Skinwalker RanchOct 1995Las Vegas, NV

National Institute for Discovery Science founded

Name: National Institute for Discovery Science founded
Start: 1995-10
Location: Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas developer Robert Bigelow, who founded and funded NIDS Bill Ingalls, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Las Vegas real estate developer Robert Bigelow founded the National Institute for Discovery Science, a privately funded nonprofit that studied UFO reports, animal mutilations and survival of consciousness. It disbanded in 2004.

Evidence

Significance

Sources

PressMillionaire leads quest for UFO data (opens in a new tab)Deseret News / 1996-10-20
PressPrivate UFO study takes a public turn (opens in a new tab)Deseret News / 1998-08-10
PressMysteries of UFO ranch in spotlight (opens in a new tab)Deseret Morning News / 2006-04-22

How sources are chosen and tiered

15 May 1989Whistleblowers

Bob Lazar interview on KLAS-TV

Las Vegas station KLAS aired George Knapp's live interview with a man called 'Dennis', who said alien technology was being tested at a hidden site near Area 51. Months later he went public as Bob Lazar. His account and background have never been independently verified.

Evidence

Significance

Sep 2008Government

DIA awards the AAWSAP contract

The Defense Intelligence Agency contracted Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies of Las Vegas for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, officially a study of future aerospace threats. It produced dozens of technical papers; funding of about $22 million ended in 2012.

Evidence

Significance

Sep 1996Skinwalker Ranch

Bigelow buys the Sherman ranch

Weeks after the Shermans went public, Robert Bigelow offered about $200,000 for the ranch and the sale closed in September 1996. His NIDS team set up an observation post; a spokesman said in 1997 that researchers had seen no flying craft.

Evidence

Significance

1994Skinwalker Ranch

Sherman family buys Uintah Basin ranch

Terry and Gwen Sherman bought a 480-acre cattle ranch south of Fort Duchesne, Utah. In a June 1996 Deseret News story they reported odd lights and craft, voices, and missing or dead cattle; the property later became known as Skinwalker Ranch.

Evidence

Significance