Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 320 pages
• Published by: Paraview Pocket Books December 6, 2005
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1416505210
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1416505211
• Book Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 11.4 ounces

Reader Reviews
Colm A. Kelleher and George Knapp's meandering Hunt For The Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah is an unpersuasive overview of events which purportedly took place during the Nineties at the former Gorman cattle ranch in Utah. When news of the bizarre incidents occurring there was disseminated throughout the paranormal subculture, the ranch quickly became the subject of abundant rumor and speculation; numerous websites addressed the topic, and Fortean Times wrote a feature. The property was eventually purchased for study by the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS), and it is the NIDS scientists--most of whom remain anonymous throughout the book--to whom the title refers. The book has numerous problems, but perhaps the biggest is that most of the information is lightly conveyed over a precarious bed of broad, frequently subjective, and definitely non-scientific assumptions ("There is a distinct difference between monsters that exist only on celluloid or the printed page, however, and those that occasionally make overt intrusions into our personal realities; one emerges from the supernatural, while the other, like Bigfoot, has distinct roots in our flesh-and-blood reality."). Correspondingly, the book is padded with extraneous lore on masonic societies, Indian curses, Bigfoot sightings, and a history of unidentified flying objects. Hunt for the Skinwalker doesn't attempt to prove that Bigfoot and extraterrestrial craft exist among us; it comfortably begins with the presumption that they already do. Considering that Kelleher is supposed to be present as a research scientist, it's amazing how often he both relies upon and reports personal testimony like "Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. A chill ran down my spine. Something was close by and watching me" or "When I first set foot on the ranch I had an unmistakable feeling that something was not quite right. Things were not what they seemed." Obviously, however instinctively sound such intuitive responses may have been at the moment, they are utterly useless as evidence, especially since the ranch was well known to be "haunted" by the time the NIDS staff arrived, full of anticipation and ready to encounter manifestations of the supernatural. Before selling the ranch to NIDS, readers are told that patriarch Tom Gorman, who lived on the property with his wife and children for over twenty months, routinely ("dozens of times") observed "strange, unworldly orange structures" that resembled portals, or "windows," "in the western sky." When examining these structures with special binoculars at night, on occasion Gorman believed he could observe daylight within them, as well as craft-like objects exiting them. An entire short chapter is devoted to the subject, but once NIDS purchases the ranch, even though Gorman is still present daily as foreman, the question of why he no longer sees the orange structures, or why they aren't visible to the new arrivals, is never raised. Though photographs of the area--and the aftermath of specific events--might not count as scientific evidence, the addition of some photographs would have made the book more believable. In one extraordinary event, the authors report that four beloved Gorman bulls disappear from their pen, only to be discovered shortly after stuffed--but still alive--into a tiny, disused trailer on the grounds, a space which they couldn't possibly have gotten into in any natural manner. Since NIDS was already an active presence on the ranch, photographs of both the inside and outside of the trailer, of the four bulls, and especially of the animals trapped in the trailer would have greatly bolstered this event's credibility, and perhaps made investigation by other researchers possible. Since the Gorman family reported encountering all manner of high strangeness with regular frequency--from "flying triangles" and hovering "refrigerators" similar to those investigated by Jacques Vallee in South America--long before NIDS became involved, it seems reasonable that the family would have at least attempted to document some of their experiences on film. Later, Kelleher and Knapp report how Gorman discovers a badly mutilated calf purposefully posed in a bizarre position, and so calls the NIDS staff, who collectively witness the aftereffects; where are the photographs? Inconsistencies and irrationalities abound throughout the book. If Tom Gorman was able to observe the unnatural 'orange structures' in the sky with such regularity, and simultaneously recognized them as extraordinary, why didn't he contact the local authorities or media to witness and document them? If the Gorman cattle were as financially precious to the family as reported, why were so many left behind to be slaughtered by unseen forces, instead of being moved to the safety of the family's new ranch 25 miles away? Why weren't the NIDS teams sent out with more than one pair of infrared binoculars, so that at least two people could simultaneously observe the same phenomena in the same manner? Why do the NIDS scientists seem so professionally disorganized and unsure of how to proceed? If 'ice circles' may be a naturally occurring, if as yet unexplained, phenomena, why does the author attribute the one discovered to a paranormal agent? Why is the chapter on "revolutionary science," which Kelleher clearly puts faith in, sheepishly placed at the end of the book? Why are the NIDS members unwillingly to allow themselves to be identified? Where are the extensive footnotes the text requires? As writers on the paranormal, Kelleher and Knapp lack the diligent, hard-nosed intelligence of an Ivan T. Sanderson or the ability to assimilate visionary experience that John A. Keel and Patrick Harpur have shown in their own work. At present, there is so little hard evidence available that the story of the Gorman ranch resembles 'a folk tale in the making,' or even, as many have already publicly suspected, a fairly successful disinformation campaign. Hunt for the Skinwalker is simply too breezy, and easy on itself in every manner possible; it especially fails as a work claiming to have anything to do with applied science. Comments (9) | | (Report this)