Curse of Skinwalker Ranch cast: Meet the team
With Curse of Skinwalker Ranch season six on the way, here are the scientific investigators who have made the Sky HISTORY reality show a hit.
Image: Curse of Skinwalker Ranch
Many have tried and failed to figure out why Skinwalker Ranch is reputed as one of the world’s most paranormal places. Hordes of visitors to this 512-acre property in Utah concur that it’s a hive of ‘high strangeness’.
What isn’t so clear is exactly what is responsible for the myriad of spooky occurrences at the ranch. Occupants’ stories have ranged from spotting UFOs and hearing disembodied voices to coming across inexplicably mutilated cattle.
It’s no wonder scientists have conducted in-depth research at the site in concerted attempts to finally get to the bottom of the mystery. Imagine if you could watch them carrying out their investigations? The good news is that you actually can…
Since 2020, the current research team has regularly reported its findings on Sky HISTORY. As Curse of Skinwalker Ranch season six beckons, here’s a close look at the hit reality show’s main cast members.
Brandon Fugal
Image: Curse of Skinwalker Ranch
Skinwalker Ranch is named after the Native American legend of skinwalkers. According to tradition, these menacing, shapeshifting creatures roam the Uinta Basin, the northern Utah region where the ranch itself lies.
However, the ranch’s own reputation for peculiar goings-on did not emerge until the mid-1990s. That’s when the then-occupants Terry and Gwen Sherman released the first wave of chilling stories. In 1996, they sold the ranch to real-estate investor Robert Bigelow, who was motivated by his keen interest in researching supernatural phenomena.
Fellow magnate Brandon Fugal, a man similarly determined to explain the unexplained, bought the ranch from Bigelow in 2016. He went on to assemble his own research team — the one we now see on Curse of Skinwalker Ranch.
In an interview with Sky HISTORY, Brandon explained: 'I see purchasing Skinwalker Ranch as a scientific endeavour. And not one that would provide a meaningful return on investment.' He added that he sought to 'explore those timeless questions: whether we truly are alone in the universe, and the nature of our reality.'
Dr Travis Taylor
Image: Curse of Skinwalker Ranch
You might have already seen astrophysicist Dr Travis Taylor on quite a few other TV shows, including Sky HISTORY’s Ancient Aliens. His experience on the small screen was certainly one reason why Brandon Fugal chose to add him to the Skinwalker Ranch team.
However, there’s also no doubting his impressive academic credentials. Travis holds Master’s degrees in physics and astronomy as well as PhDs in engineering. He’s also worked on hi-tech programs run by NASA and the US Department of Defense.
His road to Skinwalker Ranch was a long one. 'I was invited to start doing TV shows in the early 2000s,' said in an interview in 2020. This 'led to the next TV show and the next TV show and so on.' Eventually, his name was in the hat when Brandon was looking for an experimentalist also experienced with talking on TV.
Travis is experienced with rockets, too — which proves especially useful in Curse of Skinwalker Ranch season six. In several of the episodes, the team experiments by launching rockets inside the large, anomalous ‘Bubble’ seemingly responsible for much of the strange onsite activity.
Erik Bard
Image: Curse of Skinwalker Ranch
Fugal’s ‘hard science’ approach to unravelling the ranch’s mysteries also prompted him to recruit physicist Erik Bard. As a guest on an April 2023 episode of That UFO Podcast, Erik revealed that he first heard of Skinwalker Ranch in the early 2010s.
'It sounded very far-fetched, … [like] a mashup of every paranormal theme and meme convergent upon one property,' Erik recollected. He had already known Brandon for years when the latter acquired the ranch and invited Erik to help him investigate it.
Erik overcame his initial reluctance about the idea, becoming the chief scientist and principal investigator on Curse of Skinwalker Ranch. Long-term fans of the show will be thoroughly accustomed to sights of Erik in the ranch’s command centre, where he remotely watches out for anomalies.
The command centre includes flatscreen monitors feeding back data live from cameras and electromagnetic field detectors. In Curse of Skinwalker Ranch season six, this technology proves its worth from the very first episode. In one big highlight, it enables Erik to help verify the presence of the ‘Bubble’, an area of high electromagnetic interference above the ’Triangle’ area.
Thomas Winterton
Image: Curse of Skinwalker Ranch
As Skinwalker Ranch’s superintendent, Thomas Winterton manages its day-to-day maintenance and security.
Back in the mid-‘90s, there were stories of the Shermans regularly losing cattle to unexpected, unexplainable mutilations. Often, the Shermans would stumble across disembowelled cattle with no traces of blood left over.
Despite these tales, cattle are still kept on Skinwalker Ranch to this day. Thomas once told the Paranormal UK Radio Show that this was to help keep the ranch grazed down lest it turn into a fire hazard.
In the same interview, Thomas revealed that his duties include overseeing the onsite irrigation system. This is essential because, as he explained, 'Utah is a dry state [and] if we want anything to grow here, we have to water it.'
Thomas’s career was in construction before he joined the Curse of Skinwalker Ranch cast. He was charged with professionally inspecting the ranch, but found it in dilapidated condition. After Thomas took measures to help physically restore the property, Brandon offered him the opportunity to run it.
Bryant ‘Dragon’ Arnold
Image: Curse of Skinwalker Ranch
As the show has grown more popular, it has elevated the profile of the ranch itself. You might not be surprised to learn, then, that many people from afar have approached and, in some cases, attempted to enter the property.
One man who has often been there to stop them is Skinwalker Ranch’s head of security Bryant Arnold. He has been a mate of Brandon’s for over 30 years - and this long-enduring friendship led to Bryant’s involvement with Skinwalker Ranch.
He had already undertaken some private security work for Brandon before even hearing of Skinwalker Ranch. So, when Bryant got the call to head up its security operations, he was all ears.
Work colleagues and fans of the show nickname him ‘Dragon’, but where did that moniker originally come from? According to Bryant, he inherited it from an earlier security officer stationed at the property during the Bigelow years.
Shortly after Brandon obtained the ranch, he granted a specific someone official permission to closely check it out. This visitor met Bryant and mistook him for the original ‘Dragon’. Brandon loved this inadvertent newfound nickname for Bryant, and so it stuck.
Does Dragon appear in 'Curse of Skinwalker Ranch' season 6?
In a statement posted to Curse of Skinwalker Ranch’s official socials, Dragon reported that he was unable to participate in filming of the new season. He clarified that this 'tough decision' to withdraw was 'due to personal matters involving the health and care of my son'.
He added: 'I want to assure everyone that I’m still very much a part of the team and fully support the ongoing investigation.'
Kaleb Bench
With his large physical size, security guard Kaleb Bench is a purposefully intimidating presence on the ranch. He’s also a brother-in-law of the property’s superintendent Thomas Winterton, which begins to shine a light on how Kaleb got roped in to help.
By October 2017, Thomas had been the ranch manager for about a year. However, as Brandon feared that more and more people were going to try sneaking into the ranch, he was determined to toughen up its security. This led him to ask Thomas if he knew anyone capable of assisting in this department.
In May 2025, Kaleb recalled to the TODAYS THE DAY podcast: 'Tom’s like, "Yeah, my brother’s a big dude, he’s in the Marines.’" Brandon had then asked Thomas if Kaleb owned enough black clothes for the job. As this was no big obstacle, Thomas went on to relay the message to his brother-in-law.
Kaleb has humorously referred to this chat between Brandon and Thomas as his ‘job interview’. He has also noted with amusement that his first day at the famously spooky ranch was coincidentally 31st October 2017.
Watch out for Curse of 'Skinwalker Ranch' season six
Brandon, Travis, Erik, Thomas, Dragon and Kaleb have all been on-screen regulars since the show began back in 2020. This year, Curse of Skinwalker Ranch season six sees many other experts also turn up to do their bit for the ongoing investigation.
They include Cameron Fugal — who, in the new season’s first episode, flies a LIDAR-equipped helicopter at various altitudes to map the Bubble’s dimensions. There’s also technologist Pete Kelsey, who helps the team to process the resulting data, leading to the revelation that the Bubble is partially underground.
In the fifth episode, US Kites workers provide a helikite (a cross between a helium balloon and a kite) to aid in further data collection.
In the UK, Curse of Skinwalker Ranch season six will start airing on Sky HISTORY on Wednesday 10th September at 9pm.
Skinwalker Ranch is an alleged hub of ‘high strangeness’ — and other shows on similar themes are on the way. For more details, just subscribe to the Sky HISTORY Newsletter.
