Erick T. Rhetts - Skinwalker Ranch In the Shadow of the Ridge: Based on Actual Events

All characters or individuals portrayed in this work are attributed to the author. All semblance to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

PREFACE

Following the publication of Lost on Skinwalker Ranch the option rights for which have since been purchased by a well-known and reasonably successful movie producer, I have had no few people with experiences related to the property, or the topic, reach out to me to share their stories. One of these stories led to me writing The Muledeer Chronicles , the narrative of which though not directly connected to the Skinwalker Ranch, nevertheless, tells the compelling and entertainingthough admittedly speculativetale of one mans encounter with the paranormal, including a Skinwalker, the Holy People, and a rather threatening entity known to most as a shadow walker. Readers, however, seem to be more interested in stories directly related to the Ranch itself, probably due to the fact that it is a tangible location, than tales of the Skinwalker alone.

Unfortunately, since the publication of this second book, I found most of the stories and narratives being made available to me, while interesting, and yes, entertaining, were also to a large degree too brief to inspire a new book, and even then too repetitive for compilation. So to occupy my time, and to work through some of my own ideas, I wrote Sophia, a Skinwalker Story , an admittedly fictional manipulation of the real concepts but based (extremely) loosely on the events of one of those brief narratives. Im afraid the jury is still out on that one; but if I may say so, it has its moments as pure horror, though subtle they may be.

In the interim, I was then contacted by Dr. Wade Dias, a professional psychologist licensed in the state of Utah. Dr. Dias started out our dialogue by telling me he had a pretty interesting story about the Skinwalker Ranch and asking if I would be interested in hearing it. Which, of course, I was. He prefaced by telling me that although he was willing to share with me some information which would help give the story credibility, there was a confidentiality issue. I simply assumed, at the time, that he was speaking of the doctor-patient relationship. And while that held to be accurate, he was more concerned with arrangements he had made with a nationally recognized organization with an interest in all things extraterrestrial and other-worldly. I had to agree in writing to honor this confidentiality before he would share his story. Which, of course, I did.

Then, as his story began to unfold, it became apparent to me that it was not entirely a Ranch story, and I grew hesitant. However, he assured me that if I allowed him to continue, I would see the connection. So I did, and I did.

For those not familiar, there is an extensive ridgeline which runs north to south through that particular part of Utah, and which the Native Americans residing thereabouts believe to be the path of the Skinwalker. The fact that Skinwalker Ranch sits within this stretch of rock is partially responsible for its name. However, according to many of the locals, the paranormal activity is not confined to the ranch alone. They believe that there are portals throughout the ridge which open to alternate dimensions or planes, and that it is through these portals that supernatural, paranormal, and, even perhaps, extraterrestrial entities move in and out of our world, and which account for the many strange encounters and unexplainable events which routinely occur in proximity to the ridge.

Dr. Dias story is connected to the Skinwalker Ranch in this way. It relates the incredible encounters experienced by a family of five whose home was located about ten miles due north of the Ranch but nestled at the base of that same ridgeline which makes up the path of the Skinwalker. After hearing the whole of the story, I, too was convinced.

The intent of my preface, however, is not to tell Dr. Dias storythats the function of the book, but, instead, to ask of you, the reader, a certain willingness to suspend disbelief. The material provided to me by Dr. Dias was primarily in the form of clinical documents, informal notes, audio files, and transcripts. In order to then create the narrative style I wanted, I was required to use some literary license to reproduce certain elements of the dialogue between the individuals in the story. After all, other than the aforementioned audio files and transcripts, and these limited to Dr. Dias sessions, its not as if he or the other individuals in the story were otherwise doing the Paranormal Activity thing, filming and recording every moment of every day. I promise, regardless, the distraction is minimal.

I hope you enjoy the experience,

Erick T. Rhetts

DR. WADE DIAS

My name is Dr. Wade Dias. I am a licensed psychologist in the state of Utah. However, I do not engage in what most people would perceive as traditional practice. Not that I didnt ever do so.

Like everyone else coming out of college and going into the real worldthat was in 1988, I started out by going down the same path traditional psychologist go down. For a good number of years I stayed the course, first accepting a position in the office of another, more established colleague, and then eventually opening up an office of my own. That office, as well as the one of my colleague, was in the city of Logan, in northern Utah.

In January of 2005, my wife and I headed south-east about 250 miles to Vernal. Jessica wanted to be close to her parents. They had a house at the end of a cul-de-sac south of 40. I acquiesced to her desire to be close, but not that close. So we bought a large house off of North 500 West. Theres an awful lot of undeveloped land up that way; so youve got neighbors, but theyre not right on top of you.

As soon as we moved in, I opened a private practice on East Main Street and not too far from the Regional Airport. I managed to secure a suite which took one-half of the second floor of a relatively new building. The other half was occupied by a chiropractor who was teamed up with a physical therapist. They gave me an immediate impression that their relationship went beyond professional, but I dont judge. Anyway, the first floor belonged to an architect and his staff. I didnt have much interaction with anyone there, just the occasional smile and wave hello. Everyone was very professional. It was a nice setup.

Jumping ahead, in 2007 I met quite by coincidence an older gentleman from Roosevelt. For those not familiar with the lay of the land in that part of the country, Roosevelt is just west of Vernal, no more than 30 miles, if that much. I was on my way to my office, having left the house a little later than my usual routineno sense of immediacy that morning, and as I was tooling along 40, I noticed a motorist whose car was obviously not behaving up to expectation. The vehicle was pulled off to the shoulder, its hood up, and the up-to-that-point driver peering beneath with that look so many of us have when we really dont know what it is were looking at.

Compelled by nothing more than my own good nature, I pulled off the road somewhat ahead of him, departed my vehicle and headed on foot in his direction. Now, Im no mechanic either, so the best I could do after presenting myself in a cordial manner was offer him a ride.