Pentagon UFO Files Detail 'Skinwalker' Sightings and 'Portal to Another World'
Newly declassified documents include an investigation into alleged encounters near Utah's Skinwalker Ranch.
The Pentagon has released a new collection of declassified UFO documents, which include an investigation into purported sightings of mysterious creatures and phenomena near a renowned paranormal hotspot in Utah. The documents detail claims of encounters with "skinwalkers," described as supernatural beings in Navajo tradition, alongside unexplained lights and alleged portals.
One report from 2010 outlines residents' accounts of encountering figures described as six feet tall with dog-like heads but human-like noses. One man reported seeing a hunched creature approximately six feet tall and weighing about 250 pounds in January 2010. He described its fur as short, black mixed with gray, with pointed ears and a short tail. Investigators noted that the creature ran with a leaping motion and that its howl seemed to elicit responses from surrounding coyotes.
This same witness described another encounter two nights prior, around 8 p.m., when a large shadow passed his home. His dogs barked and chased what he believed to be a skinwalker, which he said struck a barbed-wire fence before fleeing toward an abandoned farmhouse. Investigators recovered fur from the fence, which was subjected to laboratory analysis. The findings indicated that the fur samples shared canine DNA sequences with a dog on the property, suggesting a possible, though not definitive, ordinary explanation.
Other accounts within the declassified reports include a woman's recollection of seeing what she believed was a "portal" about 20 years prior to her 2010 interview. She described it as a clear, stationary formation, approximately 30 to 40 feet high, that rippled like water and resembled a heat shimmer. She experienced a peaceful feeling from the formation and later interpreted it as a "doorway to another world" after reading a book about skinwalkers.
The investigation, conducted by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), visited the Fort Duchesne area in March and April 2010. A map included in the redacted report places the investigation around Skinwalker Ranch, a 512-acre property in Utah’s Uintah Basin known for reports of unusual activity.
Additional interviews detailed other figures not explicitly identified as skinwalkers. Witnesses described towering shadows accompanied by a "growling roar" outside their homes on March 22, 2010. Another account described a three-foot-long, hairy arm with dog-like nails reaching through a bedroom window in the winter of 2003. A young woman reported seeing a hunched, female-looking figure in ragged clothing jumping between rooftops around 2009, identified by her as the "Basket Lady" in Ute culture.
Another report documented an eight-foot-tall, hairless creature that leaped away after being briefly observed crouching on a horse shelter in September 2009. A four-year-old child reportedly compared the creature to a kangaroo.
The documents also recorded accounts of mysterious balls of light. One witness described a blue orb hovering near Bottle Hollow Lake before moving toward Skinwalker Ridge. Another woman saw a small aqua-blue light in a tree outside her home in February 2010, which disappeared quickly and did not illuminate the tree. A separate account described floating lights that appeared to move behind objects when a witness’s presence was noticed, interpreted by the observer as an attempt to hide.
Investigators deployed motion-triggered cameras and continued to gather testimony. However, the report does not establish a supernatural origin for the observed figures nor definitively determine the cause of the lights.