Skinwalker Ranch , previously known as Sherman Ranch , is a property of approximately 512 acres (207 ha), located southeast of Ballard, Utah , that is reputed to be the site of paranormal and UFO -related activities. Its name is taken from the skin-walker of Navajo legend concerning vengeful shamans .
47-556: UFO reports in the Uintah Basin were publicized in the 1970s. Claims about the ranch first appeared in 1996 in the Salt Lake City, Utah , Deseret News , and later in the alternative weekly Las Vegas Mercury as a series of articles by investigative journalist George Knapp . These early stories detailed the claims of a family that allegedly experienced inexplicable and frightening events after they purchased and occupied
94-409: A corporation , LLCs are required to register in the states they are "conducting (or transacting) business". Each state has different standards and rules defining what "transacting business" means, and as a consequence, navigating what is required can be quite confusing for small business owners. Simply forming an LLC in any state may not be enough to meet legal requirements, and specifically, if an LLC
141-454: A business formed as an LLC rather than a corporation. An LLC with either single or multiple members may elect to be taxed as a corporation through the filing of IRS Form 8832. After electing corporate tax status, an LLC may further elect to be treated as a regular C corporation (taxation of the entity's income prior to any dividends or distributions to the members and then taxation of the dividends or distributions once received as income by
188-416: A corporation. The primary characteristic an LLC shares with a corporation is limited liability , and the primary characteristic it shares with a partnership is the availability of pass-through income taxation . As a business entity, an LLC is often more flexible than a corporation and may be well-suited for companies with a single owner. Although LLCs and corporations both possess some analogous features,
235-478: A document evidencing ownership rights in an LLC is called a "membership certificate" rather than a "stock certificate." In the absence of express statutory guidance, most American courts have held that LLC members are subject to the same common law alter ego piercing theories as corporate shareholders. However, it is more difficult to pierce the LLC veil because LLCs do not have many formalities to maintain. As long as
282-848: A number of small unincorporated communities. The Uinta Basin is also the location of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation , home to the Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Agency (also known as the Northern Ute Tribe). The Ute Tribe is the source of Utah's state name. Local attractions include Dinosaur National Monument , Starvation Reservoir State Park , Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area , Raven Ridge and Fantasy Canyon . The local economy, once based on agriculture and mining, has diversified, and energy extraction and tourism are now major industries as well. In order to move oil out of
329-621: A personal liability in cases where distributions to members render the LLC insolvent. The first state to enact a law authorizing the creation of limited liability companies was Wyoming in 1977. The law was a project of the Hamilton Brothers Oil Company , which sought to organize its business in the United States with liability and tax advantages similar to those it had obtained in Panama . From 1960 to 1997,
376-689: A source of coalbed methane . The most prominent source of oil from Paleozoic rocks is the Permian Phosphoria Formation . During the Laramide Orogeny along the Wasatch Mountains , the north–south trending coast during the Late Cretaceous was receding eastward, at the same time the area where the basin is located was subsiding , creating a lacustrine environment. A clastic wedge consisting of
423-444: A state professional license, such as legal or medical services , may not be allowed to form an LLC but may be required to form a similar entity called a professional limited liability company ( PLLC ). An LLC is a hybrid legal entity having certain characteristics of both a corporation and a partnership or sole proprietorship (depending on how many owners there are). An LLC is a type of unincorporated association , distinct from
470-599: Is a broad east–west strip of higher plateau that rises sharply above the denuded country to the south. On the south side of the plateau the descent of 3,000 feet (910 m), to the general level of eastern Utah on the south, is made in two steps. The first is the Roan Cliffs and the second, the Book Cliffs . Eastward in Colorado the two lines of cliffs are poorly distinguished. The Green River flows southward out of
517-471: Is called a "member", rather than a " shareholder ". Additionally, ownership in an LLC is represented by a "membership interest" or an "LLC interest" (sometimes measured in "membership units" or just "units" and at other times simply stated only as percentages ), rather than represented by " shares of stock " or just "shares" (with ownership measured by the number of shares held by each shareholder). Similarly, when issued in physical rather than electronic form,
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#1732797934776564-400: Is formed in one state, but the owner (or owners) are located in another state (or states), or an employee is located in another state, or the LLC's base of operations is located in another state, the LLC may need to register as a foreign LLC in the other states it is "transacting business". For U.S. federal income tax purposes, an LLC is treated by default as a pass-through entity. If there
611-502: Is only one member in the company, the LLC is treated as a "disregarded entity" for tax purposes (unless another tax status is elected), and an individual owner would report the LLC's income or loss on Schedule C of his or her individual tax return. Thus, income from the LLC is taxed at the individual tax rates. The default tax status for LLCs with multiple members is as a partnership, which is required to report income and loss on IRS Form 1065. Under partnership tax treatment, each member of
658-962: Is the source of commercial oil and gas production. Separated from the Piceance Basin by the Douglas Creek Arch, both basins formed during the Laramide Orogeny , and are bounded by the Charleston-Nebo thrust fault , the Uinta Basin boundary fault, and the Grand Hogback monocline . The Uinta Basin includes the Wasatch Plateau . According to the USGS Uinta-Piceance Assessment Team, "The black- shale facies of
705-636: The Duchesne River which feeds the Green River —a tributary of the Colorado River . The Uinta Mountains form the northern border of the Uinta Basin. They contain the highest point in Utah, Kings Peak , with a summit 13,528 feet (4,123 metres) above sea level. The climate of the Uinta Basin is semi-arid, with occasionally severe winter cold. Father Escalante 's expedition visited
752-719: The Green River Formation is the main petroleum system of Tertiary age whereas the Mahogany zone of the Green River Formation is a minor component. The Cretaceous Mancos Group and equivalent rocks are the main source of Cretaceous oil and a major contributor of gas in the basin, whereas the Upper Cretaceous Mesaverde is a lesser contributor of oil but a significant source for gas. Ferron Sandstone coals are known to be
799-541: The NIDSci effort as an attempt to get hard data using a "standard scientific approach". However, the investigators admitted to "difficulty obtaining evidence consistent with scientific publication". Cattle mutilations have been part of the folklore of the surrounding area for decades. When Robert Bigelow , founder of the National Institute for Discovery Science , purchased the ranch for $ 200,000 in 1996, this
846-709: The Oligocene . The basin is also known for solid-hydrocarbon-filled fractures consisting of ozocerite , gilsonite , and wurtzilite . In 1948, oil was discovered in the Paleozoic portion of the basin at Ashley Valley. Tertiary discoveries followed in 1948 at Roosevelt, and then the Red Wash Field and Duchesne Field in 1951. The Bluebell Field was discovered in 1967 and the Altamont Field in 1970. The Altamont-Bluebell structural trap occurs where
893-639: The Uintah Basin ) is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province, which in turn is part of the larger Intermontane Plateaus physiographic division. It is also a geologic structural basin in eastern Utah , east of the Wasatch Mountains and south of the Uinta Mountains . The Uinta Basin is fed by creeks and rivers flowing south from the Uinta Mountains. Many of the principal rivers (Strawberry River, Currant Creek, Rock Creek, Lake Fork River, and Uintah River) flow into
940-579: The limited liability of a corporation . An LLC is not a corporation under the laws of every state; it is a legal form of a company that provides limited liability to its owners in many jurisdictions. LLCs are well known for the flexibility that they provide to business owners; depending on the situation, an LLC may elect to use corporate tax rules instead of being treated as a partnership, and, under certain circumstances, LLCs may be organized as not-for-profit. In certain U.S. states (for example, Texas), businesses that provide professional services requiring
987-711: The Delaware Limited Liability Company Act provides that the managers and controlling members of a Delaware-domiciled limited liability company owe fiduciary duties of care and loyalty to the limited liability company and its members. Under the amendment (prompted by the Delaware Supreme Court's decision in Gatz Properties, LLC v. Auriga Capital Corp ), parties to an LLC remain free to expand, restrict, or eliminate fiduciary duties in their LLC agreements (subject to
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#17327979347761034-554: The LLC and the members do not commingle funds, it is difficult to pierce the LLC veil. Membership interests in LLCs and partnership interests are also afforded a significant level of protection through the charging order mechanism. The charging order limits the creditor of a debtor-partner or a debtor-member to the debtor's share of distributions, without conferring on the creditor any voting or management rights. Limited liability company members may, in certain circumstances, also incur
1081-576: The LLC seriously and enacted their own LLC statutes. By 1996, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had LLC statutes. In 1995, the IRS came to the conclusion that the widespread enactment of LLC statutes had undermined the Kintner regulations, and in 1996 it promulgated new regulations establishing a so-called "check the box" (CTB) entity classification election system that went into effect throughout
1128-405: The LLC, as is the case for all partners of a partnership, annually receives a Form K-1 reporting the member's distributive share of the LLC's income or loss that is then reported on the member's individual income tax return. On the other hand, income from corporations is taxed twice: once at the corporate entity level and again when distributed to shareholders. Thus, more tax savings often result if
1175-534: The North Horn, Colton, and Wasatch was deposited northwards. These sediments interfingered with organic-rich lacustrine clays and carbonate muds of the Green River and Flagstaff facies. Later, deposits originated from the Uinta Mountains from the north, forming a southward-thinning clastic wedge . A carbonate sediment consisting of an organic-rich oil shale was deposited from the middle Eocene into
1222-578: The Uinta Basin in September 1776. 1822–1840 French Canadian trappers Étienne Provost, François le Clerc, and Antoine Robidoux entered the Uinta Basin by way of the Old Spanish Trail and made their fortunes by trapping the many beaver and trading with the Uintah tribe. The Northern Ute Indian Reservation was established in 1861 by presidential decree. The United States opened the reservation for homesteading by non-Native Americans in 1905. During
1269-427: The Uinta Mountains to the north, crossing the Uinta Basin, and flows in a 5,000 feet (1,500 m) deep gorge known as Desolation Canyon . The Colorado River crosses the eastern portion of this section, cutting off an area of some 40 miles (64 kilometres) in diameter in which are preserved fragments of a lofty lava cap forming Grand Mesa and Battlement Mesa . The Uinta Basin forms a geologic structural basin , and
1316-522: The United States on January 1, 1997. LLCs are subject to fewer regulations than traditional corporations, and thus may allow members to create a more flexible management structure than is possible with other corporate forms. As long as the LLC remains within the confines of state law, the operating agreement is responsible for the flexibility the members of the LLC have in deciding how their LLC will be governed. State statutes typically provide automatic or "default" rules for how an LLC will be governed unless
1363-539: The Wasatch sandstone pinches out. 40°13′30″N 109°32′32″W / 40.22500°N 109.54222°W / 40.22500; -109.54222 Limited liability company A limited liability company ( LLC ) is the United States -specific form of a private limited company . It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with
1410-476: The basic terminology commonly associated with each type of legal entity, at least within the United States, is sometimes different. When an LLC is formed, it is said to be "organized", not "incorporated" or "chartered", and its founding document is likewise known as its " articles of organization ", instead of its " articles of incorporation " or its "corporate charter". Internal operations of an LLC are further governed by its " operating agreement ". An owner of an LLC
1457-597: The classification of unincorporated business associations for the purpose of U.S. federal income tax law was governed by the " Kintner regulations", which were named after the prevailing taxpayer in the 1954 legal precedent of that name. As promulgated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1960, the Kintner regulations set forth a complex six-factor test for determining whether such business associations would be taxed as corporations or partnerships. Some of these factors had equal significance, so that
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1504-684: The early decades of the twentieth century, both Native and non-Native irrigation systems were constructed—the Uinta Indian Irrigation Project , the Moon Lake Project , and the Central Utah Project . The largest community in the Utah part of the Uinta Basin is Vernal . According to the U.S. Census, the community's population in 2010 was 9,089. Other communities in the Utah part of the region include Duchesne , Roosevelt , Altamont , Tabiona , and
1551-507: The implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing). Under 6 Del. C. Section 18-101(7), a Delaware LLC operating agreement can be written, oral or implied. It sets forth member capital contributions, ownership percentages, and management structure. Like a prenuptial agreement, an operating agreement can avoid future disputes between members by addressing buy-out rights, valuation formulas, and transfer restrictions. The written LLC operating agreement should be signed by all of its members. Like
1598-403: The mark applicable to "providing recreation facilities; entertainment services, namely, creation, development, production, and distribution of multimedia content, internet content, motion pictures, and television shows." An additional trademark filing to expand use on "cups and mugs, shirts and short-sleeved shirts, sports caps and hats" was filed by Adamantium Real Estate, LLC on June 21, 2021, and
1645-421: The members) or as an S corporation (entity level income and loss passes through to the members). Some commentators have recommended an LLC taxed as an S-corporation as the best possible small business structure. It combines the simplicity and flexibility of an LLC with the tax benefits of an S-corporation (self-employment tax savings). Some legal scholars argue that corporate income taxes are intended to limit
1692-408: The more extraordinary claims originating solely from Terry Sherman, who worked as a caretaker after the ranch was sold to Bigelow. In 1996, skeptic James Randi awarded Bigelow a tongue-in-cheek Pigasus Award for funding the purchase of the ranch and for supporting John E. Mack 's and Budd Hopkins ' investigations. The award category designated Bigelow as "the funding organization that supported
1739-601: The most useless study of a supernatural, paranormal or occult [claim]". In 2023, ufologist Barry Greenwood, writing in the Journal of Scientific Exploration , criticized the $ 22 million research program led by James Lacatski. He emphasized the lack of any documentary evidence from the ranch after many decades of exploration and characterized Skinwalker as "always in the business of selling belief and hope". In 2016, Bigelow sold Skinwalker Ranch to Adamantium Real Estate LLC for around $ 500,000. After this purchase, roads leading to
1786-400: The operating agreement provides otherwise, as permitted by statute in the state where the LLC was organized. The limited liability company has grown to become one of the most prevalent business forms in the United States. Even the use of a single member LLC affords greater protection for the assets of the member, as compared to operating as an unincorporated entity. Effective August 1, 2013,
1833-489: The phenomenon at Skinwalker to be "almost certainly illusory", given that NIDsci found no proof after several years of monitoring, and that the previous owners of the property, who had lived there for 60 years, say that no supernatural events of any kind had happened there. Sheaffer considers the "parsimonious explanation" to be that the Sherman family invented the story "prior to selling it to the gullible Bigelow", with many of
1880-560: The power of corporations and to offset the legal benefits corporations enjoy, such as limited liability for their investors. There is concern that LLCs, by combining limited liability with no entity-level taxation, could contribute to excessive risk-taking and harm to third parties. Although there is no statutory requirement for an operating agreement in most jurisdictions, members of a multiple member LLC who operate without one may encounter problems. Unlike state laws regarding stock corporations, which are very well developed and provide for
1927-650: The presence of only half of them would result in classification as a partnership. Accordingly, the Wyoming Legislature tailored its statute to grant LLCs particular corporate features without exceeding this threshold. For several years, other states were slow to adopt the LLC form because it was unclear how the IRS and courts would apply the Kintner regulations to it. After the IRS finally decided in 1988 in Revenue Ruling 88-76 that Wyoming LLCs were taxable as partnerships, other states began to take
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1974-707: The property. The ranch, located in west Uintah County bordering the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation , was popularly dubbed the UFO ranch due to its ostensible 50-year history of odd events said to have taken place there. According to Kelleher and Knapp, they saw or investigated evidence of close to 100 incidents that include vanishing and mutilated cattle, sightings of unidentified flying objects or orbs, large animals with piercing red eyes that they say were unscathed when struck by bullets, and invisible objects emitting destructive magnetic fields. Among those involved were retired US Army Colonel John B. Alexander , who characterized
2021-474: The ranch were blocked, the perimeter was guarded by cameras and barbed wire, and signs were posted that aimed to prevent people from approaching the ranch. Adamantium Real Estate, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, filed a U.S. Trademark application for the service mark "Skinwalker Ranch" on February 15, 2017, and was approved and registered on April 14, 2020, with
2068-507: The region, a new railroad is proposed to be constructed into the basin. In addition, Utah State University operates Branch campuses at Vernal and Roosevelt , expanding educational opportunities in a previously underserved region of Utah. The Uinta Basin is the most northerly section of the Colorado Plateau sections. The basin is 5,000 to 10,000 feet (1,500 to 3,000 m) above sea level and corresponding to this depression
2115-655: Was approved and registered on July 12, 2022. In March 2020, Brandon Fugal, a real estate developer and tech investor, announced ownership of the ranch. In 2022, Fugal announced a partnership with the Hutchings Museum Institute in Lehi, Utah , designed to "better understand the environment and historical significance" of the ranch. ("Curse of Skinwalker Ranch" in the UK) Uintah Basin The Uinta Basin (also known as
2162-549: Was read by Defense Intelligence Agency official James Lacatski, who contacted Bigelow and obtained permission to visit the ranch. Lacatski had a supernatural experience there, which Bigelow relayed to his friend Harry Reid . Reid and Ted Stevens , a UFO experiencer, quickly agreed that the ranch deserved attention and inserted a line into the Department of Defense budget appropriating $ 22 million to study unidentified aerial phenomena. Skeptical author Robert Sheaffer believes
2209-620: Was reportedly the result of his having been convinced by the stories of mutilations, that included tales of strange lights and unusual impressions made in grass and soil told by the family of former ranch owner Terry Sherman. In 2005, Colm Kelleher and co-author George Knapp published a book, Hunt for the Skinwalker , in which they describe the ranch being acquired by Bigelow to study anecdotal sightings of UFOs, bigfoot -like creatures, crop circles , glowing orbs and poltergeist activity reported by its former owners. Kelleher and Knapp's book
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