00x10 - Behind the Gates: Mesa, Mesa, Mesa

[bunniefuu]

Hey, we got something
on the FLIR.

We got something on the FLIR.

ERIK: I could be convinced
that we're looking

- at something formation flying.
- Really?

Our team keeps witnessing

shocking phenomena in the skies
above Skinwalker Ranch.

Yeah, that don't look
like an airplane.

What the hell is up there?

TRAVIS:
But as our investigation

of this 512-acre property
continues...

That thing is moving fast!

We've encountered something
buried in solid rock...

- THOMAS: Look at that.
- BRYANT: This thing

- is just straight-up metal.
- Oh, yeah.

TRAVIS:
that just may be the key

to solving
a centuries-old mystery.

It looks a lot like you would
think a debris field would be.

So, tonight,
we're taking a good, hard look

at some of the most compelling
discoveries we've made so far...

What the hell is that?

ERIK:
What do you got, Bryant?

I don't know
what the hell that is.

TRAVIS:
deep inside the mesa.

BRANDON: In 2016,

I purchased Skinwalker Ranch
and assembled

our team to carry
this investigation forward

into the next level.

And what is that?

We've started
deploying technology

devised by Erik Bard,

our principal investigator,

related to monitoring

and recording the events
happening on the ranch.

TRAVIS: In 2019, I accepted
Brandon Fugal's offer

to join his team's investigation
of Skinwalker Ranch

because I was intrigued
by all the eyewitness reports

of UAPs that had been made

in recent decades on
the 512-acre property.

After all, the federal
government partially funded

a previous
investigation that was led

by billionaire aerospace
mogul Robert Bigelow

from the late 1990s
to the early 2000s.

One of the first things
that we captured...

a 500-foot section

of the mesa became
totally illuminated.

That's-that's wild.

But I was equally stunned

by the surveillance
images they captured

of a large section of the mesa

appearing to glow in
the middle of the night.

BRANDON: We have also

seen several instances

of compact light pillars.

TRAVIS: That's interesting.

ERIK: The results of Robert
Bigelow's investigation

have never been fully released.

There are rumors

about some kind of base

or perhaps an alien
artifact beneath the property.

TRAVIS: We searched, but
couldn't find any large openings

or underground entrances
leading into the mesa

to help us investigate
that incredible legend.

CHRIS: So, it's gonna be

in this little area right here

where I was walking down
from the top of the mesa,

and I found a cave.

Then I suggest maybe
we just all climb up there

- and see if we can find it.
- Yeah.

TRAVIS: But then, in 2021,

retired Air Force veteran
and former Bigelow team

security officer Chris Bartel
came to the ranch and showed us

where he claimed to have
actually found a cave entrance.

CHRIS: Oh, yeah.

I'm pretty sure this is it.

THOMAS: You can
tell that at one time,

it was a lot larger, and it's
collapsed down in on itself.

You can tell that
this whole area

looks like a sunken-in area.

- Like it was all caved in. Yeah.
- CHRIS: Yeah.

Yup. This is the
area we're looking at.

THOMAS: After our
meeting with Chris Bartel,

we brought Jake Huffman out

who has spent his career
building oil well sites,

and as part of that, uh,
has used a lot of expl*sives

and done a lot of blasting.

We wanted to get
his eyes on the mesa

and see if he could tell

if this was a natural
cave-in or a purposeful one.

Looking at it,

do you see anything that
would indicate to you that

this was collapsed on purpose?

JAKE: Actually, yeah.

- Hmm.
- Usually, if you have a slough,

then you're gonna have
material that's built up somewhere,

you know, and I'm
not seeing anywhere

where softer material

- or mud or anything...
- That was pushed out?

Pushed out from underneath it.

THOMAS: That's a good point.

JAKE: I believe, at some point,

there was blasting done, and

- perhaps that was done to hide something.
- Hmm.

TRAVIS: We don't know what or
who might have purposely covered

that reported cave entrance,

but after Jake Huffman's
stunning assessment...

You're all good to go, huh?

Okay.

TRAVIS: Thomas
arranged for Aaron Blunt

and his team from Straight
Shot Drilling help us investigate

if something important

that's related to all
the ranch phenomena

might be buried inside there.

- What's going on?
- Aaron: Well, it looks like

we're in a ledge that's
holding us from coming up.

And I'm just hitting
it and riding it.

TRAVIS: After drilling with ease

for nearly 300 feet
inside the mesa,

the drill bit hit an impenetrable
object of some kind

and was just scraping
along its surface.

THOMAS: Okay.

TRAVIS: So, we decided

to search through
the drilling spoils

for any clues that
might help us figure out

what the obstruction could be.

What is that?

Oh, my.

THOMAS: I wondered if it was,
like, metal flakes or something.

TRAVIS: We had no idea where
metal flakes would come from

nearly 300 feet inside the mesa.

We just knew for sure it
wasn't anything natural.

- [high-pitched whirring]
- BRYANT: Boy, that thing sounds

like it's hitting
something hard.

ERIK: What the heck is...?

TRAVIS: So, in
order to find out,

Aaron kept drilling to
see if he could penetrate

the obstruction.

Uh, I'm up against something
pretty hard right now.

So, we're coming up about


It was directing you
downward, and now,

you're still on it, but it's
allowing you to go upwards?

Right.

So, we've got kind of a V

that your bit is sitting
there bumping up against,

trying to find a place
to start drilling up.

- Is that right?
- Yeah. May not even be a V.

It could even be...
maybe a dome.

TRAVIS: A massive, possibly
dome-shaped, metal object?

Given the legends we'd heard

about what might be
hidden below the ranch,

we didn't know what to think.

I know it sounds crazy.

But that was just the beginning
of strange things to come

as our investigation
of the mesa continued.

THOMAS: So, are we ready

- to drill again?
- Yeah.

TRAVIS: In 2022, we conducted

ground-penetrating radar scans

that confirmed a large, possibly

metallic, dome-shaped object

was buried in the mesa
on Skinwalker Ranch.

Would this
drill... would it drill

through steel-reinforced
concrete?

- Yes.
- It would?

Yeah, we do it
quite a few times.

TRAVIS: So, we had
Aaron Blunt and his team

from Straight Shot Drilling

return with an even
more powerful rig

to see if they could
penetrate the top of the object

and figure out just
what it could be.

Did you get that one working?

Yeah, I got 'em all working now.

And as the drilling
operation progressed,

Erik and I were using
our spectrum analyzer

to monitor the


coming from the drilling beacon.

That's a device inside the
drill head that communicates

with a receiver on the
surface that enables the drillers

to track its location
underground.

When we try to
approach that point,

our bit is getting pushed
down or it's getting pushed up.

ERIK: So, he's hitting
resistance right now.

THOMAS: You can hear that.

- Drill's hitting something hard.
- Oh, yeah.

What's going on, Thomas?

After drilling more
than 270 or 280 feet

of going through
sandstone like butter,

the drill has
encountered a hard object

- that it cannot penetrate.
- Wow.

Once, again, the drill
bit couldn't penetrate

the dome-shaped object,

and was just
spinning on its surface,

several hundred
feet inside the mesa.

I'm looking for
the beacon signal

at 33 megahertz right now.

Whoa. What is that?

Something's going nuts there.

And then our spectrum analyzer

showed that every
time the bit made contact

with the dome-shaped object,

something was amplifying
the drill beacon's signal

and rebroadcasting
it back at us.

There's a phenomenon
occurring right now

that we don't understand.

ERIK: What could cause

the RF spectrum
to suddenly change

as the drill bit encounters

this apparently
impenetrable object?

Is this an attempt
to communicate?

It is certainly very suggestive

that we're dealing
with something

that isn't native to that mesa.

AARON: See, and we're
at 8,000 pounds of push.

- [high-pitched whirring]
- Hardly any rotation off of it.

So, either my bit's broke off,

or it's just spinning
on something smooth.

TRAVIS: We
retracted the drill bit

so that we could find
out how damaged it was

from grinding on the surface
of the dome-shaped object.

THOMAS: Getting
this cleaned off,

these teeth are
all perfectly intact.

- It's not missing a single tooth.
- Yeah.

It looks like it's in
perfect condition.

TRAVIS: You'd think if you were
grinding that against something

for a half hour that it
would dull it, at least.

It should have heated up
and at least wore it down, flat.

- TRAVIS: That's crazy.
- AARON: Yeah, that is.

TRAVIS: It was as if the
drill bit had been spinning

on a protective force field,

like something out
of science fiction.

Erik and I were
in total disbelief.

Ultimately, even with this
more powerful drilling rig,

we weren't able to
uncover any more answers

as to what we were
dealing with inside the mesa.

KALEB: All right, so, Jan,

I'm assuming we would just
want you to go back and forth

- JAN: Yeah.
- As much as we can,

and really see how far back

and how deep this
anomaly is, by chance.

- Let's give it a go, for sure.
- Yeah.

TRAVIS: To help us
change our luck, in 2023,

ground-penetrating
radar expert Jan Franke

brought out a specialized device

to scan back and
forth across the mesa.

That day, he and Kaleb
gathered the best data yet

related to the
dome-shaped object.

JAN: So, we did a total

of 12 total passes.

I got 12 hits for
this same anomaly

as I went further
and further back.

What this all adds up to is
probably a metallic object

that could be
buried inside there,

measuring, well, at
least 300 feet long,

and it might be even larger.

- Yes.
- So, it is repeatable.

Whoa.

So, let me show you what

that looks like in 3D.

This is our target
in the same space.

So we can really
see how that lines up.

- Really?
- There is

an absolutely obvious target

that extends across
this entire area.

I still don't know
how far back it goes.

THOMAS: Can you tell
us what the distance was

between that first line

and the last line that you did?

We're looking at...

at least 100 meters.



- Yeah.
- Wow.

TRAVIS: It looks a lot

like you would think a
debris field would be.

ERIK: Just think about
what circumstances

would produce a debris field

inside of a mesa.

TRAVIS: Jan not only confirmed

the approximate size of the
massive dome-shaped object,

but he also detected
a number of smaller,

possibly metallic
anomalies all around it.

Could it be something...

man-made? Perhaps.

But why, in the
middle of nowhere?

I can't see

a natural phenomenon
that we could

explain easily causing

this sort of anomaly.

TRAVIS: Okay,
now we had evidence

of a huge debris
field in the mesa.

We recovered metallic fragments

that possibly came from
the dome-shaped object,

which may be
related to spacecraft.

And we might have even
detected a communication signal

coming from inside the mesa.

Could the legend about
what might be buried

under Skinwalker Ranch be true?

What we soon discovered

made it an even more
compelling possibility.

ERIK: So, guys,

sounds like you're
bringing some capabilities

that we've never had out here

in terms of the
horizontal drilling.

Yeah, so we'll-we'll
have the capabilities

to about 60,000 pounds

- of force. -60,000 pounds?
- TRAVIS: Wow.

After we obtained
ground-penetrating radar data

that showed the dome-shaped
object buried in the mesa

on Skinwalker Ranch
might be surrounded

by several smaller anomalies,

we met a drilling team
from Mark Construction

to devise an ambitious
new investigation.

ERIK: We expect to
be able to punch through

right up beside. We don't
want to go into this thing.

- TRAVIS: What if it's something important?
- MIKE: Yeah.

ERIK: We've decided rather
than to drill into the structure,

we should create boreholes
on both sides of the anomaly

that will provide
instrumentation access

inside the mesa,

very near to but not penetrating
into the anomaly itself.

I have in mind to insert active
and passive instruments...

some of which simply measure,

others of which may
even broadcast signals

into the anomaly in order
to study its response.

This will give us an opportunity

to better understand
whether it is of natural

or possible
technological origins.

TRAVIS: As the new drilling
operation got underway,

we were all hopeful to finally
get some definitive answers.

BRYANT: They've got

the bit to the right level,

and they're gonna... about
to punch into the main wall

to go up into the mesa.

TRAVIS: But very quickly,

things got strange

and only got
stranger from there.

- [static]
- Look over here.

Holy crap. Look at this.

First, we detected a mysterious
signal at 31 megahertz

that was coming
from inside the mesa

and possibly from the
dome-shaped object.

I don't know what that is.

'Cause I've never seen
a signal like that before.

ERIK: I don't see
any movement here.

ALEX: Uh, it's not moving
in the pit here, so it's broke.

TRAVIS: Then,
nearly 130 feet in,

the drill bit hit something
it couldn't penetrate,

causing the drill pipe
to break into pieces.

Boy, you can hear that
below us, can't you?

Yeah.

TRAVIS: A couple weeks later,

after fixing that problem,

the team was able to drill
nearly 180 feet into the mesa...

Jared, are you going through
something real hard right now

or what?

When they suddenly hit

another impenetrable
obstruction.

TRAVIS: Big signal, right here.

- ERIK: What are you tuning into there, Travis?
- There's a signal

at 1.6-ish.

And just a couple
seconds later, we detected

a radio frequency
signal at 1.6 gigahertz

coming from somewhere
directly above Homestead Two,

which is several
hundred yards away.

I'm going.

Now, since we had detected

that kind of signal many
times during our experiments,

I rushed over there
with Kaleb and Dragon.

KALEB: Rocket is hot,

and we're gonna
be launching in five,

four, three,

two, one.

TRAVIS: We launched two
rockets, hoping to either hit

whatever was
broadcasting that signal

or stimulate it to
appear. But then

something we never would
have expected happened.

KALEB: Almost looked like it
stopped right there for a second.

TRAVIS: As it was descending,

our rocket literally
froze in midair

for several seconds,

like something invisible
was holding on to it.

Was there a
connection between that

and whatever the drillers
hit inside the mesa?

The timing was
beyond intriguing.

Just like what would
happen the following day.

[mooing]

KALEB: Hey, guys.

You see that?

TRAVIS: Look at this cow, guys!

Hey, guys!

Look at this cow!

ERIK: What's going on?

BRYANT: It's
spinning in circles.

What the hell is
wrong with that cow?

TRAVIS: As the drilling
operation proceeded

with a larger and stronger bit,

suddenly, a calf in the nearby
field became seriously ill...

THOMAS: Its eyes are pure white.

And even showed
signs of exposure

to a high dose of
microwave radiation.

What's going on?

JARED: So, we keep
losing communication

with our transmitter.

TRAVIS: Wow.

The drilling beacon mysteriously

stopped communicating
with its receiver.

But when we pulled
it out and inspected it,

it was working perfectly.

So, was the dome-shaped
object and the smaller anomalies

somehow connected to
all of these bizarre events?

And if so, what
the hell are they?

The next discovery
we'd make in the mesa

offered a crazy possible answer.

♪

ALEX [over walkie]: Okay, Jared.

Go in with this next rod.

Still got him, so...

that's a good sign.

A week after all that
craziness happened

with the rocket and the calf,

the drillers fixed their beacon

and were close to getting
beyond 180 feet inside the mesa.

That gave us a lot
of hope that, soon,

we'd get at least one of
our boreholes completed.

- Listen to that. He's struggling.
- KALEB: Yeah.

He's trying to push
that thing in right now.

[loud rattling]

TRAVIS: What the
hell is in that mesa?

But then the drill
slowed way down again...

We have no idea where this, uh,

drill head is up in this mesa.

And the beacon failed,

meaning we had no way of knowing

if they were drilling
upwards like we needed to

for our plan to work.

So, at that point,
they shut the drill down

and we decided to
check the spoils again

for any clues as to
what they hit this time.

We weren't prepared
for what we found.

What the hell is that?

Hey! Erik!

ERIK: What do you got, Bryant?

BRYANT: Uh...

- it's gelatin.
- What?

BRYANT: It looks like what
Kris Porritt was alluding to.

TRAVIS: Are you kidding me?

It's green jelly.

Finding that green
jelly substance

in the mesa spoils
was unbelievable.

KRIS: There was
part of a wreckage.

Yeah.

Uh, some-some type of,

uh, aircraft or some-some
kind of flying saucer

or alien craft.

TRAVIS: Because, before that,
retired Sheriff Kris Porritt told us

that he saw wreckage
from an alien spacecraft

near the south field
on Skinwalker Ranch

back in the 1980s.

Well, I'll tell you,

he found a liquid substance.

But it wasn't liquid.

It was more of a
gelatin-type stuff.

Jelly.

And it was green.

It was pretty much
scattered all over in here.

TRAVIS: He described
seeing a substance

very much like what
we had just found.

And, uh, the jelly sample,
uh, is kind of interesting.

Doesn't really
match with what I see

in terms of the-the
geological history of the area.

TRAVIS: So we had botany
expert Dr. Mitchell Power

analyze the jelly

to see if it might be
something natural

or something else.

TRAVIS: You mean like
something caused a fire

deep inside the mesa?

Absolutely. Yeah.

TRAVIS: Wow.

We found more evidence

of a massive fire or expl*si*n
deep inside the mesa,

right where we've identified a
massive dome-shaped object

that may be covered with
spacecraft-related materials.

It's still too soon to
know for sure what it is,

but I can guarantee we're
not gonna stop investigating

until we uncover it.

ERIK: We're seeing things

that are very hard
for us to explain

inside the mesa.

This part of the ranch
continues to defy our efforts

to characterize it.

At least it's gonna make us
work for the answers we get.

BRANDON: The mesa continues
to be one of the most challenging

areas of the ranch to explore.

My hope is to find answers,

gain new insights,

be able to understand
the nature of what

we are dealing with
at the ranch.

The deeper down the rabbit hole
that we travel,

the more complex
that it appears.

There are no easy answers
at Skinwalker Ranch.