The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch: Hoax or paranormal trailblazer

Critics are quick to say that The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch is a hoax, but some fans believe that the team is close to discovering something big.

The line between reality and reality television can easily become blurry – especially when things like UFOs, government conspiracies, folklore, and ancient Navajo legends are involved.

Has The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch been a hoax all along?

Brandon Fugal and his team of experts have spent the better part of the last decade investigating these kinds of paranormal phenomena and more on-location at the 500-acre ranch, which is now better known simply as Skinwalker Ranch.

There are many viewers who believe that this team is on the cusp of cutting-edge research which will finally prove the existence of these paranormal and extraterrestrial beings.

However, there are also others who believe that much like its sister-show, The Curse of Oak Island – The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch has just been an extremely elaborate hoax this whole time.

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch in a nutshell

Before we dive into all the nitty-gritty details of whether The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch is truly “real” or not – it might be time to examine the show, as a whole.

All in all, The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch has aired over 40 episodes and is currently at the beginning of its fifth season. All of these seasons can be summarized as follows:

New episodes of season five of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch air live on History Channel on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET or 8 p.m. CT (and are available to stream the next day).

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch’s questionable origins

Whether you are a casual fan, or a die-hard paranormal enthusiast – you likely know that the history of Skinwalker Ranch extends further back than the premiere of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch in 2020.

Unfortunately – though this long history certainly adds to the intrigue and mystery of this property – it has not contributed much to the show’s validity.

As Dr. Russell Moul pointed out in his 2023 IFLScience article – even Colm Kelleher (co-author of Hunt for the Skinwalker and member of the NIDSCi taskforce founded by Robert Bigelow) admitted after several years of research that they “managed to obtain very little physical evidence of anomalous phenomena” and no physical evidence “that could be considered as conclusive proof of anything”.

The show’s not-so-scientific findings

At this point, there is truly no sure way to prove whether the phenomena reported on The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch are real or not (outside of actually travelling to the ranch, that is).

However, this has done nothing to cool down the debate between the true believers and the skeptics.

The skeptics have insisted that The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch is fake, ever since the show hit the air.

In fact, a quick Google search brings up page upon page, of angry rants, detailed explanations and even this Fandom Wiki-page detailing all of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch’s alleged “scams”.

But, while critics are always quick to question the quality of the “evidence” collected thus far on the show, there may actually be a much bigger issue at play.

Replicability is one of the most important aspects of the scientific method and it helps to build confidence in the merit of the result.

However, as far as we know, The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch has never been able to replicate any of its results multiple times. Therefore, the scientific merit of all of their “findings” to date remains questionable.

Will season five of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch finally provide some answers?

As the years-long debate about whether or not the entire The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch show is all just one big hoax continues, so does the airing of the show.

In case you missed it, the most recent fifth season of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch only recently started airing on History Channel.

And, while the team has yet to air any evidence that will silence the show’s critics once and for all, Dr. Travis Taylor has shared that this season may be one of the show’s most enticing to date.

According to what Taylor shared on the Rick & Bubba Show recently, the team found something “unbelievable” during their time filming for the fifth season.

And, though he did not elaborate on what this “something” was (or is) – it certainly seems like The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch will be kicking things up a notch in the next few months.

Fire up those bingo cards – season 5 of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch has arrived!