Skinwalker Ranch Dressing

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I just listened to the MonsterTalk episode January 30, 2019 and had a few thoughts.

First is that Blake sounded as if he had been drinking and that Dr.Jeb Card was employing badum-bum cheesy comic timing. It sounded like mocking dismissal and if that was a 'deep dive' into the Skinwalker mystery then the pool is pretty shallow. But, I have enjoyed most episodes of MonsterTalk and have heard Dr.Card on other archaeology related podcasts and he's OK; he has credentials and practices in his field. Doesn't make him an expert on that ranch but may (just a guess) give a bit more authority when he states his opinions about the native cultures and folklore in that area.

So listening past the annoying snarkiness what I took away was:

Virtually all of the information we have about that ranch comes from the same sources.
Nothing new has been added but we are being told there are secret files to be revealed, which are where exactly? In the iTunes version?
Skinwalker has defied the scientific method of study, which could mean something very real and very elusive, or ..... well, you know ..... the other thing.

They are recycling the Bob Lazar story - and Jeremy Corbell nailed it when I heard him say it's been repackaged for a new audience that isn't aware of most of the story. No, he's a film maker doing this 'for the good of the cause' and nothing else, right? Movies we loved years ago are often remade, so why not this stuff? Fertile ground - been seeded with a lot of bullshit over the years.

Area 51 will remain 'outside the law' so to speak due to its value as a national strategic asset. Oh, and nothing new here - they do all sorts of unexciting things like burn toxic waste etc. that they couldn't get away with elsewhere. I read that - still searching for the reference.

Listen for the MonsterTalk comments about drones - kind of what I've been thinking. Radically new propulsion system, unmanned reconnaissance vehicles. Made in the USA probably stamped on them somewhere (figuratively speaking). UFO cover story handy to deflect away from that sort of speculation, just as it always has been.

We view The Government very differently post-WW2 and that ties into many of our suspicions, beliefs etc. People both inside and outside of It can be prone to True Belief and possibly deceived like so many others have, albeit it a more costly and complicated way.

This isn't the most organized post I've ever made but I must say that the episode I just heard has me wondering and this is off the cuff.

AATIP and it's attendant programs exist, TTSA has a government approved whistle blower (how about that?), gun camera UFO footage, an admission that there have been 'recovered materials' that are being studied. When you think back, we've heard other versions of this before. I ask myself the same questions just posed in MonsterTalk - why am I hearing a lot of the same stuff from pretty much the same people? Also, why isn't anyone wondering or asking about where the materials came from? Seems like such excitement over potentially having something concrete to study has caused our common sense to switch off on that one.

What does all that have to do with cubesats? Isn't it odd with Skinwalker that there was a whole handful of nothing that could be tested and the 'precognitive sentient entity' theory had to be put forth (impressive sounding so must have validity) . Yet here we are testing 'metamaterials' looking for a nuts and bolts clue. Hey that's great but those two views don't readily go together like chocolate and peanut butter.

Yes, this could be groundbreaking and refreshing and a validation of what so many of us have been chewing over forever. I would be concerned that the desire to have it be real coupled with validation of complex explanations for personal theories could lead to a little bias. Skepticism isn't a bad word, its healthy in the right measure.

Or it could be that our interest is being taken advantage of yet again by a variety of people, some of which have motives more apparently obvious than others. Intentional misdirection - not to deceive ufologists but to use the woo-woo for other purposes, profit, True Belief, access to high level resources and funding, etc. Based on the track record of the past several decades which is more likely?
 
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nivek

As Above So Below
Here's a write up by Keith Basterfield regarding details of an alleged sighting of a creature, interesting read...

The "creature" and the "portal" at the Skinwalker ranch - some concerns

Background

Readers of this blog will be aware, that I have recently spend quite an amount of time examining details contained in Jacques Vallee's latest book "Forbidden Science: Volume Four." I did this, because, Vallee is recording history as it happened, in the form of diary entries. For some of the material found in the book, this is the only record we have of particular events or meetings.

One of my blog posts concerned the National Institute for Discovery Science. One aspect which interested me was the happenings at a ranch in Utah (commonly referred to as the "Skinwalker ranch.") My attention was drawn to one observation at the ranch, which is mentioned both in "Forbidden Science: Volume Four" and in the 2005 book, authored by Colm Kelleher and George Knapp, titled "Hunt for the Skinwalker."

The incident as described in "Hunt for the Skinwalker"


Source: Amazon Books

Chapter 19 - The Tunnel August 25, 1997.
The night was warm, clear and beautiful. The NIDS team was sitting silently on the edge of a bluff...Two colleagues were about a mile away on the far side of the property monitoring another hot spot. Mike and Jim had been in specific contact with them every couple of hours...

Some four hours into the watch, Jim the most experienced investigator, had quietly climbed down into the small pasture and had sat in the middle of the field to meditate. He had found over the years that meditation sometimes activated the "phenomenon," what ever that was, although it had happened too few times to be anything other than an anecdotal observation. Nothing happened.

At 2.30am, after a six hour watch, they decided to move their operation to a different part of the ranch. Quickly, they began to disassemble the camera from its tripod and pack up the two equipment containers filled with the tools of the scientific investigator's trade. Cameras, portable magnetic field detectors, and night-vision binoculars. In 1997, their generation-three binoculars were considered state of the art. They worked by amplifying low-level ambient light through a series of high tech photomultiplier tubes. They were far superior to the usual Russian night-vision equipment that looked just in the infra-red. Through these night vision binoculars, the scene appeared to be in daylight with sharp, crisp outlines, not the fuzzy wavy image visible through Russian equipment.

Just as Jim was thinking that his meditation hadn't produced a damm thing, his eye caught a very faint light on the track 150 feet below him. He watched, mildly puzzled, thinking that it might be a small piece of glass on the track that was reflecting the ambient light. It was a faint yellowish color, and as he watched, it appeared to grow brighter. Twenty seconds later, he nudged Mike. It was definitely getting brighter and as both of them watched, it seemed slowly to be getting bigger.

"Hand me the camera," Jim muttered. At the same time, Mike quietly and efficiently unpacked the night-vision binoculars he had just put away. Jim set up the tripod and positioned his camera loaded with infra-red film in line with the light that had now grown to six inches in diameter. It was still a dull yellow but had definitely grown brighter. Carefully, Jim set the shutter to thirty seconds, reasoning that a long exposure might capture this mystery light on the freshly loaded roll of infra-red film. He was ready to pop off all thirty six shots if necessary.

As Mike brought the binoculars to his eyes, Jim heard the sharp sucking in of breath. Jim could see that the light was now more than a foot wide and was still growing larger. This was very obviously not a reflection. The dirty yellow expanding light seemed to be positioned above the ground, rather than directly on the ground, but Jim could not be sure.

"It's a tunnel, not just a light," Mike whispered. Jim ignored his partner's growing agitation as he increased the length of time exposures to forty then fifty seconds.

Mike was now standing up. "Jesus Christ," Mike said hoarsely. "Something's in the tunnel!"

Jim looked carefully at the light below. It had now expanded to more than two feet. Something that big should definitely register on his film. "Oh, my God," Mike said suddenly thoroughly frightened. "There is a black creature climbing out. I see his head. " Jim felt alarm. His companion was plainly bordering on panic.

"It has no face," whispered Mike. "Oh, my God, it just climbed out." Jim rubbed his eyes and shook his head. All he could see was a dirty yellow light, now about four feet in diameter, a hundred feet below him. Why couldn't he see what Mike was seeing? Suddenly it dawned on him. The binoculars. He motioned for Mike to hand them to him, but not before increasing the time exposure to ninety seconds.

Mike ignored him. "It's on the ground," he said, "Oh, my God, it walked away." As Mike danced on the ledge a few feet away, plainly in a panicky state, Jim could see the light decreasing in size. Within thirty seconds, the dull yellow light had shrunk to about half its full diameter and was losing intensity.
In the meantime, Jim pulled Mike over close to him and asked, "What happened?"

"A big black creature just crawled through that tunnel, got onto the ground, and walked away," Mike said. "That's what happened. And its lurking around here somewhere."

Jim felt a chill. "I only saw that yellow light," he said doubtfully, "Are you sure?"

"Jesus Christ, of course, I'm sure," Mike replied. "The night vision turned the light into a three-D tunnel, and a large creature, I am thinking maybe four hundred pounds, at least six foot tall, just crawled out of that damm tunnel." quickly, but he seemed to be regaining control over himself.
Mike was sweating profusely and still breathing quickly but he seemed to be regaining control over himself...By that time, the yellow light had gradually faded and was no longer visible...

After fifteen minutes or so, they grabbed some detectors and clambered as quietly as possible down the steep rock-filled ground below them...But once near the track, a strong odor assailed their nostrils...It seemed to be centred on the spot where the light or tunnel had been. Jim felt slightly nauseous from the pungent smell. Quickly, Mike scanned the ground in a twenty foot diameter circle for any signs of radiation...only background levels were detectable. Meanwhile, Jim scanned the area with a trifield meter to detect any unusual magnetic spokes. Nothing registered...The team spent the next day searching for footprints...but the ground was hard and none were visible...The photos were disappointing, showing only a single very faint light on one..."

In summary. One person saw a yellow light which grew brighter, and larger, then decreased in size. A second person, in the same spot, using night-vision binoculars reported seeing a tunnel, from which a creature crawled out on to the ground and then moved off. There were no unusual radiation nor magnetic disturbances. Both smelt a pungent odor at the site of the light.
My comments

1. The event occurred at 0230hrs on 25 August 1997 at latitude 109 deg 31 mins west and longitude 40 deg 27 mins north. Near Roosevelt, Utah.

2. According to the Stellarium astronomy software program, at this time the Moon was at an elevation of 37 degrees; in the ESE (azimuth 101 degrees.) The Moon was at last quarter, thus, providing a degree of lighting sufficiently to see something at 100-150 feet away.

3. The maximum size of the light was estimated as four feet, at 100 feet distance (though earlier in the text it said the light was 150 feet away.) Using the 100 foot distance, its maximum angular size was 2.3 degrees, almost five times the diameter of the full moon seen in the sky. Using the 150 foot distance, the maximum angular diameter would have been 1.5 degrees, three times the diameter of the full moon in the sky. Quite a large size, at either distance.

4. It seems to me, that a person looking at a 1.5-2.3 degree diameter light at a 100-150 foot range, should have visually noticed a dimming of the light, as a six foot black creature emerged from it. However, Jim did not report seeing anything of this kind.

5. I note that no noise was reportedly heard from the light or creature at any time.

6. It is a pity that we do not have the field of view in degrees of the binoculars, and an estimate of how much of the diameter of field of view both the light and the creature occupied, as an independent measure of actual, as opposed to estimated angular size.

7. The observation of the creature was reported by a single person, who described it to another person, to which it was not visible.

Jacque Vallee's recollection of the event


Image courtesy of Amazon Books

On page 391 of Vallee's "Forbidden Science: Volume Four" in a diary entry dated 18 October 1997, Vallee reports on the 10th NIDS Science Advisory Board (SAB) meeting. This was the first meeting of the SAB since July 1997, and thus the first opportunity for Vallee to learn of the event.

There was an incident at the ranch on 28 August about 2am when Chad Deetken and Terry Sherman saw a light from the ridge. Chad saw a glow and his photos show nothing, but Terry observed a ring of light, opening up above the ground and a black creature emerging from it. Going to the site later they found no tracks: ghost stories, after all.

During the observation Terry, a big strapping cowboy, was reportedly trembling with intense fright. Chad, who had looked through the same night vision system, saw nothing. This triggered a technical discussion among the physicists, and it caused Bob Bigelow to make an emotional speech to suggest that 'they' might be using means beyond our physics.
My comments
1. Note that the date given by Vallee is three days after the date given by Kelleher and Knapp.

2. According to Kelleher and Knapp, the observers were named "Mike" and "Jim." Whereas, Vallee names them as Chad Deetken and Terry Sherman. "Jim" equates to Deetken; while "Mike" equates to Sherman.

3. Terry Sherman was the real name of the ranch owner (before Bigelow bought it.) "Hunt for the Skinwalker," says that Sherman, whom they called Tom Gorman, had long thought that some of the lights he had seen, were "doorways" to other dimensions. Quoting, "Hunt for the Skinwalker":
"Tom felt like it could have been a tear or a rent in the sky about a mile away, and through the rent he could see a different world, or perhaps a different time."

"This incident convinced Tom that his ranch was the site of some kind of dimensional doorway..."

4. Who was Deetken? Vallee's book mentions him a few times:

a. Page 301. Deetken had been sent by NIDS to Puerto Rico to research crop circles and mutilations.

b. Page 391. "Chad Deetken always prayed to protect himself when he keeps watch at night."

c. Page 392. "Chad Deetken gave an impassioned but unscientific description of the English crop circles..."

5. Vallee states that both Terry Sherman and Chad Deetken looked through the night-vision binoculars. Terry Sherman reported seeing a black creature, but Chad Deetken saw nothing.

Conclusion

What to make of the observation of a "creature" and a "tunnel." The fact that there was a quarter Moon illuminating the scene; that Jim, in my opinion, should have been able, visually, to see some alteration of the relatively large diameter light, if something came out of it, but didn't; plus the statement from Vallee that Jim (Deetken) "...had looked through the same night vision system, saw nothing," provides me with concerns about this observation.

By Keith Basterfield at June 05, 2019

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