A Physicist Visited Skinwalker Ranch as a Skeptic. Then His Phone Started Doing Something Really Weird.

A Physicist Visited Skinwalker Ranch as a Skeptic. Then His Phone Started Doing Something Really Weird.

Erik Bard went looking for a rational answer—and found a strange electromagnetic clue.

Whether you’re a paranormal believer or cynic, there’s no denying that there’s something strange about Skinwalker Ranch in northeastern Utah.

Weird noises, glowing orbs, shadowy figures, mysteriously killed animals, long-lasting hauntings. All of these odd happenings (and more) have reportedly occurred on the 512-acre, high-desert ranch since its establishment in the early 1900s—but why? People have spent decades trying to piece together the puzzle, and many point to the paranormal as a part of the explanation.

Skinwalker Ranch, which is currently owned by Utah real-estate mogul Brandon Fugal, Skinwalker Ranch has evolved into a property rife with surveillance tools, scientific instruments, and military-grade technology, with the hope that the root of the so-called paranormal activity can one day get uncovered. It’s a seemingly larger-than-life operation dedicated to the study of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The HISTORY Channel even developed a seven-season TV show—The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch—dedicated to documenting the experimentation for audiences at home, and it effectively turned Fugal and other ranch workers into recognizable faces.

But what if aliens, ghosts, or UFOs aren’t to blame for all of the weird stuff happening at Skinwalker Ranch? Instead, a peculiar patch of physics may explain everything, according to one of the ranch’s most esteemed experts.

This Popular Mechanics feature takes you through the long, unsettling history of the Skinwalker Ranch, and showcases how it’s garnered immense intrigue over the years from developers, scientists, TV producers, and even government officials. One of those people brought into the realm of Skinwalker was X-ray physicist Erik Bard—and he may have discovered a huge clue into the ranch’s eeriness.

Now, Bard admits he was a skeptic before even stepping foot on the ranch. In our full story, he says he initially dismissed Skinwalker Ranch’s supposed paranormal happenings as “E.T. interdimensional religious whatever.” But when Frugal invited Bard for a visit in 2016 with the intention of bringing him on as a principal property investigator, what happened on that trip completely changed Bard’s mind. Not only did he notice his phone screen oddly flickering while examining the site’s mesa, but he also experienced balance issues when he returned to the homestead. Others on the visit with him said they felt the ground spinning.