While many tales of mythical creatures like the Loch Ness monster are meant to send shivers marching up our spines, you can’t help but be interested as well. Do these monsters actually exist somewhere, hiding in the darkest corners of the planet just waiting to attack those unlucky enough to cross their paths?
If you’d asked the owners of a 450-acre New Mexican ranch, each would’ve answered with a resounding No! But after a series of bizarre and deadly events occurred within property lines, their tunes changed, and a dramatic search to find what in the world was terrorizing their ranch began.
Pictures like this one can create quite a stir of controversy and fear when the person who snapped it claims it’s proof that creepy legends like Bigfoot are actually true. There’s no denying that they tap into our curiosity.
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Many of these tales are told around a campfire to spook listeners because stories involving the unknown makes our skin crawl. However, there’s usually an actual explanation for these seemingly paranormal encounters.
For example, this alleged Chupacabra, a mysterious four-legged beast who apparently mutilates livestock and drinks their blood, was actually a bear suffering from mange. One Utah ranch, however, has even the greatest skeptics taking a second look.
A short distance from Ballard, Utah, lies a large ranch that lookz completely unassuming when you drive past it. Past owners will tell you it’s anything but ordinary. In fact, it’s downright creepy.
Terry Sherman, along with his wife Gwen, bought the farm and owned the land for many months. At first, they made the purchase thinking it’d be a seamless transition. How wrong that assumption turned out.
The plot of land the Shermans bought was 512 acres, and not long after they moved in they experienced bizarre activity. They claimed they witnessed UFOs, crop circles, and cattle mutilation.
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They wanted to attribute the mutilation to some kind of predator who snuck onto their property in the middle of the night, but there was a weird chemical smell to the corpses, and the wounds included perfect holes carved into eyeballs.
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However, the event that resulted in the Shermans leaving the ranch for good occurred just 18 months after they moved in. Terry was taking their dogs for a walk, and as he returned home, he saw something terrifying.
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At first, he thought it was a wolf. But, it wasn’t like any wolf he’d seen before. According to Terry, this creature was about three times bigger, had glowing red eyes, and didn’t even flinch when he shot it.
Shortly after the horrific meeting, Terry and Gwen sold the property to another family. However, fear was just as prevalent. They, too, soon left, and the abandoned ranch became a hot spot for paranormal investigators.
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Teams of paranormal enthusiasts often flooded the property in search of some kind of answer as to what the Shermans experienced. Eventually, the land was sold again to a UFO enthusiast and realtor named Robert Bigelow.
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After purchasing the ranch for $200,000, he was excited to move in and definitively find out for himself what was happening. He hired a team of employees, and soon, several of them saw creatures roaming the land!
Bigelow also set up a series of surveillance cameras and hired armed guards to keep people off the premise. As he learned more about the history of the area, he started realizing what had his people so terrified.
The ranch, as it turned out, was once a Native American reservation belonging to the Navajos, and the stories he and his team read about shed light on how the creepy encounters were intertwined with Navajo folklore.
It had to do with a legend about creatures the Navajo referred to as “Skinwalkers.” According to members of the tribe, Skinwalkers were benevolent medicine men who acquired evil powers through their studies.
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Apparently, the men had the ability to turn themselves into ferocious animals or posses another person and turn into an animal-like beast, terrorizing locals and wreaking haunting havoc on their land.
Even when Skinwalkers were in their “human” form, they still had animalistic qualities. It was also said the only way to physically kill one was to use a bullet or a dagger coated in white ash.
Supposedly even speaking about Skinwalkers with outsiders was strictly forbidden, and many Navajo refused to do so. Native American historian Adrienne Keene shared information on how a series like Harry Potter actually affected this view.
J.K. Rowling’s History of Magic in North America incorporated natives — and their rituals — into her fantasy world’s magic. “When Rowling pulls this in,” Keene said, “we as Native people are now opened up to a barrage of questions about these beliefs and traditions.”
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