VERNAL, Utah — It was 1986 or so in Wyoming. Stephanie Tippets says she was outside and looked up.
“I see a black triangle craft on the mountain in my hometown,” she said.
“It was on the hillside hovering. So, it felt like I was connected to it.”
Tippets said she found a safe place to talk about her experience at PhenomeCon. The conference has been held in Vernal the last two Septembers.
Speakers cover UFOs, Bigfoot, ghosts and cattle mutilations, said Tom Winterton, the superintendent of Skinwalker Ranch, which itself gets discussion. The ranch’s supposed-mysterious energies are featured on The History Channel.
Winterton met a FOX 13 News crew outside the ranch’s gates.
“We’ve had individuals here at the turnaround before,” he said, “that have had crazy things happen to them and their equipment whether it be to their cars or their cell phones and stuff.”
The FOX 13 News car and equipment suffered no difficulties.
“Yeah, why not Phenomenon, right?” said Lesha Coltharp, the director of travel and tourism for Uintah County.
She and her staff organize and operate the conference. Coltharp said the 2022 PhenomeCon drew about 1,000 people from more than a dozen states and even a few foreign countries.
“Just trying to fill hotel rooms,” Coltharp explained. “People in restaurants. Just trying to balance our economy.”
“We’ve got Skinwalker Ranch. We’ve got Blindfrog Ranch.
“So why not create an event like PhenomeCon where we bring in speakers for three, four days?”
“PhenomeCon” is a registered trademark belonging to Uintah County, according to federal records.
The conference’s financial ties to local government were first reported by Expanding Frontiers Research – a group that tries to find logical explanations for the unexplained.
“They're promoting information that isn't based in fact,” Erica Lukes, of Expanding Frontiers, said of PhenomeCon speakers and organizers. “Not only that, but it could be potentially harmful to people's mental health.”
Vernal is a 10,000-person town sitting three hours east of Salt Lake City near the lines with Colorado and Wyoming. Vernal and Uintah County are known for oil, gas, ranching and being the gateway to Dinosaur National Monument.
The tax on hotel and motel rooms has financed PhenomeCon, Coltharp said. But ticket sales haven’t covered expenses, according to the financial records also obtained and reviewed by FOX 13 News.
In all, PhenomeCon lost about $24,000 over its first two years, the records show. That doesn’t include other costs to Uintah County and Vernal, including the labor of Coltharp and her team and free use of the county-owned conference center.
Coltharp, in an interview, contended PhenomeCon was on track to at least break even in 2022 before inflation increased the budget. She emphasized fees paid to speakers also cover their expenses and per diems.
Tallying line items is not a good gauge of PhenomeCon’s success, Coltharp contends. Applying a formula used by the tourism industry, she estimates the 2022 conference generated $1 million for local businesses.
Lukes, whose estranged husband used to work on Skinwalker Ranch, and another investigator at Expanding Frontiers, Jack Brewer, don’t like public money put toward something they view as spreading misinformation.
“One that jumps right out,” Brewer said, “is Dr. Travis Taylor told repeated stories at the event about something he calls the Hitchhiker Phenomenon.”
Taylor is one of the stars of “The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.” The Hitchhiker Phenomenon or Hitchhiker Effect, as it’s been described by Taylor, is when an energy of some kind follows ranch visitors or visitors spread it to others.
In a video from PhenomeCon found on Youtube, Taylor claims the effect followed a ranch investigator named Axelrod.
“One of the neighbors of Axelrod had an orb fly through them,” Taylor said in the video, “and they ended up with a very dangerous form of cancer from it.”
Taylor did not respond to messages seeking comment. Records show Uintah County has paid him $10,604 total to speak at the two PhenomeCons.
Winterton, the Skinwalker Ranch superintendent, received $3,457 for the 2022 PhenomeCon. He also sits on the conference’s planning committee.
When asked about people who stand to benefit financially from sitting on the planning committee, Coltharp explained, “They know the content. They know the people. They’ve got the relationships. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to get these big-name speakers.”
As for the science, Coltharp said she’s not concerned about misinformation.
“We hire high-caliber speakers to come in,” she said.
Winterton asked: “So, should we not invite Bigfoot then because we can’t scientifically prove?”
“I don’t think anything paranormal can be proven scientifically,” he added. “That’s why it’s classified as paranormal.”
Lukes and Brewer see a difference between PhenomeCon and other government-supported festivals like renaissance festivals or Old West days which may not be historically or scientifically accurate, either.
At these types of festivals, Lukes said, “you're not seeing a big push down people's throat where you're being presented information repeatedly, that cannot be substantiated by, you know, by fact.”
The 2023 version of PhenomeCon is scheduled for Sept. 6-9. Coltharp said the organizing budget is $150,000.
Tippets wants to go. She acknowledges maybe some people suffering from mental illness should not attend.
“But yet,” Tippets added, “if it makes them feel happy about themselves and comfortable and their learning knowledge, I mean, you have to take some things with a grain of salt anyway.”