Skinwalker Ranch is a 512-acre property at the center of the Uintah Basin, which has long been home to tales of the paranormal—including hundreds of recorded firsthand accounts dating back to the 1950s. After decades of study, the source of the strangeness in the basin remains a mystery. The area, and other supernatural hotspots in Utah, continue to lure new investigations to document and discover the cause of these unexplained events.
The ongoing History Channel series The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch is in its fifth season and follows Skinwalker Ranch owner Brandon Fugal and his team as they attempt to uncover the ranch’s mysteries—from UFO sightings to cattle mutilations—experimenting with any and all technology at their disposal, like lasers and ground-penetrating radar.
The “skinwalker” and Utah are also at the center of the premiere episode of the latest season of Ghost Adventures, the popular paranormal investigation series on Discovery+. Zak Bagans and his team travel to Torrey, Utah, where a family reports sightings of a “skinwalker,” a reference to a magical figure that appears in Navajo Nation traditions. It is not Ghost Adventures’ first investigation in Utah, either. Their team has visited a dozen other spots in the Beehive State over the years, including the Fear Factory.
Paranormal investigators, like Bagans and his team, typically use a variety of handheld tools and worn equipment to document these events, such as electromagnetic field meters (EMF), portable radio scanners (AKA “spirit boxes”), thermal imaging and infrared cameras.
The U.S. Government had an interest in Utah’s paranormal activity as well. According to a 2024 report by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, a former Department of Defense program (Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program, 2009–2012) investigated an “alleged hotspot of paranormal activity at a property in Utah,” examining reports of “shadow figures,” “creatures” and “inter-dimensional phenomena” believed to frequently appear at the unnamed property.
Further readings on paranormal investigations in Utah
- The Utah UFO Display: A Scientist Brings Reason and Logic to Over 400 UFO Sightings in Utah’s Uintah Basin by Frank B. Salisbury
- Hunt For The Skinwalker by Colm A. Kelleher and George Knapp
- UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record by Leslie Kean
- UFO: The Inside Story of the U.S. Government’s Search of Alien Life Here—and Out There by Garrett M. Graff.
In the mood for more spooks? Discover six haunted locations in Utah!
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