Somewhere in the Skies - ALIEN HIGHWAY with Heather Taddy

Episode Date: June 24, 2019

On episode 114 of SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES, Ryan is joined by paranormal investigator-turned- UFO hunter, Heather Taddy. Many may know Taddy from her extensive work on the hit television series, Paranormal State. But now, she's on the hunt to find the Skinwalker, aliens, UFOs, and all the strange things that occur along the U.S. This new series tracks a team of investigators as they follow the lights in the sky, and the high beams on the road. Former Colorado law enforcement officer Chuck Zukowski, who has been researching and investigating UFO-related incidents for over 30 years, leads his son Daniel and documentarian, Heather Tadd,y on the search. The researchers pursue "the cases that authorities ignore, finding evidence that others have missed, listening to witnesses that are otherwise afraid to come forward, searching for definitive proof of UFOs along America's Alien Highway. Guest Bio: Heather Taddy starred on A&E’s hit television series “Paranormal State,” which chronicled investigations from the world-renowned college-run club at Pennsylvania State University, The Paranormal Research Society (PRS). Serving as the Team Documentarian, Taddy traveled across the country helping and educating families experiencing paranormal activity. She is now a member of the investigative team in the new Travel Channel television series, "Alien Highway." Aside from her work in the paranormal field, Taddy is the bassist for the Pittsburgh’s post-punk band, Glowworms. Follow her on Twitter @ClassicTad Patreon: www.patreon.com/somewhereskies To watch ROSWELL: MYSTERIES DECODED for free, CLICK HERE  Website: www.somewhereintheskies.com YouTube Channel: CLICK HERE Official Store: CLICK HERE Order Ryan's Book by CLICKING HERE Twitter: @SomewhereSkies Instagram: @SomewhereSkiesPod Opening Theme Song, "Ephemeral Reign" by Per Kiilstofte SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES is part of the eOne podcast network. To learn more, CLICK HERE SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES is sponsored by HelloFresh. To receive 50% off your first order, use promo code: SOMEWHERE50 at checkout by visiting www.HelloFresh.ca Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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To contribute and to learn more, visit www.patriot.com backslash SomewhereSkies. Thank you for your support. And now on with the show. This is Somewhere in the Skies with Ryan Sprague. Welcome to Somewhere in the Skies. I'm your host Ryan Sprague. Today on the show, we talk to Heather Taddy, one of three investigators on the new travel channel show, Alien Highway. Many may know Heather from her extensive investigation work on the hit show Paranormal State. But it's clear she's not just a ghost hunter any longer. Now, she's on the trail of strange phenomena happening across the U.S.

She is joined by Chuck and Dan Zuckowski. Chuck is a former Colorado law enforcement officer who has been researching and investigating UFO-related incidents for over 30 years, and together with his son Daniel and Heather, They're searching for definitive proof of UFOs along America's well-known alien highway. Here's our conversation with Heather Taddy. Heather, thank you so much for joining me today on Somewhere in the Skies.

Thank you. I'm super pumped. I listen to your podcast all the time, and now I'm a guest on it, which is completely crazy. It is crazy. It's come full circle. I remember watching you on television every week, and now I didn't know that you're listening to my show, and we finally made this happen. It's, yeah, yeah, this is a big one for me. So I apologize if I'm a little nervous, all right? What? No. No way. I'm more nervous probably than you.

Oh, man. Well, we'll be nervous and we'll get through this together. But kind of the real reason we're here today is to talk about your new show, Alien Highway, on the travel channel. Yes. But most of my listeners, including myself, we know you best from your work on paranormal state. So I would love to know how you from your first. first got involved with investigating, researching the paranormal. What is your origin story, as it were? Well, I grew up with a pretty colder brother, we're 10 years apart in age, and he got me into music.

And I can remember I was really young, and I remember eavesdropping on he and his friends while I played with a Ouija board. I remember peeking through the crack of the door and being like, what are they doing? What is a Ouija board? So it kind of started with that. And then, From there, just listening to him and his friends talk about how they'd go to these haunted places and they heard a voice of a little girl in this graveyard. And I was just really intrigued by these stories. And I wanted to put myself in these situations. And then it just came from watching, you know, movies.

Like, I remember being really young and watching tales from the crypt. And reading about Ed and Lorraine Warren, reading about all of their cases, the stories just. I was always intrigued and I wanted to have those experiences and I wanted to know what happens when you die. So then in junior high, I started investigating on my own and with my friends and that kind of consisted of me with a movie camera and a Ouija board leading my friends into these abandoned buildings and just trying to figure out if we could catch any evidence. That's where it started. And then just from there, you know, paranormal state. I can, I know that's probably one of your questions is how I got involved in paranormal state. Oh, absolutely. I definitely want to get to that. But my first question is for you. So you went,

you went right to the Ouija board to try to communicate with these things. Uh-huh. Isn't that insane? There was no like, who's here? Um, EMF readers and whatnot. You just went straight for the Ouija board. No, I mean, yeah, it's just the whole thing about spiritualism, you know, reading about the Fox sisters. Like that really, I was just so interested in that and ways in which people would go to great lengths to try to contact people that passed away. That was just always really bizarre to me. And yeah, and then just the investigating. And I've always been intrigued too by old buildings and knowing the history and knowing what energy has passed through. That's a really good point.

I often find myself when I'm traveling, legend tripping, which sort of then eases into, like, like paranormal investigating, but I almost find the story is more intriguing than like, oh, this ghost is haunting this place. No, I like to know the history of what happened there. And I know that's like kind of your thing when it comes to what you would eventually do on paranormal state. So yeah, let's go there. How did the opportunity for paranormal state come about? So I went to Penn State, of course, and I had known about PRS a year prior because I remember I was studying for a test, and I looked on one of the tables, and it was around Halloween, and literally the page was open to this article about this conference that they ran at Penn State,

where they'd bring in, you know, Lorraine Warren, and they'd have these investigations on haunted buildings on campus. And I remember seeing that article being like, wow, there's an actual club that's backed by a student university, and a college student started it. Like, I'm going to join this club when I transfer up to the main campus because I had been going to like a branch campus my first two years of college. So when I transferred up there, I saved the article. I started going to meetings and I was so impressed by how smart everybody was and how much they knew about, you know, this phenomena. So and the meetings, they were just on a building, they were in a building on campus and I would, I would go every Sunday. And I remember I would always park illegally, legally. And I'd be sitting there thinking,

am I going to get a ticket? I'd park in the teacher's parking. I don't know why that just popped into my head, but it's kind of funny. Oh my God, I did the same thing in my campus. We've all done it. So I remember, you know, they would set up these tables and it would just be like a group of 15 to 20 people. We'd all be facing each other and everybody would just go around and talk about their experiences growing up and what kind of drew them to join the club. And they would go on investigations. They had equipment. And Ryan was just super smart.

And everybody in the club was really interesting. So I continued to go to the meetings. and I knew nothing about a TV show. I kept going in around the fifth or six meeting in, I noticed a new face in the room. And this guy was just sitting at this table and he had this stack of pamphlets. And I was like, what is this guy doing?

And they had been in the process. They had filmed a pilot a couple years prior, but they were in the process of making like a doc-you reality series about following these college students as they go on their investigations. So they put up all these flyers, everywhere on campus, like everybody knew about this. And they basically just said, do you want to be in a haunted location and experience ghosts and spirits? And I was like, yes, sign me up. So I filled out this 20-page pamphlet. And I just kind of went back to my studies and didn't, I didn't really think about it. You know, I was, I was really focused, I was really focused on doing well in school and trying to figure out what the heck I wanted to do. Because I was studying film and I studied French. And I kind of never really knew what I wanted to do. It was just, kind of like these are my interests. So let's just try to get through this and then figure it out.

So let's see. What happened then? Then I got a call probably like two or three weeks. You know, I got a I got a call back. And what was really interesting was Katrina and I were both going through the training process to become investigators. So we took tests and it was basically like we added on an extra class to our curriculum that we kind of weren't really getting credit for. We just, you know, we're so interested and passionate about this. And we took these tests. We wrote these research papers because my goal is to be an investigator and to be able to go on these investigations and learn more about all of this. So Katrina and I ended up being the ones that got picked.

And then literally like a month later, we started filming. I was a junior in college. And we started our first cases where most of them were in Pennsylvania or like, you know, neighboring states where we would just drive. and I would leave on like a Thursday and we'd come back on a Monday so I'd have to be like, hey, I'm going to miss, you know, some classes. And my teachers were really understanding about it because I had, I had film classes and my French teacher was like, what do you mean you're going to investigate, you know, a girl that's possessed?

Like, it was just so, so bizarre. I can imagine, yeah. Yeah, and that's, I was just, and what was really crazy was walking through the hub at Penn State, you know, the main building everybody hangs out with and seeing like a cardboard cutout of yourself standing in there. Whoa, that's kind of surreal. My college was, my college experience was a little different from everybody else. It was super fun.

That is so interesting. Yeah, it's like I always, whenever I talk to like UFO researchers or paranormal investigators, we all like live these two separate lives, which is really, you know, like we, we do our jobs during the day and we, you know, we buy our morning coffee and we do the mundane work. And then we come home and we start talking. to people about, you know, they were abducted by aliens and brought to the Pleiades or they they spoke to their great, great, great, great, grandparent from the dead. It's crazy to just this juxtaposition between what people know and experience every day and then these other

worlds that are out there. It's got to be surreal, like going to class and then going to a haunted home to try to like stop a demon from possessing so. Yeah, I mean, I remember being in like a philosophy film class or something and and literally just studying for these tests that I had to take in the club and like I'd have a little sheet out that you know I was talking about Satanism and stuff like that so it's it's really crazy how all of this came together but I mean finding out that I'd get to work with Lorraine Warren was like a huge deal for me because um I remember too before I joined PRS I went to see her speak at Penn State and I was just blown away by her stories her and Ed's commitment to just helping families that were going through things they couldn't explain.

Right. And I mean, those of us in like the paranormal world or, you know, what now, we know these names, Ed and Lorraine Warren. Probably everyone knows now because of the Conjuring movies. So did you ever get to personally meet her? Lorraine, yeah. I mean, she was on a lot of our episodes. I traveled around with her. Yeah, yeah. She was quite a few. It was insane. Like I got to know her. And she was a wonderful person. Yeah. I mean, just being able to hear her stories, I remember there were so many times because when Lorraine started talking, you couldn't get her to stop. And she was such an amazing storyteller.

Like, I just couldn't believe some of the things that would come out of her mouth. And she had the best sense of humor. She was the sweetest little angel. And I remember we'd be getting ready to film a scene where Lorraine would, you know, be talking to one of the family members. And she'd be sitting there telling us about Amityville. and all this stuff. And we're just like, our jaws are dropped. And production's like, come on, Lorraine, we got to do this next scene.

And she's going on and on. But yeah, completely amazing. I know that feeling well. You know, it would be in the middle of shooting something for our show. And someone would start talking about, you know, what happened back at Roswell. And I'd be like, oh, my God, is this really happening right now? Oh, man. Well, speaking of, you know, Roswell, UFOs,

I know that one point on paranormal state. You guys actually went to the East SETI Ranch. My listeners know that place well. So what was that like mixing sort of this UFO world with a paranormal? It was super fun. I remember we camped there. And every night we would see these lights. And they would, I mean, they would start going really slow.

And then James had a, you know, he had all these high powered military flashlights. And he'd be like, I'm going to show you how it powers up. and he would flash this light and it would take a little bit, but it would be so bright and it would flash back at us and then it would go really slow and then we would go fast and then it would disappear. And we saw this multiple nights and I had been there twice because I think after we filmed the episode there, we went back to do an event. But I could not explain this at all. I know scientists had been there to study it and I think like a week before we arrived to film our episode, Robbie Williams was there. I know he's really into all this. But yeah, it was incredible.

And hearing James stories, like, he's just such an interesting person. And I was like, we're not going to see anything. Like, I was pretty skeptical. Like, what, you know, we're going to see a satellite. And we went there and had these experiences. And it was really cool because we had a, they bought us this like satellite tracking system we had on the computer. So we could precisely see what direction the satellites were and when they were coming. So we, you know, we would know what we were seeing. But it was cool. I mean, I felt like a little kid because growing up, too, I always had. this fascination with looking at the stars and just hanging out with friends and just you would always end up having really great conversations about, you know, life on other planets and everything. So it was, it was really neat to be able to go there. I really want to go back, actually. As the Krispy Chicken sandwich from 7-Eleven, people always call me loud. And I'm like, yeah, I know. I'm crispy. Did you expect me to whisper? If you want quiet, go eat some soup and reflect. Like, I know I'm a handful. I'm bold. I'm bold. I'm juicy. Throw some pickles and barbecue sauce on me. And baby, I'm a whole meal. And with seven rewards,

I'm just $4. Quiet. No. Krispy, saucy, and $4? Very. Only at 711. Valley through 62326, participating stores only well supplies lastly out for full terms. Yeah, I've actually, I've never been there, but I've had so many people recommended. So hopefully someday. Yeah. Yeah, you should, you should totally go. Cool. Well, what were some of your most, your most memorable moments for paranormal state? I know that's a really really. broad question. You guys investigated so much. But like, does anything really stand out to you? Like, whoa, this is like, this is beyond what I signed up for. I mean, we, I did a couple, um, cases that ended up being pretty serious. And I was still training and learning about all this stuff.

And I mean, a lot of that was kind of intense. And they always wanted me to go because I, you know, I have this positive energy and it, you know, it'll help the clients and everything. But a lot of those cases are really, really serious. And it affected us all after we leave, you know, thinking about helping this family and what they were going through. Like, it stuck with us and especially with Ryan. And there'd be, and this has never happened to me, but a lot of times some of the PRS members lived in a house together. And after some of the real serious cases, they would have stuff follow them home. I don't know why nothing ever followed me home.

Like, I never had any experiences. But a lot of that kind of really stuck with you, seeing these families that were terrible. terrified to sleep in their own house. Some of them brought, obviously, they brought this activity upon them without knowing the dangers of, you know, messing around the Ouija board or anything like this, like that. But a lot of that was really intense. But one case that really stuck out to me, it was called, I think they called it paranormal intervention. We worked with this lady. She actually lived in Queens.

Her name was Carol Ann, and she had these bouts of depressions that she blamed on spirits. And a woman named Mary had committed suicide in her garage. And in Carol Ann, she had a really intense attachment to the spirit. And she was obsessed with taking EVPs and trying to hear her voice. And she had little baggies and baggies of these little microcissets of these amazing EVPs. And she was literally obsessed with trying to reach this spirit. And it was really, it was really insane. And so the activity was really centered around Carol Ann, and she wasn't letting the spirits move on because she was constantly engaging them.

And that's something you think about today with, like, everybody really into this phenomena, it's happening so often. And is it because we're constantly trying to contact them? It's like a strange thing to think about. But I don't know. That's one episode that really stuck out to me because she just wouldn't stop. I mean, we even ended up taking her recorder. I think she just went out and got another one. But it's strange how obsessed people can get with this kind of thing.

Yeah, you're telling me. Yeah. It's hard because, like, they go through this paradigm shifting experience, and then it's like, how do you go on every day after that? Like, doing these menial tasks we all do as, you know, mere mortals when we know, or they know, I should say. or think that like there's a spirit talking to them from like beyond the grave. It's crazy.

It is. Yeah. But it's, it was really interesting to try to go and like you, because when you go to these families' houses, you basically become their historian. You're diving into their history, diving into their past and,

and even figuring out when this phenomena began, what was going on in your life. And I always liked trying to figure, figure that out. Because a lot of times the stuff would happen, they would bring it upon themselves and not even realize like, oh, this, you know, the stress was causing me to do, you know what I mean? So there's so many different pieces to the puzzle.

There really are. And I'd like to ask, yeah, there, in terms of, like, filming for this thing, for paranormal state, I'm sure it'll sort of be the same for Alien Highway. But what is it like trying to investigate while there's, like, constantly cameras on you? And, like, you're in the middle of something, and they have to be like, oh, cut, we have to, like, go over and get this angle. Like, is it a challenge trying to do it? do this stuff for television? It definitely is.

I mean, there are so many moments where it's like, can you just do that one more time or camera didn't catch you picking that up? So yeah, it's bizarre. And I know beginning with paranormal state, it was really hard to get used to the cameras at first because they are so big and they're just constantly falling your own. But after the first couple episodes, I kind of got used to it in a way where you learn where to stand and to know when to say something. You know, it just kind of like came naturally then after after a while.

But there's definitely time constraints. I mean, with house investigations, you know, you're there and you're spending more time with the people. And, you know, the first, a lot of people don't know this, but the first and second season in Paranamo State, we basically stayed the night in these people's homes. Like, it wasn't until like maybe later in the second season where they just put us in hotel. But we were spending a lot more time with them and we had cameras on us. but a lot of the times we just we filmed so much that you couldn't fit into the actual series

and then there were other times where we you know there's a moment where it's like we have to go to the next thing it's like oh can we just have like more time to do this those were definitely things we ran into and also I mean you have to have a lot of patience working in this field which you probably know oh yeah there's a lot of waiting around yeah that's what doesn't make it on camera obviously

you know everyone always says like oh we're seeing the edited version this stuff probably happened over like the span of a week or two. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Paranormal investigating and UFO hunting or skywatching. It can get a little, a little boring, little mundane sometimes.

But then you just wait for those moments of like, it's like a baseball game. You know, these things are like three hours long. Nobody's doing anything. And then in a split second, something happens. And you're like, oh, my God, I missed it. Yeah, those moments are the best. That's, I mean, that's why I got into all this, because the thrill of when something happens. You're just like, what did I just see? Like, that's my favorite. I know, and I feel like

the phenomenon sort of does that. It's very tricksterish. It's like, I'm going to make them just wait around for like four hours, and then I'm going to just move this pencil a little bit off the table, you know? Yeah. Yeah, you never know what the heck is going to happen. You never know, yeah. Well, moving away from paranormal state, now we have Alien Highway. This is crazy. So I had Ben Mesrick on my show, probably when I first started the podcast. And many people will know him from the 37th parallel, the book he wrote on Chuck, the guy that you're doing this show with. So can you tell us a little about who is on your investigation team for this new show, Alien Highway, and maybe a little about how this opportunity came about? Yeah, of course. So Chuck Zikowsky,

he is, so he worked in law enforcement. He was a deputy sheriff, but his role, passion is he's dedicated a huge chunk of his life to investigating UFOs, animal mutilations, Bigfoot. He basically would go on these vacations with his families and they would always have to stop somewhere, like their family vacations basically would turn into, we're going to Roswell, we're going here. So we would just drag his family to these places, but he is so passionate about all of this. And really his background in law enforcement, his investigating skills, like he has a huge attention to detail. And, you know, he saw that there was a huge lack of scientific expertise in this field. And I don't know, I was just really impressed by his knowledge of everything. And when I first got,

first got told about that I'd be working with him. I had read an article somewhere about a cattle mutilation that he had investigated. And he referred to himself as the UFO nut. So I kind of didn't know what to expect going into this. But I was, I was really impressed by his investigation. and his excitement and passion for the subject. Yeah. And like you mentioned, you know, he would drag his son along on these, you know, these getaways. And now he's on television with him.

So what is his son make of all this? I'm sure you guys had plenty of conversations off camera. Yes. So his son, he's really supportive of his dad. He's supportive of his dad and his quest for these answers. But at the same time, he makes fun of his dad for doing this. like, oh, we're going to go here. You want to do this? So he kind of thinks his dad is crazy in a way, but he's fully supportive of him. And he, Dan is also very skeptical when it comes to a lot of this.

When something happens, he's always, you know, looking for a natural explanation, which I think all three of us are like that in a way. I know when I go on investigations, I like to have that equal balance of belief and skepticism. But, yeah, and Dan also currently works in law enforcement. So he has those solid interviewing skills, investigating skills. I think that really helps. Absolutely. It really helps. Yeah. And I think it's refreshing, too, at least from the first two episodes I've seen, is you all are, you know, skeptical believers or at least, you know, to a point where it's not one of these shows where you have the molder and you have the scully.

You know, it's believer and skeptic. Let's, you know, let's hash it out. It's so refreshing to see a show where all three of you are just trying to find the truth. It's not like, let's prove aliens are real. Let's prove, you know, that the Skin Walker is there. It's, okay, let's look at the evidence and let's see what comes out of it, no matter what the answer might be. So that's super refreshing. Well, being that you deal, you're sort of dealing with different phenomena than you did on paranormal state. Maybe. Who am I to say? But how did you adapt or sort of bring your experience from that paranormal investigation? into doing this new sort of UFO-oriented show? I think at first it was a little tough because I don't really consider myself a UFOologist at all. It's something I've always had an interest in.

And I've always known about it, but knowing that I was doing the show, I started doing a lot more research so that I was prepared. But I'd say I definitely brought my investigation skills because on Parenthood State, there were so many different cases where you really had to do, investigating like you had to go out of your way to you know do so much research so I think that already having that and having a good read of people when you're interviewing them I think that that's that's really helped and you know in Parenthood state we investigated so many different types of cases so I think that it I'm pretty well-rounded when it comes to it I think that that really helped me you know transition into this absolutely this show yeah and like I said I I saw the first two episodes of the show, and they most definitely did not disappoint.

I know, right? Yeah, your season opener, it brought you somewhere that a lot of us are familiar with. But for those who may not be, could you maybe give us a little, I guess, refresher course about where and what Skinwalker Ranch is? Of course. So Skinwalker Ranch is, it's basically regarded as one of the weirdest hotspots for everything from UFO sightings to a usual activity, poltergeist activity, monsters, giant wolf creatures. So it's very varied in terms of all the weird things that have happened there. And this stuff predates the ranch.

It's this whole area of the Uintow Basin. But it's said that there is a portal near this ranch or in this area. And it all goes back to a curse put on by the Navajo, where, you know, this ranch is supposedly in the path of the Skinwalker. And what didn't make the episode is we interviewed a Native American elder about an experience they had had in their very, they won't talk about the Skinwalker rant. They won't talk about Skinwalkers at all. So it's a really taboo thing, which is really fascinating. But, yeah, I mean, this place, you know, ranchers had lived there and had really bizarre experiences.

and we all know about Robert Bigelow buying it and using it as like a living laboratory. So it's just a bizarre place. And I was super excited to just be, you know, in that area because I know it's not just the ranch. It's all around. That area has a unique history. Absolutely. I mean, it's like a dream come true for anyone else out there who are into this stuff. It's got everything you need, cryptids, ghosts, aliens.

Yep. It's crazy. Well, what was like, you guys, you really did get some. solid evidence out of this. And that's what really impressed me. And I'm so happy that they started, like the premiere episode was this, because it shows like there is stuff we can actually analyze. It's not just stories. What stood out to you most while you were there about just, whoa, this place is definitely bad shit weird. I mean, when you talk to the locals and talk to everybody, I mean, we, I mean, a lot of the stuff again didn't make the episode, but we talked to someone that

lived close to the ranch and that like, yeah, we have experiences, but we're not going on camera. You know, I'm trying to write like a book. And it's just hearing about what everybody knows that has lived in that area for a long time and what they've heard from, you know, their ancestors. But to me, that video that we captured of the wolf, I mean, it looked, it didn't look like, to me it was a coyote. And what do you think about that? Like, what's your thought on that?

It was massive, first of all. Yeah, exactly. And it was really cool to see, again, that you guys, you went out of your way to, like, show these things. You went, you put the cameras. You had, like, cameras out there that captured this wolf. And then you put the camera out there during the day and got the same exact angle and all that. It's like a mathematician's dream. You're looking at the height of where it would have been, how tall the wolf would have been.

That was really cool. Again, these are things that the people at home. wouldn't realize, they would just see, oh, it's a stray dog that somehow got on the ranch. But no, whatever it was, it had to have been huge. And then it appeared out of nowhere. I know. That's the thing I cannot explain, because we got the trap cam, and we immediately saw that it got hit. So we immediately analyzed it. And while analyzing it, you could see the cars coming around the turn. And I wish that they would have put more of this footage in the episode, but you could see where the sensor would trigger and where each time the exact same spot, the car's headlights would go through. You could see the car's passing.

And I know on the episode, they showed one of the gas tankers trucks coming through. And you can see where the sensor triggers it and where it would show on camera. This creature just, it just appeared, like out of nowhere. It made no sense. I... It didn't. I still have no idea how to explain that. Yeah. For anyone who hasn't seen the first episode, definitely check it out. That moment of when this wolf-like creature appears literally out of thin air, like some sort of, I don't know, portal, something. It really, really caught me off guard. I was not expecting that. So I can't imagine what it must have been like actually being there. Yeah. And, you know, we looked around. We explored to see if we could see tracks. Now it had snowed again because it was super cold to snowing like the whole time we were

in Utah. But I mean, we didn't see anything unusual. And around there, there were a couple neighbors really spread out that had ranches. And, you know, we spent some time in the daytime going around to try to see if we could see any dogs. But, I mean, nothing looked like what we saw in the video. Yeah, yeah, that was enough for me to be like, wow, yeah, something's going on here. But yeah, there was one other thing. And again, I don't want to give away too much for those who haven't seen it, but this beam of light that appeared over the entire ranch. That was terrifying. What the hell was going on there. Yeah. So right over that hill, and this happened probably about three times, and we had been out there for hours. I was doing that animal collar thing, and we were just in there,

we were there for hours. And it was really crazy because the way that it pulsated, and right over the first ridge where Dan was, there was a second ridge. And then over that, I mean, that was, that was Skinwalker Ranch. So the way that it pulsated and the timing of it was really unique. And Dan was right up against it and he couldn't he had no idea what it was and my thing is that like I said we knew what was on the other side of the ridge and another thing that didn't make of the episode is we went on this really long hike um on this one mountain that was kind of on the other side of uh skinwalker we went with the local animal tracker that had land around there and really knew the area and our our goal was to kind of look for wildlife tracks to see like do wolves inhabit this area

You know, what kind of animals are around here and just to see if we saw anything unusual. And so we were hiking this really, really steep mountain. And we came up against a barbed wire fence that basically that was Skinwalker Ranch. So we didn't cross it or anything. But way, way off in the distance, you could see flames in the sky, which was from when they, I guess they burn oil there. That whole area in the Uinta Basin, there's oil. I don't know if it's like an oil refinery. I don't really know much about that kind of.

kind of stuff, but there's constant, the traffic you see constant oil tankers going way back beyond the ranch and the distance pretty far. And when we were out there, you could see a flame and you could see what I would describe it as lightning. And it was kind of an orange glow, but it was completely different from what we saw when we were in the cemetery. So I kind of attributed to it, was it that. But then when it happened, I was like, this wasn't anything like that. We knew what was there. All the oil stuff was way, way off in the distance. And this was like right beyond the ridge.

Yeah, that one will probably remain a mystery. But again, like, it's crazy that, you know, with a lot of these shows, you end up going somewhere and nothing happens. And that's just, that's the reality of it. That's why it's, you know, quote unquote reality television. But you guys seem to just like have dropped in right at the right moment and just all of this stuff. I mean, I didn't, you know, I kind of always go into these thinking, you know, I don't expect to get anything. I'm just like, if something happens, it happens. But I definitely didn't expect to get that, the video, the wolf, or whatever that thing was, and the light.

Like, it was, it was action-packed. It was great. That was one of the most memorable ones. And that was one we filmed kind of, we filmed that one in February, beginning of February. Right. Yeah. Yeah, a lot of people don't know, like, these things are filmed out of sequence. So, like, you might have shot that, like, months after.

going to Roswell or going somewhere else, but it ends up being the first episode. So, yeah. It definitely makes me want to go back because I just feel like if I could just go and I wish we could just camp there, you know what I mean, camp near there and just see what we find. Absolutely. Like being there for a prolonged amount of time, I can't imagine. And we know that like groups of scientists were on the ranch for months on end. Yeah.

Studying this paranormal stuff. And a lot of the things they've brought forward are sort of things. you guys came across. So something is definitely going on at Skinwalker. Yes, I agree. I agree. Oh, well, the second episode, uh, this one was near and dear to my heart, Roswell, Mexico. I, this is, you know, what gets all of us eophologists into this, the, the seminal case of uphology. Um, but you guys sort of took a new avenue with a case and it was trying to track down a possible cave where some of the wreckage from the crash was hidden. This was, really interesting. So were you familiar with the Roswell case before this? And what were you looking for? Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I had read Crash at Corona. Like I, yeah, I was pretty familiar with it. Yeah. So Chuck and one of the producers, they, they both have different contacts through the government. And so for this episode, this federal informant gave Chuck this map that was supposedly drawn by the rancher who or whoever it was that hit the debris. And you know, you hear all these, these stories about it's hidden in a cave. There's still an alien somewhere, you know, so it's hard to know what to believe, but this map was pretty accurate. So we went out and we, first of all, let's talk about how we talk to Sandy Proctor because that was incredible for me. I was super excited to be able to interview him. And for those of you that don't know, Sandy Proctor, is the brother of Dee who was with Mac when he

found the debris. On the ranch. So, yeah. So it was really interesting to talk. to him because you hear all these rumors that the proctors had a piece of the debris. And he flat out, you know, Chuck, Chuck was, of course, going to ask him that question. And Sandy came around and be like, no, those people were idiots. Like, we don't have, we don't have any of the debris, you know, and Sandy talked about how, you know, Dee was young and he wasn't even interested in the wreckage. Like, he couldn't really talk about it because, you know, when you grow up on these ranches, you just see piles of stuff. So it kind of wasn't a big deal to him as a young boy.

But it's completely like plausible to think if this, this debris was on a ranch for, it was like a couple days before the government came, correct? Yeah, yeah. So it's completely, you know, logical to think that maybe, you know, people in the town knew about this, maybe a little kid or someone came and took some of the debris and hit it somewhere. Like I think that that's completely.

It's totally believable, yeah. Yeah. So we talked to Don Schmitt, it and he he told us that the richard richard's ranch which is adjacent to or adjoining to um you know the proctor ranch where the debris was found um they think that he still stole the debris so we talked to somebody in the family that didn't you know want to be named didn't want to be seen on camera and he basically we went to his house and he said told us where he thought the cave was where you know this had been in his family and people knew about this and he told us where he thought

the cave was after you know prior we had been looking and we were kind of distracted and thought we had seen two different caves that ended up being nothing but yeah i mean it was pretty incredible um uh to be able to talk to sandy and and hear what his mom you know his mom got to see the the debris right and he also told us the story this didn't make the episode but he told us the story about how his father and mother they had they had had had a pretty incredible UFO sighting before the corona crash Oh, okay. Yeah, so it was really neat to hear about that. Right. And they said that, you know, and then the Proctor family, of course, was close with Mac,

and Mac was told not to talk about it. You know, he was a butcher and he wanted a place where he could keep, he wanted a meat locker. So they moved him, you know, and then they say, did they move him to be able to watch him near this Air Force base? And did they pay him off? You know, all these stories you hear. So it was just really neat to hear that from. someone that obviously was in the Proctor family. Yeah, that's a really good point, though, Heather.

I mean, I've had my presumptions about this case forever. Uh-huh. And that all sort of changed when I got there and started talking to the locals. That's when you, like, you really start to get to the core of the story. And you start hearing from these people who are, you know, descendants of families who were involved. I mean, I got to speak to the granddaughter of Jesse Marcel, the first daughter. officer on site. And the story she had to tell, in terms of like this memory metal that was on site, you know, crumble it up. It would go right back to its shape. It was light as a feather,

but you couldn't like hammer through it. It's crazy. But it's lining up with the same stories that you heard from the Proctor families. So you really do have to wonder. And this was really interesting. When I was watching when you guys got to the like the impact site, the craft site, I'm like, okay, people claim so many different locations are where this crash happened. And I don't know if you guys came across this, but when we went out there, there's like a memorial or like this plaque that's out there that says this is where the UFO crash happened. Yeah, so that is a little ways down. We saw the road that leads to.

But it's really crazy because, I mean, Chuck doing this for so long, he got to talk to a lot of the key players and get to know them in Roswell. Right. So Glenn Dennis gave him the coordinates for the debris site. So, I mean, that's how we, but Chuck has been out there. He's done a dig out there. So he knew exactly where to go. But I mean, to be able to stand there and just put yourself back in the 40s and think like, what really have? It was incredible. Like I felt like I was in a dream. Yeah. Same. Well, that was the other thing. When you finally got to the impact site, I saw it and I'm like, okay, let's see if it matches where I will. was, and I'm not kidding you, the area where you guys were was exactly where we were told to go. Yeah. It was it. And you do.

You step foot out there, and there's nothing. No life. No, like birds above. No reason there would be garbage or debris out there. Yet people like Chuck and people like Frank Kimbler, this geologist we spoke to while we were there, they found stuff out there. So yet you really do have to wonder. Yeah. And it's really crazy, too, that the Richards family, you know, this was a legend that this, this guy had told us that it was hidden away in Dan's cave and there's some different locations. And, um, but this, the guy that we interviewed was was pretty strange. I mean, he, he, he was kind of like, we don't want this to be known. And I'm thinking, why are we here interviewing you? And then, and then finally, like, we were all in this other area near, like, behind his house. And Dan, Dan's always the one.

kind of goes off and does his own thing. And I remember production being like, you know, we want to film you guys all together for this, like come back. Dan didn't listen and went off and he ended up finding an opening. Yeah. And then we started digging and it really looked like a cave. Yeah, it did. Like, what the heck?

Yeah. So, and then we were out there and we were digging for hours trying to figure, figure this out. And then this guy comes up and he's like, you know, you guys are going too far. Like, we don't want you to be here anymore. You have to leave. And we're just like, oh. Yeah. You know, that was a total bummer.

but I really hope that we can try to get back there. There is something down there. There definitely is. Like, you guys were so close. And I was, I was, I'm not getting you. Even for like a reality television show, I was on the edge of my seat. Like, oh my God, they might break this case wide open. Yeah, I mean, could you imagine if we found a piece of it like that, I just can't even wrap my head around that. It would be incredible. Well, like you said, though, like it's not done. Like Chuck is to. determined to get back there.

And I know with his connections, like something's going to happen. He'll be able to get back out there. But yeah, it was a fascinating episode. A lot of people, when they hear Roswell, they're like, what is there left to look at? But clearly, there's still stuff to investigate. And I think you guys did a really good job with that.

Yeah, yeah, thanks. I'm glad that I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yeah. Well, I mean, okay, so we have Alien Highway. We have this show unidentified on another channel. We've got this show, this show, this show, this show. All these paranormal and UFO-related TV shows seem to be cropping up lately. So, in your opinion, why do you think that is? And what about Alien Highway kind of stands out amongst all these?

I mean, I think that this stuff isn't stopping. I mean, people all over the world are still seeing UFOs. They're still experiencing paranormal activity. Like, it's just a never-ending cycle. Like, it's it's happening now more than ever, especially with all these, you know, stories about the Pentagon, you know, investigating and everything like that. Like, I think a lot more is coming to light now and maybe a lot more people are opening their eyes and a lot more pilots are coming forward and a lot more people in the Navy, you know, people that know stuff are coming forward and sharing their stories, which I think is awesome because it's only going to help us get to the answers more. Absolutely. Yeah. There seems to be a shift happening where these topics are, they're becoming more

legitimate. And, you know, I feel like throughout decades, this happens. These things ebb and flow where, like, oh, UFOs are real. We investigated it. And then, you don't, then it goes away. It fades into obscurity for five years. And then it comes back up. But I don't know. I, I feel like something is changing, whether it's the legitimization by the Navy or this Pentagon program, it seems to be changing. UFOs are like on the minds of everyone right now. And it's exciting for us who have been kind of screaming this from the rooftops to deaf ears for so long. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's really interesting. Well, what do your friends and family think about all this stuff you do? I'm always wondering, you know, luckily I have a partner who is so understanding of the things I do. That's good. Parents who support me, but I know it's not the same for everybody. What about for you? I mean, my parents, they kind of think it's funny because I grew up being so passionate about this stuff. And I grew up with basically a video camera attached to my hand. I was constantly filming ridiculous skits and just documenting my everyday life.

So I think they always thought I would do something with TV. So it kind of seems normal. But, I mean, they think they're super supportive. And they love watching me. And when reruns are on, they'll send me pictures of my face on the screen. I'm just like, Mom's watching me on TV again. So they think it's really cool. But at the same time, it's kind of like they expected me to be into something weird like this just because of who I am.

Yeah, totally. I remember when my parents came to my first ever UFO talk that I gave in a UFO conference. And I warned him beforehand, I'm like, this might get a little weird. Just be prepared. And afterwards, my mother, who's like never thought about this stuff, really, she always was like, yeah, Ryan, go do your thing. she said to me like, oh my God, this stuff is real. I'm like, yeah, and supposedly, supposedly it's all real. So that was a good moment turning point for me where I'm like, yay, I finally got to my parents,

the people who always were like, what is Ryan doing with his life? So it's interesting. Now we can finally be like, we told you so. Yeah, told you so. Well, in terms of alien highway, Heather, the next episode to air, concerns something super interesting, which I also just investigated myself. Area 51 in Tonapaw. Tonapal is this really interesting place. A lot of people consider this to be like the new Area 51. Yeah. So could you maybe tease us a little about what we can expect from this upcoming episode?

Yeah. So for this episode, we're playing on the theory you hear about an alien escape from Area 51. So we're on a hunt to try to find this. And the site that people are talking about happens to be kind of in between Tonapaw and Area 51. So that whole area, which there's nothing out there. As you know, there's nothing. So it would be the perfect place for someone to hide a creature or, you know, something to escape. So and this was actually my second time out to Tonapaw. We spent some time there. And it's really interesting talking to the locals and talking to people. people that worked in areas near there that, you know, know information that they're not allowed to talk about. So this is going to be a really good one. I think people are really going to enjoy, enjoy this one. That's interesting. Yeah. A lot of people don't know, like, these vast deserts, that's where all this stuff happens, whether it is just top secret military projects or something a bit more esoteric or, you know, paranormal. I don't know. But, you know, once we knew what Area 51 was or that it was like officially acknowledged by the government.

You know full well they moved all that shit somewhere else. Oh yeah. So Tonapal might be the place. So I wouldn't be surprised. And I had been there once before to Tonapal because I was passing through. I think I was driving to Yosemite and I had heard about it. And I was just like, I'm going to stay at the Mitspa Hotel. And I ended up staying there.

And it was really, really interesting history. And interesting in the fact that like, like gold and silver were kind of accidentally discovered in that area. So I encourage anyone to check out that area. And if you look at the guest book at the Missa Hotel, I think I signed it twice. Oh, nice. Yeah, I wrote a really funny story in there. Oh, that's bragging rights for sure.

Well, that's so awesome. Heather, where can we find out more about the show and what you're up to? Well, I'm pretty active on social media. There's times where I'm kind of just like, get out of here. Like, I don't want to be on the computer. but yeah like my handle on Instagram and Twitter is classic Tad so classic and then TAD so I'm you know people and I still get a lot of messages even from people that are just now discovering paranormal state or people that have followed the show like I still get messages which is completely blows my mind how that show has affected people oh absolutely it made me the person I am today I'm like whoa you can do this in college this is so yeah it's wild but I'm I'm also active on Facebook And I just started a public figure Facebook page to kind of keep my private one separate. But you can find me on there under Heather Taddy.

And I'm working on a website right now. I'm just kind of behind on it. Yeah, you're too busy investigating ghosts. Yeah, right? Hang in out of the desert. Yep, yep. Well, I can't wait to see where the show leads next. And I know with Chuck involved that you guys have sort of only just begun.

Yes. Wow. I can't thank you enough for coming on today talking about all this. And thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This has been great. This is great. All right.

That is it for this week's episode. Again, you can watch Alien Highway on the travel channel. Check your local listings for dates and times. By the time you hear this, I am on my way home from AlienCon, Los Angeles. It was an amazing weekend, and I can't wait to share exclusive content with you from the event. Stay tuned for that. I also got word that I'll be joining AlienCon once again for their next convention in Dallas, Texas, being held October 4th through the 6th. To learn more, visit Thealiencon.com.

If you haven't already, please subscribe, rate, and review someone in the skies on Apple Podcasts, your Android apps, or wherever you listen to the show from. It helps us out tremendously. And hey, while you're at it, share the show with a friend. You never know. They might be more interested than you think. We're on Twitter at SomewhereSkies and Instagram at SomewhereSkies pod. Everything in the T-Public store is on sale right now. Be sure to visit T-Public.com and search for the Somewhere in the Skies store.

Represent the show in style with official merchandise. That's T-EEPublic.com. Thank you to the E1 Podcast Network, Rogue Planet, and especially to you for listening. I'll see you here next week, and remember, keep your feet on the ground, but never stop Searching. Somewhere in the skies. Somewhere in the skies is produced by third kind productions in association with the Entertainment One Podcast Network. To learn more, visit Entertainment One Podcast.com. In reality, UFOs are seen by people from all walks of life every day all around the world. They've also been officially investigated by the U.S. government and by governments

of several other countries, too. That's just a small element of what makes the strange UFO topic so incredibly fascinating and fun to explore. That's what we do on the UFO podcast, Unknown. I'm Jason McClellan, and I invite you to explore. are the weird and wonderful world of UFOs with me and my friends and colleagues on Unknown. Unknown is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, IHeartRadio, Spotify, and all the usual podcast places.