Journalist George Knapp and research scientist Colm Kelleher, the authors of Hunt for the Skinwalker, shared details about a ranch in Utah where the "Gorman" (a pseudonym) family was terrorized by a series of unexplainable encounters that included UFOs of various shapes, mutilated cattle, disembodied voices, poltergeist activity and invincible creatures. The isolated location in northeastern Utah has a history of bizarre reports dating back at least 50 years, with many of the accounts being catalogued by a science teacher, Junior Hicks.

The local Native-American tribe, the Utes, referred to the ranch area as the "path of the Skinwalker," and advised avoiding this land. According to their legend, a skinwalker is an "evil sorcerer," capable of shape-shifting and turning into various animals, explained Knapp. Indeed, when the Gorman family first moved into the ranch in 1994 they encountered a wolf the size of a small horse that was impervious to bullets, even though it was struck numerous times. When they followed the creature, its tracks just suddenly disappeared, as though it had just vanished into thin air, said Kelleher.

In 1996, Tom Gorman saw a blue orb and his dogs chased the object into a dense thicket. He heard a yelping and later found three circles of dried out grass and a gooey mess, as though the animals had been vaporized, Kelleher reported. Before selling the ranch to NIDS (the research organization Kelleher was formerly associated with), the Gormans lost a total of 12 cattle that were mysteriously mutilated. Some type of intelligence, capable of manipulating matter was making its presence known in the area, the two concluded. Knapp further speculated that the ranch could be an "interdimensional portal."