Erick T. Rhetts - Lost on Skinwalker Ranch: The True Story of a Property Guard and His Encounter with the Paranormal

LOST

ON

SKINWALKER RANCH

THE TRUE STORY OF A PROPERTY GUARD

AND HIS ENCOUNTER WITH THE PARANORMAL

ERICK T. RHETTS

ALSO, BY ERICK T RHETTS:

THE MULEDEER CHRONICLES

SOPHIA

DARK TALES BEFORE SLUMBER

SKINWALKER RANCH:

IN THE SHADOW OF THE RIDGE

REVELATIONS: END

HUNGRY a random isolated event

THE SHADOW WALKERS

THE AIRFIELD

Published by Prensa Tinta Azul

Copyright 2014 by Erick T. Rhetts

All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. Published by Tinta Azul Publishing. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the author.

Published in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1502511331, ISBN-10: 1502511339

Cover by Erick T. Rhetts

Contents

Prologue

I met Riley in Peru. Like Riley, I, too, am an ex-patat least for the time being. Technically, I have not renounced my United States citizenship, nor do I intend to. Its just that living in South America, at least in this part of it, is a totally different life style, and for a writer like myself, economically more feasible.

It was my vocation that brought Riley and I together professionally. Living in the same ex-pat community, we ran into each other on a routine basis, mostly around the plaza and curbside markets. However, it was at a local watering holea euphemism for bar or saloonthat we came to be friends in the social sense. We happen to share similar taste in libation.

One thing led to another, and once he found out that I did some writing, he, in a somewhat inebriated state, suggested he had a story that might make a good book. As most of what I do is writing for othersghostwriting, coincidentally enoughgiven the topic, I, of course, was interested.

Prior to meeting Riley, I had never heard of Skinwalker Ranch, and although I have been involved in a number of fiction and fantasy projects, had no particular interest in the paranormal. That all changed after hearing what Riley had to say. Inebriated or not, I had no doubt he was telling me the truthor at least what he believed to be the truth. That he retold it to me time and again during the writing process with variation not in the facts, but in accord with his emotions and feelings at the time, convinced me even more so. This was not a script he had memorized.

To best prepare myself, I got my hands on two books on the subject, one written quite recently and the other considered the first, and learned what I could of the background. From what I read, I provide the following overview:

Skinwalker Ranch is the name given to a piece of property in Utah. It was purchased from its principal owner by a man and wife who wished to raise cattle. Over the approximately two years that they lived there with their two children they experienced one strange and unexplainable event after the other, including UFO sightings, weird cryptidsanimals for which nature has no answer, sentient orbs and other light anomalies, disappearing livestock and pets, disembodied voices and beings that seemed to materialize out of the air and vanish again in the same way.

Convinced that they and their children were in danger, the property was sold to a wealthy real estate and aerospace investor by the name of Bigelow with an intense interest in all things paranormal and extraterrestrial. In order to protect his interest and discourage thrill seekers and the curious from trespassing on his property, he hired a small security force to monitor its nearly 500 acres.

Riley was one of those security guards.

Like me, prior to his employment with Bigelows industries, Riley had little to no knowledge of the ranch or its reputation. That was to change in short order.

This is his story.

Authors note

Riley, as was required of all security, signed a non-disclosure agreement as part of the conditions of his employment. For this reason, I have not used his real name or the actual names of any of the people he has included in his narrative. The details and facts have otherwise been unaltered.

For my part, I acknowledged taking some liberty with and perhaps even embellishing some of the dialogue. After all, you can hardly expect Riley to have remembered every word of every conversation he had at that time.

For those readers who would like to get a more historical feel for the actual location, I recommend Skinwalker Ranch, No Trespassing (Skinner and Wallace, 2014). It is the more fact-based resource of those on the market and provides a broader history not only as to the ranch, but also the Native American influence and the applicable legends.

1: The Interview

I have to admit that Im no writer and that I received a little bit of help putting this story together. But that said, the story is all mine and every word of it is true. Whether you as the reader want to believe it, well, thats up to you. It doesnt change the fact that it happened and that it happened the way I tell it.

You might ask why I decided to tell it at all, and having decided to tell it, why now?

Its pretty simple, actually. I have read all the other books out there that talk about Skinwalker Ranch, including the one that just came out that allegedly has real people telling their stories, some of who say they were, at one time or another, employed at the ranch as security or lived there or somehow got on the property.

From what I have read in that book, Im inclined to believe most of them. Either that, or they knew someone who really did, because the information they give is pretty much dead on. I know because I was one of them. Not one of the people who are in that book. No one came to me to ask me any questions, and although I had heard about the Wisconsin guywe all did, I never met him and he never contacted me. I probably wouldnt have talked to him if he did. I consider myself a man of my word, and having signed the non-disclosure agreement, I would have had to honor it.

But that was five years ago, and since Im no longer employed there, or with that organization, or the guy that heads it; and since its pretty much a dead place, in terms of outside interest; and because, to tell you the truth, Im hoping theres a few dollars in it, tight as things are these days, I thought Id come forward (figuratively speaking) and tell what I went through. And from what Ive read, its a hell of a lot more of a story than the ones told by most everyone else.

But Ill let you decide that for yourself.

I, too, was hired, back in 2009, as security for the company that owned the ranch. Actually, following my interviewwhich took place at the end of September, I thought I was only going to be assigned locally here in Nevada and welcomed it. Although I wont say from where exactly, Im from just outside of Vegas and was living there when I got involved. I didnt tell anyone at the time, meaning the other guys working security and those that hired me, but I was living in a separate apartment in my parents house. I kept it to myself that the wife had recently thrown me out. Its not a sad story.

I wish I could say that she caught me fooling around, or something like that. But the truth is we just werent getting along too well. I guess you can say it was my fault; After 26 years, I was bored with the whole thing. She threatened to leave the kids with mewe have two of themand go to her mothers at the other end of the state. I know this is going to sound horrible to some of you, but as I spent so much time away in the military: South America, Central America, the Middle East and parts of Europe, it wasnt like I was a big part of their lives, or they mine. The kids werent little anymore and my wife had developed interests of her own. I told her she should stay in the house. It would just be easier that way, and so I left.