From Deseret News archives:

Mysteries of 'UFO ranch' in spotlight

Published: Friday, April 21, 2006 11:48 p.m. MDT
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Kelleher worked on the book with award-winning Las Vegas investigative reporter George Knapp, the only journalist ever allowed on the ranch. Kelleher and Knapp detail the days and nights the family spent on their working cattle ranch, besieged by forces which, they found out, never played by the rules.

The book also relates the many haunting mysteries that happened to NIDS researchers after they arrived in March 1997.

One of those still unexplained events involved the mutilation of an 84-pound calf that occurred just minutes after the animal had been tagged by the ranch manager.

"We were fortunate to get the vet and full NIDS staff up there in five hours," Kelleher recalled. "It was 10 a.m., March 10, 1997. The ranch manager and his wife had just tagged it and their dog started acting strangely. They went back to investigate 45 minutes later, and in the field in broad daylight found the calf and its body cavity empty."

One of the strangest things was there was not a drop of blood on the animal or on the ground, said Kelleher. "Most people know if an 84 pound calf is killed there is blood spread around," he added. "It was as if all of the blood had been removed in a very thorough way."

The calf incident was the opening salvo, according to Kelleher. "That early summer and stretching into late summer, there were multiple incidents."

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The researchers saw large, ferocious animals with piercing yellow eyes. Although they were seen, they left few tracks and in a few cases, were not injured when struck by bullets, Kelleher said.

"Three eyewitnesses saw a very large animal in a tree and also another large animal at the base of the tree," which was shot but never found, he said.

"We had videotape equipment, night vision equipment," Kelleher said. "We started hunting around the tree for the carcass and there was no evidence whatsoever."

The same problem was encountered when flying orbs were seen by several people. Expensive audio and video recording devices were meticulously placed but produced nothing, and one time the NIDS teams found their equipment vandalized, with taped wires ripped apart and no evidence at all to point to the culprit or culprits who had wreaked the havoc.

"It was very difficult to gather the kind of evidence consistent with scientific publication," said Kelleher.

In the book, Kelleher and Knapp not only allow the reader inside the ranch, which remains off limits to the public, they also provide a detailed history of observances of phenomena such as skinwalkers, UFO sightings and flying orbs. They delve into Native American legends and curses that had some connection to the events they had witnessed or that people had recounted to them. The pair also spoke to a number of Uintah Basin residents who shared their own encounters with the paranormal in areas not too far from the ranch.

Recent comments

The universe's has many earths with life and beings
like are selfs....

Anonymous | March 15, 2009 at 4:42 a.m.

I would love to spend some time at the ranch.

James | Oct. 5, 2008 at 3:55 p.m.

my family is a big believer in ghosts, aliens, big foot, ect....i...

Mike Tellefsen | Sept. 9, 2008 at 10:59 p.m.

Image
National Institute Of Discovery Science (NIDS)

Surveillance and full-time caretakers remain on the ranch in Fort Duchesne that has become known for paranormal activity. The property is still owned by the National Institute for Discovery Science.

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