There are two kinds of paranormal events that occur on my shooting range. One is benign, the other is not. I built three shooting benches here in about 1995. In 1994 I got an Oehler 35P chronograph, which I wore out twice shooting here. I can't tell you how many CASES of black powder I shot through a couple hundred rifles over the years. Here I am set up to shoot at 300 yards for group and velocity. An earlier time I was shooting at a target at one o'clock from the rifle muzzle (that red area). With a stable atmosphere, no wind movement, I suddenly heard a wind coming from the east, toward me. WOOOOEEEEE, scared me! This was not a dust devil or whirlwind, but a straight wind about 50 feet wide that blew my cardboard target 75 feet through the air toward me, then hooked to blow over the other 100 yard target area to the left and died out up in those rocks. That was wierd.
I have burned a few thousand prescribed fires over my working career in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and I am keenly attuned to wind. I have no explanation for this wind. I figured it was the spirit of some Indian (this is adjacent to the Uintah and Ouray Reservation) who was fed up with this "tegerboo" (Ute Indian for ghost) for shooting on his land. I had other targets blow away when there was no wind otherwise.
This is a Google Earth photo of my range. The two benches were in the circle at bottom and my target was off to the right. The wind blew about as shown, over the other 100 yard target butt and died out up in that rocky hillside.
In November, 2013 I was the champion string shooter at Terry Haney's David Memorial Shoot. Back on my range, I wondered if I could cut strings at 100 yards from bench rest. I first shot at an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper to check for lateral zero, then shot the top target. The fourth shot nicked the yarn and the fifth cut it. So I switched from Olde Eynsford 1 1/2F to O.E. 2F to shoot the bottom target. I loaded my rifle, capped it, set it on the sandbags and cocked the hammer. I was just snuggling into it when the rifle went off by itself! The sensation I had was that I was thrown aside and the rifle went off by itself. Fearing for my chronograph screens, i checked them and the ball had missed them. Next I hoped the ball had missed my first target, fearing a wild shot that would mess it up. Checking through my spotting scope, the string was Cut! My jaw actually dropped! I had to walk up to the target to inspect it. So I shot four more for group and velocity. I literally believe some spirit took that shot, and I think it was Jim Bridger!
A similar thing happened with a .54 Kit Carson Hawken I was sighting in. The first shot was as if someone else took it, and the ball hit one-half inch from dead center. Subsequent shots grouped five inches low and left, for the sights were not yet zeroed. Nothing like this ever happened before or since.
The 100 yard targets.
The sighter paper and two targets.
My first target.
The second target where the first shot went off by itself.
Then there is the capper caper. I loaded up my Ted Cash cap magazine and went out to shoot.
After all was ready, I went to cap my Hawken and couldn't do it. I opened the lid and found that there was a fired cap in the fingers of the capper. This really stunned me, for I knew that I hadn't dropped the capper and could not account for the fired cap. I could not image how it could have been exploded, and if it did, why didn't the whole magazine blow up? Puzzled, I threw the fired cap on the ground and went to shooting.
The next morning, I went through my routine and went to shoot, but again, couldn't fit a cap. I opened the lid and found a fired cap in the fingers WITH A LIVE CAP SITTING INSIDE IT!
Getting smarter, I removed the fired cap and examined it. It had been fired in the rifle I was using. The ground is littered with a few thousand of my fired caps. So this spirit that put it there had a sense of wit. I have no idea who it is, but this is the bald fact exactly as I tell you.
Then there is my camera problem. Here is Bob shooting a left-handed Hawken I built him years ago. I took about six pictures at the 50 yard target.
Then we shot his .58 Pedersoli, and I had good 50-yard target photos. I brought the target back to my shooting bench and laid it on the ground with his rifle and took eight photos with my digital camera. This is the camera that took almost all of the photos I have posted over the years. The camera is auto focus, but all eight of those photos were so badly out of focus as to be worthless. So I took this picture at home in my garage.
Then there are chronograph problems. I got it in 1994. In October, 2006 I had the printer rebuilt. In July, 2020 I was having problems and sent it to Oehler for repair. In September it still didn't work well and I think I sent it back again. It still gave problems, so I sent it to them in November and they found it functioning correctly. The 9 volt Duracell batteries should last about 25 hours with the printer, but they went dead in about 25 minutes. I have five in my shooting box, new to dead in about 25 minutes.
This finally caused me to quit using my chronograph at my range.
Then one day I was loading at my bench and felt a buzzing tingling sensation behind my left ear for about half a minute. I thought I was going to pass out. I don't know if I got up-loaded or down-loaded, but that caused me to quit using my shooting range. If you watched Skinwalker Ranch on TV, that place is real. It is about 19 air miles from my range. Tom Winterton, the ranch manager, is a local resident and talked about this show. Those events really happen, nothing is faked for the show. He said that people come up to him and tell of things that happen to them. He said the weird things that happen on that ranch may occur all over this basin. He also said that you could take bad things home, that the skull or brain problems he had occurred at his home. That scared me, I didn't want to take anything home. But maybe I did. A two year old computer had the hard drive crash. I had it rebuilt and a couple of months later the power unit failed, which apparently is really uncommon. I gave that computer away for parts and bought a new one. But I no longer go to my shooting range.
These are a few of maybe 15 or 20 unexplainable events that occurred on my shooting range. I have comfortable guesses about most of the benign events, but for the camera and chronograph problems and tingling skull sensation I have no imagined explanation. I now go to Buckskin Hills Shooting Range.
