Dark, Paranormal Experiences Prompted Robert Bigelow to Sell Skinwalker Ranch

You may know Robert Bigelow as an extremely successful American businessman. His real estate and contracting ventures, along with his aerospace company, have earned him a billion-dollar net worth. However, for those intrigued by the metaphysical, it's his explorations into the possibility of an afterlife and UFO phenomena that come to mind whenever Bigelow's name is mentioned.

Due to this interest in paranormal/alien research, it may come as a shock to many that he was once the owner of Skinwalker Ranch, but ultimately decided to sell the property. But why is that the case?

Bigelow offloaded the property to another wealthy entrepreneur, Brandon Fugal. Fugal explained why the ranch's former keeper transferred the deed over to him in an August 2023 interview on the Shawn Ryan Show.

Prior to buying the property, Fugal said that in 2009-2010 he had interacted "with a young tech mogul ... who had UFO encounters and thought he had discovered technology that could enable anti-gravity."

According to Post Apocalyptic Media, Fugal was intent on "debunking this claim." It was during this pursuit that Fugal enlisted the help of scientific advisers exploring the possibilities of the tech mogul's claims. Through these same advisers, he learned of an extremely wealthy man who lived in Las Vegas who was also conducting research into UFO phenomena.

Although Fugal's team had managed to de-mystify the assertions that initially gripped interest, he was still keen on connecting with Bigelow for further discussions on the possibility of UFOs. When Fugal arrived in Vegas and saw the amount of resources and work Bigelow had put into the field of study, he was blown away.

He said that Bigelow's lab "is the closest thing to a James Bond villain lair that I’ve ever seen. It's an incredible facility. I mean, huge buildings that house full-size space stations and space habitats. ... They're doing the materials science and the life safety testing engineering."

Their discourse culminated in Fugal's purchase of Skinwalker Ranch, which was supposed to be an entirely "private" and "confidential" matter. After visiting the estate, he was shocked to see the state it was in. Its septic system wasn't functioning properly, and the reports team members would send out were done via fax.

Teaming up with Jim Morris and Thomas Winterton, Fugal bankrolled a new infrastructure on the ranch to make it more conducive to examining the purportedly ethereal happenings that occur there. According to Skinwalker Ranch's current owner, he thought it was going to be a straightforward debunking case that could be easily carried out by applying basic empirical principles.

However, this didn't prove to be the case. The further Fugal and his team delved into the mysteries occurring at Skinwalker Ranch, the more questions they were left with. This precipitated his desire to become the face of the phenomenon, going down there and making his acquisition of the property known.

And it appears that some of these phenomena had negatively impacted Bigelow's life, which Fugal intimated at during his experience on the Shawn Ryan Show. While he says that the businessman was indeed busy with his aerospace pursuits, including his involvement with SpaceX, he and his family witnessed "dark, disturbing events ... in their lives" as a result of owning the property.

Prior to his passing, Bigelow also said in an August 2023 interview with Jeffrey Mishlove that he and those close to him may have experienced "hitchhiker effects" due to the work they've conducted on the premises. "I had no way of knowing how much things were going to get carried away. Which we later had to prepare for separately. And it happened. So harm coming to people was number one," he said, largely attributing his impetus for selling the ranch to these aforementioned reasons.

Prior to selling the ranch, Bigelow mentioned that he and his team were able to establish what seemed like early stages of consistent communication. He also said that his understanding of how to speak with these entities shifted from asking them for assistance, but rather to offer up a way he "can ... do [something] for the other side."

Furthermore, he wanted to ascertain the best way to operate his institute for further advancement in exploring inter-dimensional phenomena.