All language subtitles for The.Secret.of.Skinwalker.Ranch.S06E11.en

Hey, guys, there's a low-flying
plane out here.

Oh, look right there.
Man, he's low.

I'm not showing anything.

Whoever it is,
their transmitter is off.

TRAVIS:
What are they doing?

You know, I have these cameras
in here and right outside.

Something happened
where all of them were disabled.

And video recorded
on them was captured

and sent somewhere else.

Something is hacking
this device.

Yeah.

ALEX:
I hit something.

I'm not moving at all,

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

We had to replace the teeth.
They're all in pretty bad shape.

TRAVIS:
What in the world
is inside that mesa

that they can't drill
through easily?

-What the hell is this?
-What is that?

TRAVIS:
Space-age material, right there.

Look at the patterning.
That's manufactured, guys.

TRAVIS:
What is that ceramic
doing in there?

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!

...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.

TRAVIS:
What's going on?

ERIK:
Well, you know,

I've looked at the ceramics

from the mesa
under the microscope.

-Super exciting.
-ERIK: Yeah.

TRAVIS:
For over three years now,

we've been drilling
in the mesa on Skinwalker Ranch,

in an effort
to identify a massive object

and several smaller anomalies

that we believe are buried
inside there.

And last night, after the drill

may have hit
one of these objects

about 470 feet in our borehole,

we made an incredible discovery
in the drilling spoils.

Pieces of ceramics

that appeared
to be highly engineered.

Let me repeat that--
pieces of ceramics

that appeared
to be highly engineered.

I want to show you
a cross section

of one of the parts

and get your assessment

of what in the heck
we're looking at here.

-THOMAS: Oh, wow.
-TRAVIS: Oh, that is
fantastic, Erik.

-Look at that.
-KALEB: Wow.

THOMAS:
So, this image here--
this isn't a picture?

This is actually
under the microscope?

This is live off
of the microscope.

TRAVIS:
We don't know anything

about this ceramic material
for sure yet.

So, before we take them
to a lab for testing,

Erik Bard gathered us
in the command center

to get a closer look.

Yeah, you look
at the crosshatches, right?

The preciseness
of these lines looks like

they were made
by laser etching or centering.

ERIK:
So, that is potentially

-machined.
-TRAVIS: Yes.

ERIK:
Let me show you

the chemical analysis
of this sample

that we were just looking at.

This is
from the handheld XRF system.

TRAVIS:
Erik's XRF,
or X-ray fluorescence machine,

uses X-rays to determine
the elements in an object.

That might help us figure out
what these ceramics

could actually be used for.

So, look
at what we're seeing here.

There's the nickel,

and there is the iron.

TRAVIS:
Well, and the cobalt
and strontium

and thorium and all that
is very interesting, too.

Everyday common ceramics
wouldn't be made

-of these kinds of elements.
-ERIK: No.

The fact that we see cobalt

and nickel in this does hint
of magnetic properties.

I have some small magnets,
some rare earth magnets,

that we can use to take a look
at these parts

and see if they respond
in any way.

TRAVIS: Normal ceramics are
usually made of clay,

not metallic elements.

So, if this stuff is magnetic,
it's another clue

of something that was engineered
for a specific purpose.

-ERIK: Moment of truth.
-SAM: Oh, boy.

-TRAVIS: What?
-ROYSTON: Whoa.

Whoa, whoa. Whoa.

-What?
-Can you believe that?

They're even magnetic. Like,
I'm still trying wrap my head...

-Like--
-TRAVIS:
Ceramics aren't magnetic.

ERIK:
I got to see this again.

-ROBERTS: Do the
other pieces do it?
-I don't know.

-ROYSTON: Whoa.
-That's no small effect.

Wait a second.

TRAVIS:
What's going on?

ERIK:
Now, it feels like the magnet
is repelling the ceramic.

There's more going on here.

Yeah, I want you
to feel this.

Watch.

TRAVIS:
Well, it's pushing
against it right now.

You're right, Erik.

The ceramic has changed

to having a repulsive
magnetic field.

How does that happen?

There are no naturally-occurring
magnetic materials

that can both attract
and repel magnets.

The fact that this ceramic is
doing both is crazy,

and I'm not sure
what to make of it...

other than it was engineered
for some purpose.

This actually has very similar
elemental makeup

that you might see
from superconductors.

A superconductor is
a revolutionary material

that scientists
are still researching

and developing today.

It can transfer
massive amounts of energy

with no resistance
or energy loss.

This is really
complicated science.

The superconductors interact
with magnets in strange ways,

just like we're seeing
with this ceramic.

What's amazing
about superconductors

is that because they can repel
normal magnetic fields,

they're used today
for propulsion

in high-tech vehicles like
magnetic levitation trains.

But some scientists
have suggested

that superconductors
could one day be used

in the construction
of things like spacecraft.

So, if this ceramic is
a superconductor,

what the hell is inside
the mesa?

So, when you flip it over,
does it...

does it attract?

Nope. Still pushing away.

But this shouldn't be possible
at room temperature.

No, it should not.

TRAVIS:
Normally, superconductors
need to be cooled

way down, like
to liquid nitrogen temperatures,

so that it repels
any magnetic field.

But it's not supposed to do that

until you hit
to liquid nitrogen temperature.

It was insane

that the ceramic
kept repelling the magnet,

like a superconductor would.

But here's the real mystery.

In order for superconductors
to transfer energy

without losing any
or to repel magnetic fields,

they have
to be kept extremely cold.

It's like trying to skate on ice
as opposed to water.

If they warm up,
they stop being superconductors.

That means it's...

That might be a room-temperature
superconductor.

There's no such thing

as a room-temperature
superconductor.

If this is a room-temperature
superconductor,

it's a breakthrough that
we've been looking for decades.

ERIK:
Oh, huge. Yeah.

TRAVIS: We have a ton
of more testing to do.

But right now, it seems like

there could be something
in the mesa

that's way beyond our present
scientific capabilities.

-Well, who made it?
-Well, who or what made it?

-(others chuckling)
-And when was it made?

ERIK:
And the question to follow

yours is,
what the hell did we drill into?

We got to do a lot more testing.

-We've got to let Brandon know
about this.
-For sure.

TRAVIS:
All right, well, let's do that.

Let's get right on with it.

KYLE: Hey, Allan, go ahead
and start turning it

and pulling it out
nice and slow.

10-4.

TRAVIS:
After we called Brandon

to tell him
about the ceramic materials,

he said he'd arrange for us
to have them further analyzed

as soon as possible
at Utah Valley University.

All right, pulling.

Copy that.

TRAVIS:
So, in the meantime,
we headed back to the mesa

where the drillers had gotten
to nearly 500 feet

inside of Borehole 2.

After we drill
the last hundred feet or so

and pop out
of the top of the mesa,

we'll have two identical
boreholes positioned

on either side of the massive
object buried in there.

Then we can insert scanning
devices into both boreholes

to help us learn more about
what these things could be.

KYLE:
All right, rotate
a little bit slower

and keep pulling.

Holy crap, dude. Look at that.

Tooth is almost completely gone.

Oh, my gosh.

-The guys are gonna want
to see this.
-Yeah.

Hey, guys, this is Thomas.
Do you copy?

KALEB:
Yeah, go ahead, Tom.

THOMAS:
Hey, they just pulled
this bit out

to do a battery change,

and you're gonna want
to look at this.

There's something
pretty incredible here.

-Oh, here we go.
-TRAVIS: Yup.

We had no idea what to expect
at the drill site.

We've had so many

crazy malfunctions happen

that seem to be related
to whatever's buried in there.

So, what the heck have
we got going on?

Well, the first and obvious
thing is the teeth here.

I mean, how many sets of teeth
is this now?

KYLE:
This will be the third set.

And it's half
of the whole tooth is missing.

How about that?

KYLE:
And if you want to look at this,

it's completely,
like, welded shut.

TRAVIS:
It's fused...

-It's friction-welded.
-Mm-hmm.
-ERIK: Crazy.

So, something welded the...
the bit to the rod.

KYLE:
Got it hot enough, yeah,
but the weird thing is,

is the beacon stayed
at 73 degrees the whole time.

TRAVIS:
Oh, it's 2,000 degrees
Fahrenheit to get that hot

and weld that steel.

ERIK:
I'm looking at that metal,

and it doesn't look to me
like it ever got that hot.

-Yeah. You usually
see black and blue...
-KYLE: Yes.

...kind of rings and things
where the weld structure is.

You'll see all the different
oxidation states, you'll see

-color affected. Yeah.
-TRAVIS: Now, I don't see that.

That means it's in something

that was sucking
all the heat away.

The only thing that I know of

that could do that would be
a ceramic material.

Maybe it's hitting more
of the ceramic stuff

that we found in the spoils.

What the hell is in this mesa?

TRAVIS:
Could what happened
to this drill bit

be another clue about
what's buried in the mesa?

We don't know yet,

but it makes us
all the more eager

to get the ceramic material

that we found tested
in a university lab.

You have another bit
that you can swap out of this

and the housing,
or you got to order one?

Uh, we're gonna have
to order one.

THOMAS:
So, we're down for day or so
till you can get it.

KYLE:
Yup, we can get it overnighted.

-TRAVIS: Wow.
-THOMAS: All right.

TRAVIS:
Crazy operation.

THOMAS: All right.
Let's do it, guys.

-We're down to, what,
last 85 feet?
-85.

Home stretch is here.

TRAVIS:
The next day, the drillers
received their new bit,

so we were hoping
that they'd finally be able

to finish Borehole 2

and cut through
to the top of the mesa.

KYLE: Allan, go ahead and
give me a little bit of water

and start pushing in.

ALLAN:
Water's on.

KYLE:
All right, go ahead
and start pushing.

THOMAS:
Hell yeah. I'm hoping

that's the last time
I see that drill bit

-till it comes out the top.
-Me as well.

I'm right there with you.

Hey, guys.

ERIK:
I think everyone on the team,

certainly
the drillers are anxious

to get this second borehole
executed.

Of course,
there is some anticipation

of perhaps running into more
of this very hard material

because we're seeing
the erosion of teeth.

But we're also curious
as to whether we'll find more

of this ceramic material coming
back out of the spoils.

It's an exciting time.

THOMAS:
I'll leave you to it.

I'm gonna head down
to the spoils.

-I'll let you take care of this.
-KYLE: Sounds good.

-I'll make my way up there.
-Okay.

THOMAS:
After seeing
our tungsten carbide

drill teeth chewed away

and finding
this ceramic material,

you better believe that we were
extremely interested to see

what was coming out
of the spoils pit

as the drillers continued
drilling into Borehole 2.

This is a culmination
of everything

-basically 500 feet and below.
-Okay.

-So no telling, you know,
what we'll find in here.
-Yeah.

-What's that one
right down there?
-This one?

-No, right there.
-Th-- Ooh.

Let you look at that.

-ROBERTS: Got one.
-THOMAS: What?

-(laughs) Yeah.
-That-that is a...

-That's a piece of ceramic?
-Yeah. That's a piece.

Look at that texture
on that side, too.

Oh, that's interesting. Yeah.

Oh, look at the other side.

It's, like, glazed.

ROBERTS:
Oh, does it have the glaze
on it?

THOMAS:
It's a color variation.

ROBERTS:
It's got, yeah, it is.

Definitely got a color.
I'm not seeing a sheen

like the first one we found had
that crosshatch glaze on it.

-Yeah.
-This one looks

like it's either worn off
or didn't have it,

but this one has a...
definitely a texture that way.

Uh-huh.

Lines and then this side,
completely different texture.

THOMAS:
Oh, my gosh.

TRAVIS:
We're not sure if Chris had
found another piece

of ceramic that had been damaged
by the drill,

or a different sort
of ceramic material altogether.

It was another mystery,

but also another clue
that we need to get tested.

Wow. Well, that's exciting that
we found another piece of that.

-Found another... Yeah.
-So hopefully,

as you sift,
you can find some more of that.

-Yeah, I'll keep looking.
-Okay.

I'm gonna go check back in with
the guys and see how it's going.

-Holler if you need any help
or if you find any more.
-Okay.

-I'll let you know what I find.
-Awesome. Thank you, Chris.

Yup.

THOMAS: We inherited a lot
of stories and legends

from the Bigelow era

about this mesa.

Spacecraft going in it,

tunnels, caverns,
underground bases.

As we get closer to getting
both boreholes completed,

I feel like
it's just one step closer

to actually
getting into this mesa

and finding out what kind
of mysteries lie inside.

ERIK: I understand
we're getting awfully close.

Yup. We're about 60 feet away
from poking out.

Okay. What is your rate

-of progress now?
-ALLAN: I'm able to drill

about a foot
to a foot and a half a minute.

-Okay.
-It's very soft.

I'm moving really good
through it.

We got 35 feet in two hours,

so, it's pretty good numbers.

ROYSTON:
Wow.

TRAVIS:
It was such a relief to hear

that the drillers were making
quick progress in Borehole 2.

It made us think
they were finally drilling

between the strange objects
in there

and just cutting through
the natural sandstone.

THOMAS:
So that rate,
we could be out of the top

here in an hour or two.

-I'm hoping around there.
-Awesome.

Knock on wood.

THOMAS:
Well, I say

we get to it. Let's see

if we can get through that top.

Awesome.
Well, we'll get to going.

-Okay.
-All right, guys. Good luck.

KYLE:
Hey, Allan, let me know

when you're getting
on that last rod.

10-4.

TRAVIS:
The drillers continued
making great progress

for the next hour.

Everybody figured,
we were past the objects

and home free
to finish Borehole 2.

So, Thomas was up
on top of the mesa

waiting for the drill bit
to break through the surface.

How's it going?

Yeah. What's going on?

ALLAN:
At this point,
we're 540 feet into the mesa.

We're 35 feet from the top,

but I am hitting a substance

that has stopped me dead
in my tracks.

-(mechanical creaking)
-I'm wondering,

what did we just stumble into?

I honestly have no clue
what's going on in that mesa.

Copy that.

-That's with the brand-new bit.
-Mm-hmm.

At this point, what
we're drilling through is...

I have no answer for.

(rhythmic whirring)

THOMAS:
I can hear that pretty good.

KYLE:
Yup. You can hear it, huh?

(loud, mechanical
whooshing and clanging)

THOMAS:
It's hitting something
really hard.

I want to record the sound.

(rhythmic pulsing)

KYLE:
Yeah, it sounds different
than any sandstone

and stuff
we've been through before.

KYLE: I wonder if it's the same
substance as before.

It's making me think
a little bit

of metals coming off
of those teeth.

THOMAS:
It's been pretty smooth sailing
on the drilling

up until we got up to about
545 feet into Borehole 2.

The drillers hit something
extremely hard.

It's apparent by all the noise
coming from the drill.

I can tell that this is
even harder than sandstone.

(whooshing and pulsing)

ALLAN:
Hey, Kyle. You got a copy?

Yeah, I got a copy.

The way this is feeling,
I feel like

I'm just gliding across
something, a smooth surface.

I think we need to pull out

and check these teeth again.

I think that's a good idea.

I'll meet you down
by the spoils pit.

Sounds like a plan.

(bleep)

It seems like

every time
we start making progress

on this drilling,

we have to stop down
for something,

and it's just driving me crazy.

Allan says it feels like
he's hitting a smooth surface,

so we really need
to check the drill bit.

This is disheartening
because we're only 35 feet

from breaking through the top.
So, it makes me wonder

if it was hitting
more ceramic material.

KALEB:
Moment of truth, I guess.

THOMAS:
All righty.

Hold that.

KYLE:
Go ahead and slow rotate.

THOMAS:
The fact that he sat there

and drilled for 30 minutes...

ERIK:
Wait a minute.

-THOMAS: Oh, my gosh.
-KALEB: Yup. Look at that thing.

THOMAS:
Half that tooth is gone.

THOMAS:
You see that tooth?

ALLAN:
Yeah.

THOMAS:
You ever drill
through something that will, uh,

plow through a tooth like that?

No.

Oh. Look at that stud right
there, right in the middle...

between those two teeth.
That thing's worn down, too.

According to all of our previous

ground-penetrating radar scans,

there's one massive object

and a bunch of smaller ones
buried in the mesa.

So, did the drill hit
one of the smaller objects

just 35 feet from the top?
And if so,

are they all covered
with that ceramic material?

JARED:
If it keeps hitting right here,

it's going weld back up again,
and we're gonna be--

Back in the same boat.

JARED:
Big trouble for sure.

ERIK:
We know from the
ground-penetrating radar data

that we have something
in that mesa.

So, it is essential

that we get this second hole
through the mesa.

KYLE:
Yeah, it will take a couple days

to get
that drill replacement in.

ERIK:
You know what I liked
about this conversation--

I haven't anyone say anything
about giving up.

-That's right.
-No, I'm not going to.

-We're too close to the top.
-ERIK: That's perfect.

-Heck no.
-ALLAN: Home stretch, man.

THOMAS:
All right. Well,

um, we'll get out of your way.

Thank you.

ROYSTON:
Good luck, guys.

-BRIAN: Hey, guys.
-ERIK: Dr. Patchett.

-BRIAN: Good to see you.
-ERIK: Good to see you.

-Doctor.
-Hey.

TRAVIS:
The next day,

ranch owner Brandon Fugal
arranged for us

to meet with physicist
Dr. Brian Patchett

at Utah Valley University

to examine samples
of the strange ceramic material

that we found in the mesa.

-So, this is the lab.
-Yes, sir.

Erik, I'll have you set
your samples down right here.

If you guys want
to have a seat at the SEM,

we can talk about how,
hopefully, we can help you out.

TRAVIS:
For our first test, we wanted
to look at the ceramics

through an SEM or "scanning
electron microscope."

It's a device that bombards
objects with electrons

in order to obtain
magnified images of them

up to a million times
their actual size.

Yeah, we're anxious to better
understand the composition

of the material

that we brought to you today.

Well, it does sound like
an interesting set of specimens,

so, I'm very interested
to load it up and...

and see for myself
what you've brought in.

All right.

TRAVIS: We couldn't wait
to see the surface

of this material
in much more detail

than our microscope
on the ranch could give us.

-ERIK: So, I've got
several samples mounted.
-BRIAN: Sure.

-So I'm going
to bring these over.
-Okay.

ERIK:
They go inside the instrument.

All right, I'll close this up.

-I am so anxious to see--
-And now we will

vacuum this down.

There we go.

ERIK:
All right.

Look at that surface
right there.

Oh, you can see
the crosshatch pattern in it.

That doesn't look
like Mother Nature.

BRIAN:
No, it doesn't.

-Now, if I zoom
into the surface...
-Yes.

This looks like something here.

Yeah. It's raised.

ERIK:
Are we looking

at a tool-marked surface?

BRIAN:
It looks like the geometric

-patterns of it
do resemble tooling.
-ERIK: Yeah.

TRAVIS:
This almost looks

like a circuit component.

BRANDON:
Oh, my gosh.

TRAVIS: We couldn't be sure,
but under the SEM,

it really looked like
there might be etching

on the surface of that piece
of ceramic.

But if so, who or what could
have created these patterns?

I'm gonna reposition this
a little.

Zoom in a little bit.

ERIK:
I can see some clearly-defined,

-like, holes right now.
-Oh, yeah.

Are those holes getting bigger?

-ERIK: Yes. I think so.
-BRIAN: Yeah, yeah.

What?

TRAVIS:
It is. It's opening up!

BRIAN:
Yeah.

ERIK:
What in the world is going on?

TRAVIS:
Holy crap. Look at that!

BRIAN:
My initial thoughts were
that we were just looking

at some simple ceramic.

However, we were able

to see pits beginning
to appear on the surface.

It piqued my interest. I knew

we weren't looking
at just a rock from the ground.

This was something
that had a unique property

that I hadn't witnessed before.

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

that's causing this?

Let's turn it off to see
if it goes back to normal.

BRIAN:
Yeah. We can do that.

TRAVIS:
We were stunned
to see the surface of a solid,

ceramic material suddenly become
porous with big holes.

All I could think was that maybe

the electron beam
from the SEM was damaging it.

BRIAN:
Let's see what happens.

BRIAN:
Okay.

TRAVIS:
All right, here we go.

ERIK:
So, that does not look
as porous...

-TRAVIS: No.
-ERIK: ...as it was.

BRIAN:
Not nearly.

I have the old screen grab.

BRANDON:
Look at that.

BRIAN:
This is healing.

I've never seen anything

that is capable of doing this.

This stuff is fixing itself.

Yes. It's healing.
That's exactly right!

Unbelievable.

BRIAN:
This stuff is fixing itself.

TRAVIS: Yes, it's healing.
That's exactly right!

It seems to be putting itself
back together

when the E-beam is turned off.

TRAVIS:
Is that not just crazy?

TRAVIS:
Of all the unbelievable things

we've seen on Skinwalker Ranch,

this ceramic material that came
from more than 470 feet

inside the mesa
just raised the bar.

While being exposed
to a beam of electrons

in a high-powered microscope,

a bunch of holes suddenly opened
on its surface.

But when we turned the beam off,

it morphed back
to its original state.

What is this stuff?

Zoom further out

and let's see if we see
the crosshatches on it.

Okay. I can do that.

We'll close that.

ERIK:
Yeah, there we go.

TRAVIS:
Yup, the surface is closed
and smooth.

That's crazy.

We seem to be opening up voids

by illuminating this surface
with the electron beam.

And then when we turn the beam
off and then vented the chamber,

it goes back
to its original appearance.

I think
that's what we've just seen.

I think that is
what we've just seen.

So this is an active surface.

Yes.

What does that mean?

Like I said before,

I've worked a lot

with highly-engineered
ceramic materials

for the space industry

because of their heat-absorbing

and energy-conducting
properties.

But neither I nor the other
two scientists in the lab

have ever seen a ceramic
do this kind of stuff.

Well, can we do
an elemental analysis of it?

Sure.

Well, right now,
what is happening is

we're bombarding the surface
with X-rays

and determining
the energy levels

of the electrons
in the material itself

to help define
what elements are present.

TRAVIS:
Okay.

When we did our own similar
scans back at the ranch,

we were surprised
to see elements like nickel,

cobalt and thorium,

which you don't usually see
in ceramics.

So, we wanted
to confirm the content

with this lab's much more
sophisticated equipment.

This is the analysis
of the exterior of the sample.

ERIK:
So, this is just the elemental

makeup of this sample on the
surface versus the interior?

Yeah.

TRAVIS:
So this shows

some more elements
than what we saw on the ranch.

We got, uh-- carbon, oxygen

-are the two most prevalent.
-BRIAN: Mm-hmm.

And then you've got the next
most prevalent, silicon,

and then the next one is
magnesium or aluminum.

They're real close
to each other.

And then calcium and then iron.

The amount of carbon
is really interesting.

I was not expecting that.

-I wasn't, either.
-Quite a bit.

TRAVIS:
And you know

that's one of main ingredients
of stealth material.

I've actually made it before.

I covered a pickup truck
with it once

and made it invisible
to police radar.

We used charcoal,
which is your carbon,

an aluminum binding agent,

and, basically, spray glue.

And so, that's one
of the main ingredients

used for radar cloaking
technology by the military.

Since World War II,
our military has been

developing stealth material
to make our fighter jets

and other craft invisible
to radar detection--

and even to the naked eye,
in some cases.

Could this be same type
of material?

And could that be
what this material was used for?

BRANDON:
So, what does that mean
as far as

what is in the mesa?

Uh... I don't know.

Can we do
an elemental interior scan?

BRIAN:
Definitely.

TRAVIS: Now that we know
what the exterior

of this material is made of,

we need to know
if those elements

will remain consistent
inside of it, too,

or maybe we'll find
even more surprises.

ERIK:
All right.

BRIAN:
All right. So, this is
a purely interior scan.

We've got oxygen, silicon,

there is some magnesium,

there's a calcium line,
we've got potassium,

some iron.

TRAVIS:
A lot of aluminum this time.

No carbon this time,

so the interior
doesn't have carbon in it.

I mean, the interior is clearly
a different material

-than the exterior.
-Uh-huh.

TRAVIS: This material is a lot
like a sponge,

or maybe an umbrella--

one material on the outside
for protection,

with another one on the inside
for some different purpose.

How do you make this material
that's hard on the outside,

but sponge-like
on the inside?

-Yeah, I get it. Yeah.
-TRAVIS: And to what end?

TRAVIS:
It could be, the exterior hull

or protective layer
of something you know, to...

to protect it
from a harsh environment.

-ERIK: Yeah.
-TRAVIS: I mean,
I keep coming back to:

this is a lot like the ceramic
tiles for the space shuttle.

I don't know yet
what we've got here.

But I can't help
making comparisons

between this ceramic material

and the ceramic tiles
on the space shuttle

for a couple of reasons.

Space shuttle tiles are designed
to protect the shuttle

from extreme heat--
up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit--

when they reenter
the Earth's atmosphere.

They're made
of coated silica ceramics

that are very light, but able to
absorb extreme amounts of heat.

There are similar elements
in the makeup of the ceramics

that came out of the mesa,

but their interior is different,

and the way they responded

to the scanning
electron microscope

was completely unexpected.

What that means,
we just don't know yet.

BRIAN:
Well, I have never seen anything

with this content
that behaves this way

that was
a naturally-occurring material.

-There's no way that's natural.
-ERIK: I would agree.

This is definitely
something engineered.

TRAVIS:
So that means
somebody built it.

-ERIK: For a purpose! Yes.
-And it was built for a purpose.

That's right. Now our goals are

to find out
what that purpose is.

Yeah.

So, how does a manufactured
piece of material

with these kind
of exotic properties exist,

and what the hell was this
material doing in the mesa?

(laughing):
I don't know, Brandon,

and how did it get there?

That's what I want to know,
because I'll tell you

where it didn't come from.
It didn't come

from any modern-day ceramics lab
that I know of.

You know, originally,
the-the intent--

and I think
it made a lot of sense--

was to drill, at--
essentially, at all costs,

so that we could study
whatever that anomaly is.

Now we've encountered this.

I think we have
to respond to the data,

change our approach,

possibly
to an archaeological fashion.

-Right?
-Yeah.

BRANDON:
I want to pull the plug

immediately on any further
drilling activity.

-Yes.
-TRAVIS: Absolutely.

BRANDON:
Because we may damage

the very thing
that we are trying to study.

And I think we're going

to have to take a much more
disciplined, careful approach,

because what
we have extracted is...

-It's unbelievable.
-Yeah.

We need to find the safest way
to get it out of there.

BRANDON:
I think we need time
to carefully

plot our next steps to preserve

and properly study the nature
of what is in the mesa.

Yeah, 100% agree with that.

This is definitely something
incredibly interesting,

something
I definitely didn't expect.

So, if we find more of it,
is it all right

if we bring it back here
for analysis?

-Please do.
-All right.

BRANDON:
Well, after eight years

of scientific investigation
at Skinwalker Ranch

under our stewardship,

I think today marks
a significant turning point

that is going to take us
in a whole new direction.

-Yes. Well, thank you
for the time.
-BRANDON: Thank you.

-Of course.
-And I think it is time for us

-to gather up and move on.
-Yeah. Let's go.

ERIK:
I can't wait to tell the rest
of the team what we found.

THOMAS:
Hey, guys.

TRAVIS:
What's up, fellas?

Pull up a seat.

TRAVIS:
After what we learned

about the ceramic materials
at Utah Valley University,

the next morning,
we met with the drillers

to let them know about our
change of plans for the mesa.

So, uh, I asked you guys
to come in here

'cause we just come across
some new data

that is evolving the way

that we want to tackle the mesa.

Brandon has asked us

to cease
all drilling operations,

effective immediately.

-Okay.
-THOMAS: But it's because

of the things that we have
found in the spoils.

And it's paid off in a big way.

-Okay.
-THOMAS: But...

we don't want to risk damaging

anything up in the mesa.

ALEX:
That's actually

a really good idea.

What's the sum total
of the hard stuff

-that you've drilled through?
-We were kind of talking.

And we were thinking
probably around 40 feet,

-right around there.
-Wow.

Yeah, but where did it all go?

Yeah. Where did it all go
when you drilled through it?

Where are the pieces of it?

There were several obstructions

that we struggled
to drill through in Borehole 2,

from about 130 feet
up to almost 500 feet.

But we only found a few small
pieces of the ceramic material.

There should have been a lot
more of them in the spoils.

ALEX:
I was saying that to you guys,

that it's weird that we're not
running into anything.

-You know what I mean?
-TRAVIS: It's almost like it was

-destroyed or something,
completely.
-ALEX: Yeah.

You've seen that bit. It's made
for taken off chunks of stuff.

Yeah, well,
the destruction was mutual.

Yeah, yeah, right.

-Your bits were destroyed.
-KALEB: I was just thinking.

You guys went through,
what, 15 teeth?

-Yeah, we went through
quite a few teeth.
-Yeah.

So, something's not adding up.

No. Yeah.

We've speculated that we may
have been chipping materials off

of this very hard layer or
object that we're running into.

So, I think
it makes a lot of sense,

as we encounter
this hard material, to expect

to see large individual pieces
of ceramics in the spoils,

which we haven't seen.

I think reanalyzing that and
going through it with a smaller

screen will definitely provide
some more evidence.

TRAVIS:
I think the, uh, the trick is,

figure out a way
to non-destructively

get some data back up in there,
like a camera or something.

-Absolutely.
-TRAVIS: Put a camera
in a little

hemisphere dome and mounted it
inside to the drill.

So, the drill's like this,
right, and we mounted it here,

so we could see whatever
it might be that you're hitting.

Yeah. We can try that.

Yeah. As much
as we set our sights

on having
these two parallel holes,

which, yes, I want, you know,

this is a different kind
of success,

and we're simply pivoting
to a different way

of engaging
with what's in that hill.

THOMAS:
Well, I'm excited

to go get this head and see
what we got to do to modify it

and find the camera.

So, I say we get this done.

-Yup.
-(people voicing assent)

I'm gonna go do
some camera research.

That's a good idea.

TRAVIS: Later that day,
while we were working

on getting a new camera
to investigate Borehole 2,

Chris Roberts was using

his smaller sifting screen

to carefully search
for more ceramics

and other evidence
of what's buried in the mesa.

(laughs)

ROBERTS:
Hey. You guys got a copy?
This is Chris.

THOMAS:
Hey, Chris. We got a copy.
Go ahead.

I got something
kind of curious over here.

You guys might want
to come take a look at it.

THOMAS:
All righty.

We'll head right over.

Thanks.

TRAVIS:
When Chris called us and said

he found something curious
in the spoils,

we figured it must be a new clue
of some kind. Hopefully,

something that would propel
our investigation forward.

But no one expected
what he was about to show us.

ERIK:
I heard about something curious.

Uh, well, I'm going through
the 496-to-498-foot level.

So, it's a really small,
concise level, right?

TRAVIS:
Yeah.

Um... and then
I found that in there.

Is that money?

-What on Earth?
-It's money.

It's a 1964

U.S. nickel.

Wow. 1964, man.

Check it out.

ERIK:
Lots of things come to mind

when I hear about a coin
being found in the spoils.

Is it coming from hundreds
of feet within the mesa?

Could it have somehow fallen
from the surface

near the spoils pit,

made its way into that slurry
and gotten vacuumed out?

And ultimately, what does it
mean to our investigation?

It's got really heavy wear
and patina on it

that, in a way,
kind of matches, you know,

the iron oxide we're finding
in there and the gypsum.

So, it looks very similar with
the orange and the pink colors.

ERIK:
So, I think what I'm reading
into what you're saying--

-it's been there a long time.
-Yeah.

How would a nickel even get
inside the mesa that far?

'Cause there's no signs
of there being an entrance,

an opening,
something covered up, buried.

How did that get in there?

ROBERTS:
Something they do

archeologically,
when you do an excavation,

you throw a new coin in it.

And then you backfill it so that
you know when that was dug.

That suggests that somebody did

an archeological excavation

-in 1964.
-ROBERTS: Yes.

That suggests that somebody did
an archeological excavation

in 1964.

ROBERTS:
That is something

you do when you backfill.

TRAVIS:
That would mean

somebody did get something
out of there,

and then they backfilled it.

It would certainly seem
to imply that.

TRAVIS:
According to Chris, who is
a professional archaeologist,

it's been common practice
for decades

that when archaeological digs
are completed,

a coin with the exact year
is left in the backfill.

It's a time stamp
to mark the dig

in case someone else comes along
later and rediscovers it.

So, who was here back in 1964?

What did they find?

And what was left behind
that we're now rediscovering?

1964.

That gives us a period
to look through records.

And we can also review
any historic aerial photos

of the property, too.

Isn't that something?

Could there have been

an archeological
or other excavation

on the mesa at the drill site?

If so, why?

What could have happened there?

Maybe there's a connection
between the date on that nickel

and these unusual ceramic
and metal materials coming

from hundreds of feet
within the mesa.

There's got to be a story here,

and I want to find out
what that story is.

How did that get in there?
And why?

I still don't feel like I have
the answer to that question.

I don't, either. But we do know

is we found ceramic material

-in there that shouldn't
have been there.
-Yes.

And we found a nickel from 1964.

This is certainly interesting.

TRAVIS: We're gonna change
our approach to this

-and look through the archives.
-ERIK: Yes, we are.

TRAVIS:
Keep finding crazy stuff, man.

-I'll keep looking.
-Keep looking, man.

-Good stuff. Good stuff.
-Thanks for this.

-All right, man.
-Okay, I'll catalog this.

ERIK:
The fact that we're finding
this 1964 nickel

and potentially some relatively
modern materials,

including the ceramic
and some metal fragments

at the drill site, only adds

to the puzzling nature
of the mesa itself.

At this point,
I think it is very clear

that what we're looking
at is highly unusual.

It begs for an explanation.

So, it's very important
to get our hands

and to get our eyes on whatever
it is that's inside the mesa.

TRAVIS:
Did somebody find something

unbelievable in the mesa
and take part of it away?

Or did they find something
and decide

it was out of this world,
so they covered it back up?

This mystery just got
a whole lot deeper,

and we're gonna keep digging

until we get
to the bottom of it.

BRANDON: After years
of constant difficulty

with trying to access
what lies within the mesa,

we are closer than ever before
to getting the answers,

what may lie within the mesa

that is involved with all
of the strange phenomena

that we are seeing and
documenting at Skinwalker Ranch.

THOMAS:
What the heck do we got
inside this mesa?

TRAVIS:
I can't wait to run instruments

down that tube
and see what we can find out.

THOMAS:
Down in the hole.

This should go fairly easy.

-ERIK: Oh, wow.
-TRAVIS: What is it?

JAN:
This thing is six

feet thick,

and then we see

other little bits and pieces
further down.

That is just unbelievable.

This material is
a superconductor.

ERIK:
That just makes

no sense to me at all.

TRAVIS:
It does if it's like

a space shuttle tile.

CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY
A+E NETWORKS