Curse of Skinwalker Ranch: Who is Casey Smith?
Gamma radiation is a constant threat on Sky HISTORY's Curse of Skinwalker Ranch. Here's how radiological expert Casey Smith keeps the team safe.
Image: Curse of Skinwalker Ranch
There are many fascinating legends about Skinwalker Ranch. People setting foot on this ominous property in northeast Utah have reported coming across strange lights, inexplicably mutilated cattle and even intimidating, Bigfoot-like creatures.
Do any of these outlandish tales have a germ of truth to them? Is there a rational, scientific basis for them? That’s what the researchers currently occupying the 512-acre site are determined to find out. To this end, they have brought in numerous outside experts – including radiological specialist Casey Smith.
As many will have seen for themselves on Curse of Skinwalker Ranch, Casey really knows his stuff when it comes to ionising radiation. It’s a surprisingly persistent threat on the ranch, often spiking in obscure places and at inopportune times. Here’s how Casey’s reliable radiological skills have made him a go-to professional on the Sky HISTORY show.
Casey Smith’s background
Casey Smith attended the University of Idaho in the Noughties, studying for a Bachelor's degree in Hydrology. Several years later, he would switch to Idaho State University to earn a Master's degree in Radiation Protection and Health Physics. Casey’s postgraduate studies taught him tips and tricks for making accurate radiological measurements, which would later come in useful at Skinwalker Ranch.
In 2017, the year after real-estate magnate Brandon Fugal bought Skinwalker Ranch, Casey Smith joined Qal-Tek Associates. This company, based in Idaho Falls, offers various radiological management solutions, from equipment calibration to technical consulting. Casey’s roles at Qal-Tek have included Director of Professional Services and Training and Director of Industrial Solutions.
What brought Casey Smith to Skinwalker Ranch?
As Idaho borders Utah to the south, Casey did not have to travel too far to put his radiological testing gear in action at Skinwalker Ranch. He was there from the very first season of Curse of Skinwalker Ranch. In the season’s second episode ‘Night Visions’, he helps Qal-Tek colleague Travis Snowder to measure radiation levels in a suspicious sinkhole on the Mesa.
On that occasion, Dr Travis Taylor, a permanent member of the research team at the ranch, admits to suddenly feeling queasy while in the sinkhole. With the astrophysicist struggling to explain his unease, it all underlines the importance of having radiological experts at close hand to ensure the team’s safety. Let’s not forget that, at certain levels, gamma radiation can be fatal.
Casey’s biggest breakthroughs on Skinwalker Ranch
Many of the most peculiar occurrences at the ranch have been found to be linked to spots with especially high concentrations of radiation. These include the ranch’s ‘Triangle’ area, where cattle have encountered disturbing medical episodes, and the ramshackle Homestead Two. If Casey can detect such radiation hotspots, can he also help the team get to the bottom of what is causing so much ‘high strangeness’?
Casey has already helped the show’s main cast to single out areas worthy of special attention. Just look at the Triangle, found to be at the centre of a huge electromagnetic field now referred to as ‘the Bubble’. Casey Smith has also appeared on Sky HISTORY’s Beyond Skinwalker Ranch, enabling investigators to pick up radiation at other reputedly paranormal ranches on American soil. Here are some of his biggest on-screen moments...
Casey visits the scene of a radiation spike
During Curse of Skinwalker Ranch’s first season, Travis Taylor incurs surprise radiation burns near Homestead Two. So, he asks Casey to carry out a ‘radiation sweep’ there. Casey agrees to ‘double-check that area, do a more thorough search there, make sure that there isn’t anything there, make sure you guys are safe.’
The results are encouraging, if also puzzling. Casey tells Travis that ‘as far as what my meters are seeing, there’s nothing there at the moment.’ Travis remarks that ‘it’s almost like the ranch is messing with us’, alluding to the poltergeist-like ‘trickster’ activity said to be prevalent at the property.
Casey discovers a shock link to a Colorado ranch
Skinwalker Ranch certainly isn’t the only place where cattle have been mutilated by seemingly imperceptible forces. Miller Ranch in Colorado has been beset by the same phenomenon. In the second season of Beyond Skinwalker Ranch, Casey Smith uses an Ortec device to measure radiation where a ‘double mutilation’ struck at Miller Ranch.
As it turns out, the radiation there includes beryllium-7, an isotope very rarely found on earth. Especially crucially, Casey previously detected the same isotope at Skinwalker Ranch. At both ranches, could interdimensional portals have deposited the beryllium-7?
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