The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch (2020– ) User Reviews

Great in theory...

[financeman2 · 7/10 · 13 May 2020]

...But not 100% yet. I would love to know what is happening on Skinwalker Ranch, obviously something strange is. Travis Taylor and Erik Bard have the credentials to make a great show and get answers but "Head of Security" "Dragon," Bryant Arnold seems out of place, from the way he looks to what he says. He is in every scene, carrying his weapon and makes the show unbearable. Cut the cast in half and try again.

When you have some time to waste

[edwin_hoekstra · 6/10 · 3 June 2020]

1,6 ghz the frequency that's a red tread in these series. But never ever ever they tried to respond in this bandwidth frequency, in other words a lot of senseless projects involving drones, rockets and above all a lot of opinions based upon less than nothing.. aside that it's easy to watch when you want to clear your mind from the daily bs what's called reality. For the rest this series is rerunning it's own conclusions a lot like it's something new they found... but actually isn't. So in other words, I'd you have some time to waste, this can be a nice show to watch. But if time is a more valuable product in your life, leagevthis series to be valued by someone else. Personal note to Trevor; you're a scientist, so act like a scientist. I don't mean you can't be enthusiastic about your finds, just keep it real!

Give these guys a break

[naturewmn · 7/10 · 18 February 2023]

Although the show is a little drawn out at times, I think it's one of the best reality shows on. Remember, these guys aren't actors, but they aren't bad. Travis has a great speaking voice and he is always enthusiastic. I get a kick out of him because he obviously is super smart with a few difficult doctoral degrees, but he doesn't take himself too seriously - like when he calls " shotgun". The poor guys have to deal with the failed experiments. Whenever something goes wrong I imagine the et's were messing with them for fun. When their biggest and baddest rocket exploded I imagined the ET's slapping their knees with amusement . They messed with the humans again.

Great but ditch Bryant, oh sorry I mean Dragon (eyeroll)

[cmscritic · 8/10 · 22 October 2020]

If they stopped letting the fool security guard have a damn voice it'd be better but the fact is, he needs to do his job and shut his mouth. Also, what's with the idiotic nickname he's given himself? Dragon? Really? Good lord

Love TT... But...

[konopisos · 9 April 2020]

I wanted to like this show. Had high hopes. But it is too heavy on the corny. At times the pain of Taylor dealing with the "team" especially Dragon are just painful. Show needs to be re-tooled, without the tools.

Secrets Abound!

[bitbucketchip · 10/10 · 12 July 2021]

• Who appointed a security guard as head of a "scientific" team?

• Did "Dragon" give himself that nickname, or is it meant to be ironic, like calling these investigators "Normal"?

• Who wastes their time getting advanced science degrees to work as a paranormal investigator, a job performed by plumbers?

• In what universe are minor blips on some meter interesting?

• These people are adults, right?

• Late last night the battery on my phone suddenly died and I wasn't even at Skinwalker Ranch! How is that possible?

• And the biggest mystery of all: How can Brandon have such a punchable face?

Intrigued. skinwalker ranch isn't a joke

[mttsegal · 7/10 · 7 April 2020]

This is the first time we can get up to date video access of the ranch, this place isn't a farce. Many would have killed to get to investigate this place for years. I am curious as to the outcome of this show(only one episode has released so far) the other reviewers currently seem to not have knowledge of the site. It isn't some gimmick made up to make a tv show. Do the research on the property, Robert Biggalow would not have been there for years or even bought it in the first place and spent millions of dollars to research the site for years if it was nothing

Hype

[tyounk-73309 · 1/10 · 15 September 2020]

Nothing real happens here. Nothing even remotely interesting and I believe it is just made up or at the least, exaggerated. Their phones go haywire and batteries die. The ground penetrating radar battery dies. The drone will not connect to the controller. So answer this....Why is there absolutely no trouble or even mention of trouble with the batteries or cameras used to record the show?

Very entertaining and I'm a believer

[tikitim-47092 · 8/10 · 19 January 2023]

Well I understand the use of theatrics but hello it's television! Scientists and engineers are not generally thought of as bowls of laughs, charismatic and people you want to binge watch. However the fact that I watched 6 episodes in one sitting tells me that I need to get a life...AND it was interesting if not engaging. That's not to say the security guard isn't annoying because he most definitely is. But Travis managed to break down complicated science jargon into things I actually understood and that I found fascinating. It's creepy, interesting and I am a believer in the strange occurrences taking place. And I disagree with others who claim nothing happens. Plenty happens but it is speculation as to what is the source. Hopefully they will eventually get there, but if not, I still consider it a very interesting, educational and engaging show.

Interesting premise, not interesting production

[nancylmarine · 6/10 · 29 May 2020]

Being familiar with Skinwalker Ranch and the assorted phenomena prevalent there, I was really excited about this.

I'm also familiar with the head scientist, Travis Taylor, and his work on television and for the US Government. I had high, high hopes this would be a definitive study of a patch of land that's befuddled people for decades.

There were some interesting points, such as when they brought in several different scientific teams to do their testing. I also found it interesting they discovered the intermittent flashes of microwaves and RF. I had high hopes when this happened.

What bothered me the most was how scripted a great deal of this was, including the "meetings" they held to discuss what happened, where do we go from here? SO MUCH DRAMA!

Had this show been permitted to go without all the scripted moments, I think I'd be enjoying it more. What's going on there is already dramatic enough without the production company/History Channel adding more that is setup and scripted.

I'm disappointed purported real scientists, such as Taylor and Jim Sagala allowed this to happen, given they're "supposed" to be more science, less folklore or rumor. It makes me wonder just how much "science" they actually practice any longer, given they're apparently willing to do whatever a production company wants, so long as they get paid. Their credibility, IMHO, is taking a real hit.

I am, however, looking forward to their "conclusion" of what's happening on the ranch.

I believe there's something there but....

[rmuckey-65638 · 2/10 · 17 May 2020]

I completely agree that there is something going on at skinwalker ranch but this TV show is ridiculous. First take Bryant dragon Arnold and put him at the front gate because he's a security guard he is not going to provide anything at any of the sites. He acts like a punk that wants to hang out with the big boys and when he doesn't get his way he cries like a little baby. The rest of the show is just taking little pieces of investigations and dragging them out for as long as possible. I do feel sorry for the one guy who ended up going to the emergency room with some strange injury to his head, but I'm kind of tired of hearing about it at every episode over and over again. Sadly this show is just that show. By the way if you want to find out what's hanging out a mile above the ranch in the air try using your bosses helicopter instead of spending a whole show talking about firing rockets into the air

Lots of intrigue, but you may be disappointed with results

[DebraIonaVogel · 8/10 · 1 October 2021]

Skinwalker Ranch, owned by Brandon Fugel, definately has some odd things going on.

Mr. Fugel has assembled a small group of highly credentialed team members to apply their area of expertise with the hope of getting some real answers about the place.

It has a long history of anomalous activity; from UFOs to weird things banging on the floor, from the basement, at one of the homesteads housing ranch hands (one of which has a degree in anthropology and has been published).

Radiation is coming from the sky and a very old deep well . We see UFOs. Testing has led to unexplainable injury, but these very smart men set out to test their hypotheses.

There's no shortage of brain power, but we, the audience, hear and see things as though it's being explained to grade school aged children. I wish...more science.

However, like the Curse of Oak Island, much hype and hope leads to little actual results and answers. Just more questions.

Oh....and the man in charge of security goes by the nickname, "Dragon". Seriously, he does.

It's interesting and I think I'll watch it all the way to the end.

Give it a chance

[glenjacob · 7/10 · 13 April 2020]

There is a liitle bit of overacting for sure...the presentation is not up to the mark...but the contents and the amount of screen time the ranch is given is alright. Lets wait and watch how it gets with the episodes... It may slowly grown on us.

Imagine calling yourself a scientist...

[antichshae · 1/10 · 28 November 2020]

...and carrying on with that rubbish. Honestly, I'm embarrassed for them. The way that evidence and data is treated is an absolute joke. All of the evidence to do with their cattle is rubbish. The camera directly on the alpaca was mysteriously down during the attack, and people were close enough to throw a stick at the creature attacking it, but couldn't see what it was? The ranch isn't really that remote: a quick look on google maps shows it's surrounded by other farms and fracking wells. There's zero proof that any of the light phenomena they "observed" were anything other than man-made. There's absolutely no evidence that any of the injuries they laboured over were caused by radiation or anything unusual. The drilling into the earth showed absolutely nothing. Anyone who has watched ten minutes of Time Team knows that's not how you do underground geological mapping. The gear on the weather balloons gave out or disappeared, or showed nothing of interest? And the rockets showed nothing? What a waste of air time. The visualisation of the microwaves and the discussion in the last episode is so unsubstantiated and unscientific I am shocked anyone calling themselves a scientist would give it any credence. The "craft" in the sky? Why did you have nothing that was tracking them? Not even any decent images! I believe there are phenomena that should be investigated with hard, rigorous science. Shows like this that claim to use scientific methods do nothing other than set back the cause. Y'all should hang your heads in shame. Oh, and if you have the temerity to make a second season, for the love of all that is holy, no one gives a toss what the security guards or the station managers think: we want THE SCIENCE.

Great Start - Needs more Science less Drama

[umichjal · 9/10 · 5 June 2020]

Like the show. Came on strong towards the end. My recommendation - less drama and more focus on the science, data, and experimentation. In this situation, there are so many experiments they can do and we see very little of it. I would like to see more background in the data - what does it show? What do you think? If the HC lets this run without constraints, we might learn something here.

Real Phenomena, Expected Cheese

[ericd-75172 · 8/10 · 21 April 2020]

Finally a show that explores real phenomena. All of the reviews about it's cheesiness are valid (except the phone upside down thing, many many apps right themselves when phone is upside down), and the security team is definitely cringey, no reason "Dragon" couldn't afford to use a sling for his AR or Shotty...not sure how he hasn't gotten sick of manually carrying them around the ranch. I believe the scientists are trying to actually capture the real phenomena that occurs there, but the new owner is definitely a little cheesy and the History Channel apparently ONLY knows how to make things extra cheesy. Taking it for what it is tho, it's hands down my favorite History Channel cheese, and covers a REAL mystery that really does beg to be solved or at least better understood.

I made an account just to give this one star

[lizzyrolf · 6 March 2021]

I've been using IMDB for 15 years and literally made an account to rate this show. It was so painful to watch. A bunch of middle-aged, Mormon men with too much money and time sitting around taking in circles or measuring the "microwaves" of things. The real estate guy thinks he's Batman, it's phenomenally cringey.

All that to say, my partner is a huge fan of The. Curse. Of. Oak. Island. (said in the narrator's voice) and he thought this show was incredible. Told me that he cannot wait until the next time he gets the tv to himself. So if you're into watching rich dudes spend their excess money, you'll probably like this.

Dragon

[vincentjadam · 7/10 · 29 July 2023]

My favorite part of the show is the dude who's name is Dragon always telling the astrophysicist what they need to do 😂 Otherwise the show is pretty entertaining it has a bit of "The Curse of Oak Island" feel to it. Not sure they will ever figure anything out in regard to what they are searching for but something about the show keeps me coming back! The owner of the ranch I feel like he's the alien in charge of all the things going on the ranch somethings off about him. I don't know what it is but he feels like he could be the evil genius in like a James Bond movie or something like that. I'm keeping an eye on that guy.

Get rid of the theatrics

[lkern20891-878-386574 · 3/10 · 29 July 2020]

I want to, just once, see a show about this ranch without "actors". This is almost as bad as Mountain Monsters. They try to build suspense with forced reality tv show style conflicts between the characters when the property itself is interesting alone.

Series hard to get one's head around ... for positive and negative reasons

[jrarichards · 9/10 · 9 July 2020]

Robert Bigelow may well be the guy of choice the powers that be go to when they want to channel taxpayers' money into a private-sector outfit not bound so rigorously as the military when it comes to freedom of information requests and disclosures... Hence Bigelow was the owner of the said Ranch in Utah where strange things have been happening for many a long year.

The fact that the Skinwalker property passed to billionaire businessman Brandon Fugal, who is now keen to fund the inevitably smaller-scale research we see presented in these 8 episodes, would at first glance seem to suggest that nothing of real interest to government and military can have been found there (or would have been removed if it had been).

Unless of course you accept that those in control would now WISH us to be introduced gradually to strange things.

And in that context, how is Fugal any less of a "useful person" for this kind of stage of the proceedings than Bigelow?

This approach in fact holds some water, given the unique circumstance of the US Navy's revelations of the last couple of years that there really are UFOs and we have film of them, even as nobody is saying for sure that the tech is alien... Hence we got the Tom De Longe series "Unidentified" - also on the History Channel, featuring Chris Mellon and Luis Elizondo. And we also got "Contact" on Discovery. And all of these series reveal just enough - and have just enough cooperation from people who once kept their mouths and files firmly shut - to suggest that there really may be a trend towards opening up now, even as people speaking up for this kind of thing were for years ridiculed ... or worse.

Yes, one does assume that Bigelow and the military had a more sophisticated programme up and running on the Ranch than does Fugal and his team of scientists (physicist Dr Jim Segala and physicist Erik Bard) and others augmented for the purpose of this series by Dr Travis Taylor - one of the talking heads on "Ancient Aliens", and likewise a genuine scientist whichever way you look at it, even if he does say things like "the phenomena is" in moments of turmoil.

And tumultuous moments do sometimes appear on this programme, even if the slightly amateurish look of home-made rockets and other gizmos is writ large by the fact that the final episode here offers little new, does contstitute merely a summing-up (if before the Attorney-General of Utah, no less), and does in fact miss out several aspects that we have seen going through the episodes one by one (notably the suspicious attack on an alpaca).

Indeed, several investigations - like the one in the cellar under one of the buildings - went precisely nowehere.

Yet paradoxically, these emphases on semi-amateurism and the lack of any overarching conclusion may be seen as a major virtue of the programme, at least for those who try to see the wood for the trees (as several reviewers round here singularly fail to do). Though indeed often looking like bad actors in staged scenarios that never quite ring true, Travis and co. REALLY DO encounter documented chaos and even documented danger in the course of their work, and none of it makes full sense. Part of that is failure of some lines of inquiry, and incomprehension and lack of consistency along others.

So can ANYONE coming through the 8 episodes say there is NOTHING GENUINELY weird about this part of Utah? My honest answer would have to be that NOBODY can say that - and this is the series's smaller-scale, but actually still pretty notable achievement. What is more, unlike with virtually anything of this genre you can recall, Skinwalker really DID (as anticipated) perform for the cameras, with UFOs and beams seen, electromagnetic phenomena all across the spectrum (basically an "impossibility" in and of itself), non-cooperating equipment and regular equipment failures of unknown origin, and tangible impacts on the health of both animals and people.

CAN THIS REALLY JUST BE A PACK OF LIES? If so, one tends to believe it would be far slicker than it actually is!

Surprising then that - as a person basically smpathetic towards the programme - even I find it a bit underwhelming. There is really no logical reason for that, as at second glass what is presented IS sufficient to raise the question of just what on Earth (or maybe beyond it) is going on?

A joy of the programme is that its last episode was less than a year before today, so this is fresh (even as it builds on years or indeed a century of weird reports). Series 2 has doubtless been disrupted by COVID-19; but ironically I wonder if I am the only one to get a bit of a spontaneous shudder as I can't quite fully prevent myself from juxtaposing very recent history's two huge stories (of the reality of UFOs and of COVID)...

If the main issue at the Ranch does reflect some strange and unprecedented convergence of physical forces, that would be major in and of itself. But the series goes (JUST A LITTLE) further than that in suggesting that some effort from "the Ranch" to communicate with the investigators is what is actually going on here.

Remember the "playful" aliens in "Under the Dome"? Or "Trelane" in Star Trek's "The Squire of Gothos" ? Or remember "Close Encounters" when the alien visitors first try to use loud sound across all frequencies and blast out part of the equipment of the welcoming committee, only later refining and producing more subtle and understandable communication?

I do...

Becoming Drawn Out

[ka-74603 · 6/10 · 2 July 2021]

I think the subject matter of this show is interesting but nearing the end of season 2 its becoming a drag. Its clear that the ranch is a strange place but nearing the end of season 2 we're left with even more questions. The experiments are interesting at times yet the interviews with witnesses are bizarre. Some claim the place has extraterrestrial activity while others claim that portals and wormholes have opened up on the property. Which is it? A handful of experiments suggest a natural explanation for some of the things that occur. Some of the investigators have seen things and a frantic chase scene occurs but what they were chasing is almost never on camera save for a few blurry shots of a UFO. The lastest episode featured a supposed thunderstorm that was seen on camera but not captured on camera. Phantom weather now. Too much drama, spooky music and bizarre claims with no evidence. This is becoming drawn out like another similar show on History Channel.

Smoke and mirrors

[forseti-98300 · 1/10 · 12 March 2021]

First episode I knew something was off when they whipped out those RF meters. if you watch and look at the amount of RF 10.8/m2 that is so small of an amount that's 1.08/cm2 Federal safety levels are 580/cm2. So if federal safety levels actual showed up on their RF meters is would have read 5800/m2. The show is a farce. Overacting, entanglement and distortion of fact and folklore. If your watching this please note it should pruley be for entertainment and not empirical data information or actual research.

Great Show

[umichjal · 9/10 · 29 May 2021]

I am always fascinated by the non-scientific folks who want Hollywood horror in a reality-tv show. The show is entertaining, and brings to light events that actually happened. If this is was so "fake", why does the U. S. Govt keep what Bigelow found classified ?

I enjoy it... but.. lol!!!

[shelliiaae · 6/10 · 13 February 2024]

So I enjoy the show as a good time killer. I don't really expect anything to be ground breaking. It's just decent entertainment.

However, a few things drive me absolutely insane...

Let's get it over with... DRAGON. First of all, that has to be the absolute most ridiculous cringe nickname OF ALL TIME. He would've been better off going by, NINJA... or DEATH. If he gave himself the name... shameful, if it was given to him? Let's just say if people used to call you Dragon for any reason...? DONT EVER continue to carry on this nickname into life... it's also been said a million times, but why is a security guard giving input on 'scientific research' ....???? Do you imagine Elon Musk, when he is stumped on an issue with a new TESLA computer system, goes outside & asks the guy who is security of the parking lot what he should do? Lol...

Something you'll hear far too often...will sound something like:

"I have no explanation!" "I've never had this happen EVER!" "There is no scientific reason to explain this"

Lol - essentially every time something goes wrong, or they see ANYTHING unusual (or often not even that unusual) that is always what they'll go with...

The part about this that really annoys me... is I about 50% of the time think I have a fairly logical explanation, so how could they have NO IDEA!?

Example? SEASON 4 EPISODE 3... they launch (what else...?) A ROCKET, & as it begins to lift off, there is what looks like a mist or cloud that seems to illuminate or glow slightly. They are all speechless as to what it is... but I instantly went to; well... light is the fastest thing we know of...so the light from an engine igniting is going to cause a flash... & due to the lights speed, it's going to reflect what seems to us as INSTANTLY... so it's simply the flash of the rocket going off being reflected off what is likely, a cloud, or possibly even smoke emitted from the pre-launch of this rocket... it's obvious that it's the light reflecting...

Yet..... none of them not only don't even mention that as POSSIBLE... but they only come up with the explanation that something physical was hovering above the ground there, & as the rocket lifted off, it began to illuminate (why??? Lol) ... and THAT in their minds is more plausible than the light coming off the ignition being reflected... even when the light instantly vanished after the rocket shut down haha.

So yeah... ridiculous... and Travis has went from a skeptic scientist, to in season 4 is having no idea about anything he seems, and everything is just as likely to be a worm hole as it is to be light reflections....

Entertainment... that's all.

No real conclusions

[Becky145 · 3/10 · 5 June 2020]

Every episode had about 10-15 minutes of interesting info. The rest was just slow, drawn out filler. The final episode was merely a review of their experiments and findings while sitting in a board room. Of course their findings have no source figured out. They still have no idea what is going on there. I hope season 2 actually shows us something. I feel like these 8 episodes could've been compacted into 2 or 3. The highlights that I remember are weird lights, a UFO, a helicopter watching them and a young cow died mysteriously. That's it. The cow died from pneumonia that came on from being super stressed out we assume from all of the extra, unexplainable radio waves and microwaves on the property.