Strange Lights, Mysterious Entities, and Alien Attacks!: America’s Strangest Lesser-Known Ranches

While most of us here will have heard of Skinwalker Ranch, the fact is there are many other ranches across America that are, at the very least, equally as strange and disturbing. These locations are host to all manner of paranormal entities and goings-on, ranging from ghostly apparitions, possession by animal-like spirits, and even nuts-and-bolts UFOs flying over and even landing on the land in question. The fact is, many ranches across the United States are home to some of the strangest, thought-provoking, and often, most disturbing events on record.

Perhaps the best place for us to start this potentially unsettling journey would be with the rather bizarrely named Blind Frog Ranch, not least as it resides, essentially, on the same land as its more famous neighbor, the previously mentioned Skinwalker Ranch. Located in Vernal (around 30 miles to the northeast of Ballard and Skinwalker Ranch) in Utah, Blind Frog Ranch is home to an abundance of paranormal activity and strange goings-on, and these range from ominous-looking lights to mysterious entities, and even bizarre energy vortexes.

Also, like Skinwalker Ranch, Blind Frog Ranch, or more specifically the land it sits on and within, has a long history of strange and supernatural activity seemingly stretching back thousands of years. In fact, there have been multiple discoveries on the land – and indeed under the ground in intricate tunnel networks – that suggest this civilization could go back much further than people think and that they could have been a very advanced society.

Many Native American legends of the area make specific mention of portals or gateways to the spirit world, a realm that some researchers have suggested could, in reality, be another dimension. What is further interesting about these legends is that scientific tests have returned some highly unusual readings of anomalous electromagnetic energy at Blind Frog Ranch. Could this strange energy be connected somehow to the apparent portals there, and are these portals responsible for the many strange entities and unusual activity on the ranch? We will return to this suggestion shortly.

Multiple UFO sightings have occurred over or near the ranch. While many of these reports describe bizarre and unnerving lights, others describe a definite vehicle - a nuts-and-bolts highly advanced aerial craft. The region is so rife with UFO activity that some researchers and investigators have referred to it as “the new Area 51!”

There is certainly a plethora of other accounts of disturbing goings-on taking place at Blind Frog Ranch. Some of these involve people seeing bizarre orbs of light that appear to hover or even “dance” over the land. They often remain visible for several minutes before suddenly disappearing, as if into thin air. Some of these reports speak of these glowing orbs hovering directly over the ranch buildings themselves. They usually remain completely silent before shooting directly up into the sky and vanishing in an instant.

A particularly interesting account involved a group of hikers who were walking through the woodland surrounding the ranch. They came to a small clearing in the woods in which they saw a strange metallic sphere, approximately the size of a basketball. They cautiously approached this metal ball-like object, noting how it made a “low-humming” sound and pulsated with white light. The group remained several feet away from the object, each of them bordering on a strange trance-like state as they stared at it. As they did so, each began to feel strange surges of fear and anxiety take over them. These feelings would quickly morph into feelings of physical pain and discomfort. Ultimately, the group turned away from the object and made their way from it as quickly as they could.

Without a doubt, one of the most thought-provoking of these encounters involved an anonymous caretaker of the ranch, who witnessed several strange lights hovering over one of the fields where cattle were grazing. As he looked on, he could hear strange “haunting sounds” coming from the field in question.

After several minutes, the lights disappeared. The caretaker waited a moment in case they returned before heading over to the field to inspect the cattle. He noticed how the night was strangely silent as he made his way to the meadow. By the time he arrived at the field, he realized why this was. The entire herd had seemingly disappeared. What’s more, despite an intense search of the ranch and the land surrounding it, not one of the cattle was ever seen again.

It should also perhaps be of little surprise to us that, much like its better-known neighbor, Skinwalker Ranch, Blind Frog Ranch also has many reports of menacing, beastly creatures. Many of these reports appear to describe Bigfoot-like figures; tall hairy beasts with particularly long, muscular arms, often with glowing red eyes, while others report seeing creatures that are perhaps more akin to the Chupacabra reported in South America, Mexico and the some parts of the United States.

Even more bizarre, some people have even reported seeing flying creatures over the ranch that they have described as “dinosaur-like birds!” While such reports of flying prehistoric birds might sound a little too outlandish for some, the descriptions of these aerial beasts over Blind Frog Ranch match almost perfectly with other reports from other locations.

We might ask, if we assume for a moment that sightings of these creatures are credible and genuine, if these apparent dinosaur birds are some kind of undiscovered volant animal, perhaps one left over from the prehistoric age, or whether they might be of a supernatural nature, possibly an animal from another dimension or realm of existence that enters our world temporarily. With this last point in mind, it is interesting to note that many of the reports of these strange flying creatures state that they seem to appear out of nowhere and disappear equally as strangely.

There are plenty of accounts from Blind Frog Ranch that are decidedly paranormal in nature. There have been, for example, multiple reports of unsettling manifestations and ghostly figures appearing out of nowhere.

One particularly chilling account involved a visitor to the ranch. One evening while he was taking a walk, he saw a strange woman dressed in what he described as “old-fashioned clothing” simply appear right in front of him, even though he had been the only person in the area. Not only did this strange woman appear out of nowhere, she walked straight past him before disappearing right before his eyes. This strange, ghostly woman was also witnessed by a paranormal investigative team on a different occasion. They not only attested that the woman was wearing clothing that was clearly from a previous age but that she remained directly in front of them for several moments before she “faded away” into nothing.  

Although it isn’t clear if it is the same ghostly woman or not, another paranormal investigative team not only witnessed a “shadowy figure” dressed in old-fashioned clothing, they managed to capture the apparition on film. They stated that the way the figure moved around the outbuildings, eventually disappearing through one of the walls, appeared to them that they had likely once called the ranch home during their lifetime.

As well as apparitions and mysteriously appearing figures, there have also been reports of unnerving screams coming from the woods that surround the land at night. At the same time, people report experiencing sudden feelings of great sadness, anxiety, and even dread, almost as if something otherworldly has entered their minds and taken over their emotions and feelings. We might recall that the group of hikers reported similar feelings as they stood around the mysterious, silver, metallic sphere in the woods.

Also of interest are the many reports from people at Blind Frog Ranch who claim to hear strange whispering coming from nearby, even though there is no one there but themselves. Even more concerning, some people have even reported being pushed or prodded by an invisible assailant, while others have attested to feeling a strange “icy breath” on the back of their necks as if someone was standing directly behind them. Of course, when they would turn around, there would be no one there.

It isn’t just the strange and bizarre goings-on on and above the land at Blind Frog Ranch. There is plenty of intrigue and subterranean discoveries below the ground. Moreover, many of these discoveries come from vastly different periods of history, suggesting that several different civilizations could have called the land home over a long period of time. While many of these underground discoveries have been identified as belonging to Native American tribes in the region, others are seemingly much older, and, more to the point, unexplained.

One such discovery is said to be that of a huge stone slab that features ancient Egyptian-style hieroglyphics and symbols intricately carved into it. As strange as these carvings are, the apparent age of the stone slab is also of intrigue, thought to be many thousands of years old, at least. Even stranger, many of these symbols have been found in other subterranean locations around the ranch, suggesting that whatever they mean and whoever made them, they appear to have been of some importance. In fact, one such location is thought by investigative teams to be the ruins of a once great temple complete with stone altars. Once more, discoveries such as these throw open the door to suggestions that an unknown, advanced, ancient civilization might have once called the area home many thousands of years ago. There are certainly other reasons to think this could be the case.

As well as the ruins of temples and symbols, an intricate and extensive tunnel system exists below the ranch. These tunnels are also thousands of years old and are clearly manmade, showing detailed planning and execution. Further corroborating this is further Native American knowledge that states the tunnel networks connect several ancient, sacred sites that exist on the ranch. Furthermore, some of these tunnels appear to be vast. One investigative team who was attempting to map out these underground networks was forced to turn back after having ventured deep into one of them when they could see no apparent end in sight nor any light. If an advanced ancient civilization did once exist here, some have suggested that these tunnels could lead to a Hall of Records-type of room featuring ancient knowledge and riches.    

If an ancient civilization did once call the land Blind Frog Ranch sits on home, then, given what we know about other ancient civilizations and their apparent purposeful decisions to construct important buildings near or on naturally occurring energy points, perhaps they too might have been aware of the geological anomalies in the region, the same anomalies, as we mentioned earlier, that scientific teams had recorded there in recent years. In fact, not only have geological anomalies been recorded there, but so have what have been called “energy vortexes”, perhaps suggesting that some kind of interdimensional gateway or portal exists there.

It is also interesting to note that geological anomalies, particularly electromagnetic anomalies, are thought to affect a person’s mind, sometimes changing the mood and evoking emotions such as sadness, despair, and even fear. We might recall that many people at the ranch, including the group of hikers who were suddenly overcome with feelings of anxiety as they watched the metallic orb. It is interesting to note that many people report feeling the same feelings at Aokigahara Forest, sometimes referred to as the Suicide Forest, in Japan, as well as on the peaks of Ben Macdui in Scotland, one of the strangest mountains in the world. Are these sudden changes in emotion due to paranormal manipulation, or could they be a consequence of the natural environment?

With these last points in mind, it is interesting to note the suggestions of some people that the naturally occurring fault lines or leylines could run through the land. Not only could these explain the geological anomalies, but many of these lines connect to ancient locations around the world. This would, once more, suggest that the land could very well have been home to such an ancient civilization, albeit one that has become forgotten to history. And these leylines could, in theory, result in the opening of interdimensional gateways where they cross, so allowing entities from another realm of existence access to our world.  

In our article exploring the notion that all paranormal events were likely connected, we mentioned the Psychic Internet Theory, the suggestion that the subconscious human-made could play a very real part in paranormal activity. Could that also be the case here at Blind Frog Ranch? Could the electromagnetic anomalies somehow interact with a person’s mind, not only resulting in a change of emotion, but also in the manifestation of all manner of paranormal entities dependent on the respective person’s own fears, desires, and belief system? Perhaps these geological anomalies temporarily increase the scope of what humans can see on the visible spectrum.

As we have mentioned, Blind Frog Ranch resides only a short distance from the better-known Skinwalker Ranch – essentially, so close that it sits on the same land. So, it perhaps shouldn’t surprise us to find that accounts of strange activity can be found in the land between the two ranches. One such account featured the owner of another local (unnamed) ranch, who recalled that while he was tending to his cattle one evening, he suddenly noticed a strange “hairy creature with glowing red eyes” standing a short distance away, staring at him intently. Things turned even stranger when the creature just vanished into thin air as the ranch owner looked on in disbelief.

Another local woman, whose property resided a short distance from Blind Frog Ranch, reported to investigators hearing strange noises seemingly coming out of the walls of her home. She also reported being woken in the middle of the night by tremendous thudding sounds around her property. She was convinced that these strange happenings were connected to the ranch, elaborating that spirits and mischievous entities had ventured to her home from the land the ranch sat on.  

Ultimately, much like Skinwalker Ranch, Blind Frog Ranch is one of the strangest, most mystifying locations on the planet. And while the events there are very similar to the strange events recorded at its more famous neighbor, there are other ranches in America that are equally as strange but decidedly different.

While the events at Blind Frog Ranch are strange and thought-provoking, the alleged activities that unfolded at Stardust Ranch in Rainbow Valley just outside of Phoenix, Arizona, in the late 2000s and early 2010s, are simply outright bizarre with a potentially dark undertone to them. Sometimes referred to as “Alien Ranch” by locals and members of the media, Stardust Ranch, or more specifically the owners, seemingly came under siege by interdimensional alien entities, which eventually resulted in the death of one such extraterrestrial creature.

The 10-acre ranch in question was purchased by husband-and-wife John and Joyce Edmonds in 2009, who considered it their dream home. That dream, however, would quickly descend into something more akin to a nightmare. Several weeks after moving into the property, the couple began to notice strange sounds coming from the land surrounding the ranch, particularly late at night. To begin with, the pair put these strange noises down to nothing more than the usual nocturnal sounds of the surrounding Arizona desert. However, when they began seeing bizarrely moving lights in the sky above the desert, they began to suspect they were seeing something far more out of the ordinary.

Not long after these strange sounds and lights, the couple began seeing mysterious figures lurking at the very edges of their land, seemingly getting closer to them each night. Eventually, the couple began discovering garden furniture had been moved during the night. They would even, on occasion, find this furniture dumped into their swimming pool. These already unsettling events took an even stranger turn a short time later.

One evening, while outside the main house, John and Joyce noticed one of the strange figures again, this time much closer than on previous occasions. So close that they could make out many more details than they had done before – and they could see that this figure was not human. They later described the figure as having a particularly thin frame and an oversized head with two large, black eyes. Clearly, they were describing a creature that most of us would liken to a grey alien. As they continued to watch this strange figure, it suddenly disappeared back into the shadows, although they had the distinct feeling that whatever it was, this creature was “watching them!” This was just the first of several similar sightings that would unfold over the coming weeks – sightings that would ultimately escalate the strange events considerably.

It wasn’t long before the Edmonds began discovering their horses dead, seemingly attacked during the night. However, rather than the wounds suggesting the respective horses had been attacked by an animal, or even a person, they all had wounds that were identical to those found in cattle mutilation cases. Even more harrowing for the couple was the discovery of one of their dogs with similar fatal wounds. As these grisly events were unfolding around the perplexed and increasingly frightened couple, things began to increase in intensity once more, and of more concern, moved from the perimeters of the land to their property itself.

The couple had begun hearing unsettling noises coming from right outside the house for several days. One evening, though, while they were each sitting in a comfy chair at the property, one of these curious creatures, albeit very briefly, appeared at the window, looking directly at them as it did so. As truly surreal and frightening as the experience was, the couple did their best to put the incident out of their mind. Over the days that followed, though, they each began discovering strange marks and bruises on their bodies, and even what seemed to be puncture or needle marks. As horrific a thought as it was, they had to face the possibility that these strange creatures, whatever they were, were entering their property at night and seemingly carrying out some kind of procedures on them. Not long after, this was all but confirmed to John.

On the evening in question, John awoke in the middle of the night to find Joyce floating above the bed. As he watched in complete shock, she then began to float through the air and out of the bedroom. John continued to watch as whatever force was behind these explicable events floated Joyce out of the front door and into the yard. There, he could see a hovering object above the property which Joyce was then floated toward. At this point, John wasn’t sure if he blacked out due to the surreal nature of the events or if something rendered him unconscious, but the next thing he knew, he awoke in his bed in the morning. Joyce was now back in bed, but John quickly discovered the now familiar marks and bruises on her body. There was now no doubt in his mind – he and Joyce were being repeatedly abducted by what appeared to be alien entities.  

Realizing he was all but powerless against these potentially dangerous creatures, John began keeping extensive records full of details about their activities. He began noticing that their appearance was almost always accompanied by some kind of “high-frequency buzz”. This detail eventually led John to conclude that rather than being alien entities as most of us might understand them, these creatures were likely “interdimensional beings”.

He later stated that the strange buzzing he began noticing was likely a “side-effect of their partial in-phase or out-of-phase interdimensional travel” – in other words, the buzzing was likely indicative of an open portal or interdimensional gateway. He elaborated that these creatures seemed to enter this partial manifestation when they sensed some kind of danger, explaining that he believed they “only physically materialize to a point of just crossing the dimensional threshold” and that they were at this point “partially in both dimensions at the same time!” He would continue that they would only “transcend cleanly” into our dimension when there was no immediate danger. And it was at this point, he explained, that he contemplated this was the “perfect opportunity to physically grab one” before it attempted to return to its own realm. Several months later, he would put his theory into practice.

With the strange marks continuing to appear on both John and Joyce, John made the decision to use the samurai sword that rested above the fireplace. On the night in question, after one of the creatures appeared in the room, John reached for the sword and forced it into the creature’s side. A moment later, he withdrew it and raised it above his head, ready to cut off the wounded creature's head. However, before he could do so, right in front of him, the creature disappeared into thin air. This led John to several further conclusions.

He put forward that he had likely fatally wounded the being but that it still had enough time to reopen the gateway and return to its own dimension. He suggested that the creature’s “head controls the ability to control the dimensional transference between one place and another”. This, he further explained, was the reason he was attempting to cut off the creature’s head, as this was the only way to definitely kill the creature and to ensure its body remained in our dimension.

As we might imagine, many were more than suspicious about these events, and noted how convenient it was that the wounded creature disappeared. However, it soon came to light that although the creature itself had disappeared, John had managed to obtain blood and tissue samples that he retrieved from the sword. John further offered that he had the blood and tissue samples analyzed, with the results showing that they were “unknown to science” with no connections to humans or any known animal. When it came to light, though, that the person who performed these tests and had the samples – a W. C. Levengood – had allegedly disappeared, suspicions were raised once more.

John began speaking of these strange encounters on social media, eventually claiming that he had killed or injured around 20 of these interdimensional beings, even injuring himself during one of these encounters. It appeared the more he spoke of the events, the more intense the attacks became. And, perhaps of more concern, around the same time as his social media posts on the bizarre goings-on, John claimed to have received several visits from the Men In Black.

As John continued to make his claims he began to get the attention of various newspapers and media platforms, with the pair even appearing on several news programs and television shows. And this new-found attention only served to raise suspicions even further about the couple’s claims, with one platform in particular making some dark suggestions as to the possible reality of the situation.

Brian Frange and Phoebe Tyers would discuss the case on the podcast Unbelievable. They would point out – rightly or wrongly – that many of Joyce’s claims of interactions with these alien entities appeared to revolve around sexual assault. Frange even asked if it was possible that “John Edmonds was abusing his wife”, possibly while she slept and then “blaming it on aliens”. He continued that it was even possible that John had convinced himself that aliens really were abducting his wife as some kind of subconscious defense mechanism against his speculative abuse. Ultimately, Frange concluded that he believed that John was “telling the truth as he thinks it is, but the real truth might be something else!” We should make clear that John Edmonds himself dismissed such claims that he was behind his wife’s bruises, and he rejected the notion that he had subconsciously manufactured the accounts to cover up his abuse.

Whatever the truth of the matter, as the 2010s came to a close, the Edmonds looked to finally sell the ranch. However, even this seemingly innocent move was the cause of controversy, at least for some. It was noted that the asking price of the ranch was around the $5 million mark, a substantial increase from the $1.7 million it was listed at when the Edmonds first purchased it. Ultimately, some people began to suggest that the entire story was one the pair had orchestrated to gain financially, not only from the television appearances but from selling the ranch had a price well above its actual value.

Despite the suspicion of many, it is worth noting that John Edmonds didn’t once change his story or alter any of the details of the events he claimed took place at Stardust Ranch right up to his death in February 2022. He did offer further thoughts and theories of the strange happenings, though. He offered, for example, not long before his death, that he believed some kind of gateway or portal existed on the land of the ranch, and it was portals such as these allowed these entities access to our world.  This notion, as we shall see, will come again.  

Another ranch with undoubtedly strange activity is Clearwater Ranch which can be found in the nearby state of Colorado. As detailed by UFO researcher and author, Timothy Good, the Evans family, who owned the ranch during the 1970s, had noticed strange lights and bizarre activity taking place on the land for years. This activity appeared to grow in intensity throughout much of 1976, with Jim Evans (the official ranch owner) even finding several of his cattle dead and mutilated without explanation.

On one particular evening in January 1977, after again noticing mysterious lights and questionable activity on the perimeters of the ranch, as well as the sighting of a large, hairy, Bigfoot-like creature only the previous evening, Jim, along with his eldest son, Joe, headed to the woodland which bordered the land. The closer they got, the more clearly they could see a bright, yellow light coming from the trees. After bringing their vehicle to a stop, Jim and Joe got out and cautiously headed toward the source of the light.

They soon found themselves in a clearing, and in front of them was a bizarre black box. They could also hear a gentle but persistent humming sound that appeared to emanate from the box. They took several steps towards it. As they did so, however, the low buzzing sound began to increase in intensity, eventually sounding more like a swarm of angry bees. Noticing that this buzzing increased seemingly with each step the pair took, Jim and Joe came to a sudden stop before they backed away from the clearing completely.

After arriving back at the car, Jim told Joe to remain with the vehicle while he took one last look at the clearing. A little uneasy, Joe agreed, and Jim ventured off toward the woods. Upon arriving at the clearing, however, the box and the yellow glow were nowhere to be seen. He looked around for several moments before returning to the car. Perplexed as he was, Jim drove the pair back to the main house. A short time later, however, Jim noticed the yellow glow once more, and upon doing so, he immediately jumped back in the car and made his way back to the clearing. This time, two mysterious men were waiting for him.

The two men, each dressed in a dark suit that seemed to change color from a golden brown to a surreal silver color, appeared to be standing “inside the light”, which Jim recalled as not emanating from anywhere in particular but also coming from everywhere all around them. This is an interesting detail that can be found in many UFO and close encounter reports – the notion of no-source lighting; lighting that appears to come from nowhere but everywhere at the same time; almost as if it came from the surroundings themselves. We might ask if this is the same kind of technology at work here. It was as Jim was studying this strange light that he noticed the disc-shaped object hovering just above the ground around 50 feet behind the two men.

As strange as the evening had so far proven to be, things were about to turn even stranger.

One of the men began speaking to Jim, apologizing for the strange goings-on at the ranch, and even apologizing for the “troubles” Jim had been having and stating they would look to find a more “equitable arrangement”. This, of course, heavily suggested that they were somehow connected to the strange and unsettling events the Evans family had witnessed. Following this, one of the men gestured behind Jim, instructing him to turn around. When he did, he could see a large Bigfoot standing there – almost exactly the same as the large, hairy figure he had witnessed the previous evening. The men informed him that this creature obeyed their commands. As if to prove this, they then motioned towards the creature.

As soon as they did so, the Bigfoot began walking directly towards a black box that Jim had not noticed previously, but that was the same type of black box he and Joe had seen only a short time earlier. And as it had done earlier, as the creature moved toward it, a low buzzing quickly increased with intensity with every step. As this was happening, one of the men offered to Jim that he had been correct to step away from the box earlier. Then, as the Bigfoot creature was directly in front of the black box, it suddenly dropped to the ground in a lifeless heap. The man then stated to Jim, as he had just witnessed, the box was quite deadly.

As Jim watched these surreal and harrowing events unfolding, he had a sudden feeling that he should leave immediately – and this wasn’t merely a feeling of fear or survival. He later stated that it was as if these instructions had been placed inside his head, most likely by the two mysterious men. Without saying a word, he backed away a little, before turning around and heading quickly to his car. He returned home, more than dazed at what he had witnessed, and still at a loss as to what was taking place on his land.

Whether coincidence or not, the sightings of bizarre lights and the discovery of mutilated cattle did suddenly become few and far between following this encounter, although they didn’t stop entirely. Jim never received an explanation as to who the two men were or what exactly they were doing on his land. Nor did he know what the connection was to the Bigfoot creature, as well as the disappearing and mutilated livestock. Indeed, the encounter leaves us with many questions.

Just who were the two men, and for what organization, if any, did they work? What connection did they have to the strange lights often witnessed by the Evans family, and what was the connection to the futuristic disc-shaped object that had hovered behind them? And just how did they connect to the Bigfoot Jim witnessed, and for what purpose? Could these strange individuals have been extraterrestrials themselves? Or might they have been something more akin to the Men In Black? Perhaps most intriguing, what was the black box, and how does it fit into the strange goings on at Clearwater Ranch? Perhaps one thing to consider is that this strange box was some kind of device, perhaps one that manipulated energy and opened portals or gateways (as we have seen the presence of at our previous two ranches we explored, and that has also been noted at the more famous Skinwalker Ranch).    

At this point, it is worth pausing for a moment and examining the location of the ranches we have explored so far. Comprised of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado, this part of the United States is known as the Four Corners, and it is arguably one of the most mysterious and paranormally active parts of America, with each state having an abundance of UFO sightings and reports of other strange and anomalous activity. NASA has recently taken an interest in the Four Points region, with the official reason being unexplained high emissions of methane being detected there. However, given the plethora of strange goings-on there, some people have questioned just what the real reason might be for such an interest.

While the above ranches all reside in the Four Corners district of the United States, and they certainly do appear to have their own exclusive abundance of activity, claims, and conspiracies, there are plenty of other ranches that are home to all manner of paranormal activity in the United States. Perhaps one of the most active of these can be found in the Lone Star State of Texas – the Blanco County Ranch in Blanco County, approximately 50 miles west of Austin. Like Skinwalker Ranch and Blind Frog Ranch, it appears the land Blanco County resides on was once home to several Native American tribes many hundreds of years ago. So, it perhaps shouldn’t surprise us to find connections to Native American legends and the strange encounters that have unfolded at the ranch.

Although the exact date isn’t known, one day in the late 1990s or early 2000s, John Villarreal was hiking in the woodlands around the ranch with his friend, Corey Ramseur, and a friend who wished only to be referred to as “BC”. At some point during the hike, although he wasn’t certain how, John had become separated from the other two men. And it was as he was separated from them, that something truly bizarre occurred.

He began to see intense visions in his mind of a wolf running through the mountains. This vision remained clear in his mind for several seconds before he came out of the trance-like grip and scanned his surroundings. Needless to say, he was more than shocked to find himself looking directly at a large wolf that was standing on a ledge nearby. He locked stares with the beast for several moments before it suddenly leaped from the ledge, heading straight for him. Before he knew what was happening, the wolf was on his chest. However, then things turned even stranger. As opposed to a wild, vicious attack, John felt a strange “chilling sensation” as the wolf seemingly passed straight through him. Then, he must have blacked out.

The next thing John recalled was Corey and BC finding him beneath the ledge where the wolf had been standing. His friends claimed they found him in an almost “trance-like state” and that they had to assist him to his feet. They brought him back to their vehicle and set off back to the ranch. They had positioned John in between themselves in the front seat of the truck in order to help him stay upright. Each of them later recalled that they could feel the cold coming from their friend, with Corey likening it to sitting next to a block of ice. When they finally arrived at the ranch, an already bizarre and strange evening turned even stranger.

By the time the owner of the ranch, Bert Wall, arrived, John was back in a complete trance, speaking in a language that appeared to be a mixture of Apache and Spanish. When an elder arrived at the ranch in an attempt to translate just what he was saying, however, it appeared to be factually and historically accurate. What’s more, the elder offered that much of what he was saying he simply couldn’t have known through conventional means. For example, he stated that John was giving detailed accounts of battles and massacres that were not widely known about outside of the Native American community. Similarly, he offered details about ambush methods and traps used by many Native American tribes hundreds of years earlier.

This continued for several hours before things turned even stranger still. Although the evening was clear with no adverse weather, a sudden gust of wind burst through the property – so strong, in fact, that it blew open several doors inside the house. What’s more, it appeared as though this “wind” had moved through several rooms of the house before it left the property several seconds after it had appeared. Almost as soon as it had done so, John appeared to snap out of his trance and return to his normal self.

The elder stated that he believed that a spirit in the form of a wolf had possessed him when it had leaped down from the ledge, and had remained in control of him for several hours. It is perhaps interesting to note the legends of the Skinwalker that is said, also according to Native American legend, to roam the land Skinwalker Ranch sits on, manifesting itself in any form it chooses. Could this be another case of the Skinwalker here at Blanco County Ranch, one that took temporary possession of John Villarreal?

It certainly isn’t the only strange encounter that has been reported from the ranch. The owner, Bert Wall, found himself in the middle of several inexplicable events during the course of his time there. Undoubtedly, one of the most unsettling occurred late one evening, around midnight. John was at his desk writing when he heard his dog suddenly begin to bark agitatedly. He looked in the direction the dog was focused on - the window. To his shock and disbelief, on the other side of the glass was the figure of a monk dressed in what he described as eighteenth-century clothing. The figure remained there for several seconds before simply fading into nothing. Fascinated by what he had seen, Bert researched the ranch and the area around it and discovered that a Franciscan monk named Espinoza had once lived on the land during the 1700s.

Another unnerving encounter involved a one-time foreman of the ranch, Lynn Gentry. One evening, he was awoken by the sounds of multiple horses seemingly galloping past his front door. To his shock, when he opened the door, he could see horse after horse going past, each with a Confederate soldier on its back. An entire unit passed by before vanishing into the night as if they had never been there.

Yet another disturbing report came from John Miers, who was hunting deer on the land when he found himself in a most surreal situation. According to Miers, he had positioned himself in one of the many tree stands in the woodland and remained there waiting for a deer to wander past. He remained where he was for several hours, with nothing at all walking past his lookout. Then, he heard the sounds of footsteps coming from below him. However, rather than being the feet of a deer, they sounded distinctly human. And of more concern, they sounded as if they were heading in his direction.

He continued to listen to the footsteps for several more moments before they came to a sudden stop. Although he didn’t look down, John could almost feel that whoever – or whatever – was behind the footsteps, they were now standing at the base of the tree he was sitting in. He decided to remain as quiet as possible in the hope that whoever was responsible for the footstep sounds would soon leave. He wasn’t sure how long he waited, but as the temperature continued to drop the later it got, he realized that he would have to climb down from the tree stand and attempt to make a run for it.

He leaned over from the stand and looked below, unable to see anyone or anything there. As quietly and cautiously as he could, he began to descend toward the ground. He quickly scanned his surroundings and, satisfied he was alone, he quickly headed out of the woodland. However, several moments later, after having taken only several steps, he had a sudden urge to look around to his right. When he did so, a short distance away, in line with him, was a Native American man simply standing there watching him. John noted that despite the almost icy cold of the night, the Native American wore only trousers and was completely unclothed from the waist up. Moreover, he seemed completely unphased and unaffected by the cold temperature.

The two men simply looked at each other for several moments before John decided to begin walking forward once more. As he did so, though, the Native American man walked with him, keeping the same distance from him but matching him step for step. After taking several more steps John stopped once more, as did the Native American, all the while not taking his gaze from John. At this point, John decided to approach the ghostly figure. However, no sooner had he taken a step than the figure simply vanished into thin air.

Was this another kind of manifestation that had chosen to take the form of a Native American tribesman, or could it have been, as John himself believed, the ghost of a Native American warrior who once called the land home? We might also ask what the reason for this interaction was in the first place. If we accept that the strange footsteps heard by John earlier in the night were the footsteps of the Native American, rather than him simply appearing by chance through some kind of otherworldly coincidence, he appeared there for a reason and with a purpose. Could he have taken exception to John hunting on the land and so wanted to ensure he left? Or could he have been there to protect John from danger of some kind? Of course, if the latter was true, then the fact that the Native American spirit seemingly succeeded in this task means we will never learn what that danger might have been.

If we return to one of the states of the Four Corners, Colorado, we can find two other ranches that are equally as strange in terms of bizarre goings-on and activity. Sandstone Ranch in Longmont, Colorado, for example, was a long-running active ranch until it was finally sold to the city in 1990 and, ultimately, turned into a resource and visitor center. As we might imagine, with such a long history behind it, there could very well be a ghost or two that calls the land home. And, at least according to many of the employees and tourists who have visited the ranch since its conversion, this is very much the case.

Many employees, for example, have reported sudden temperature changes in various rooms of the property, as well as unsettling noises coming from out of nowhere. Equally as strange are the lights that sometimes flicker on and off at random, as well as a higher-than-usual number of electronic equipment and devices that suddenly malfunction. Perhaps even more unnerving are reports from staff who have locked the bedroom doors of the ranch at night before closing (as instructed), only for them to be found wide open the following day when the premises are opened.

One particularly interesting encounter and report came from a tourist to the ranch, who claimed she was a psychic and could often see the spirits of those who had passed away. She claimed that while she was at the ranch, she saw what she described as the spirit of a “distressed young woman” who was “desperately unhappy”. This woman, she claimed, roamed the ranch and was at least partially responsible for the many strange events reported there. How accurate this psychic might have been remains open to debate, but the bizarre activity continues to be reported from Sandstone Ranch even today.

Also in Colorado, this time in Genesee, we can find Buffalo Ranch, which has its own unsettling resume of paranormal encounters and activity. According to Jason Homola, whose father was once the caretaker of the ranch, he experienced several strange incidents when he was a child at the property.

Without a doubt, one of the strangest occurred one evening when he was 12 years old. On the night in question, he was sitting with his father when they both suddenly heard his mother screaming out loud in absolute terror. At exactly the same time, their pet dog began barking furiously. He and his father rushed upstairs immediately. Upon arriving there, they discovered the dog barking at the wall while his mother simply looked in the same direction in shock. She eventually told them that she had seen a “glowing, green orb” suddenly appear out of nowhere in the room before it floated through the air and disappeared into the wall.

This was far from the only strange incident at the ranch. Around six months after the encounter with the green orb, Jason was asleep in his room when his father woke him in the middle of the night, wanting to know if he could hear music playing. Although he was half asleep, Jason listened for a moment. He could indeed hear the sounds of a lonely violin playing somewhere in the distance.

Jason accompanied his father around the house checking all of the radios and televisions to ensure the music couldn’t be coming from any of them. All of them were switched off. Even stranger, no matter which room of the house they were in, the music remained at the same volume, neither getting louder nor quieter. Ultimately, they couldn’t locate the source of the music, and it eventually faded away. They would, however, hear it several more times on random nights over the next several months. It wasn’t until several years later that the pair discovered a possible explanation for the haunting melody.

After reading a book about the area by a local historian, Jason learned that the Patrick family owned the ranch in the nineteenth century. Part of the Patrick family consisted of two brothers, who one day in 1870, got into an intense argument over the family’s pet dog. So intense, in fact, that one brother was shot dead by the other. Moreover, the deceased boy had been a talented, albeit amateur, violinist, and was often found playing his violin around the ranch. As we might imagine, it didn’t take too much of a stretch of the imagination to connect these details to the strange and haunting music Jason and his father had heard several times throughout the ranch.

It is also worth our time to briefly exploring Bonnie Spring Ranch just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Although it was built relatively recently in the 1950s, some researchers and investigators claim it is one of the most haunted locations in the Silver State.

According to the owners of the ranch, there are regular reports of strange manifestations around the buildings, including that of a young girl who most often appears at the old schoolhouse of the ranch. Another, perhaps more unsettling figure, is that of a shadowy mass or form that is witnessed near the opera house. Many people have also reported hearing strange noises, and even voices, coming from out of nowhere even though there is nobody there.

Perhaps interestingly, some researchers who have investigated these strange encounters at Bonnie Spring Ranch have offered that the land it now resides on was once part of the route for people traveling from east to west in the nineteenth century, with this region, in particular, being a hub of sorts for wagons to stop. However, many of those who did make it this far were at the point of exhaustion, with many people dying there. Could this be the reason there is such ghostly activity at the ranch today?  

We should perhaps also mention Bradshaw Ranch in Sedona, Arizona, an apparent hive of strange activity that was detailed in the book Merging Dimensions: The Opening Portals of Sedona by Linda Bradshaw and Tom Dongo. In the 1990s, the ranch – located just outside of Sedona in the Verde Valley – was owned by John Bradshaw, the son of Hollywood stuntman, Bob Bradshaw, and his wife Linda. Beginning some time in 1992, they began to notice and record strange happenings there.

Linda began to report seeing strange orbs of light over the ranch (similar, perhaps, to the strange orbs reported at Stardust Ranch around 20 years later), as well as bizarre flashes from overhead. More ominously, and again similarly to the goings-on at Stardust Ranch, Linda began to witness strange shadowy figures around the property out of the corner of her eye. These sightings would then seem to escalate somewhat to her reporting seeing actual alien entities outside of her window. She described these entities as a typical gray alien, each wearing a “tight-fitting one-piece uniform” just “strolling” past the window. The following day, she and her son went out to investigate and discovered strange footprints in the ground exactly where she had seen the creatures walking.

As if these events were not strange enough, Linda also detailed seeing Bigfoot-like creatures on the land and even a lizard-like creature that walked upright, standing around five feet tall, leaving reptilian-like prints in the earth where it had been.

What is interesting is that Linda came to a conclusion reached by many UFO researchers years later: that all these events were linked and were likely the result of some kind of portal or interdimensional gateway that allows various entities to enter our realm of existence. She elaborated that these portals had likely been here for as long as the planet itself had and were likely not the only ones on Earth.

As we might imagine, Linda Bradshaw would soon begin receiving increased attention from news and television stations off the back of her claims, and the ranch itself became the focus of paranormal investigators and enthusiasts. One thing that was noticed under this increased scrutiny, was that the land the ranch sat on showed several electromagnetic anomalies. And we might imagine that those anomalies if only in part, were responsible for at least some of the strange encounters witnessed by Linda Bradshaw.

What made the matter all the more intriguing was that in the summer of 2003, the land, and ultimately the ranch, was purchased by the United States government, essentially, putting it off-limits to the public. It wasn’t long before signs telling people to, “KEEP OUT” went up around the perimeter of the land, with some people even reporting a discreet military presence there keeping guard. Tom Dongo even collected several reports from people who wandered onto the land by mistake while hiking of being confronted by heavily armed uniformed personnel and being escorted off the land under threat of being shot.

Just why the government wished to purchase the land remains unknown, but it is easy to see why some people, given the abundance of strange activity reported there, would find the move a little eyebrow-raising. It is perhaps easy to assume that one black budget agency or another would wish to study the phenomena, likely to weaponize it. Or perhaps it pertains to the UFO activity there, and is part of what some people believe to be the greatest cover-up in human history. Today, the ranch sits in overgrown vegetation and is all but inaccessible – perhaps, just the way the government wants it.  

As we can see, then, many ranches across the United States other than Skinwalker Ranch are awash with paranormal activity. And these are just some of the many locations we could have explored here. We might ask, then, what the reason might be for such anomalous incidents taking place at different ranches across America. Could it be the fact that many of them – the vast majority, in fact – will be built on land that once was home to great civilizations, in some cases Native American, in other cases perhaps civilizations that are unknown to us, and go back even further? Perhaps, if we accept that both Native American and speculative unknown civilizations were aware of the electromagnetic anomalies in these regions and knew how to harness them, these locations might have been places of importance in both the distant and (relatively speaking) more recent past.

Only further study of these regions will offer us answers to these questions. What we will likely find is that as well as offering answers to many paranormal mysteries and the true nature of our collective reality, understanding these enigmas could tell us a lot more about human and planetary history. Indeed, we just might find that the truly bizarre and curious events of the modern world could lift the curtain on currently hidden and unknown events of the past.