Skinwalker Ranch Fans' Emails to Uintah County Reflect Dubious UFO Culture

Over 200 pages of written comments recently submitted to the Uintah County Community Development Office concerning a property adjacent to Skinwalker Ranch were obtained by Expanding Frontiers Research. The comments – consisting mostly of email messages - were sent after Thomas Winterton, a cast member of the cable television show The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, made a Facebook post urging followers to voice opposition to a Conditional Use Permit requested by Uinta Wax for property owned by Don Hicken Farms LLC. The request seeks authorization to construct an oil and gas location, widely expected to be an oil well.

Winterton's Oct. 24 Facebook post included an Oct. 14 letter received by Adamantium Real Estate LLC, an entity incorporated in Delaware that owns the Utah property commonly known as Skinwalker Ranch. The letter was sent from the Community Development Office, notifying potentially interested parties of the permit requested for Don Hicken Farms and inviting written comments. Limited liability and other types of corporations are commonly incorporated in Delaware when founders and primary parties wish to conceal their identities from public disclosure.

The Oct. 14 letter sent to Adamantium Real Estate:

Thomas Winterton asserted in his Facebook post, “[T]he exact location of this well will be less than 150' from the anomaly in the mesa.” He went on to state it would forever destroy the opportunity to study unique and unexplainable phenomena. The proposed well would introduce noise, vibrations, and artificial light to the surrounding area, which would “seriously jeopardize our ability to study many of the anomalies on the ENTIRE ranch,” Winterton wrote, then urgently pleaded with those who follow their investigation to contact Uintah County and respectfully demand the permit be denied.

Records obtained include Adamantium's response to Community Development as written by Brandon Fugal (see page 4). While demanding the permit be denied, Fugal asserted the proposed oil well constitutes an egregious, irreparable threat to the irreplaceable scientific and cultural value of the property. Fugal further described Skinwalker Ranch as “the preeminent global epicenter of documented paranormal and anomalous phenomena,” yet, as demonstrated by investigative reporter Steven Greenstreet, Fugal's claims perpetually fail to rise to the level of scientific standards practiced outside the realm of television entertainment.

Several email messages submitted to the Community Development Office reference "Skinwalker Insiders," which are people who subscribe to a Secret of Skinwalker Ranch-themed website. A quick search and a few clicks revealed a membership currently runs $12 per month, or $96 annually, entitling subscribers to “inside” information, a tee shirt, and discounts on merchandise.

The basic argument opposing the Uinta Wax permit for Don Hicken Farms as expressed by Skinwalker supporters is that construction on the adjacent property will hinder or cease what is often described as scientific study of deeply significant anomalies. A lot of the comments submitted are repetitious, as they reflect templates and talking points distributed on social media, and several submissions show the authors to simply be uninformed.

For instance, many seemed to think some government body such as "the state" wishes to drill for oil. However, the Community Development Office letter posted by Winterton clearly established the parties to be private for-profit entities that include the owner of the land, Don Hicken Farms. Also, and as might be expected, many of the comments contain the dubious suggestion that paradigm-shifting scientific discoveries of existential significance are occurring on a regular basis - but not all of the comments.

Ray Willis describes himself as a neighbor with a view of the mesa that's so good Skinwalker Ranch parks its tour bus outside of his gate. The tour bus is quite possibly a reference to “add-on” activities marketed at PhenomeCon, an annual event sponsored by Uintah County which blurs science and entertainment while relying heavily upon Skinwalker cast members for activities and content. Willis says Skinwalker Ranch and its interests “are not to the betterment of our community” (see page 112).

He finds it concerning when individuals such as Skinwalker Ranch owners feel entitled to dictate what is done on private land. “[M]y social media feeds were flooded today,” Willis wrote Community Development, “with calls to action by the personnel of Skinwalker Ranch for their wide fanbase to inundate your office with the opinions of people nowhere near here about how this drilling should be stopped because it will negatively impact the 'investigation' at SWR...” Willis added how that's “an interesting way to phrase the filming of their lucrative largely fictional television show that has, to date, resulted in no disclosures to the community regarding the nature of their spurious and exaggerated claims.”

“As a former civil servant,” he continued, “I am appalled that SWR is calling upon their cult of TV nerds to influence development in my neighborhood.”

Other comments include an email submitted by Nancy J. Stratton, “Retired U.S. Department of Energy Counterintelligence Cyber Analyst.” She asked that the permit be denied due to its potential impact on groundbreaking research being conducted at the Fugal ranch “as documented by the Federal Government, Fugal, and others.” Stratton asserted, “Mankind deserves this chance at transparency.” (p1)

Chris Roberts, “Skinwalker Ranch Archaeologist,” argued the location of the potential oil well appears to be an attack on the cast and its work. “The proximity of the well pad to the mesa where interesting artifacts have been discovered within the mesa actually appears as an attack on Skinwalker Ranch and particularly the mesa where I study,” he wrote. Roberts added that he'd be happy to meet with Community Development and the Skinwalker Ranch team for a review and redesign – of plans composed by and belonging to Uinta Wax and Don Hicken Farms, we reasonably surmise. (p94)

Norman Joseph Jester III of Like Whoa Inc. in California wrote to Uintah County on a letterhead, pictured above. He explained he holds a technical and scientific background and, while he respects the economic opportunity the proposed permit may hold for proponents, he urges its denial due to its proximity to scientific investigation of significant importance. He enclosed an image, pictured below, of his 2011 Certificate of Lifetime Patron Membership to the Center for Ancient Astronaut Research and the Archaeology, Astronautics and SETI Research Association, signed by Giorgio Tsoukalos and Erich von Daniken. (pp1-3)

Paige Sechi explained they were raised in the Uintah Basin and encouraged the county to prioritize the long-term well-being of the community. “I'm not writing you because of the media depictions of the ranch, but in the environmental, geological, and cultural significance of the area where the drilling is proposed,” Sechi wrote. Their perspective, arguably among the more measured and pointed, was noticeably absent from other emails as compared to concerns about the future of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch. (p137)

Paul Wilson, P.E., opposed approval of the permit because it would significantly affect ongoing scientific investigation that could benefit Utah as well as the entire country. The oil or gas will always be there, he argued, while the loss of the present investigation will do permanent damage to a major scientific breakthrough. “As a staunch Trump supporter,” Wilson concluded, “I believe he would not want this to affect the American people.” (p147)

Dr. Carry Duckworth, “Scientist and PI in the UK,” opposed the permit because Skinwalker Ranch conducts a high-tech venture undertaking world-renowned scientific research going back at least 20 years. But it's not just about the scientific community and those who understand and follow the high-quality research like Duckworth does, they emphasized. It's also about the large community that follows and contributes to the research online. (p88)

“There will be huge negative societal impact if this does not continue,” Duckworth warned. “This community activity is excellent for both research on the ranch and the mental health of many of these individuals through developing friendships and the sense of purpose by contributing to groundbreaking research activity.”

This writer confidently suspects law enforcement officers, personnel at the county medical examiner's office, and members of the search party who retrieved the deceased body of Andrew Barton Crowe might disagree with the doctor's assessment of Skinwalker Ranch societal impact.

Noteworthy in the discussion of Uintah Basin properties is Utah 2023 S.B. 219, Criminal Privacy Violation Amendments. Introduced by State Sen. Ronald Winterton, the bill expanded on existing legislation by increasing penalties for the use of equipment such as drones and ground-penetrating radar to survey land where there is an expected right of privacy. The Senator's son, Thomas Winterton, assisted in presenting discussion on the bill that restricts unauthorized use of technology to detect, observe, or measure property characteristics.

It is not entirely clear what the consequences were perceived to be if a literal act of Congress was not undertaken to discourage the public from trying to glean details about the 500-acre Adamantium Real Estate property and its subterranean features. One might suppose it didn't have a lot to do with werewolves.

The permit debate provides an analogy of UFO culture. A majority of emails fail to express basic understandings of such central issues as energy consumption, oil drilling and, importantly, goose-and-gander values that typically characterize a healthily functioning community. The vast majority of emails fail to consider what is most valued by the public, while simultaneously arguing paranormal entertainment special interest is not just of vast significance, but highest importance. If no competent argument is made to explain why proposed land use is bad for the region, in and of itself and independently of activities on adjacent properties, then the issue is framed, in effect, as 'Landowner A should not be permitted to do as he desires on his property because Landowner B should be permitted to do as he desires on his property'. If the argument is subsequently reduced to 'oil wells are fine, just not in the vicinity of a mesa I believe has a giant alien spaceship buried beneath it', then it's failing to make a legitimate point for why Don Hicken Farms should be denied the right to use its land as it sees fit within legal guidelines. And from this writer's desk, that self-centered irrationality is pretty much UFO World in a nutshell.

In a follow-up email exchange, Uintah County Community Development clarified the permit for Don Hicken Farms is in the review stage and "is currently waiting on additional information from the applicant." It was further explained that when a decision is reached, an applicant is typically notified by mail or email, so there is not a designated way to track the status of a permit request. EFR therefore envisions monitoring the situation through standard channels and possibly checking back in the future for further information from Uintah County.