History Channel's The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch is attempting to peel back the layers of mysteries which have surrounded the infamous property for two centuries, by having a team of scientists use some very sophisticated equipment to test the things that happen there. Everything from seemingly random cattle mutilations to sightings of odd creatures have been reported at the ranch, but Dr. Travis Taylor, who was a part of the team which studied the site last year, thinks he knows at least one thing that could be leading to all of the unexplained occurrences.
Dr. Taylor spoke to myself and a group of other journalists recently, and when he was asked what he thought might be the cause of so much of the odd activity at Skinwalker Ranch, he said that where the property is located (on 512 acres in Utah's Uinta Basin) might actually hold the key to its secrets.
That is an excellent question, and we ask ourselves this all the time. Now, the first thing that I will say is that when the team and I talk about this, in no way do we believe that our man-made farming fences along the border of the 500 [sic] acres is keeping out any super physics, hyper-paranormal - whatever you guys want to call it - phenomenon within the borders of the ranch. In fact, people in the local [area] in Fort Duchenne, Roosevelt and the other town that’s nearby, they are all the time reporting phenomena are occurring outside of the boundaries of the ranch.Now, that being said, if you look at the Uinta Basin on Google Earth, to me it looks like an ancient meteor impact crater. And, in fact, it looks like it came from the east to the west at a low inclination, and that’s what splattered the salt flats to the west of the Uinta Basin. There’s gilsonite all around the Uinta Basin which typically is only found in a meteor impact crater, plus all of the petroleum that is underneath the Uintah Basin, there are a lot of geologists and natural physicists [who are] now beginning to think that impact craters cause a phenomena that creates petroleum.If you look at this impact crater, the ranch is dead center give or take, but it’s pretty much dead center. And perhaps something to do with the bowl shape of the basin or whatever caused the basin made this the [center] or the nexus for whatever the activity might be.
I have to say, this seems like a very reasonable explanation for all the oddball things that go on at Skinwalker Ranch and the surrounding area, but it still creeps me all the way out. I've seen way too much sci-fi to take Dr. Taylor's words at face value here. While I'm sure he has a very good point when he says that, because the ranch is basically centered in what appears to have been the site of an ancient meteor impact, that probably tells us why so many weirdo things happen there. But, we still don't know what, exactly, that means.
For instance, there have been a lot of UFO sightings on and near Skinwalker Ranch. Does that mean that the proposed meteor left behind something that causes people to hallucinate UFOs, or did something that can fly basically hitch a ride on the meteor and then stay in the area? See what I mean? Either way, it's creepy.
Dr. Taylor has also already admitted to two things which should help keep people interested in Skinwalker Ranch for a very long time. First of all, he's said that, between the unexplained phenomena and the armed guards there, it is actually very dangerous on the property. And, if that weren't enough, he also admitted that he's seen plenty of things happen there that don't appear to be man-made, because the high tech equipment they used to study the site couldn't explain it. Plus, he can't figure out how these things can be random acts of Mother Nature, either.
So, a meteor might be the cause of the mysteries surrounding the ranch, but to what extent? We'll all just have to keep watching The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST on History Channel to see if we can all find out. For more on what you can see on the small screen right now, check out our Netflix schedule and see what's new on Hulu this month!
