The Navajo Skinwalker & 'Skinwalker Ranch'

[Sid]

Peer review is something that is used in assessing articles submitted to scientific journals, it doesn't apply to work in progress. Most of the specialist experts employed in the series such as drone operators, tunnelling machine owners, astronomers, and local universities that are often used to analyse samples, have no interest in such matters. It is also worth asking, what journals would they submit reports to? There are relatively few journals that deal with "paranormal" subjects, I suppose the Journal of Scientific Exploration would be the obvious choice.

I Suppose that's it really. . . they are trying to deal with stuff that is unknown, unquantified, and completely open to criticism until sound results are quantified.

 

[eburacum]

If (and it is a big if) these phenomena really are caused by interdimensional entities, this research could potentially open up contact with an arbitrary, perhaps infinite, number of alternate universes. This could offer the opportunity for access to resources and energy on an unimaginable scale. It might also allow unknown entities in those universes access to our universe, and this could be dangerous.

For this reason, any investigation of such phenomena should be carried out with the utmost rigour. Such an investigation needs to eliminate false positives as well as detecting any possible anomalies. Taylor is a competent scientist, but he seems only interested in detecting anomalies, and seems resistant to eliminating false positives by searching for mundane explanations. So far everything depicted appears to have a possible mundane explanation, and this should be the default assumption. But instead these programmes carry on the entertainment-based, unscientific mindset of the Oak Island and Ancient Aliens series, and any chance for a rigorous research effort is almost certainly lost.

 

[Carl Grove]

Update: I have now watched episode 2. This does not appear to me to be thoughtful, structured research: no project plan, no complete review of prior data, no clearly defined authority (who is in charge of this research?). It is reactive. Dramatic, but confusing. Also, again they discuss the history of the skinwalker curse. This is bullshit.

I do not have a background in the required sciences to conduct research; however, with my background structuring large scale multi-disciplinary research, I am confident that I could have done a better job. That is how poor this series is.

My previous posting about episode 1 contains all the categories of warning flags that this is not serious research. I may watch more, but I find this painful.

If any anomalies exist, so far the series fail to demonstrate it. Failed mainly by NOT explaining why non-mysterious causes have been ruled out: lack of detail, etc. If the mesa they were on was the one directly north of the ranch, there are multiple buildings and inhabitants within 2 miles of the Skinwalker Ranch.

@Carl Grove, since you have watched all the episodes so far, could you share with us the name of the person actually in charge of this research at the Skinwalker Ranch?

Edited for clarity and spelling.

Before responding to your specific points I have to say that pretty well all of the questions that have come up regarding this ranch and the research will be easily answered if you get the book that I just received, Skinwalkers at the Pentagon, by James Lacatski, Colm Kelleher and George Knapp (the latter basically tidying up the English, I suspect) which discusses in agonising detail the official viewpoint on UAPs and Skinwalker. I will just describe what seems to be the key episode in this: in 2009, Bigelow invited Jonathan Axelrod, the chief investigator of the TicTac sightings, to come and see what was going on at the ranch. His NIDs team at that time comprised Colm Kelleher, Erik Davis, and George Onet. Axelrod brought with him two friends and colleagues, Jim Costigan and David Wilson, both with Marine backgrounds. All three had read Kelleher's book, Hunt for the Skinwalker, and although impressed they were all sceptical. As darkness fell on a warm (75F) July night they set off with a night vision scope. After walking half a mile the temperature suddenly dropped to 55F. They realised they had entered a cold zone and retraced their steps until the temp. rose to 75 again. Three times they moved back and forth and each time the division between the warm and cold air was distinct. [This will be relevant when you reach the episode regarding the effect of the Jewish chant at Homestead 2.] They pressed on but after about 30 yards all three were being overcome by sheer terror. Another 10 yards and they were unable to go on. They tried but then through the night vision scope, then used by Costigan, a black oval appeared. All three felt that they must go back because to go on meant death.
The next day they walked all over the property without any odd feelings and returned to their homes. But 10 days later Axelrod called Kelleher. It seems that he had been a victim of the hitchiker effect. The night he returned, his wife awoke to find a dark menacing shape in the bedroom. Later she heard noises in their sons' bedroom. Then the boys began to see things, including blue orbs flying around. Later when Axelrod was away his wife had just turned off the kitchen light when she saw outside, next to a tree, a large wolf standing on its hind legs. It looked aggressively at her then turned and walked away. She told no-one of this. Later both her sons also saw the wolf, this time it ran off rather than walked. Later on the family found deep scratch marks on the trees around the house. This was, then, the first report of the hitch-hiker effect that seems to have afflicted the present team.

Regarding your questions, yes there are other properties near the ranch, and in a later episode we hear some of the stories told by their owners. It appears that the phenomena are not limited to the ranch itself.

OK, you think you could have done a better job. Maybe you could! Please be specific about this: what exactly would you do differently, given the basically unpredictable nature of the phenomena?

 

[Carl Grove]

Something that has played on my mind is the fact that such a big fuss has been made about phenomena under Bigelow's era, and yet he decided to sell the ranch. I've read/heard various explanations for why he decided to sell, but it just doesn't ring true to me. I find it hard to believe that a man like Bigelow would sell that ranch if it were a such a potential paranormal/scientific gold mine.

It seems that Bigelow recovered something buried at the ranch, rods made of some unknown metal, which he kept secret from the others. Maybe he had found what he was looking for? Another puzzle.

 

[eburacum]

Curiously, 'Axelrod' seems to be a pseudonym for another individual, Jay Stratton. Is that his stage name?

 

[eburacum]

Later when Axelrod was away his wife had just turned off the kitchen light when she saw outside, next to a tree, a large wolf standing on its hind legs. It looked aggressively at her then turned and walked away. She told no-one of this. Later both her sons also saw the wolf, this time it ran off rather than walked

As I said earlier, a werewolf in all but name. Has Stratton ever confirmed this story, or is he perhaps hiding behind a pseudonym?

---------
This story reminds me of the Hexham Heads thread, which includes a similar story from the author Dr Anne Ross. See this transcription here.
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/the-hexham-heads.3750/page-3#post-730888

Of course the Hexham wolf story is complicated by the fact that the Hexham Heads were found to be a forgery.

 

[kamalktk]

I've done a fair amount of 3D rendering, but the techniques of photogrammetry are more complex. It seems the elimination of stray pixels is a routine part of making a 3D model from imagery. To make a reliable model you need something called 'point cloud confidence' which selects only the pixels you really want.

That allows you to go from this rough scan of a dinosaur bone

to this, with high point cloud confidence, interpolated pixels and the elimination of stray pixels.

I suspect that stray, low confidence pixels are the cause of these mysterious point clouds in the mesa photogram.

View attachment 64391

I've personally had to deal with stray pixels in photogrammetry when importing models into my game from places like Sketchfab.

 

[Carl Grove]

Curiously, 'Axelrod' seems to be a pseudonym for another individual, Jay Stratton. Is that his stage name?

Not a pseudonym as far as I know. What a weird question.

 

[RaM]

Wasn't 'Axelrod a name associated with the men in back?

 

[eburacum]

Not a pseudonym as far as I know. What a weird question.

Axelrod doesn't seem to exist in real life, but Stratton does. A lot of people think they are the same person; I thought you might know.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/105v0jm

John "Jay" Stratton is perhaps best known for in the past being director of the UAP task force and being identified as "Axelrod" in the book Skinwalkers at the Pentagon. He has not spoken in public about UFOs, except for a very brief comment to George Knapp last year.

 

[eburacum]

As darkness fell on a warm (75F) July night they set off with a night vision scope. After walking half a mile the temperature suddenly dropped to 55F. They realised they had entered a cold zone and retraced their steps until the temp. rose to 75 again. Three times they moved back and forth and each time the division between the warm and cold air was distinct

None of which was confirmed by sensor readings, unfortunately This event was purely subjective. That doesn't mean it didn't happen.

I haven't had many inexplicable, 'paranormal' experiences myself that I can't explain, but I must admit I have encountered a spooky temperature differential - in a haunted house, of all places. That doesn't really change my view of paranormal events very much though - all it does is confirm that these events do occur.

The fact that I couldn't explain it doesn't mean it had a supernatural explanation; I expect there was a perfectly natural explanation, although possibly one that has not been discovered yet. Indeed, I think that everything of this nature does have a natural explanation, even the most apparently bizarre events; that is why it is useful to study them. But we must eliminate all known explanations first - something that Taylor doesn't seem to do.

 

[charliebrown]

I would not say Travis Taylor is “ lacking “.

According to Wikipedia beside a long list of accomplishments, Travis spent 16 years with DARPA to produce “direct high energy” weapons.

To me Travis is what he seems to be which is intelligent.

 

[Carl Grove]

None of which was confirmed by sensor readings, unfortunately This event was purely subjective. That doesn't mean it didn't happen.

I haven't had many inexplicable, 'paranormal' experiences myself that I can't explain, but I must admit I have encountered a spooky temperature differential - in a haunted house, of all places. That doesn't really change my view of paranormal events very much though - all it does is confirm that these events do occur.

The fact that I couldn't explain it doesn't mean it had a supernatural explanation; I expect there was a perfectly natural explanation, although possibly one that has not been discovered yet. Indeed, I think that everything of this nature does have a natural explanation, even the most apparently bizarre events; that is why it is useful to study them. But we must eliminate all known explanations first - something that Taylor doesn't seem to do.

Your viewpoint seems strange to me. One minute you are rubbishing a serious report. saying it was "purely subjective", the next you are admitting to experiencing a cold spot in a haunted house. I have never used the term "supernatural" and I think it is frankly misleading. Yes, these events do occur, and it is up to us to try to investigate them. As you will see if you do view the skinwalker series is that there is solid footage of crazy temperature differentials at Homestead 2 following a Rabbi's recitation of an ancient prayer, and a replication of that event, again recorded, when an audio recording of the prayer was played. I think the proper attitude is to view all phenomena as worthy of scientific study, and it is up to us to find ways of doing this rather than to say "A is scientific and B is supernatural." All phenomena are just that - phenomena. Incidentally I have experienced a ton of puzzling events, many in a haunted house where my wife used to work, including objects being moved, a cold spot, and an invisible entity which I could sense but not visually.

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

Before responding to your specific points I have to say that pretty well all of the questions that have come up regarding this ranch and the research will be easily answered if you get the book that I just received, Skinwalkers at the Pentagon, by James Lacatski, Colm Kelleher and George Knapp (the latter basically tidying up the English, I suspect) which discusses in agonising detail the official viewpoint on UAPs and Skinwalker. I will just describe what seems to be the key episode in this: in 2009, Bigelow invited Jonathan Axelrod, the chief investigator of the TicTac sightings, to come and see what was going on at the ranch. His NIDs team at that time comprised Colm Kelleher, Erik Davis, and George Onet. Axelrod brought with him two friends and colleagues, Jim Costigan and David Wilson, both with Marine backgrounds. All three had read Kelleher's book, Hunt for the Skinwalker, and although impressed they were all sceptical. As darkness fell on a warm (75F) July night they set off with a night vision scope. After walking half a mile the temperature suddenly dropped to 55F. They realised they had entered a cold zone and retraced their steps until the temp. rose to 75 again. Three times they moved back and forth and each time the division between the warm and cold air was distinct. [This will be relevant when you reach the episode regarding the effect of the Jewish chant at Homestead 2.] They pressed on but after about 30 yards all three were being overcome by sheer terror. Another 10 yards and they were unable to go on. They tried but then through the night vision scope, then used by Costigan, a black oval appeared. All three felt that they must go back because to go on meant death.
The next day they walked all over the property without any odd feelings and returned to their homes. But 10 days later Axelrod called Kelleher. It seems that he had been a victim of the hitchiker effect. The night he returned, his wife awoke to find a dark menacing shape in the bedroom. Later she heard noises in their sons' bedroom. Then the boys began to see things, including blue orbs flying around. Later when Axelrod was away his wife had just turned off the kitchen light when she saw outside, next to a tree, a large wolf standing on its hind legs. It looked aggressively at her then turned and walked away. She told no-one of this. Later both her sons also saw the wolf, this time it ran off rather than walked. Later on the family found deep scratch marks on the trees around the house. This was, then, the first report of the hitch-hiker effect that seems to have afflicted the present team.

Regarding your questions, yes there are other properties near the ranch, and in a later episode we hear some of the stories told by their owners. It appears that the phenomena are not limited to the ranch itself.

OK, you think you could have done a better job. Maybe you could! Please be specific about this: what exactly would you do differently, given the basically unpredictable nature of the phenomena?

Hi Carl Grove:

I previously posted: “No plan for investigation so far: goals, constraints, technology, personnel, roles and responsibilities, timelines and due dates, etc. If this is not addressed, then I consider this to be a fatal flaw.”

The way the investigators and ranch staff conduct themselves, there is and can be no resolution to anything. First, in the “observation science of walking around,” they note extremely high and unusual levels of VOCs – volatile organic compounds. They then do nothing with this information – including contacting the US EPA to report it! They do not have blood samples drawn immediately after this exposure so they can have some documented evidence (triangulation) which would strengthen their case. Then they move on to the next weird thing. And then the next. They never follow through with anything.

A project plan would be deciding and documenting the following categories, and then following the plan:

• Who has final decision-making authority.
• The goals: very specific. This would follow reviewing the prior evidence. Which they do not do.
• Description of the goals and the types of evidence they would document. For example, videos of some type of weirdness, triangulated with other types of evidence: radiation readings, failure of equipment, personnel reporting on their health at the time, comparing all this to the previous documented evidence, etc.
• Roles and responsibilities of all the people involved in this. So the head of security does not get to decide what does and does not get done. Or the digger.
• Due dates: what is to be accomplished by when.
• Etc.

This project management is not rocket science; it is basic work processes for science. Yet they do not do any of this. If Dr. Taylor actually has the work experience he claims, then he knows this stuff. I conclude that he does not follow it because either the ranch owner or the Netflix producers have made this decision, and he is paid enough to go along with it. Nothing else makes sense to me. I have now watched ½ of the series, and no project plan is in evidence. This is a fatal flaw.

In every project I have designed and implemented, designing the project (in all the above categories of decisions and more) took as long or longer than actually conducting the research. I hope some other researchers will offer comments.

The ranch owner apparently has not fully briefed Dr. Taylor on previous evidence, and when Taylor finds this out, he still continues on with the project. If Taylor was eventually fully briefed, no mention of this is made in the series (I am up to episode 3 so far.). This is unbelievably shoddy. I find it unbelievable.

Carl Grove, I think something weird is happening at the ranch: poltergeist outbreaks and some aspects of mass hysteria at the least.

However, the series is hurting the chances of any good scientists taking a look because it comes across as woo entertainment.

PS – I find the way the security men carry their presumably loaded weapons unprofessional.

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

I would not say Travis Taylor is “ lacking “.

According to Wikipedia beside a long list of accomplishments, Travis spent 16 years with DARPA to produce “direct high energy” weapons.

To me Travis is what he seems to be which is intelligent.

He does not show much intelligence with his decision-making on the show for the first 3 episodes, which is all I have watched so far.

 

[Carl Grove]

Hi Carl Grove:

I previously posted: “No plan for investigation so far: goals, constraints, technology, personnel, roles and responsibilities, timelines and due dates, etc. If this is not addressed, then I consider this to be a fatal flaw.”

The way the investigators and ranch staff conduct themselves, there is and can be no resolution to anything. First, in the “observation science of walking around,” they note extremely high and unusual levels of VOCs – volatile organic compounds. They then do nothing with this information – including contacting the US EPA to report it! They do not have blood samples drawn immediately after this exposure so they can have some documented evidence (triangulation) which would strengthen their case. Then they move on to the next weird thing. And then the next. They never follow through with anything.

A project plan would be deciding and documenting the following categories, and then following the plan:

• Who has final decision-making authority.
• The goals: very specific. This would follow reviewing the prior evidence. Which they do not do.
• Description of the goals and the types of evidence they would document. For example, videos of some type of weirdness, triangulated with other types of evidence: radiation readings, failure of equipment, personnel reporting on their health at the time, comparing all this to the previous documented evidence, etc.
• Roles and responsibilities of all the people involved in this. So the head of security does not get to decide what does and does not get done. Or the digger.
• Due dates: what is to be accomplished by when.
• Etc.

This project management is not rocket science; it is basic work processes for science. Yet they do not do any of this. If Dr. Taylor actually has the work experience he claims, then he knows this stuff. I conclude that he does not follow it because either the ranch owner or the Netflix producers have made this decision, and he is paid enough to go along with it. Nothing else makes sense to me. I have now watched ½ of the series, and no project plan is in evidence. This is a fatal flaw.

In every project I have designed and implemented, designing the project (in all the above categories of decisions and more) took as long or longer than actually conducting the research. I hope some other researchers will offer comments.

The ranch owner apparently has not fully briefed Dr. Taylor on previous evidence, and when Taylor finds this out, he still continues on with the project. If Taylor was eventually fully briefed, no mention of this is made in the series (I am up to episode 3 so far.). This is unbelievably shoddy. I find it unbelievable.

Carl Grove, I think something weird is happening at the ranch: poltergeist outbreaks and some aspects of mass hysteria at the least.

However, the series is hurting the chances of any good scientists taking a look because it comes across as woo entertainment.

PS – I find the way the security men carry their presumably loaded weapons unprofessional.

I had the impression that the first few episodes were a bit confused, because the producers didn't really understand how to present the more complex side of scientific research and were trying initially to focus on personalities. Part of that was the need to introduce the cast and also to explain the previous problems that would have led to Taylor's appearance on the show. I also suspect that even had there been detailed discussions and more comprehensive planning on the part of the team prior to each experiment, they would have ended up on the cutting room floor. There is only 40 minutes actual footage used in each episode. Yes, it gives the impression that Taylor just thinks up things on the spur of the moment but I'm sure that's not true. Once Taylor starts to get a clear picture of what's involved he has some excellent ideas and many of these do bring in significant findings. The way he locates the anomaly above the ranch using very simple methodology is excellent. Bit by bit the various findings build up the picture. There are plenty of solid measurements of various forms of radiation, the use of outside specialists, and enough visual evidence of strange events to satisfy both seekers of excitement and those with a serious interest in such phenomena. But as I emphasized in a post above, it isn't just a scientific problem: it has serious intelligence implications. If some unknown entity exists there and can operate as it pleases, and if as I pointed out, it can monitor what is going on and react to possible threats as needed, then you cannot regard it as a purely "scientific" problem. Yes, it gives itself away by producing time and dimensional distortions to nullify the team's plans, and that in itself is important, but if you have been doing research into regular areas where the materials and variables are constants, that methodology will fail. And PS, the gun-toting guards vanish very quickly.
Now I am assuming that your experience is with more conventional research topics, and I can tell you that you will need to become more flexible in dealing with more so-called paranormal stuff. For example, I have been researching local mystery areas and when you have got some photographic evidence of something strange, only to find that the photo has changed afterwards, it can be very frustrating!

 

[eburacum]

The way he locates the anomaly above the ranch using very simple methodology is excellent.

We have discovered a perfectly rational explanation for this so-called anomaly; I can't believe that Taylor is ignorant of the stray-pixel phenomenon, but he doesn't even mention it.

Over and over again he ignores the parsimonious, non-paranormal explanations that he should be considering.

 

[eburacum]

Travis spent 16 years with DARPA to produce “direct high energy” weapons.

As I understand it, the current problem with 'direct high energy weapons' is not the weapon itself, but the power source. High-energy weapons are not portable, because they need a large, heavy battery or power-pack. So the only examples of high-energy weapons which have been tested successfully are inside large aircraft or on-board a ship. We would need a breakthrough in energy storage before high-energy weapons are as effective and portable as projectile weapons.

 

[Carl Grove]

We have discovered a perfectly rational explanation for this so-called anomaly; I can't believe that Taylor is ignorant of the stray-pixel phenomenon, but he doesn't even mention it.

Over and over again he ignores the parsimonious, non-paranormal explanations that he should be considering.

No, I was talking about the major anomaly, a mile up above the triangle, the one that defies all attempts to reach. As will become evident later in the series. They have tried rockets, aircraft, a helicopter, everything they can think of.

 

[eburacum]

That all sounds a bit 'Oak Island' to me. No matter how deep they dig, they never find the treasure.

 

[Vardoger]

That all sounds a bit 'Oak Island' to me. No matter how deep they dig, they never find the treasure.

They'll make more money from the show than from the "treasure" they'll never find.

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

@Carl Grove wrote: "If some unknown entity exists there and can operate as it pleases, and if as I pointed out, it can monitor what is going on and react to possible threats as needed, then you cannot regard it as a purely "scientific" problem. Yes, it gives itself away by producing time and dimensional distortions to nullify the team's plans, and that in itself is important, but if you have been doing research into regular areas where the materials and variables are constants, that methodology will fail."

You and I have now reached a philosophical divide. I think that everything and anything can be viewed as a scientific problem, including whatever is going on at the ranch. Carl, you dismiss me and others who disagree with you when you write that the methods used with more regular, constant materials and variables are insufficient to apply to the ranch phenomena. Methods which document and triangulate data of any kind are always useful, even if they only show mistakes or omissions.

What type of methods do you suggest would be better?

I do have some background in examining anomalous phenomena, which of course you didn't know, and I return to my opinion that nothing is out of the bounds for a scientific approach.

I think that weird stuff is happening at the ranch, but the Netflix series approach is entertainment, not science.

 

[brownmane]

I think that weird stuff is happening at the ranch, but the Netflix series approach is entertainment, not science.

^this^ The moment anything becomes a tv series, all research and possible results shown are influenced by the tv producer. Only information that furthers the agenda of the producer will be shown regardless of the researcher's qualifications or experience.

People want to see entertainment, something happening. The minute that nothing happens, the viewership drops. Drop in viewership equals drop in (advertising) revenue.

There is a reason I never watch anything called "reality tv". Because it's not.

I am not necessarily saying that there is nothing possibly odd at this site, but I am skeptical of what is being reported.

As I asked up thread, why are there no other places in the world with this type, or frequency of occurrences?

For people who believe that UAP's and other beings may exist in the universe, I have often heard the answer to why they believe is because we can't be the only planet like this. So why is no one also asking this about this site? It would be really interesting, imo, if there were more than one place that had similar events like this one. Then we might have something to compare and to possibly find answers.

 

[Sid]

As I asked up thread, why are there no other places in the world with this type, or frequency of occurrences?

It would be really interesting, imo, if there were more than one place that had similar events like this one. Then we might have something to compare and to possibly find answers.

Online, entering the question 'are there any other places like Skinwalker Ranch?' it brings up quite a number which are claimed to be like, or even more weirder than Skinwalker Ranch - apparently, just less well known at present so they claim.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Online, entering the question 'are there any other places like Skinwalker Ranch?' it brings up quite a number which are claimed to be like, or even more weirder than Skinwalker Ranch - apparently, just less well known at present so they claim.

The excellent guys down under at 'Mysteries Universe' often feature places in Australia that are up there with the Skinwalker Ranch, here is a recent example:

"Our next stop is the "Skinwalker Ranch" of Australia, where we recount the legend of the terror Birdmen of Fernvale and a series of strange events that occurred in 1927. These events include sightings of UFOs, cattle mutilations, and encounters with Men in White. It's a fascinating and spine-tingling exploration of the unknown."

https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2023/03/29.08-MU-Podcast-Outback-Birdman/

 

[Carl Grove]

@Carl Grove wrote: "If some unknown entity exists there and can operate as it pleases, and if as I pointed out, it can monitor what is going on and react to possible threats as needed, then you cannot regard it as a purely "scientific" problem. Yes, it gives itself away by producing time and dimensional distortions to nullify the team's plans, and that in itself is important, but if you have been doing research into regular areas where the materials and variables are constants, that methodology will fail."

You and I have now reached a philosophical divide. I think that everything and anything can be viewed as a scientific problem, including whatever is going on at the ranch. Carl, you dismiss me and others who disagree with you when you write that the methods used with more regular, constant materials and variables are insufficient to apply to the ranch phenomena. Methods which document and triangulate data of any kind are always useful, even if they only show mistakes or omissions.

What type of methods do you suggest would be better?

I do have some background in examining anomalous phenomena, which of course you didn't know, and I return to my opinion that nothing is out of the bounds for a scientific approach.

I think that weird stuff is happening at the ranch, but the Netflix series approach is entertainment, not science.

I agree that one can try to apply science to any problem, but when an intelligence is involved there is another dimension to consider. In particular, as at the ranch, if the intelligence can monitor the experimenters and know what they are planning, it can take steps to neutralise whatever method is used.

I have now started reading Skinwalkers at the Pentagon and it explains how this whole programme was developed. The main factor that prompted support for this research was the experience of several senior intelligence officials, including James Lacatski, who initiated the Pentagon UAP studies following the TicTac incidents. The main driving factor was in fact the hitchhiker effect, because it was found to propagate from person to person, and neighbourhood to neighbourhood in the same way as a contagious disease. Many top intel people and their families were badly affected. And as the Skinwalker was the main single source of the contagion it was the logical choice for a detailed study. Taylor and his crew, however, persist in trying scientific methods to get at the mile high anomaly, and all have failed. They have made some very important discoveries along the way, however, and have persisted in using pure science as well as the occasional alternative input, such as the Rabbi's chant. What gets better is the background research and interviews with the original witnesses, some of whom have corrected the details of some of the better known tales. For example, the story of the dogs who chased after the strange orb and ended up just smears on the ground was rather wrong -- they were actually crushed by something circular and very heavy. I don't see any great divide between us conceptually -- I research strange things as well and I try to use science. In fact I get very annoyed for the excuses many sceptics use to explain why they don't want something studied.
However, I have to say that gathering evidence is hard when something clearly doesn't want you to do it. I have had, for example, a photo that I took a decade ago changed dramatically, not only on my hard drive but on two separate back-up memory sticks! I have had two different word processors fail when trying to write up one of the last episodes of the Skinwalker. We can only do what we're allowed to do. Good luck in your own researches!

 

[eburacum]

Taylor and his crew, however, persist in trying scientific methods to get at the mile high anomaly, and all have failed.

And they will continue to fail. Assume for a moment that Fugal allows an independent researcher to try to access this 'mile high anomaly'; if this independent researcher reaches the correct location and height and finds nothing, then the Skinwalker crew will simply say that the anomaly has moved, or is no longer there. In short, this anomaly is unfalsifiable.

By all means investigate anomalous events - but scepticism must be the default approach, and mundane explanations should not be ignored or dismissed. So far every piece of evidence put forward so far could have a mundane explanation, and probably does. In many cases it is difficult to find such an explanation, but it does seem to be the case that the Skinwalker crew are very reticent about providing all the relevant information. For entertainment purposes, no doubt.

Give Mick West, 'Flarkey ' and the other peeps over at Metabunk all then available data, and if they can't explain everything, then they'll at last eliminate all the obvious sources of error.

 

[eburacum]

Many top intel people and their families were badly affected.

Perhaps this is why Jay Stratton seems to have adopted the 'Axelrod' pseudonym; the strange werewolf story might have damaged his reputation in intelligence circles.

As I mentioned before this is not the only werewolf story I've encountered. Like the 'temperature differential' phenomenon, I think these events may have some common explanation - probably psychosocial in nature, coming straight from our deepest fears and apprehensions. However, this almost certainly cannot be confirmed scientifically using techniques available today.

 

[eburacum]

For example, the story of the dogs who chased after the strange orb and ended up just smears on the ground was rather wrong -- they were actually crushed by something circular and very heavy

Well, in the first book Hunt for the Skinwalker this is the story.

His worst fears were realized when he went down the following morning to inspect the copse of trees. A smell of burned flesh greeted his nostrils as he dipped his head beneath the low branches. Ten yards inside was a small clearing. Tears filled Tom’s eyes. Three large circles of brown, dried-out grass were in the middle of the clearing. At the center of each circle of shriveled vegetation was a blackish greasy mess. The stink of his incinerated dogs was awful.

No mention of crushing. Note that this story was attributed to a 'Tom Gorman', another person who doesn't exist. For some reason the Skinwalker authors like to assign pseudonyms to the witnesses; I wonder why?

 

[Carl Grove]

And they will continue to fail. Assume for a moment that Fugal allows an independent researcher to try to access this 'mile high anomaly'; if this independent researcher reaches the correct location and height and finds nothing, then the Skinwalker crew will simply say that the anomaly has moved, or is no longer there. In short, this anomaly is unfalsifiable.

By all means investigate anomalous events - but scepticism must be the default approach, and mundane explanations should not be ignored or dismissed. So far every piece of evidence put forward so far could have a mundane explanation, and probably does. In many cases it is difficult to find such an explanation, but it does seem to be the case that the Skinwalker crew are very reticent about providing all the relevant information. For entertainment purposes, no doubt.

Give Mick West, 'Flarkey ' and the other peeps over at Metabunk all then available data, and if they can't explain everything, then they'll at last eliminate all the obvious sources of error.

I doubt that the anomaly will move it if is, as seems likely, the ultimate source of all the weirdness at the ranch. OK -- if you can find alternative explanations for (1) repeated malfunction of rockets, sensors, and equipment when attempting to reach it; (2) dramatic time and space distortions affecting plane and helicopter attempting to drop measuring devices etc.; (3) bizarre levels of radiation; (4) huge changes in local magnetic field; (5) huge changes in temperature around H2 associated with ancient prayer; (6) failure of scanning equipment when used inside H2 -- I'll stop there but could go on -- I might think you have a point. Frankly, when Brandon has hand picked his team and when Taylor is one of the top researchers in govt. circles, I can't see any reason why he would get in some self-appointed sceptic to give a second opinion! I would add that unless you see all the programmes you will never get an overall feel for what is happening there.

Well, in the first book Hunt for the Skinwalker this is the story.

No mention of crushing. Note that this story was attributed to a 'Tom Gorman', another person who doesn't exist. For some reason the Skinwalker authors like to assign pseudonyms to the witnesses; I wonder why?

Because the witnesses themselves initially requested anonymity. No, there was no mention of crushing, the account implies something more vague. Apparently there is still a circular depression where the incident took place.

It occurs to me that they should invite all the sceptics who have criticized their work to come and spend a night wandering around the ranch! Would be interesting if they all went home with hitchikers... not sure their families would be so pleased though.