06x10 - Hard Target

[bunniefuu]

Make some dust and put
some metal in the air.

JEREMIAH PATE: This is
our most advanced technology.

What we're doing is
taking an X-ray of the ranch.

This hotspot here,
over the triangle,

this is about 10,000 times
above the normal level

in the environment.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

- TRAVIS: Oh!
- ROYSTON: What is this?

ERIK: Here we have an object
that certainly is moving fast.

TRAVIS:
Look at that!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
We got metal.

TRAVIS:
It's layered, Erik. Look like

the same stuff
that we found before?

ERIK:
Yes.

ALEX: Took me
about two and a half hours

to get through that 45 inches.

So, it was about four-foot thick

of something so hard
that it destroyed this bit?

- ALEX: Yeah.
- God!

NARRATOR: There is
a ranch in Northern Utah.

It is considered the epicenter

of the strangest and most
disturbing occurrences on Earth.

For two decades,

the federal government

investigated the property.

Their findings
have never been made public.

TRAVIS:
Right there! We got something!

NARRATOR:
Now a new team

of independent scientists
and researchers

are taking over.

They are uncovering evidence

that the countless stories...

It came right out of the mesa.

Of unidentified
aerial phenomena...

- UAP right there!
- KALEB: Yep.

Bizarre energies...

It looks like there's
a heat source right above 'em.

And portals that lead
to other dimensions...

We're maybe looking
at the anomaly

for the first time, guys.

Might actually be true.

They will stop at nothing
to reveal...

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.

Hey, guys, you copy
down there at the tent?

That's Thomas.

Yeah, Thomas. What do you got?

Uh, they're drilling
pretty good right now.

Almost 340 feet into Borehole 2.

We're gonna head up to the mesa

and monitor their progress.

Copy that. Just keep us posted.

This morning,

things on Skinwalker Ranch
appeared to be going

a lot better than usual

with our drilling operation
out at the mesa.

The team had gotten more than
halfway up through the second

of two boreholes
that are positioned

on either side of a massive,
potentially metallic object,

which is surrounded
by several smaller anomalies.

So, once Borehole 2 is finished,

we can insert scanning devices
into both boreholes,

and hopefully, identify

what these potential objects
could be.

Hey, guys, you seeing this?

There's a low-flying plane
out here.

Well, look right there.

- There's a plane?
- KALEB: Yeah, Chris.

I thought I just heard it.

Man, he's low!

What have they got?

I think it's like
a single-engine, civilian plane.

What are they doing?

You getting anything
on the ADS-B?

I'm not showing anything.

Whoever it is,
their transmitter's off.

TRAVIS:
Hmm.

ERIK:
How far out is it?

I mean,
it's right over the mesa.

Couple hundred feet.

Okay.

Definitely watching us,

- whoever he is.
- TRAVIS: Yeah, the question is,

is it lookie-loos,
or is it somebody

doing something more nefarious?

It was really suspicious
that this small, civilian plane

was not only circling
very low over the ranch,

but also had their identifying
transmitter turned off.

THOMAS:
I got it on camera.

It's definitely changing course.

TRAVIS: Over the past
few years, we've seen

not only private planes but
also numerous military aircraft

that showed up out of nowhere

during our experiments
and drilling operations.

Helicopter coming right over!

They'd circle really low
for several minutes

and then just bug out.

And they would never have their
identifying transmitters on,

which they are legally required
to broadcast.

What? What is that signal?

And just last year,

while we were monitoring
the drilling

of Borehole 1
with our spectrum analyzers,

Erik and I detected a signal

near 900 megahertz,

which is the same
frequency signal emitted

by LoRaWAN devices.

That stands for
"Long Range Wide Area Network."

And these are tiny instruments
that are used

for conducting secret
surveillance operations

and could easily be dropped

from a low-flying plane
just like this one.

KALEB:
Looks like it's headed out.

Are you able to still see it?

I see it leaving, heading west.

Yeah, thanks
for the heads-up, Chris.

Not a problem.

Hey, guys, do you guys have
a copy down there at the tent?

Yeah, man. Go ahead.

THOMAS: Kyle and I
are going to head up

to the top of the mesa and
check on the status of the drill.

TRAVIS: Copy that.
Just keep us posted.

Based on this plane's maneuvers,

it really made us wonder
if we were being spied on.

But if that's the
case, is it because

we're investigating what's
buried inside the mesa?

THOMAS: Do you guys copy?

Yeah, Thomas. Go ahead.

Up here on top with Kyle. Uh,

drill bit's hit something
extremely hard again.

And for some reason, the
beacon signal started to spread.

The data's grossly inaccurate,

telling him that the
bit is far left or far right

of where he knows it's at.

At this point, they're
pretty much drilling blind.

Yeah, Thomas. I was beginning

to wonder about
that because, uh,

I'm watching the beacon
signal on the spectrum analyzer,

and it's spread completely
out from what it usually is.

So, I bet it's
having a hard time

figuring out where they are.

THOMAS: The way that this
beacon and receiver work is,

the beacon's in the drill bit
transmitting a targeted signal,

and the signal strength
allows the operator

to know exactly
where that drill bit is at.

But the signal on this beacon
is spreading across the mesa.

What this does is make
it almost impossible

for him to track
this beacon signal.

Whatever it is inside
the mesa continues

to give us so many problems

as we try to get this
second hole completed.

That's weird though,
man, that, uh...

I mean, I'm seeing it. The
signal's spread way out,

and usually it's just one
peak there in the middle.

During the drilling
of both boreholes,

hard obstructions have
been hit multiple times

that caused the drilling
beacon to malfunction.

ERIK: Look at that.

TRAVIS: And even crazier is that

we've found manufactured
metal fragments

in the drilling spoils
that are similar in design

to the ceramic heat
tiles that are used

to protect our spacecraft.

So, what in the
hell is in that mesa?

And is that why we keep
seeing strange civilian

and military aircraft
buzzing around the ranch?

I'm gonna go...

check in down below.

- Keep at it.
- KYLE: We'll keep pressing forward.

-[knocking on door] -TRAVIS:
Yeah, come on in, guys.

We had hoped that
would be the end

of the unsettling
weirdness of the day...

Y'all are not going to believe
what I've got to tell you.

This is very chilling.

But it was only the beginning.

So, you know

I have these cameras in here

in case something
were to happen here,

and right outside,
there are cameras.

- Sure.
- Well, um,

something happened

at a specific time where
all of them were disabled.

And video recorded
on them was captured,

but it was sent
somewhere else, and...

we didn't do it.

I keep surveillance
cameras running outside

my trailer near the
command center to document

anything out of the ordinary

on this part of the ranch,
and they are hardwired

to a computer in my trailer.

They're not on Wi-Fi or linked
to any kind of external network.

So, the only way I could
think this was possible,

was if someone did it manually

from inside my trailer.

How much data was on there?

A lot.

Look at this page here.

Fortunately, we
had a screen capture

of the data as it was happening.

Okay.

TRAVIS: There you can see
the cameras outside, right?

- ERIK: Sure.
- TRAVIS: And then...

they start going out.

Right there.

Look right here.

All of them just quit
at this time stamp.

Now, look right here.

The hard drive was recording,

currently working,

then suddenly, it
got a reboot flag.

Then it shut down.

And then, channels five, six,

two and three

were user logged out.

And look at this.

They've made these
changes four seconds apart.

You can't physically
open the menu

and do that in four seconds.

Yeah, okay.

You have to go through this box

and download the
video from this box

with a thumb drive right here.

Which means somebody
had to do what I'm doing

to this thing, connect
to it with a computer,

hardwired connect
it, to log out.

Whoever this user
was that logged out

those cameras, went in
and disabled those cameras.

Something is
hacking this device.

TRAVIS: Something
is hacking this device.

Whoever this user was that
logged out those cameras,

went in and disabled
those cameras.

ERIK: What you're telling
me, there's like deliberate

choices being made here.

There's a mode
change that requires

intelligent interaction

- with the device.
- That's my guess.

I have no idea how
someone could have

hacked into the cameras
watching my trailer

since they aren't
connected to the internet.

But somehow, that's
exactly what happened.

That's not all.

This is the part that
really freaks me out.

You see this is the
current working hard drive,

- right?
- ERIK: Yup.

TRAVIS: So, while all the things

were user logged out,

the data was sent
somewhere else.

Somebody is

recording the video
from these cameras.

ERIK: When you have a
surveillance system that is

potentially being hacked into,

the question is what
kind of technology,

what level of
sophistication is required

in order to gain access
to an air-gapped,

otherwise completely secure,
isolated surveillance system?

It's very methodical.

Somebody had to use

a device to talk to this

- while it's sitting in here.
- Now that is chilling.

JIM: Could be a LoRaWAN device.

We have...

suspected that things
are being dropped

from a low-flying
plane, helicopter...

Yeah.

There was a plane that
just came over the ranch.

Yeah, we've had a few.

TRAVIS: What if somebody dropped

LoRaWAN sensors on the ranch,

hack into it and take
over the software?

I know you guys

weren't expecting to hear this

- when you came over here.
- ERIK: No.

TRAVIS: But, um, I
mean, I think this could

be extremely important
from one or two ways, right?

One,

if somebody's spying
on us, who and why?

And how?

-Mm. -Mm-hmm.

Two, if it's

some thing is spying on us...

- ERIK: Mm-hmm.
- Then what is that

something and
how and why, right?

And what else is it doing?

- And what else is it doing?
- JIM: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Even if
someone figured out a way

to remotely hack
into this system,

the speed at which all
this took place is beyond

any technology that
any of us could think of.

So, seriously, who or
what could have done this?

You know, I'd like to
leave this in a configuration

where, if it happens again,
we might get those fingerprints.

We might be able to
trace those fingerprints

back to a finger,

and the finger
back to its owner.

TRAVIS: Yeah. I'm really
creeped out about this.

Yeah.

We've really got to
get to the bottom of

is this... is this a hacker

or something else?

Yeah, that's a
lot to think about.

TRAVIS: All right. Great, guys.

ALEX: Thomas, you got a copy?

THOMAS: I do, Alex. Go ahead.

Running into, uh,
some issues over here.

I'm going to have to pull out.



TRAVIS: The next day,

as the drilling operation
continued at the mesa,

Thomas Winterton was dealing
with another strange problem

in Borehole 2.

You say you're pulling out?

- Yeah.
- Uh, what's the problem?

Yesterday, I was cutting
through this hard spot

around 380 feet in.

- Right.
- And then I hit this spot,



and I hit something.

Took me every bit of
two and a half hours

to get 67 inches, and
I'm not moving at all now.

And it's not even biting,
it's just rotating smoothly.

Well, sh**t.

I'll... I won't delay
you anymore,

I'll let you get the pipe out.

I'm going to go
over to the spoils pit

and see if that bit is damaged

- when it comes out of the hole.
- Okay.

THOMAS: The drillers
experienced so many issues drilling

on our second hole.

And now, whatever we're running
up against is extremely hard.

It really makes me
wonder, what's making it

so hard for them to
drill into the mesa?

There it is.

Oh, my gosh.

Only one tooth on
that bit is worn down.

The way that you
guys were describing it,

I thought the teeth
would have popped off

or been wore down to a nub.

That's exactly

what should have happened.

- That's got all the teeth.
- Mm-hmm.

That cutting side one,

the inside's off
of it a little bit.

ALEX: Well, I don't know
what I could have been into.

I was not moving at all.

And it was acting almost bald.

It felt like I didn't have
any teeth on the end at all.

KYLE: It makes kind
of a screeching noise,

like if you're rubbing a
knife on a plate or something.

Something smooth.

And that would usually be

when there's no teeth
on the end of that bit.

THOMAS: I am absolutely shocked.

Because this drill bit
isn't seriously damaged,

it leaves me with
a lot of questions

as to what was so
hard that this drill bit

couldn't drill through?

Is he drilling up against

those anomalies that the GPR
data shows buried in the mesa?

Does this mean

that we're drilling into

some type of metallic object?

Or is it something
else that's causing

this strange
behavior with the drill?

I'll get out of your way and let
you guys get this changed out.

ALEX: Yeah, we'll change out
these bits and I'll keep you updated.

THOMAS: Okay. Thanks, guys.

THOMAS: Hey, guys.

BEN: Hey, how you doing?

TRAVIS: Later that day, while

the drilling
operation continued,

we all met with
biologist Ben Woodruff

in the command center.

Well, I understand you guys
have had a chance to review

the trail cam footage.

Yeah.

RICH: We are set.

- That's great.
- Awesome.

TRAVIS: Earlier this summer,

Ben helped us install
some new game cameras

around the ranch

to look out for
anything strange.

I've sent the
files over to Erik,

uh, so we can pull those up.

- Sure.
- TRAVIS: So, given all

the crazy UAP
phenomena we regularly

see out here,

and the recent hack
of my trailer cameras,

we couldn't wait to check out

what Ben found in
the game cam videos.

You've got to
understand, actually,

that this area is in a drought,

and it has been for
a number of years,

and there has not been
a lot of life on this ranch.

And all of the sudden, this
year, it's exploded with life.

- Mm-hmm.
- BEN: Lots of animals pass through here.

- ERIK: Okay.
- BEN: Let's, uh, start off

- with looking at the turkeys.
- ERIK: Okay.

BEN: There are so many
turkeys on this ranch,

and they're second
clutch turkeys,

which means, they've
raised a full clutch of young

that have reached sub-adulthood,

and then they have gone
ahead and had a second clutch.

Let's take a look

at the next one.

So, this is a pretty
standard coyote.

It's very long, very skinny,

very narrow-faced.
It's what you'd expect.

- Okay.
- BEN: So, this one's strange.

Really blows my mind.

ERIK: This is video
recorded in the field

- south of the drill site?
- BEN: Yeah.

So, the elk on the ranch,

and some of the
other animals, too...

Look at the face of this elk.

There's these white
spots all over the face.

These look like boils or burns

where the skin has just died.

Oh, yeah. You can see them then.

- BEN: Yeah, see that?
- Yeah.

THOMAS: What about any kind
of diseases or anything like that?

BEN: It's possible.

The things that I researched,

I couldn't find
anything that would

correspond with that,
'cause they all look

- really healthy otherwise.
- Yeah.

It's not chronic wasting
disease, it's nothing like that.

There's these patches
where, all over the face,

it just looks like burn marks.

I don't know what could
cause that sort of a burn.

I haven't seen

anything like this before.

Could that be from radiation?

ERIK: Wow.

BEN: I don't know

what could cause
that sort of a burn.

I haven't seen
anything like this before.

Could that be from radiation?

You know, who knows?

This new game camera
video that Ben Woodruff

showed us was pretty disturbing.

Some elk that were in
the field just to the south

of the drill site had strange
white marks on their faces.

If it wasn't a natural
skin condition,

could they have been burn
marks from radiation exposure?

And if so, what the heck
could have caused that?

So, this is another
clip, and you can see

this is another elk,

but whatever this is,

it's only impacting the face.

That's really strange.

ERIK: We really need to
find out where this radiation

is coming from, if
that's what caused this.

BEN: See, you talked to
me about that area where

the calf was spinning
around in circles.

It was kind of
acting like it had,

you know, some sort
of a radioactive reaction.

TRAVIS: Oh, yeah. This calf

certainly had
some sort of trauma.

Yeah.

TRAVIS: Last year,
while we were drilling

in Borehole 1, the
drill bit made contact

with what we believe

was the massive
object in the mesa.

[lowing]

And then, all of the sudden,

a calf in the nearby
field started spinning

in circles and its eyes

turned solid white.

HALEIGH: Check out what's
going on with those eyes.

TRAVIS: A local vet examined
the calf and discovered

that it was suffering from
microwave radiation exposure.

Now, we're seeing elk
in the same general area

that also might have
been exposed to radiation.

Could this all be connected
to the hard objects

we keep drilling up
against in the mesa?

BEN: If I could take
a look at that field

and take some plant samples,

that'd be great.

So, I say we...

- Immediately.
- Head out there

and we start collecting
some samples

and making some measurements.

- Let's do it.
- I'll take you out there

- right now, Ben.
- Perfect.

- TRAVIS: Yeah.
- BEN: All right, man.

TRAVIS: After our meeting,

Tom, Sam and I
went out to the mesa

to monitor the drilling
operation in Borehole 2.

Erik, Kaleb and Jim took Ben

to the field directly
south of the drill site

where the calf was
exposed to the radiation,

and not far from where
our trail camera picked up

the disturbing video of the elk.

We wanted to see if Ben
could find any more evidence

of possible radiation
contamination

on the plant life.

You can kind of see almost
like, in the vegetation right here?

- BEN: Yeah.
- KALEB: That's where the calf was.

And you can see
where it lines up

- with the mesa.
- BEN: It does.

Let's go take a look.

This is where I want
to follow your lead, Ben.

So, this whole area,

especially right over
here, is really strange.

It almost looks like
it's been mowed.

And this hasn't
been mowed, but...

JIM: Yeah, those lines.

BEN: I don't know what
is that, 30, 40 feet wide?

There's something making
the plants grow different

on either side.

So, let's get a
sample from each side,

and then some directly in.

Just get some of the
actual plant material

and I'll get some soil samples.

- KALEB: Okay.
- ERIK: All right, well, lead the way.

All right, sounds good.

ERIK: What could account
for such a well-defined

area in which the plant
growth is so distinctly different?

Why are we seeing taller
plants to the north and the south,

and this stunted plant growth

in the center of
this affected area?

- That's enough, here?
- Yeah.

Okay, good.

ERIK: Kaleb,

look at this. This
has been out here

for at least a year.

Maybe even two years ago.

ERIK: I'm more than
just a little concerned

about radiation transience
there south of the drill site.

And I can't help but wonder
whether there's a relationship

between what we're seeing here

and what is in fact known
to exist inside of the mesa.

Of course, I'm talking
about that large anomaly

that shows up in the GPR data.

Do you suppose the differences

that you're seeing
could be accounted for

by exposure to radiation?

BEN: Let's take these
samples back and I'll test them,

see what I can find
out. Sounds good?

- ERIK: All right.
- BEN: Okay.

- THOMAS: Hey, guys.
- KYLE: How's it going?

I see you've got your teeth out.

- Yeah.
- KALEB: Did you guys

hit something else?

Yeah, right around
that 470-foot mark,

- we hit something.
- Wow.

ALEX: We got through it,

I got another rod in,

and then, something again, so...

TRAVIS: The next
morning, we were all

shaking our heads
when the drillers hit

another hard
obstruction that damaged

another one of their drill bits.

We got through it.

We had to replace the teeth.

They're all in pretty bad shape.

THOMAS: They're
all pretty much flat.

ERIK: That's entirely mangled.

God.

These bits are designed
to cut through steel plates

and solid granite, if necessary.

So, what is in there that could
cause this kind of damage?

How's that happen, Alex?

That's kind of what we
were trying to figure out is,

I don't know if I
deflected off of something,

hit something else?

The biggest question
to me is what in the world

is inside that mesa that they

can't drill through
easily? I don... What is it?

It don't make any sense.

When I pulled out, it
absolutely felt smooth.

I was expecting
no teeth on it at all.

I was stacking up to


and couldn't get a bite at all.

- TRAVIS: Wow.
- Holy smokes.

KALEB: And it was showing,
like, the same temperature thing

- where it wasn't...
- Temperature did not change.

TRAVIS: The metal
bit absorbed the heat?

That thing should
have gotten up to


high from the friction.

- Right.
- TRAVIS: The only thing that

you can really drill
into that's that hard

that wouldn't change the
temperature would be a ceramic.

Mm-hmm.

TRAVIS: It would be like a
modern-day super hardened

ceramic that you would use

for heatshields.

We use it on the
exterior of space shuttles

and hypersonic
missiles to protect them

from the extreme heat

of reentry from space.

THOMAS: Yeah, and, uh,

I'll be really excited to see

what comes out
of the spoils here.

- Yeah.
- Hopefully, that'll give us a clue

as to what's so
hard that it's, I mean,

demolishing a drill bit.

- Let's let y'all get back to it.
- ALEX: Alrighty.

ERIK: Let's scour through
these drilling spoils.

THOMAS: Sounds good.

- TRAVIS: Good luck, guys.
- ALEX: All right.

ALLAN: Hey, I've put a rod on.

CHRIS: Yeah. I'll
grab the shovel.

TRAVIS: Later that day,

while the drilling operations
continued at the mesa,

and our team
archaeologist Chris Roberts

started searching for
clues in the drilling spoils...

ERIK: Hey, Ben. Thanks
for jumping on with us.

- Hey, how are you doing?
- ERIK: Doing well.

We're all very
anxious to find out

what you've discovered
from those samples

- that you collected.
- Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

TRAVIS: in the
command center,

biologist Ben Woodruff

met with us over video
conference to give his analysis

on the plant samples
we collected from the field

just south of the drill site.

BEN: You know,
uh, that field, um,

just had that very
clear delineation

- between growth and lack of growth.
- Mm-hmm.

BEN: I know not
only was there a calf

spinning there,
but some of the elk

that had been filmed in the area

had, like, blisters
and boils on their face.

And there was an
interest and wonder

if there was a
radioactive element to this.

There's a plant
growing in this field

called a Golden Aster

and we took some
samples from the center

of that area, as
well as both sides of

that area, to the north
and the south of it.

This is what they
looked like on the outside.

Uh, to the north of the area,
and the south of the area,

the leaves were normal,
they were photosynthesizing.

This is what it
should look like.

The next picture is
what they look like

in that region,
directly in that area.

It's the same plant, it's
still the Golden Aster,

but this is very similar
to what one would expect

if you had radiation damage.

- Wow.
- JIM: Whoa.

Radiation breaks
apart the cells,

not only in mammals,

- but it does it in plants as well.
- Huh.

It alters the very
DNA of the plant,

and the cells grow incorrectly.

And you can see similar burns,

almost like what we saw
on the faces of those elk.

That's crazy.

Right.

- Yeah.
- TRAVIS: It was freaky as hell

that Ben found evidence
of radiation damage

on the plants to the
south of the drill site,

right where we've now
seen multiple animals

exposed to high
levels of radiation.

Because back in 2018,

we commissioned experts
to sweep the entire property

for harmful levels of radiation.

And their findings
in that field south

of the drill site were
completely different.

In the open area and
the ranch and so forth,

uh, nothing of concern.

TRAVIS: So, what could
have caused the possible

radiation spikes that
may have hit the animals

and the plants in this field?

Hmm, interesting.

- Wow.
- JIM: Hey, Ben,

when you see the
effects on the leaves

like you saw, and it could be

radiation, is that typical

surface-level radiation or
could that come from the roots

or things that are
happening below the surface?

BEN: It looks

more like something transient.

It looks like... more
like an external event

rather than in the ground.

Well, it's odd to me that it's

a long swath, you know,
hundreds of feet long

that's in the middle
of the field and only,

you know, a few
tens of feet wide.

And it didn't affect anything

around it. That
seems a very localized

and specific
pattern of radiation.

Mm-hmm.

Well, when you think about
things like in terms of X-rays,

you know, they have
special plates and stuff

to cover certain areas

so that only certain
areas get radiated.

You don't have that naturally.

If you have any sort of
radioactive development,

it's going to spread.

And the fact that there is that

very distinct line
on both sides,

that's what's unusual,
because that's not natural.

That seems, um, intelligent.

TRAVIS: So, what
you're saying is,

this looks like it was
purposefully put there.

Correct.

- Wow.
- TRAVIS: Crazy.

THOMAS: The fact that
we're seeing marks on animals

as well as burned vegetation
close to the drill site,

and that this could possibly
be caused by radiation

is really concerning.

This really feels targeted,

and I want to know how and
why these things are happening.

You know, something that comes
to mind is look what we've done

in the past with
the drilling aspect.

- Oh, yeah.
- TRAVIS: So, is this somehow

connected to what we're
getting out of the mesa,

or is this something separate?

It creeped me out
to hear Ben suggest

that there might be
an intelligent entity

that targeted that
field with radiation,

which is only a 100 yards
south of the mesa drill site.

Could it really be related to
whatever is buried in the mesa?

And could it also be
connected to whatever...

or whoever... messed with the
cameras watching my trailer?

I-I think we need to devise
experimental techniques to go

and get to the bottom
of whatever it is.

Yeah.

Well, we are very fortunate
to have Ben's expertise,

so, Ben, thanks again
for jumping on with us.

Always great to have you.

Absolutely. Happy to help.

- TRAVIS: See you soon.
- JIM: Thanks, Ben!

EASTON: Is it moving at all?

I don't think so.

Yeah, it's a pretty hard
layer I'm in right here.

TRAVIS: After we wrapped up
our meeting with Ben Woodruff,

we spent the next few
hours out at the mesa.

After the drill bit was damaged
when it hit an obstruction

more than 470
feet in Borehole 2,

Alex Swanson and
his crew stayed late

to see if they could
break through it

and finish the hole.

So, we were closely
monitoring the process

with our spectrum analyzers

and radiation detectors.

THOMAS: Thomas to Erik,

do you copy?

ERIK: Yeah, Thomas.
What do you got?

Uh, they're drilling
through something

- extremely hard right now.
- Copy that.

We're going to
monitor down here.

Copy that.

TRAVIS: And while
drilling continued,

archaeologist Chris
Roberts was still methodically

sifting through the
drilling spoils for any clues

that might help explain just
what's buried inside the mesa.

TRAVIS: Look
at that right there.

ERIK: Oh, my God.

What the hell?

TRAVIS: I've got the drill
beacon frequency pretty steady,

but it's something
happening to it.

Look how it's modulating.

It should have one peak.

But there's a bunch, it's
jumping all over the place.

ERIK: Look at that.

TRAVIS: Oh, crap. Look at this.

The 1.6 gigahertz is going nuts.

- KALEB: What the hell?
- TRAVIS: Look at this.

KALEB: Is that a communication

- signal?
- TRAVIS: It could be.

ERIK: Wow.

TRAVIS: Oh, crap. Look at this.

The 1.6 gigahertz is going nuts.

- ERIK: Absolutely.
- TRAVIS: This signal

freaking me out over here.

I'm not seeing any of that

at the south tower
and I'm not seeing

any of it at the black box.

- That's all local.
- Yeah.

Right as the drillers hit

another obstruction
in Borehole 2,

around 477 feet inside the mesa,

a 1.6 gigahertz
signal started spiking

on my spectrum analyzer.

My device was tracking
the immediate area,

while Erik's was
tuned into locations

at other parts of the ranch.

He wasn't seeing it on
his spectrum analyzer,

which meant the source of
the signal was close to us.

So, was it coming
from whatever the drill

just hit inside the mesa?

Look at this.

The 33 megahertz beacon signal,

it's spread out like
we've seen before.

- Hey, guys.
- ERIK: Hey, what's up?

- What is that?
- That's coming out of the drill.

From the beacon,
coming out of the drill,

whatever they're hitting
is spreading that signal

all the way across
and modulating it.

ERIK: It's taking
that one signal

and distributing it
across that range.

TRAVIS: Yep.

It was getting
stranger by the second.

Right as the 1.6 gigahertz
signal was spiking,

the 33 megahertz signal
coming from the beacon

inside the drill bit was
spreading all over the place.

When that signal spreads,
the drillers can no longer track

the direction of the
drill underground,

and our borehole could
veer off the course needed

to get up through
the top of the mesa.

So, is the obstruction

that the drill is
hitting right now

triggering not only the


but also causing the
beacon signal to go crazy?

THOMAS: Maybe this update will

add something to this.

Right now, we're at 480 feet in,

but he's hitting a hard layer

every two to three inches.

The hard layer itself

is two to three inches thick.

Then he breaks through,
it's a couple inches of space,

and another layer of
two or three inches,

and it's just repeating that.

What I get out of this is we are

interacting with
something structured.

Yes.

ERIK: We're seeing things happen

with the drilling
operation itself

that says there's something
highly unusual there.

These layers of
material are in no way

like the mesa itself.

This is not sandstone, this
is not naturally occurring.

I think it makes a lot of sense,

as we encounter
this hard material,

to expect to see
something coming back

into the spoils that
would give us clues

as to what the
material composition is.

CHRIS [over radio]: Hey,
guys. You got a copy?

THOMAS: Yes. Go ahead.

Yeah, I got some
things over here

I think you're gonna
want to take a look at.

You want to come over
here to the spoils site?

Absolutely. We'll
head right over.

Sam, Jim, if y'all don't
mind, keep an eye on this

and let us know if it changes
dramatically or whatever.

- Yeah, absolutely.
- All right, we'll be back in a bit.

ROYSTON: Okay.

- TRAVIS: Hey, Chris.
- CHRIS: Hey, guys.

- Thanks for coming over.
- TRAVIS: Yeah, man.

CHRIS: Something I wanted
to show you that I really

can't believe that we
found inside the mesa.

What the hell is this?

What is that?

CHRIS: It's ceramics.

What?

Travis, flip it
over. Flip it over.

Do you see the
two different colors?

- TRAVIS: Yeah.
- We've got a glazed surface

- and we have a porous surface here?
- Yes.

L-Look at the patterning.

TRAVIS: Yeah. It's like
a crosshatch pattern in it.

ERIK: Yes, absolutely.

That's manufactured, guys.

Yeah, that-that is
absolutely pressed

into place and then baked.

Could this really be a
manufactured ceramic material?

How did it get deep in the mesa?

Is this what damaged the drill

and made the
beacon signal spread?

And is it connected to
the 1.6 gigahertz signal

we just detected?

This right here is
a edge fragment

- right there.
- TRAVIS: Mm-hmm.

CHRIS: That... so
that's a finished edge.

- KALEB: Yes.
- THOMAS: Oh, my gosh,

- look how perfect it is.
- TRAVIS: It's beveled.

TRAVIS: Holy crap.

That's beveled for something...
it fits into something else.

CHRIS: It's flat, it really
doesn't have a curve to it.

It's not a vessel, it's
not a, a plate, a cup.

Basically, it's a tile, right?

But it's too thin
for a floor tile,

too thin for a roof tile.

You said "tile," and that's
ringing some bells for me.

- Think about what we were told at the University of Utah.
- TRAVIS: Yeah.

Right? It's a lot like
the space shuttle tiles.

Holy smokes.

TRAVIS: Three years ago,

we had the metal pieces that
were extracted from the mesa

examined at the
University of Utah.

Okay.

TRAVIS: And there, metallurgy
expert Dr. Ravi Chandran

helped us conclude that they
had a manufactured design

that was similar to
the protective coating

used on spacecraft.

It's like a glass,
it's like a ceramic,

uh, composite, right?

Yeah, so, that
makes a lot of sense.

So, could this ceramic material
be what the drill was hitting,

and is it what kept
the bit from heating up?

If so, what the heck is buried in
the mesa on Skinwalker Ranch?

Have we punctured through

something that's
coated with this ceramic?

What is that ceramic
doing in there?

KALEB: So, that's
the question is like,

what would you use metal

and-and ceramic like
this in conjunction?

TRAVIS: I don't know.

A spaceship?

You said it.

TRAVIS: I got chills, dude.

ERIK: This is a designed,

engineered material.

- It's high-tech, one way or the other.
- CHRIS: Yeah.

If it can absorb that much
heat from that drill head,

then it is like the
space shuttle tiles.

THOMAS: And it's
chewing up their bit.

TRAVIS: And it's
chewing up their bit,

'cause it's hard ceramic.

We knew something
unnatural was in the mesa

when we detected
the massive object

and smaller anomalies
buried in there.

But now, after
hitting an obstruction

more than 470
feet in Borehole 2,

we've found pieces
of ceramic tiling

that appears to be engineered.

This is starting to sound like

it's out of The
X-Files or something,

Could it be similar to
the protective coating

on spacecraft?

I just don't know
what to think of that.

- There's space-age material right there.
- THOMAS: Yeah.

ERIK: Yeah. 470 feet

- into a mesa in the middle of the desert.
- TRAVIS: Yeah. Yeah.

TRAVIS: How did it get in there?

THOMAS: Well, we do
have a video of a UAP

flying through the mesa.

Who knows?

Was this some kind
of high-tech vessel

that maybe didn't make
it all the way through

and got stuck in there?

ERIK: I smiled at
it when you said it,

but I got to tell you, I'm
taking it more seriously now.

Watch how this thing emerges,

and watch the
path that it takes.

TRAVIS: In 2022,

we captured unbelievable
video of a glowing UAP

flying into the mesa
in the east field

and then reemerging
on the other side,

like it flew right
through solid rock.

So, knowing that there's a
massive object in the mesa

and seeing these strange
materials in the drilling spoils

really makes you wonder
what might have happened here.

THOMAS: Well,
guys, the sum total

of everything that
we've seen up there,

we're seeing signals spread.

You couple that with the
metal we're pulling out of there.

You've got ceramic
material, you got metal,

- you got magnetic rocks.
- Right.

- TRAVIS: Yeah.
- All these things could be related

to what's in there, right?

I think it's a hundred
percent connected.

ERIK: I want to take a
radiation measurement.

I'll-I'll get the
gamma ray detector.

KALEB: No, that's
freakin' awesome, though.

ERIK: Let me get a
control measurement here.

Okay, so...

control measurement: 37.

So, I'm seeing 37 to 68.

- Okay.
- ERIK: Yeah, that's a normal reading.

Seems like it got a
little more excited.

- TRAVIS: It is more radio... 105.
- THOMAS: 105.

TRAVIS: Whoa.

THOMAS: Whoa.

It is radioactive.

- What in the hell is this stuff?
- Wow.

TRAVIS: Wow, on
top of everything else,

this stuff has given off

unusually high
amounts of radiation.

So, could that be a clue
that whatever's in the mesa

might have caused the
radiation damage to the plants

and animals in the nearby field?

We've got to figure out
exactly what this really is.

Dude, what's going on in there?

- Unbelievable.
- It's fantastic.

All-all thanks to
our archeologist

- who knows what he's looking at.
- Heck yeah, dude.

- ERIK: That's a hell of a job.
- TRAVIS: Heck yeah.

TRAVIS: We got to get this
thing to a lab and get it tested.

ERIK: I want to
sit down with this

and get some quality
time with an S.E.M...

scanning electron microscope...
and figure out what this is.

Hey, well, let's get to it.

- Immediately. All right.
- Let's go. Let's go.

THOMAS: Thanks, Chris.

CHRIS: Absolutely.
I'll keep looking.

TRAVIS: After three
years of trying to figure out

what could be in that mesa,

this is a major
discovery for our team.

But now we need to
find out if this material

is as profound as
it appears to be,

and will it lead us to the
truth about Skinwalker Ranch?

ERIK: The discovery of
that engineered ceramics

may be one of the most
important deliverables

from this entire investigation.

I think it is very clear

that what we're looking
at is highly unusual.

It begs for an explanation.

It deepens the
mystery of the drill site

and of the ranch overall,

and there may yet be
another mystery material

to be discovered
inside the mesa.

BRANDON: One of our
most shocking discoveries

came in the wake of the most
challenging drilling season yet.

We were given a gift,

a discovery of ceramic
material of unknown origin

recovered from
deep within the mesa.

We hope to get the answers

to what is the nature
of this material?

Why would it be located
from deep within the mesa?

This material may
hold the answers

to what is happening
at Skinwalker Ranch.

KYLE: Holy crap, dude.

The tooth is almost
completely gone.

- How about that?
- And it's completely welded shut.

TRAVIS: That's crazy.

THOMAS: Ooh. Another piece.

CHRIS: Just look at
that texture on that side.

ERIK: I got several
samples mounded.

I can see some
clearly defined holes.

TRAVIS: What if it's the electron
beam from the microscope

that's causing this?

Let's turn it off.

This stuff is fixing itself.

It's putting itself
back together.

TRAVIS:
It's healing.