooky, but it is real.“
“Skinwalkers at the Pentagon” shows how all the anomalous activity is somehow under one unknown umbrella. Knapp hopes the book helps future investigators.
“We wanted the book to be honest with future investigators and let them know that what some might think of as the UFO mystery is actually many mysteries, all intertwined and interrelated, and that scientists and others have plenty to study and pursue, assuming they have the courage to do so.,” Knapp said. “The fact is, no one knows for sure what is behind all of this. No one knows for sure what the intelligence is, where it's from, or why it's here. What we document in the book is that it is very real, very strange, and that it is possible to study the various aspects in a professional way. Figuring out answers to these questions would seem to be the greatest scientific quest of all time and is central to understanding the human experience. What scientist or journalist can honestly say they are not interested in tackling something as big and profound as this? Nothing else comes close.”
With the UAPTF in place at the Pentagon, it isn’t too far fetched to imagine the U.S. government returns to Skinwalker Ranch at some point.
“There are a lot of very smart people associated with the UAPTF.,” Kelleher said. “I believe that the UAPTF may at some stage begin to study human effects (physiological effects, maybe medical injuries) of UAP interactions. Over time as more data is gathered perhaps they will study psychological effects. The key is to follow the data.”
-By MIKE DAMANTE
BONUS GEORGE KNAPP:
Q:How do we convince traditional science to take these events more seriously when they aren’t able to control the variables at all ?
KNAPP: There's an old quip that works well here. Science advances one funeral at a time. Sad, but true. All of the progress made in the last four years has raised the profile and respectability of the UFO subject in general. It has caught the attention of millions of people around the planet who never really paid much attention to UFOs and UAPs. The intelligence operatives who worked with AAWSAP//BAASS learned beyond any doubt that these phenomena are real, that they interact with humans in profound, documentable ways, that the various mysteries entangled with the UFO issue are not only worthy of study, but likely represent the greatest challenge science has ever faced. I have to believe that a new generation of younger scientists is among the throngs of recent arrivals to this arena, people who are now looking at UFOs and related mysteries in a new light, as something that is not necessarily a career killer, but rather as a way to advance science and our understanding of humanity's place in the cosmos. Yes, the work is challenging because so many aspects of it are unpredictable and non-repeatable. What it means is that science itself needs to adapt to reality, not the other way around.
Q: Do you think the UAPTF will eventually want to investigate the ranch ?
KNAPP: No. UAPTF was given a much narrower focus than AAWSAP had, and until the past week or so, it looked like legislative proposals for a new and improved UAPTF, some form of a permanent UAP program/investigation would likewise have a limited scope, that is, looking exclusively at military encounters with unknown craft. We are never going to understand the big picture if we only look at nuts and bolts mystery craft zipping around in the skies. It is certainly worthwhile to pursue that part of the mystery, especially since military systems, sensors, and platforms offer the best chance to acquire hard data, but those cases represent such a tiny slice of the overall picture that we are unlikely to ever figure things out by limiting ourselves to a study of flying whatchamacallits who appear in and around military bases, facilities, or units. Like its predecessors AAWSAP and AATIP, the UAPTF had some smart, courageous, dedicated people working behind the scenes to get their heads around UFO/UAP. I think every one of them came to the realization that the true scope of the and assorted mysteries is unbelievably vast, way more complicated than we can imagine, and possibly beyond our ability to EVER figure out, but I'll bet all of them are totally committed to giving it a try, rather than walking away and giving up because it's too hard. The progress made by AAWSAP, then AATIP, then UAPTF makes it very difficult to stuff the genie back into the bottle.
And by the way, in the book, we documented that there is a direct line from AAWSAP to UAPTF. Without the creation of AAWSAP and the work done by BAASS, there would have been no AATIP and there wouldn't be a UAPTF. Someday, when all of the names are made public, it will become clear jsut how much a direct line there was. Some of the people who coordinated with AAWSAP stuck around for AATIP and then worked directly with UAPTF. That is a fact. I realize that some people don't want to admit AAWSAP existed or what it studied because some of the research and many of the incidents were just too weird. they think we should NOT follow the evidence where it leads, but rather that we future investigations should be limited only to topics that are deemed 'respectable', excluding anything remotely close to "woo". That's the mind of closed-mindedness that has plagued UFO investigations since the beginning, both governmental and private efforts. Anyone who pretends that there is no ‘woo’ associated with UFOs is not being honest. the connection is real, whether we like it or not, whether it is politically convenient or not, so we might as well face it going forward, rather than sweep it under the rug.....again.
If you are a fan of Skinwalker Ranch Mike Damante’s latest book “Punk rock and UFOs: Stranger Than Fiction” features exclusive interviews with Brandon Fugal, Travis Taylor, Leslie Kean, Tom DeLonge, Peter Levenda, Kevin Day, Sean Cahill, Diana Pasulka, Jeffrey Kripal, and the producers of “Unidentified.” Order now.