We continue tonight with Hunt for the Skinwalker. The science folks continue the follow up on their observations of six years on the property.My observation of the place which took place years before any of these people involved here in this book,has changed over the years.Young people did crazy things throughout the 70's,and I and my friends were no different.When Knapp did that two part piece in 2002,one of the girls that was with us that night got the bright idea that she wanted to sell our story to one of 'those' mags in grocery stores.I straight out said hell no, because she wanted to leave out one key detail about what we were doing out there, besides trespassing on private property.In the Hypotheses chapter, I commented in a couple places about what we thought was happening. Having learned after the fact,I would never step on that property again(well maybe for 7 figures)as this ranch sends the weird s&%t-o-meter off the scale. The thumping sound we could not locate all night reminded me of scenes from black and white movies where the white men went into the jungle and a tribe would capture them, tie them to a pole while some tribe members beat on their drums, anyhow this will make sense to you after you read about the media part. More then once over the last 18 years I have wondered how I would have reacted to the events of that night,if the one fact she wanted to omit had not been the case...

....Rumor, innuendo, and wild speculation are the enemies of any scientific investigation, especially one that is focused on such unusual phenomena. Since the arrival of NIDS at the Gorman property, considerable efforts have been made to limit public disclosures about unusual events observed on the ranch. The policy was adopted for very practical reasons, but the secrecy has contributed to the creation of a vibrant and imaginative mythology about the ranch, a mythology that has taken on a life of its own. An ambitious sociologist could probably write a PhD thesis about public reaction to the various rumors that have sprung to life. It is a textbook example of how scraps of information can be weaved into a rich tapestry of nonsense and hyperbole.

A lot of what happened on the ranch before the arrival of NIDS is no secret. Tom Gorman, exasperated by the loss of his animals and by the psychological toll on his family, decided to go public in 1996. He related some of the details to reporter Zack Van Eyck of the Deseret News, Utah’s second largest newspaper, but Tom didn’t come close to revealing everything that had happened, perhaps sensing that the full picture would be tough for anyone to swallow. The Associated Press was quick to pick up Van Eyck’s excellent story, which pointedly did not belittle Tom or ridicule his experiences.

A photo of Tom standing beside the strange scoop like depressions in his pasture was distributed to newspapers all over the country. Radio networks also carried the story. The extensive coverage prompted the arrival of a few enterprising UFO investigators at the ranch. Two of them, Ryan Layton and Chris O’Brien, received permission from Gorman to stake out the property on several nights. Other would-be investigators were rebuffed.

Being a private person, Tom was uncomfortable with all of the attention, but he took the plunge into media-infested waters because he wanted the bizarre activity to stop. The loss of so many cattle had edged him closer to financial ruin. If military or intelligence agencies were doing these things, he reasoned, perhaps the press scrutiny would force them to back off. If not, maybe someone out there could help him find some answers.

The publicity caught the attention of NIDS, which quickly bought the ranch and set up a monitoring program. Not surprisingly, the arrival of NIDS scientists in a small, rural community generated its own media attention and spurred considerable, if subterranean, concern among residents. Who were these outsiders, and what were they really up to? Although NIDS didn’t want any additional attention focused on the ranch, the decision was made to use the media to quell rampant rumors and to appeal for cooperation. NIDS investigators knew that they needed the trust of area residents so that people would talk to them about anomalies they had witnessed in the past and about any new developments that might be relevant to their study. This was especially true regarding animal mutilation cases. If any cows were carved up in the region, NIDS needed to know as quickly as possible so that physical samples could be collected and analyzed before decomposition obliterated any useful clues....
https://exploringrealhistory.blogspot.com/2021/01/part-6-hunt-for-skinwalkerthe.html