480 acres of property in eastern Utah near the city of Ballard has come to be known as a common haunting ground for unexplained phenomena such as UFOs, monsters, strange creatures, and paranormal activity. In the 1990s, it was the Sherman family ranch, where odd happenings and sightings plagued a family, from giant demonic wolves to glowing UFOs hovering above forested land.
However, before white settlers came to the area in the 1800s, the property and acreage around it belonged to the Ute tribe. The tribe’s reservation is still located near the ranch, and its people have long believed in the ancient and dark history of skinwalkers, hence the naming of the ranch. The Navajos, another tribe that is native to the state of Utah, also firmly believe in the skinwalker legend; they refer to these creatures by the term “yee naaldooshii,” which literally translates to “with it, he goes on all fours.”
According to the Navajo skinwalker legend, a skinwalker is a “medicine man or which who has attained the highest level of priesthood in the tribe, but chose to use his or her power for evil by taking the form of an animal to inflict pain and suffering on others” (Source). In order to become this monster, one must kill a close family member in brutal form. The most common animals chosen by those who become skinwalkers are said to be a coyote, owl, fox, wolf, or crow.