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The US state of Colorado possesses a colourful history of
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strange and inexplicable incidents. From the San Luis Valley to
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the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, many residents have reported
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bizarre phenomena including strange lights and cattle mutilations. In this episode,
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we will hear the accounts of one man who spent
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almost a decade in charge of a buffalo ranch on
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which he would almost lose his sanity. The day had
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been long and arduous, and it was well past midnight
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by the time Jeff Saylors retired to his bed. He'd
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spent the afternoon and early evening constructing a new fence
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line over on the east side of the property, before
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returning to the ranch house to carry out some chores
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which he'd been putting off. He'd not even had his
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supper until gone ten p.m. Not that he minded, of course.
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He hadn't been in this employment long, but he loved
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the freedom which came with it and found the beauty
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of the surrounding landscapes intoxicating. The summer heat had played
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its part in zapping his energy, and after such a
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hard day's toil, sleep found him easily enough. A faint
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breeze wafted the curtains as he drifted off into a
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dreamless slumber, and soon, Only his gentle snoring could be
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heard penetrating the otherwise heavy silence of the night. Not
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ten minutes later, however, he was violently yanked from his
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repose by the sound of blaring music, which he recognized
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almost immediately as the opening riffs of Immigrant Song by
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Led Zeppelin. It was so loud, that the walls of
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the house and every pane of glass in each of
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the windows was vibrating so much that he thought they
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were going to shatter. In a state of confusion and
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still half dazed from being awoken so suddenly, he hurried
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to the bottom of the stairs in a semi-stupor before
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fully coming to his senses. In terms of sound equipment,
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he possessed little more than a small radio, which he
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kept on a shelf in the kitchen. It was in
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no way capable of pumping out so many decibels and
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after checking the living room he found that the TV
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was also switched off. It soon became apparent that this
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cacophony was coming from outside as if the band itself
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had struck up a concert in his yard. Assuming that
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someone had pulled up in front of the house blasting
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their car radio He furiously marched over to the front
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door and grabbed for the handle, but no sooner had
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he opened it than the music abruptly stopped. He stepped
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out onto his front porch and looked from side to side.
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It was now deathly quiet. Save for his own pickup,
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the ranch yard was empty. There was no one else
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in sight. After examining his own vehicle... He moved off
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to check the barn and other outbuildings, then looked out
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over the wide open pastures surrounding the ranch house, but
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he saw nothing. Besides his two dogs, he was completely alone.
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After a search which lasted no more than half an hour,
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he returned to his bed not only confused, but completely unnerved.
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The music must have originated from somewhere. but the problem
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was that he lived right in the middle of a 15,000
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acre ranch in a house which was situated a mile
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and a half from the county road. Even if someone
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had managed to get through the three fence lines, all
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secured with locked gates before even reaching the ranch house,
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they would have needed a huge rig to even get
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anywhere near the sound levels he had heard. It just
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didn't make any sense. but then very little about the
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ranch he was now working on made any sense at all.
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As individuals go, it would be fair to say that
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Jeff Saylors has led something of an extraordinary life. These days,
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he owns an art gallery in Idaho with his girlfriend Patricia,
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from which he runs a master horsehair hitching business along
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with various other crafts. Born in Colorado, Jeff spent most
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of his formative years
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fishing with his grandfather, which went
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on to develop into an immense appreciation for the great outdoors.
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He got into hunting at a young age, and this
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became a passion, which along with his love of the
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natural world, would come to define him in later years.
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At the age of 18 he moved to Montana, primarily
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for work. and has spent the past 50 years horsebacking
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through wilderness as far north as the Canadian border, all
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the way down to New Mexico, leaving hoof prints in
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some of the most amazing wildlands the US has to offer.
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During that time, he has survived two bear attacks, fended
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off a near mauling from an angry buffalo, been hit
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by lightning twice, and has appeared in films with some
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of Hollywood's most high-profile legends. He also spent a decade
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working on a sprawling 15,000 acre ranch, managing over 1,200 buffalo.
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And it was during his time here that he would
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experience some of the strangest occurrences of his life, which
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would disturb him to his very core. When Jeff first
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took on the role of ranch foreman, he had heard
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whispers within the local community of bizarre happenings, not just
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on the property he was looking after, but also on
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those of his neighbours. He had paid them little mind,
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as he had never believed in anything resembling what the
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rumours seemed to suggest. But within the first few months
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of moving into the ranch house, he would have his
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first glimpse of things to come. One evening, his girlfriend
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was staying over with him, They had gone to bed
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at around 10pm, when what had otherwise been a calm
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spring night suddenly turned into a violent maelstrom. Out of nowhere,
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fierce winds began to rip at the exterior walls of
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the house. Support beams creaked under the tumult. Picture frames
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rattled off their hooks and fell to the floor. The
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whole house shook as it was being pummeled by what
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Jeff could only assume was was an incoming tornado. Fully
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aware that there was no basement, he got his girlfriend
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out of bed and ran to the nearest closet. After
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two or three minutes, the sound reached a crescendo and
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Jeff was certain that he was about to meet his
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maker when everything suddenly stopped. Almost as if someone had
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flicked a switch, the wind had cut out, the rain
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and thunder had ceased and the house was now still
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and silent. Exiting the closet, he stepped over fallen paintings
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and moose antlers which had come away from the walls,
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and gingerly made his way downstairs. Stepping out onto his
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front porch, he looked up to see every star in
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the sky, with not a single cloud in sight, and
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no hint of even a slight breeze on the night air.
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Thoroughly unnerved, he went back inside to clear up the
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mess and hopefully get some sleep. But the next day,
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things would get even weirder. At first light, he took
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a walk around the yard and noticed that the ground
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was completely scoured. The house sat in the middle of
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a four acre enclosure which had an auto gate at
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each end. Once a week, Buffalo would run through it
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and churn up all the ground, to the point where
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Jeff could easily see the tyre tracks of anyone who
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happened to drive through. Walking over to the nearest auto gate,
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he could see his girlfriend's tyre tracks on the other side,
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made as she had arrived the night before. But the
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ground on the side where he was standing... was scoured clean.
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Upon further investigation, he found a 400-foot circle around the
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ranch house which was at the dead center, and all
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the ground within that circle had been blown clean, as
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if no one had set foot inside the ranch yard
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for years. Needless to say, Jeff began to pay more
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attention to the stories after that, and it wouldn't be
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long before he was being awoken by loud rock music
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or torrents of tropical bird calls outside his house, which
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seemed to have no source. It was on the morning
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after just such an incident that he would experience one
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of the most eerie events since coming to live and
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work on the ranch. Jeff had been out on the
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property until the early hours, fruitlessly trying to get a
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bearing on the source of these strange bird calls, when
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he had finally given up and retired to bed. Waking
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up early the next morning, he had traipsed downstairs to
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make a pot of coffee in preparation for the day's work.
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But as he rounded the corner into the kitchen, he
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was greeted by a sight which took his breath away.
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On the floor in front of him were the entire
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contents of his fridge, laid out in a perfect six-foot
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triangular formation. At the time, Jeff had two dogs, an
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Australian shepherd named Moona, who had once saved him from
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a buffalo mauling, and a small blue heeler pup, which
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he was looking after for a colleague. Moona in particular
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was well adapted to life on a ranch, and when
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anyone would turn off the county road, which was a
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mile and a half away, he would begin to bark
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and whine and let Jeff know that somebody was coming.
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And yet neither of the dogs had made a sound
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throughout the night to indicate that anyone had entered the
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ranch house itself. When Jeff tried to let them out
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to do their business, they flat out refused to walk
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across the kitchen floor, so he had to instead take
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them through the living room to get to the front door. Outside,
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Jeff looked for tracks and any indication that there might
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have been an intruder, but found nothing. The triangle would
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become a prominent feature in many of the strange goings-on
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at the ranch. On one occasion, the ranch manager, who
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lived about a mile away from Jeff in a huge 5,000
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square foot house, called him in the early hours of
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the morning saying that he had woken up to find
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that every single light in the entire property had been
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turned on including the lamps next to his bed Jeff
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agreed to meet up with him at first light but
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as he went to set off as morning broke he
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found silverware from his kitchen drawer a knife a fork
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and a spoon laid out in a triangular formation just
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outside the threshold of his front door he found more
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triangles made using his silverware at the entrance to every
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outbuilding in his yard, and later discovered that the exact
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same phenomenon had occurred at the ranch manager's house. But
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whilst these occurrences were strange and intriguing, they would soon
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take on more sinister connotations when the livestock on the
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ranch began to die under mysterious circumstances. In March, About
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two months after Jeff had moved onto the property, he
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would discover the remains of a male buffalo not far
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from the ranch house yard. He had heard the stories
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about the mutilations before he even took on the role,
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and had just assumed that it was the work of
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predators or malicious actions taken against the ranch owner by
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possible competitors. However, he would come to discover some very
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strange factors in each instance of this phenomenon. Throughout the
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years he was there, Jeff would realise that these cattle
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mutilations always began in March and ran through to October,
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with nothing occurring during the winter months. In each case,
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the carcass in question would always be left in a
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bizarre fashion. If the buffalo was female, there would be
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an elliptical cut on the underside of the abdomen, one
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side of which looked as though it had been carried
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out with surgical precision, whilst the other was always ragged
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and burned. Many of the internal organs would be removed,
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but there was never any trace of blood. In every case,
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the cow would be pregnant, and the calf would always
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be removed from the uterus and left resting upon the
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mother's
body. What happened to the male buffaloes was even
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more difficult to explain. In these cases, the penis would
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always be missing, but the manner in which it had
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been severed was a complete mystery. The penis of a
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male buffalo is about three feet long and is covered
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by a sheath of skin which encases its entire length.
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Whenever these mutilations occurred, the penis was always cut right
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at the base near the scrotum before being removed but
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the outer sheath remained and was somehow completely intact. This
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means that whoever or whatever was killing the buffalo was
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somehow able to reach right down into the sheath in
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order to make the necessary incision at the base which
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was physically impossible to do. In every single instance an
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orange triangle would be imprinted somewhere on the body of
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the slain buffalo, usually on the head if they were bulls,
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and on the ribcage and calf if they were female.
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Over the nine years that Jeff was ranch foreman, anywhere
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between 20 and 30 buffalo would be killed each year,
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resulting in annual losses of up to $ 50, 000. So it
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was no surprise that when local law enforcement got involved.
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During Jeff's tenure, the county sheriff was a man named
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Wally who was very popular in the local community. Because
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of the sheer number of livestock being killed each summer,
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Wally became a regular visitor to the ranch and would
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witness some of the most bizarre incidents of his entire career.
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One experience proved so disturbing that it resulted in him
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resigning and vacating his office. Strange fluorescent orbs had been
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seen floating in and around the property for many years,
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and there was some question over whether these anomalies were
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responsible for the mutilations. Both Jeff and Wally had spent
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many evenings chasing them around the ranch. but the strange
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lights had always managed to evade their attempts to pursue
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and capture them. One evening, Jeff was sitting in his
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living room reading a book, when he received a call
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over the radio from Wally, saying that he had a
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ride along with him, and that he wanted to do
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a patrol of the property. Jeff agreed that this was okay,
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and about ten minutes later, He saw the glow of
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the sheriff's headlights as he drove through the ranch house
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yard and continued into the acreage beyond. Much of the
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ranch was rolling country, and every now and then, he
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would see flashes of the jeep's high beams emanating from
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beyond the horizon as it crested hills and descended into gullies.
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But about an hour into the sheriff's patrol, the radio
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suddenly burst into life with Wally shouting that he was
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surrounded and that he was getting the hell out of there.
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The transmission then went silent, and Jeff tried several times
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to raise him again, but it was all to no avail.
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He went outside into the yard carrying a fully loaded AK-47,
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and after about 10 minutes, saw the glow of the
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jeep's headlights fading in and out beyond the distant horizon
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as it negotiated the terrain. Finally, as it crested the
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last hill about a hundred yards away, Jeff stood and watched,
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dumbfounded by what he was witnessing. As the sheriff drove
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towards him, he could see six green orbs situated in
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a semicircle surrounding the rear of the jeep. Wally had
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two pistols, one in each hand, and he was firing
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at his pursuers out of both sides of the vehicle.
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whilst his ride-along cowered in the passenger footwell. As the
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sheriff reached the auto gate where Jeff was standing, the
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two orbs at the sides of the jeep suddenly blinked
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out of existence, followed by the next two, and then finally,
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the back two. Wally continued driving all the way to
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the county road without even looking back at Jeff, who
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was now standing in the darkness of the ranch house
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yard completely alone and entirely shaken by what he had
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just
witnessed. Five days later, the sheriff turned in his badge.
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During the course of these strange events, the ranch would
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be visited by a number of individuals claiming to work
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for different federal agencies, perhaps the most notable of which
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was the FBI. On one occasion, several federal agents stayed
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on the property, communicating with a fixed-wing aircraft which flew
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high-altitude circuits across the entire region. For the most part,
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these agents kept to themselves. but after speaking to them
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for a time, Jeff managed to get one of the
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younger recruits to open up. The young man ended up
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saying something which suggested that the FBI knew a lot
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more about the situation than they were letting on, and
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when Jeff brazenly confronted him about this remark, he abruptly
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left the property and never returned. A week later, two
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other men arrived, stating that they had come from a
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university in Michigan, and that they were working on behalf
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of a federal agency. They had come to take necropsy
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samples of one of the mutilated buffalo, and were a
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lot more personable than the previous officials. As it would happen,
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a female buffalo had been found mutilated just a couple
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of days before. Jeff took them out to the ravine
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where they dumped the carcasses of all the deceased cattle,
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and when he showed the two scientists the most recent victim,
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they were incredulous as to how such injuries had been inflicted.
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They were also shocked to see the mummified remains of
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all the other buffalo which had been mutilated over the years,
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and questioned why they were not decomposing in the usual manner.
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Jeff related that he had spent a large portion of
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his life around dead animals, being a hunter and working
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with horses and mules, and that until he came to
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this ranch, he had never seen a carcass left untouched
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by carrion or blowfly, but nothing seemed to want to
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scavenge from the buffalo that were mutilated. Slightly unnerved, they
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took their samples and went on their way, but not
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before Jeff had asked them to contact him if they
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found anything unusual. After a month or so, one of
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the two scientists did indeed get in touch, and what
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they said about the results was bewildering to say the least. Apparently,
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the blood had crystallized and become toxic, which Jeff knew
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could only occur naturally in an animal which had been
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run to death. So something must have been frightening the
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buffalo out of their wits before they finally collapsed from
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heart failure. The second strange thing was that on the
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areas where the precision cuts had been made, testing indicated
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that the haemoglobin had been heated to over 1100 degrees Fahrenheit.
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They knew this because something happens to the structure of
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haemoglobin when it's heated beyond this point. Jeff asked them
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if a laser could have been responsible, to which they
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agreed that it was the only possible explanation. The problem
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was that only the US Army had lasers which were
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capable of generating that kind of heat, and they needed
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two semi-flatbed trailers to haul something like that out into
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the field. Jeff, despite being a seasoned hunter, had never
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found any signs or tracks on the ranch which would
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indicate such an undertaking. In fact, he had never found
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a single track of anything whatsoever. Bedtime stories first came
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across the tale surrounding this strange property when researching more
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obscure reports of the bizarre happenings at Skinwalker Ranch in Utah.
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We stumbled upon a small YouTube channel which had been
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created by Jeff Saylors in order to document his fascinating
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life spent in the great American outdoors. We shared correspondence
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with him on a few occasions, and despite the fact
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that he has since gone silent and has not updated
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his channel for more than two years, his stories remain
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and have carved out their own space in a small
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--> 00:24:47.170
corner of the internet, which is both haunting and fascinating.
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Whilst his accounts carry with them a slightly different flavour
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to the events which occurred just over the border in
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the Uinta Basin, the phenomena experienced at both properties is
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fundamentally similar. Of course, we are fully aware that we
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are taking his accounts at face value, and very much
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giving him the benefit of the doubt. After all, Geoff
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never did name the ranch in any of his videos.
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and seemed reluctant to give even a passing hint regarding
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its location, aside from saying that it was situated in
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eastern Colorado. He simply referred to it as the Buffalo Ranch,
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which is clearly not its true name. And while some
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may see this as a possible sign of deceit, his
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fondness for the acreage in question is obvious, despite what
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went on there. and we can only assume that his
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silence on the matter is born out of an instinct
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to protect the property itself, and its owners. We wholeheartedly
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recommend that you visit his channel, which we'll link in
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the description, and watch not just the videos in which
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he talks about the ranch, but also his other stories
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about his time in the American West. This might give
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you some insight into his seemingly genuine down-to-earth character. the
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way he tells his stories and the body language he
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displays is highly compelling, as if he is reliving the
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memories as he recounts them. And whether you believe him
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or not, his assertion that the FBI became involved is
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entirely true. Archived Freedom of Information reports, which we have
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also linked in the description, show FBI correspondence in which
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they discuss the cattle mutilations and other strange phenomena that
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witnessed in Colorado during the 1970s. They also discuss how
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Senator Floyd Haskell had pleaded with them to investigate what
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was going on for the sake of his constituents. Jeff
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provided a vital clue in saying that the ranch was
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situated in eastern Colorado, and this, coupled with other remarks
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he made about the landscape and orientation of the property,
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plus the FBI reports, leads us to believe that it
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was located in either Elbert or Morgan County. And this
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is only reinforced by the fact that there is another
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ranch nearby, in which even more disturbing events occurred, and
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which goes by the pseudonym of Clearview. Join us next
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week for that story.
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bedtime Stories. ETA two minutes. Why,
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do you copy? Boys? Copy. Venting in three, two, one.
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Opening cargo bay doors. Alright. Touchdown. Arbiter has landed. Roger that, Arbiter.
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We have a long-range visual.
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There should be a breach point about 20 meters to
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your six. Maintenance hatch. Beginning override protocols. Copy. Override complete. Breaching.