05x10 - What the Gel?

[bunniefuu]

ERIK:
All right, guys, the 1.6

is coming from Homestead Two.

TRAVIS:
Let's go.

It is coming
from straight overhead.

The rocket literally just
stopped in midair. That's crazy!

JARED:
I'm into something

fairly hard.

THOMAS:
We got metal.

Look at this cow, guys.

THOMAS:
Its eyes are pure white.

TRAVIS: That's what
happens when you get exposed

to microwaves.

Those eyes have ruptured.

There's no way she's
seeing out of those.

NARRATOR: There is
a ranch in Northern Utah.

It is considered the epicenter

of the strangest and most
disturbing phenomena on Earth:

animal mutilations,

bizarre UFO sightings

and unusual energies that
have proven harmful to humans.

For 20 years, the
federal government

tried to find
answers and failed.

Now a new team of
dedicated scientists,

researchers and
experts has taken over.

They are determined to
solve the mystery and reveal...

...The Secret of
Skinwalker Ranch.

TRAVIS: Hey, here are the boys.

What's up, fellas?

-That was some crazy stuff, man.
-ERIK: What's the story?

KALEB: So, the vet
looked at the calf's eyes.

And you could see
around the base of 'em

where it was hemorrhaging
from the inside.

-The eyes were hemorrhaging on the inside?
-Yeah.

Yeah, she said that
there's swelling on the brain,

and it's a lot of pressure
on the eyes, but, yeah,

-it's bleeding around the eyes.
-BRYANT: Geez.

Oh, poor thing.

We've been struggling for
more than a month now to drill

an eight-inch borehole
up through the mesa

where we first encountered a
massive dome-shaped object

back in 2021.

According to recent
ground-penetrating radar scans,

this thing is also surrounded
by several smaller anomalies

and may be composed of
metallic materials that are similar

to what NASA has used to
protect the surfaces of spacecraft.

So we're attempting

to drill two boreholes
through the mesa,

one on each side of
the dome-shaped object.

Then we'll insert
scanning devices

that will hopefully enable
us to identify what it is.

But yesterday the drilling
operation was thwarted

once again about 200
feet inside the mesa

when we believe the
drill bit made contact

with the dome-shaped object.

And then a calf
in the nearby field

suddenly became seriously ill

and showed symptoms of being
exposed to an extreme amount

of microwave radiation.

You know, one of the
symptoms of... well, of both

microwave exposure

or gamma ray radiation
exposure is brain swelling

and bleeding from your eyes

from hemorrhaging
behind the eyeball.

We didn't detect
anything like that.

So, what happened to it?

If there's truly something

that can have an effect that
quickly on an animal like that,

I mean, that's got
to make you pause.

Look, we're drilling
into the mesa.

We're breaking ground
we never have before.

I mean, I hate to say it.

Is it some sort of
a warning shot?

It's pretty crazy.
It's concerning.

TRAVIS: The only thing

we can say is, it absolutely
correlates with the drilling.

And it's right here
at the drill site.

THOMAS: That's a good point.

It's all disturbing.

We're often told

that when you dig on the
ranch, bad things happen.

[cow lowing]

I have to wonder,
after seeing this calf,

if the two are related.

We don't know what we're
dealing with inside that mesa.

Look, I've had a lot of health
issues related to this ranch.

So this definitely
got me on high alert.

Well, it's important
to note that

we immediately removed the calf
and its mother from the property

as soon as the vet got done.

It's doing much better.

TRAVIS: Good. Okay.

THOMAS: Listen, guys,
I'm gonna go back up

on the mesa and
check with the drillers.

TRAVIS: All right, Thomas.
Keep a walkie with you, man.

THOMAS: Yup.

TRAVIS: Today

the drillers are
extracting the rods

from the mesa so
that we can assess

the drill bit for damage

from possible contact with
the dome-shaped object.

Hey, we're down to the
last two rods in this hole.

Uh, they'll have this
bit out of this hole

if you guys want
to head up this way

and watch it as it comes out.

Yeah, man. We'll be
up there in just a minute.

We're also eager to check
out the beacon in the drill bit.

This device sends a signal
to a receiver on the surface

so that the drillers
can keep track

of the drill bit underground.

But just when it may have
hit the dome-shaped object,

the beacon stopped working.

Hold that right there.

Is it broken, or is it just

that the battery's
dead in the instrument?

ALEX: We haven't
figured out yet.

I'll wash everything
off, and I can get to that

and pull that out,
change the battery,

make sure
everything's calibrated,

and we can go back in.

Yeah. Let's go have at it.

ERIK: Every time we've
tried to drill into this site,

we've encountered
roadblocks to our investigation.

-TRAVIS: Is that the battery set up there?
-EASTON: Yeah.

ERIK: We've run into things,

including numerous
equipment malfunctions,

so it's hard for me
not to speculate

about what relationship that
possible dome-shaped object

was having with our equipment.

Could it be a conductor?

Could it be something
even more interesting?

I guess time will tell

what it is we're dealing
with at this point.

TRAVIS: I'm gonna go
measure the voltage on this thing.

THOMAS: What's the voltage

supposed to be on those?

Oh, they're supposed
to be 3.6 volts.

I'm gonna take this
now, and I'm gonna

recalibrate everything on it.

-I'll let you get to do what you need to do.
-All right, man.

All right. Thanks.

The bit didn't appear to
have any physical damage.

So Erik and I were eager to
see if the beacon's battery had

simply died for some reason.

Look at that. 3.619 volts.

This battery is fully charged.

Hey, guys?

This battery's fine.

-The battery is fine?
-Yup.

It shows brand-new.

-That's pretty crazy.
-Yeah. It's definitely strange.

TRAVIS: All right, let
us know if this works,

or if it goes out
again, let me know.

-ALEX: Okay, we will for sure.
-All right, appreciate it, guys.

-ALEX: Thank you.
-Good luck!

Have the drilling beacons
actually been shut down

by merely making contact with

whatever that
dome-shaped object is?

If so, that makes us
all the more determined

to get a borehole drilled
up through the mesa

so we can insert
scanning devices

and figure out just what
we're dealing with in there...

and how it might be related

to all the other
strange phenomena

that keeps happening
on the ranch.

All right, Jared.

Let's start going back in.

TRAVIS: Only time would tell

if the drilling operation
would finally succeed.

So, as Erik and I stayed
to monitor the operation,

later that morning
at Homestead One,

Thomas and Dragon,

along with ranch
caretakers Tom Lewis

and Kandus Linde, met
once again with retired sheriff

and Uinta Basin
resident Kris Porritt.

-Welcome back, Kris.
-Hey.

-How you guys doing?
-Not too shabby.

-How are you?
-Welcome back to the ranch.

-Good to see you.
-You, too.

So, Kris, thank you so much
for coming back out here.

I understand you have

a few more stories
that you'd like

to share with us today.

-Well, yeah.
-Okay.

TRAVIS: In recent years,

Kris has shared some
very bizarre stories

about cattle mutilations

that he investigated
on the ranch

more than three decades
ago for Kenneth Myers,

who owned the property
from 1947 to 1992.

-Let's get you in the Jeep.
-Okay.

-Hear some stories.
-Let's see what jogs your memory.

KRIS: Last time I came
out here to the ranch,

I didn't get into much detail.

There's things on this ranch
that's happened that I haven't

even told people yet.

Me and Ken Myers
made a promise and a pact

that I'd never disclose
any of the information,

and so I just kept
that secret all this time.

But my family convinced
me to go ahead and open up.

That's why I decided
to come out here today.

Okay, right over in here.

KANDUS: All right, lead the way.

Is this the right spot, Kris?

Yeah, this area right here was

where one of the cows had
been surgically operated on.

One day Ken Myers
called me up and he said,

"You need to come up
and look at what I've found."

And when I got up here,

there was mutilated or
surgically-operated-on cattle.

It was quite a mystery
to me and Ken.

The cow was laying
on this side of the ditch,

and the head was kind
of down into the ditch

just a little bit.

Okay.

From the shoulder blades
forward to the tip of the nose,

every bone was gone.

There wasn't a neck bone,

there wasn't a skull,
there wasn't nothing.

It was just an empty
sack and an empty head.

Now you tell me,

without using a
scalpel or something,

how you're going to remove that.

Right.

There was no blood, nothing.

Wow.

THOMAS: There's a long history
of cattle mutilations on the ranch,

reports going back decades.

So having Kris
Porritt here is huge.

His experiences
here on the ranch

could help us gain
even more information

about unexplainable events
that surround these mutilations.

Is there more to the
story than we know?

There was part of a wreckage.

So, when you say wreckage,

you're talking about, like,

some sort of a craft wreckage?

Yeah, uh, s-some
type of a aircraft

or some-some
kind of flying saucer

or alien craft.

BRYANT: So, when
you say wreckage,

you're talking about like
some sort of a craft wreckage?

Yeah.

-Some type of alien craft.
-BRYANT: Wow.

What has you feeling so sure
that you feel like it was alien?

KRIS: Well...

one of the calf's
had been mutilated.

Okay.

Its head was laying down here.

And right behind it,

there was a piece of metal
that looked like aluminum.

It was about ten feet wide.

BRYANT: We've all heard so
many stories about Skinwalker Ranch,

but when Kris Porritt,

a former deputy
sheriff in the area,

came back to the property again

and told us his story
about this alleged

spacecraft crash, it
was really shocking.

It sounds fantastic,

but if we're able to
uncover something like that,

then we're onto something
really big here on the ranch.

KRIS: Ken Myers picked that up,

kind of crumpled it,
folded it, and he said,

"Now watch," and he
threw it down on the ground

and it just kind of
slowly opened back up

to a sheet of metal.

TOM: So, this piece of metal--

it was malleable and
it popped right back?

KRIS: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Ken says, "Come on over here."

I was standing about
where Tom's at right now.

There was an impression
made right here.

-So, the-- was the ground pressed in?
-Yeah.

Yeah, it was an
indentation in the ground.

-Okay.
-KANDUS: Like something landed,

-made an impression, and then left, or...?
-KRIS: Yeah.

I'm-I'm thinking it was

close to five feet wide

-at the center, okay?
-Okay.

And then tapered down
to about a two-foot point.

And it was same on the
front as it was on the back.

-Okay.
-And, uh, it was about

just a little over 12 feet long.

KANDUS: What happened to it?

BRYANT: Yeah,
what did he do with it,

with the metal?

I don't have any idea
what he done with it.

I don't know.

THOMAS: I was shocked
when he said that Ken Myers had

retrieved part of this wreckage,

what appeared to be aluminum
that could be crumpled up

and then retake its shape.

Now, that's probably one of
the most spectacular claims

that have been made
here on the ranch,

and, uh, I've learned
never to discount anything.

So this is pretty big.

Was there other things there?

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.

THOMAS: If I had heard

Kris Porritt say the things
he did five years ago,

I'd have laughed him
right off this ranch.

The interesting thing is,

this is the same area
that we saw a cow die.

And we have the security footage

that shows some
type of black object

up in the sky above the
cow at the same time.

You know, at this
point it's all speculation.

Who knows what the truth is?

Ken Myers didn't
want to make it public.

He was afraid that the
government would step in

and take the ranch from him.

I mean, it was his property
and that's what he wanted,

but I'm glad it's getting out,
the-the truth about the ranch.

-Hmm.
-Yeah.

THOMAS: Thank you for sharing

-this information with us.
-KRIS: Okay.

And, uh, we're gonna
get our scientists

-and come look at this.
-BRYANT: Absolutely.

-TRAVIS: What's up, guys?
-BRYANT: Howdy.

So we just heard
quite the story.

Yes, we did.

What kind of story?

THOMAS: Well, we had
Kris Porritt come on today,

who claims Ken Myers
found a crashed craft.

-BRYANT: Basically he said...
-Are those his words?

Yeah.

TRAVIS: What did they
say they did with the crash?

Kris said that he did witness

the metal, or the-the wreckage,

but that he didn't
participate in getting rid of it.

ERIK: Wow.

Even if one percent
of such a fantastic story

turned out to be correct,

well, it would be,
uh, fascinating.

So let's go investigate where
they think the crash occurred.

ERIK: Look for physical changes

that might have
happened to the land itself?

That's what I think, yeah.

Erik, I think you were
the one that pointed it out.

It was right after we came
on the ranch for the first time,

and you pointed
down to the south field

and said, "Hey,
isn't that interesting?

"There's that big
hole in the tree

-down there in the south."
-Oh, yeah. Yeah.

-Where Kris said this crash happened, yeah.
-Yeah.

TRAVIS: What, what are
you guys talking about?

Matter of fact, I
have a photo of it.

I actually emailed it to
you on our way over here.

ERIK: Oh, yeah.

THOMAS: Take a look at
this hole through the tree.

ERIK: Looks
unnatural, doesn't it?

THOMAS: After hearing Kris
Porritt tell a story of a crash site,

it made me think about this tree

down in the southeast
corner of the field

that has a huge hole
in it, and here I am,

wondering if something
crashed through the trees.

I don't know if
they're connected,

but they look
like they could be.

Maybe something happened

to come through the tree

-when it crashed.
-Mm-hmm.

TRAVIS: Erik and
Thomas were right.

There is a perfectly
circular hole

through the canopy of the tree

where Kris Porritt claims
that a spacecraft crashed

on Skinwalker Ranch more
than three decades ago.

I wasn't sure what to think,

but I was definitely intrigued.

I want to go look at
that tree a little closer.

-Sure.
-Right? And see if there's a way

by looking at the tree...

if it looks like
something hit it.

And then it might lead us

to where it might
have hit the field.

I think an arborist
should take a look at it.

ERIK: I like that idea, and
I'm especially interested

in learning whether we can
tell whether there's heat damage

or radiation damage, you know,
something out of the ordinary.

THOMAS: Sounds good.

TRAVIS: All right, great.

The next day, while
our drilling operation

continued at the mesa...

THOMAS: Hey, Jon.

Hey, Thomas.

-Good to see you.
-Good seeing you.

...we invited arborist
Jon Kammerer

out to examine the tree

and see what he might
be able to conclude about

what could have caused
that huge circular hole.

THOMAS: So, Jon, we, uh,
had an individual that told us

a story about a craft
that may have crashed

out here in the field.

And the interesting
thing about this crash

is, there's a tree, uh,

in close proximity
that's got a hole in it.

So we're trying to recreate

and try to piece
together, uh, any evidence

that may support that story.

And so part of this is
trying to determine...

Whether the crash
went through that tree.

-You got it, that's it.
-Okay.

Well, probably
the best thing to do

is let you get eyes on it

-and look at it.
-Yeah, let me, let me grab my gear.

I'm a certified arborist

and I have 15 years'
experience managing

and assessing
the health of trees.

So I'm gonna climb up into
the tree and look for signs

of if something went through it.

So...

the hole's actually not
visible right under the tree.

You got to get
back a ways from it.

-ERIK: Are you seeing that?
-JON: Yeah, that top, the higher one.

-Yeah.
-Okay.

Is there anything that
jumps out to you right now

that tells you this is

just a normal, uh, sort of

death and decay process,

or is there anything
that would say no,

this was actually a break?

I mean, I really got to go
up there and take a look.

-Okay, let's get you up there.
-Let's get you up there.

BRYANT: This hole looks
like it's perfectly cut out.

So we want to know

if this hole was created
by something abnormal

or if it's just a normal
occurrence in nature.

So having an
arborist out here to see

if there's any broken
branches, burns on the bark,

that's gonna help us a lot.

So this is the
center of the hole?

TRAVIS: Yes.

THOMAS: Do you see anything?

Yeah, a branch here...

is growing straight up
and then curving out.

You know, something could
have broke off here at some point.

Creating it to grow
and bend this way.

Any sense of how
recently that happened?

Yeah, either the
branch died back...

or... it broke off somehow,

creating some
epichoric sprout growth.

That could have been...



TRAVIS: There you go.

Wow.

That closely aligns

with what Kris Porritt told us.

JON: So there is indication
that maybe some branches

were broke off
about 30 years ago?

Yes.

Well, that's interesting.

We had no expectations
that arborist Jon Kammerer

would find any evidence
to support Kris Porritt's story

that an alien craft allegedly
crashed near the south field

on Skinwalker Ranch
back in the 1980s.

-Jon?
-JON: Yeah?

Since you're right there at it,

kind of just estimate the, uh,
geometry of the hole for us.

Yeah, I can get you
some dimensions.

TRAVIS: But when
he gave his analysis

that the huge hole through
this tree looked unnatural

and may have been created
more than 30 years ago,

we were definitely
reconsidering our skepticism.

JON: We're about
ten feet, eight inches.

Oh, wow, yeah.

And it's pretty symmetric.

BRYANT: That's good to know.

Yeah, it is good to know.

ERIK: I can't say

that the evidence
that Jon is sighting

is any kind of proof,

but it is suggestive
that possibly

something has come
through the top of that tree.

Just as has been
suggested by Kris Porritt.

He described to us a craft

that was ten feet in diameter,

so if we have an
object about this size

possibly crashing through
the top part of that tree,

I suppose it could
account for that hole.

So... just your
professional opinion,

there does look like there
were some branches broken



-Yeah.
-Well, so it doesn't

throw the hypothesis out.

-Exactly.
-ERIK: Yeah.

TRAVIS: After that, we will

definitely keep
investigating that area

near the south
field for more clues.

BRYANT: Thanks
again for coming out.

JON: Appreciate you
having me out here.

THOMAS: Yeah.

TRAVIS: But later
that afternoon...

THOMAS: Is your
signal still good?

Everything's looking good?

-Yeah, everything's picking up fine right now, so...
-All right.

TRAVIS: ...we were
all back at the mesa

to monitor the drilling
team's progress.

THOMAS: I can see he's
just about ready to change rods

-right now.
-Yeah.

TRAVIS: They were just
about to reach the spot

nearly 180 feet in

where the beacon
lost its signal.

Okay, Jared.

Go in with this next rod.

I still got him, so
that's a good sign.

-It's right here now.
-KALEB: Yeah.

TRAVIS: He's
absolutely broadcasting.

We were holding our breath,

hoping the beacon

would stay connected so the team

could complete this borehole

all the way through the mesa

and help us get some answers
about the dome-shaped object.

It's getting all wonky.

And I lost him.

-You lost him?
-I got him back now.

Well, that is something.

Something's making their
beacon jump around in frequency.

And it shouldn't be doing that.

It is extremely erratic.

Right at about 180
feet inside the mesa,

where the beacon
signal went out before,

it started losing
connectivity again.

That had to be more
than a coincidence.

Still got him?

No, I lost him.

So I really don't
know where I'm at.

-Really?
-Yeah.

THOMAS: It's at this
point in the exercise

where I start to feel my
first doubts as to whether

we're actually going to
get this hole drilled or not.

-Nothing.
-Wow.

Because once again Alex
loses the signal of the beacon.

And then he gets it back,

but it's very unstable.

There's definitely something
anomalous right here.

He's back, I got him back.

But he's into something
hard right now, you can hear it.

[machinery rumbling]

TRAVIS: Listen to
that, he's struggling.

KALEB: Yeah, he's trying to
push that thing in right now.

TRAVIS: What the
hell is in that mesa?

Yeah.

THOMAS: Hey, guys?

Go ahead, Tom.

We have no idea where this, uh,

drill head is up in this mesa.

We know it's in there,
but we don't know

the exact location or
really any other information.

Alex is saying the only time
that he's ever seen this before

is when they're drilling in a
roadway where they've dug

a trench and covered it
with a steel road plate.

So there's some-some kind
of conductive material in there.

Huh.

If the drill bit was up against
something conductive,

it would very likely
be something metallic.

So, could this
dome-shaped object

really be able to just shut
down a drilling beacon?

If that was the case,
then how are we ever

going to figure
out what's in there?

They're gonna keep
trying to push through,

see if we can get
through whatever it is

that's misdirecting the signal

and see if we can pick it up.

Heck, I don't know
what else we can do.

THOMAS: But, uh, we
just sucked out the spoils pit.

So, Jared is just bringing
that spoils down to dump.

All right, see if we get any
metal hits, then mark it out

-and then test for it.
-Yeah, dude.

If you need me,
yell, I'm right here.

BRYANT: Thank you.

Travis thinks it could
be something metallic

under the ground that's
causing these drillers

to have so many problems.

And so, because of what
we found a couple years ago,

this metallic substance
that came out of the mesa,

we're being very vigilant

in sifting through
all of the spoils

that are coming out
of this drilling exercise.

What the hell is that?

Hey, Erik!

ERIK: What do you got, Bryant?

Gosh.

-What...?
-I don't know what the hell that is.

-ERIK: What...?
-BRYANT: I don't know what the hell that is.

-How did you spot that?
-Well, I mean, look at the color.

At first, I thought it was
a green-colored rock.

ERIK: Yeah, that's... that
was my first impression.

BRYANT: And then
I went to pick it up,

and the first chunk
squished in my fingers.

That's the strangest
thing I've seen.

Uh, honestly,
without identifying

what the hell that is, I don't
know that I'd be touching it.

-Well... I picked it up.
-ERIK: Yeah. Yeah.

Yep, understood.

We are screening and examining

the contents of the spoils

coming out of the spoils
pit from the drilling operation,

and one thing did stand out,
and that's what appeared to be

a piece of some sort of
gelatinous green material.

You know, it reminds
me of Kris Porritt,

who did, in fact,
mention green jelly.

-Hey, Travis, Kaleb.
-TRAVIS: What?

Come take a look at this.

Bryant's got something here.

These things are not
at all like anything else

we're bringing out,
so the question is,

what have we hit here?

It's gelatin, it's like...

But you don't want
to pick it up, like...

-Look at it, it's like a...
-KALEB: What?

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

Are you kidding
me? It's green jelly.

BRYANT: It really is.

Hey, Jared, does this look

like stuff that comes
from your equipment?

It's, yeah, it's
like a gelatin-y...

That doesn't look like
anything like I've seen before,

-out of any of our tanks.
-Really? That's bizarre.

That is bizarre.

ERIK: All right, I
say we bag this.

-Yep, where are the bags?
-ERIK: Over here.

BRYANT: I'm gonna keep
looking for more of these.

TRAVIS: That was the
last thing in the world

I'd be thinking about
right now. Green jelly!

ERIK: What is this material?

Is it mineralogical or is
it potentially biological?

I don't think I want
to put that in a bag.

-I'm gonna try to...
-Oh, that's a good idea.

I don't know, I don't know.

But it has my
imagination running.

-You want to just put that in there?
-Sure.

ERIK: And I want
to have these green,

potentially organic
specimens examined

by the proper means

and by those who
have the ability

to discern what they are.

What the...?

All right, this is getting
stranger and stranger.

Hey, Travis, will you bring a
water bottle over real quick?

Tell me what color is
underneath this one.

It's that jelly stuff.

What?

-But it's pink.
-BRYANT: But it's got pink.

We got to have a sample of this.

Let me go get a-- Let
me go get a container.

Get another jar.

TRAVIS: Well, let's
keep a watch on it,

see if we get more of it.

-TRAVIS: Find something, Kaleb?
-KALEB: No.

TRAVIS: Finding green
jelly in the drilling spoils

was weird enough.

But then the pink material

really made me wonder
if these substances

might be organic
or even biological.

I would never expect to
find stuff like that in solid rock.

It's all just clay.

So Kaleb and I kept
searching through the spoils

hoping that we'd find
something more definitive

that might give us some answers.

There's a piece
of wood in there.

-KALEB: What?
-TRAVIS: L-Look at that.

This has been carved. I
mean, this ain't like a tree.

-This is like a piece of lumber.
-KALEB: Yeah.

I wonder if it's like a...

-It'd be a...
-KALEB: Like a mine shaft?

That's what I was
just wondering.

Could there be, uh...?

Uh, maybe there was a tunnel

or a mine shaft.
That's-that's wood.

How did this get
inside the mesa?

We've never heard
that mining operations

took place here on the ranch.

So it was really odd
that possibly machined

or hand-crafted wood came
from that deep in the mesa.

We've got to uncover
whatever is actually in there

and figure this out.

I'm absolutely keeping this.

THOMAS: Do you even have
it now, or is it totally gone?

ALEX: Totally gone.

THOMAS: So, once
again, the beacon

inside the drill
bit quits working.

And at this point we have
no idea where the drill bit's at.

So that means we can't even tell

whether or not we're
close to the anomaly.

Without having this receiver,

we're not recording any data

and we have no idea exactly
where in the hole we are.

Erik, you got a copy?

Yeah, Thomas, go ahead.

[sighs] I unfortunately
have some really bad news.

We went from having a signal
that was bouncing around,

uh, to losing the
signal completely.

So I think we need to regroup

and make a plan for what's next.

Copy that. Thanks.

Well, now that's not what
I was expecting to hear.

I don't think any of
us should be surprised

to discover that there
are complications

when trying to physically
engage with the mesa.

Especially here
at the drill site.

I am hopeful that we
will be able to continue,

but I do not take for
granted that we will achieve

the 24-inch diameter borehole
that we originally had in mind.

-[Thomas sighs] -TRAVIS:
So, tell us the news.

It's not good.

ALEX: Yeah, completely
lost signal on the transmitter,

so it's completely gone.

How much further would
you guess you need to go

-to come out of the ground?
-Uh, about 260 feet.

-Wow, that's a long way to be operating blind.
-ALEX: Yeah.

So what do we do? Uh, do
we try to pull the thing out,

change frequency on
the-- on the transmitter,

or do we try and just
keep going forward?

I don't know what else to do.

ALEX: We can pull it
out and change the signal.

Um, and if that doesn't work,

then I-I, I'm at a
loss at that point.

Well, then the plan
of action would be:

pull the thing out,
change the signal,

see if that helps.
If it doesn't help,

then I guess we got
to just keep going blind

-until we get some kind of response, right?
-Yeah.

TRAVIS: It's frustrating that
there was another delay in drilling.

But the team's working
really hard to help us,

and it's clear that they
have never experienced

these kinds of
malfunctions anywhere else.

So, while they take time to
assess and fix their equipment,

it'll give us a chance to
test these weird discoveries

and see if it offers

more clues about what's
buried inside the mesa.

-We got a plan.
-ERIK: Sounds like a plan.

TRAVIS: All right, let's do it.

TRAVIS: Hey, guys.

So, you guys obviously recognize

-the samples we have here on the table.
-BRYANT: Yeah.

We've reached out and
connected with, uh, Dr. Power

from the University of
Utah to have an analysis

prepared for us.

And so I'm going to bring him
up on videoconference now.

-TRAVIS: Okay.
-That'd be great.

TRAVIS: We had no idea

what the strange green and pink
jelly substances that were found

in the mesa drilling
spoils could be.

So, since we also
recovered some wood pieces,

Erik sent all the materials

to be analyzed by
Dr. Mitchell Power,

the curator of botany

at the Natural History Museum
of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Hello, Dr. Power.

Hello there.

Thanks for jumping
on with us today.

We're really interested in, uh,

in your analysis of those
samples that we provided.

So, what did you think of
the samples that we sent you?

So, uh, the samples were-were,
um, kind of interesting to me.

Uh, the first sample,
I have it here in a,

in a small vial.

This is the piece of wood

that we pulled out of
the spoils pile, correct?

That's correct. Um,
we did a little bit

of preliminary analysis on it.

Uh, we put it on
the microscopes.

Uh, we did some, some
pretty high-resolution imagery

on it, and, um,

in fact, I can, I can show
you some of those images.

So, this was the,
the initial sample,

um, as it was extracted from,
from your coring operation.

Um, and then we
started to, uh, play around

with some lighting
and some imaging.

And as we zoom in, we
start to see some structure.

You can start to see, uh,
these pore spaces showing up

in what we think is a stem.

And now, if these are
indeed pore spaces,

uh, there's-there's only
a few types of plants

that can do that.

And plants that produce a
lot of spores in their stem,

or-or pore holes, tend
to be aquatic plants.

So our-our best guess,
uh, for this particular sample

is that it-it's likely a
stem of an aquatic plant.

And if I zoom in a bit more,

you can see in
these two pictures,

-you really start to pick out...
-BRYANT: Wow.

...those-those, uh, pore holes.

TRAVIS: I was shocked
when Dr. Power revealed

that he believed this
wasn't crafted wood

but part of an aquatic plant.

But I was also confused
by what it was doing

that far inside the mesa.

What is your guess of
why something like that

would be inside,

uh, a mesa about 200 feet?

Well, um, I was hoping

you guys might have some
idea about that. [chuckles]

[laughs]

Uh, you all know better than I.

As you were drilling through,

it sounds like it
was a predominantly

like a sandstone,

-very little organic matter.
-That's right.

But it seems pretty clear
to me that at some point

in your drilling operation,
you penetrated...

I was not expecting
to hear that at all.

No.

ERIK: We are looking
at biological specimens,

prehistoric specimens

of some kind of very
porous plant material

from an ancient era

in a location that
may fit the profile

of a debris field
inside the mesa.

What about the,
the second sample?

The second sample
was the jelly sample.

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.

Um, so I-- what I did is, I took
what's called a smear sample.

And so, um, I don't know if
you can see here in my video,

there's a small
microscope slide.

BRYANT: When we
sent that sample in, it had

a kind of a green
coloration to it.

Do you know what could account
for the green coloration of it?

Originally, uh,

we were thinking it was, uh,

some kind of algal material.

-You mean algae?
-That's right, yeah.

I didn't see any
algal structures.

So it's not

a biologically-driven color

as far as I can tell.

So it's not chlorophyll?

I don't think so.

So, I thought I'd
dig in a little deeper

into this, uh, smear slide.

So we-we washed it down to
see what kind of material was left.

And so what you're seeing
now is, the organic slime

or jelly sample
has dissolved away,

and the particles you see are
pieces of burnt plant material.

And what was surprising
is the abundance

of burnt plant material in a
relatively small sample size.

-Wow. Wow.
-What?

TRAVIS: You mean, like

something caused a fire
deep inside the mesa?

Absolutely, yeah.

TRAVIS: Wow.

TRAVIS: Like something caused
a fire deep inside the mesa?

Absolutely, yeah.

Wow.

In my research here at
the University of Utah,

I study, um, ancient wildfires,
and we look for exactly this.

We look for burnt
plant material,

and this is what we'd find.

TRAVIS: Botany expert
Dr. Mitchell Power believes

that the green jelly-like
substance found

in the drilling spoils that came
out of the mesa is plant-based

and offers evidence
of extensive burning.

So, how might they be connected
to the huge, possibly metallic,

dome-shaped
object, which may also

be covered with materials

that are associated
with spacecraft?

If you were to take a
wild stab in the dark

as to how in the world
this-- these two samples

got a couple hundred
feet inside a mesa,

somewhere between


uh, what would you think?

It's a tough nut to crack here.

I'm not, I'm not 100% sure
on-on what, what it's doing there.

But my-my guess,
if I had to, you know,

put my money on anything,
would-would be some kind

of a buried wetland feature.

That is absolutely not
what I was expecting to hear.

No, that was completely not
what I was expecting to hear.

Did these burned jelly materials

get inside solid rock
through a natural process

over thousands of years?

I can't imagine how
that would be possible.

Or was there once
a wetland there,

and the dome-shaped
object caused the fire?

The only solid
takeaway I can think of is,

we have got to keep looking
for answers inside the mesa.

Well, as if the mesa wasn't
already complicated enough,

thank you for making it
even more complicated for us.

And bizarre.

-ERIK: Yes.
-Absolutely.

TRAVIS: Thank you
very much, Dr. Power.

-Yeah, thank you.
-ERIK: Yeah, thank you.

-Thank you.
-KALEB: Thank you.

If this is some
ancient wetlands,

how do we account for
pulling out a bunch of metal

that's even deeper than
what this sample was?

A bunch of metal--
we've been told

that it's similar to, uh,
aerospace materials.

Then we've got
this goo in there.

And we have a
wetland that was on fire.

-Yeah, you can see where we're going with that.
-Oh, yes.

-It reeks of a crash of some sort.
-It does reek of a crash.

It's science fiction,
but who knows?

That's really, really strange.

ERIK: Can this picture
get any more complicated?

I would love to see

further analysis on
the green material.

Yes.

We need to know
exactly what it is

-and-and-and why it's in the mesa.
-Yeah.

I think we have to
get back out there,

we've got to explore,

uh, as much as we can.

Well, I-I'll tell you what,

-I think we've got work to do.
-ERIK: We do. -Yeah, we do.

-And so we need to get at it.
-Thank you, guys.

-Thank you, Erik, that was awesome.
-[overlapping chatter]

TRAVIS: I'm gonna
go get to work.

Could we actually
be trying to uncover

a crashed spacecraft
of some kind

deep inside the mesa?

And if so, is there something
of an intelligent nature

trying to stop us
from doing that?

All I can say for sure is

that only time and
a lot more hard work

is gonna tell us the truth.

ERIK: Taken as a whole,
the stories that have been

shared with us about
this region of the property

suggest that there is
what some people describe

as craft disappearing
into the hillside.

I can't help wondering whether
what we're looking at now

has a connection
to those events.

BRANDON: The mesa
continues to be one of the most

challenging areas of
the ranch to explore.

But I truly believe
that it presents

such incredible opportunity.

Whatever is within the mesa

may be the key

to understanding the nature

of what is happening
on Skinwalker Ranch.

BRYANT: Hey, guys. Welcome back.

TRAVIS: How many drones
did you bring us this time?

-Thousand.
-Thousand?

Three, two, one.

BRYANT: These drones will
help us see what's above the ranch

that's causing all this trouble.

The drone's down,
lost video feed.

-It crashed.
-BRYANT: What the hell is up there?

TRAVIS: Did you see that?

So you hit something in the
air and spiraled to the ground.

This UAP appeared just
before we lost the drone.

-We got more than one.
-There are so many UAPs,

it's crazy.