All language subtitles for The.Secret.of.Skinwalker.Ranch.S06E12.en

ROBERTS: I wanted to show you
what we found inside the mesa.

TRAVIS:
This could be one of the most

miraculous finds
here on the ranch.

ERIK:
I want to sit down with this

and get some quality time

with their scanning
electron microscope.

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.

BRIAN:
This stuff is fixing itself.

It's putting itself
back together.

-It's healing.
-BRANDON: I want to pull
the plug immediately

on any further
drilling activity,

because we may damage

the very thing
that we are trying to study.

I got something
kind of curious over here.

U.S. nickel.

Archaeologically,
when you do an excavation,

-TRAVIS: Yeah.
-you throw a new coin in there

so that you know
when that was dug.

TRAVIS:
That suggests that somebody

did an archaeological excavation
in 1964.

That gives us a period
to look through records.

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 them.

...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: Hey, fellas.

KALEB: Ooh.

Looks like some aerial photos.

Believe it or not,
this is an image

of the drill site from 1969.

KALEB:
Oh, wow.

-Damn.
-ERIK: Yeah. Yeah.

SAM:
So, why are we looking
at old pictures?

TRAVIS:
Just days ago at the drill site,

we found that 1964 nickel.

Our investigation

of a massive,
possibly metallic object

and a number of smaller
anomalies buried

inside the mesa
on Skinwalker Ranch

took a turn two weeks ago.

While searching through
drilling spoils

that came from nearly 470 feet
in our second borehole,

we found what could be
an engineered ceramic material

related to some kind of
highly advanced technology.

Things got even crazier
a couple days ago,

when team archaeologist
Chris Roberts

uncovered an encrusted
1964 nickel

in those same drilling spoils.

He explained that archaeologists
will often bury a coin

to mark the year
of an official dig.

The nickel could be evidence
that an archaeological dig

happened right here
back in 1964.

So, Erik and I scoured
through records

from the state of Utah

and actually found
some aerial photos

of the mesa drill site

that were taken
during geological surveys

over the past 60 years.

So, we think wh-- that maybe

somebody knew about
something there

and it's possible
that there was an excavation

or an archeological dig
of some sort.

And so, we thought,
well, if we go back and look

through archival images,
maybe we could see

actual evidence
of some kind of dig.

ERIK:
Yeah, so I've got
the historic aerial photos

from the early '60s.

You know, 1961, 1963,

and then there's a gap
until 1969.

KALEB:
Really? Wow.

Yeah, there's no
available images

from '63 to '69.

Is that not fascinating?

That's a coincidence
on the timing, isn't it?

TRAVIS:
Why would there be
missing photos from 1964,

which is the same year
as the nickel we found,

and then all the way up
through 1968?

Was it a clerical error?
Or was it done on purpose?

The photos of the mesa
from 1961,

1963 and 1969

look almost identical
to the naked eye,

but I wanted to make sure

they weren't doctored
in some way.

So, I used an AI program
to look for any evidence

of artificial changes in them.

Let me show you
what happens when we compare

the '61 and '63 image
to the '69 image.

Erik, you want to bring up
my, uh, analysis that I did?

ERIK:
Sure.

TRAVIS:
All right. So, this was

the 1961 image.

And you can look
at the drill site there.

So that's the region
that I'm focusing on,

just the data in that circle.

So, the AI said
there were no potential

alterations to the picture.

Now, this is the '63 image.

There's nothing unusual.

'61 and '63 look
almost identical to each other.

And, in fact, I overlayed them
with each other.

They were, like, 99% each other.

So now,
if you look at this one...

This is from 1969.

So, what I did was
I started comparing them

to each other
using an AI program,

and highlight any regions

that appears to have been
altered, all right?

Uh, now, Erik,
go to the next slide.

So, here's all three of them
beside each other,

and, uh, you can see
that there's a significant spot

that it thinks is--
has been dithered

or smoothed with some sort
of filter in the 1969 image

that's not in the other images.

Right? This spot right here,

it looks kind of like
a leaf shape

that seems raised or brighter
or blurrier or something?

-KALEB: Yeah.
-That right there means

someone altered this picture.

THOMAS:
That's just incredible.

-But who?
-That's the big question, man.

And why?

And why between 1963 and 1969?

Why are there
no archival photos,

and why was this photo altered?

THOMAS:
I mean, the fact that it was
doctored indicates a cover-up.

If there's no cover-up,
why doctor the photos?

Interesting.

TRAVIS:
You know, we don't know
what's in the mesa,

how it got there, but the timing
is really interesting

because in 1963 to '69,

NASA's transitioning to Apollo,

the three-man capsules
that were going to the Moon.

And they were testing
reentry vehicles

that had, uh,
different types of materials,

heat shields, uh,
different metals, ceramics.

Prior to sending men in space,

NASA had the Saturn I program

to test vehicle performance
in a variety of ways.

For instance,
between 1961 and 1965,

there were ten
uncrewed Saturn missions.

After launch,
some fell into the ocean,

some burned up on reentry

and some
were just never recovered.

So, what if, you know,
one of those reentry vehicles

got off track
and crashed in there?

-Yeah.
-Or...

while looking
for a crashed vehicle,

did they find something else

and then covered it up?

Well, this has given me
a lot to think about, yeah.

I think we need to run
more lab tests

on the ceramic material

-at Utah Valley University.
-Yeah.

And while we wait
for that access,

let's try to get more data
out of Borehole 2.

-SAM: Yeah.
-THOMAS: I have that new camera

for the drillers
to install into Borehole 2.

Definitely gonna dig in and...
and see what else we can find

as-as we move forward
up in the mesa.

All right, well, thanks, guys.

Let's get it and head out there.

ALEX: That's the new one, huh?

Yeah, so we've got two cameras
in this and a light.

TRAVIS:
All summer long,

we've been working
to drill our second,

approximately 600-foot-long
borehole, up through the mesa,

so that we'd have two
identical boreholes positioned

on either side of the massive
object buried in there.

And once
Borehole 2 was complete,

our plan was
to insert scanning devices

into both boreholes

so we could study what all these
anomalies inside there are.

But after finding those
ceramic pieces in the spoils,

we've decided
to stop drilling Borehole 2

so that we don't further damage
whatever it is that's in there.

So today,
working with our drilling team,

our new plan is to insert
a specialized drill head,

equipped with cameras,
to hopefully see something

that will help us figure out
what the heck it is.

They built it so that the water
will jet out there,

hopefully,
to spray the cameras off.

-All right.
-Yup.

We can get it put on the head
and test it

in the hole before we go up.

Well, let's go get it set up

and start pushing up the hill.

-ALEX: Sounds good.
-All right.

ERIK: It's worthwhile
to think about what brought us

to the drill site.

Specifically,
why are we drilling

where we've been drilling?

When we start finding metal,
and of course, the ceramics

inside of a sandstone mesa,

we're all very interested.

ALEX:
Hey, Allan, go ahead
and get that water fired up.

All right,
I'm gonna start pushing.

ERIK:
It certainly bears revisiting

the question
as to what is the best way

to find out
what is inside the mesa.

I'm sitting at about 240.

We're gonna stop down
right there.

10-4. Will do.

TRAVIS:
Once the drilling team
made it about 240 feet

into Borehole 2
with the cameras, they stopped

so that we could retract
the drill head

and check out the video data
that was collected.

We got you some cameras.

TRAVIS:
Well, look at that.

Take that thing apart and let's
get the video out of there.

On a scale of one to ten,
I'd say

we were all at about 100,

hoping to finally get a look
at whatever

those ceramic tiles came from
inside the mesa.

Yeah, it's just dark artifact.

THOMAS:
We should be seeing something
from the camera lights.

Yeah, I'm seeing
these random flashes.

-Are you picking up on that?
-TRAVIS: Yeah. I am seeing that.

I see 'em right there.

TRAVIS:
Yeah. There's one.

-There's another one.
-ERIK: There it is again.

TRAVIS:
What the hell?

TRAVIS: What the hell?

We might be looking
at energetic particles

-striking the detector.
-Uh-huh. Um...

That makes me think that

that it was, like,
a gamma ray or something

-and hit the...
-ERIK: Mm-hmm.

-TRAVIS: There's another one.
-ERIK: There it is again.

KALEB:
Yeah, there's quite a few
of those.

-Yeah.
-TRAVIS: Yeah, I think

that's got to be gamma ray hits
against the focal plane.

It was hard to tell exactly
what we were seeing

in the Borehole 2 video
that came

from about 240 feet
inside the mesa.

It was almost completely dark,

except for several flashes
of light

that looked to Erik and me
like they could be gamma rays.

Now, gamma rays can occur
naturally underground

due to the radioactivity
of Earth,

but these flashes
were happening more frequently

than you'd expect.

So, if that's what they were,

could they have come from
the huge object buried in there?

I think we just got a kind
of data we weren't anticipating.

I think we just discovered
that there are

-gamma rays in there.
-Mm-hmm.

That's interesting.

TRAVIS: When we first pulled

the ceramic materials
out of the mesa,

it showed elevated levels
of radiation.

So we needed to figure out a way
to investigate our boreholes

for more clues
about what's in there.

Well, we may be limited
on Hole number 2 as to what

-we can do right now. I mean,
-Yeah.

we don't have
an opening at the top.

TRAVIS:
We're gonna have to put PVC down

the other hole

to run instruments
down that tube

-and see what we can find out.
-ROYSTON: That's a great idea.

-TRAVIS: Yeah.
-SAM: Yeah.

I'm already preparing
a few sensors

to put down the pipe.

TRAVIS:
Because we weren't able
to drill Borehole 2

all the way up through
to the top of the mesa,

we're gonna have to
go back to Borehole 1

to get more data
about what's buried in there.

But first, we'll need to install
some industrial PVC pipe

down through it

so that we can get our
instruments safely deployed.

Well, I say we pack up, and

-let's call it a night.
-Let's do it.
-I think

-that's a great idea.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.

TRAVIS:
Let's get out of here.

THOMAS: We got a big day
ahead of us, huh?

-ALEX: Yeah.
-So, you guys are ready

-to push back up the hole?
-ALEX: Mm-hmm.

Yeah. If everything goes smooth,
it shouldn't take us too long.

TRAVIS:
By the next afternoon,

Thomas got us
the PVC pipe we needed

to start casing Borehole 1.

So, everybody was
hoping like hell

that we could get it installed
without any problems.

But in order to do that,
the drillers first needed

to drive their six-inch bit
all the way back up

through the borehole
to the top of the mesa.

And then,
they would attach the PVC piping

to the bit with a device
called a "pulling eye,"

and pull it all the way
back down through the hole.

While you guys are pushing rod

up the hill,
we're gonna go get the spooler

and try to get working on
getting the pipe up to the top

so that by the time
you guys are up there,

hopefully, we can be ready

-to start pulling down.
-Works for us.

ERIK: Thanks, guys.

THOMAS:
Push it.

TRAVIS: As the guys
from Mark Construction

drilled back up
through Borehole 1...

ALEX:
Push in, push in.

Push in.

TRAVIS: ...we hoped
it would go smoothly

since it was
previously drilled

and presumed
to be completely open.

THOMAS:
All right, we did it.

TRAVIS:
But then they reported a spot

around 450 feet
in the borehole...

We're hung up.

...where they hit something
that slowed their progress.

I'm stuck on something.

Hey, Thomas, you got a copy?

Yeah, go ahead.

We're hung up on something,

can't go forward.

How far in are you?

I'm 30 rods in.

So, you're, what,
450 feet into the mesa?

Yeah.

(static)

It's, like, the same section

that we were experiencing
all the same issues

in this second borehole.

What's the game plan?

ALLAN:
I'm trying to do what I can

to try and work my way
around it and see if I can

keep moving forward.

Copy that.
Well, keep us posted.

Will do.

THOMAS:
Did you get past the hard spot?

ALEX:
Yeah, we got through it.

-TRAVIS: Really?
-Yup.

TRAVIS: Thankfully,
in less than a couple hours,

they were about to pop back up
through the top of the mesa.

So, we couldn't wait
to get the PVC hooked on

and then case the hole with it.

-Hey, hey, look at that.
-Unbelievable.

ALEX:
Heck, yeah.

The side teeth
on that bit are all tore up.

TRAVIS:
But it's chewed up, isn't it?

These were brand-new
when we went in.

-No way.
-Really? And it's chewed that up

-just in re-reaming the hole?
-ALEX: Yeah.

What the heck have we got
inside this mesa?

-KALEB: That's nuts.
-TRAVIS: Yeah, it is nuts.

We knew the drill hit
that one hard spot,

but we couldn't believe how
much damage was done to the bit.

It was very similar
to what happened in Borehole 2

just before we found
the strange ceramic material

in the drilling spoils.

Is that what we just hit
in Borehole 1?

More than 40 feet
to the east of Borehole 2?

ALEX:
We'll get the pulling eye on,

hook it up, and we're gonna
start yanking her back in.

-All right.
-ROYSTON: Nice.

TRAVIS:
Whatever it was,

-daylight was burning.
-Here we go.

TRAVIS: So, we needed
to pull that PVC casing

down through the hole
as fast as possible.

ALEX:
All right.

So, there's no chance
of this slipping off.

Tighten this down
as tight as you can get it.

-THOMAS: Nice.
-ALEX: Okay.

-THOMAS: All right.
-ALEX: Okay.

All right, Allan,
you got a copy?

-Yeah, I got a copy.
-ALEX: Get everything fired up.

We're getting ready to pull
this in. We're all hooked up.

10-4.

We got water.
Go ahead and start dead-pulling.

(engine starting)

THOMAS:
Fortunately, because
this is only a four-inch pipe

going in a seven-inch hole,

this should go fairly easy.

TRAVIS:
Look at that!

-THOMAS: Down in the hole.
-KALEB: That's awesome.

TRAVIS:
Fruits of our labor.

THOMAS:
It's just so imperative
that we get this hole

cased and completed

so the scientists can finally

get instruments in there,

and hopefully,
get us some answers

as to what lies inside the mesa.

Uh-oh.

Hey, they stopped.
Is that a bad sign?

Are you rotating, Allan?

I'm trying.

I have to run down there
and see what we got going on.

Okay.

ALEX: Everything
was going smooth originally

when we started pulling,
and we hit a spot

in the mesa, and...

we weren't able to pull,
really, anymore at that point.

Here. Let me see it, Allan.

I went down to operate
the machine just to see

if I could get it freed up, or

if we could get past
the spot we were in.

After drilling all day,
well into the night,

we were all
under a lot of stress

because we knew
we had to get this pipe moving

and get it through.

We're stuck pulling back.

I'm gonna try and push back up.

THOMAS: Go ahead. I'll let
you know if we see any movement.

ALEX:
We were definitely snagging
on something hard.

We were unable to rotate
and unable to pull.

(high-pitched metallic creaking)

We're stuck, boys.
We're stuck-stuck.

TRAVIS:
We had gotten about 270 feet

of the PVC back down
through the hole,

so it seemed like
whatever damaged the bit

was now holding up
the entire operation.

ALEX:
Back right up to the drill.

Yeah.

TRAVIS:
So, after spending more

than an hour trying
to get past that spot,

and making no progress,

the drillers hooked
their semitruck up

to the drill rig
to try something pretty drastic.

THOMAS: What's the update?

ALEX: My only option is

to crank this pressure
to 60,000 pounds.

It wants
to pull the drill forward,

so I chained the semi
to the drill.

All right.

ALEX:
All right, guys.

This is
the last-ditch effort here.

Something's gonna break
or it's gonna move.

I'm giving her
everything she's got.

(rattling)

I felt her pop for a second.

(high-pitched squeak)

Still pretty hung up.

ALEX:
Okay. I'm going at it again.

ROYSTON:
Come on. Come on.

TRAVIS: We were all holding
our breath as the team

from Mark Construction
used every bit of power

they could, between
their semitruck and drill rig,

to pull the PVC casing down

through Borehole 1.

ROYSTON:
Whoa.

TRAVIS:
Because if this didn't work,

we didn't know how
we were going to be able

to get our scanning devices
in there

to help figure out what the heck
is buried in the mesa.

ROYSTON:
Oh. Four inches.

You just pulled
about four inches in.

Yeah, we're seeing
some good movement on the pipe.

Keep her up.

ALEX:
Yeah, it loosened up there
at the end.

THOMAS:
Oh, yeah. Keep going.

TRAVIS:
After all the problems
we had with this operation,

seeing that pipe finally
get pulled into place

all the way down through
Borehole 1 was a huge relief.

Well, we're gonna
wrap it up here

and we'll head back that way.

10-4.

TRAVIS:
Now, we'll have a great pathway

for our instruments to collect
data on the buried objects,

and we have a good trouble spot
to focus on

about 270 feet
into the borehole.

KALEB:
There's your plug.

TRAVIS: There's your plug
right there. Look at that.

-THOMAS: And there's the pipe.
-KALEB: There it is.

Yeah, Alex, we're good.

We got pipe.

(whooping)

TRAVIS:
Well, looks like we did it.

KYLE:
Yup.

JAN: So, I'm going to go over
to the table right now

and set up the radar.

TRAVIS:
Late the next afternoon,
ground-penetrating radar expert

Jan Francke arrived at the ranch

with a new,
specialized GPR device

to run down Borehole 1.

Jan, talk to me about
what we're gonna be able

-to see as we go down that tube.
-Right.

I think you said we can
see out to about 20 feet.

-That's a radius, right? Okay.
-That's a radius.

So, if there is
something of a void,

or, I guess
a metal object, right,

then we would definitely
pick that up.

Okay.

TRAVIS:
Once Jan's scan is done,

Sam Deriso has put together
an entire sled

of instruments to run a series

of other scans,
including magnetometry,

which might confirm
these objects are made of metal,

and a gamma ray detector

to show just how radioactive
they might be.

THOMAS:
Jan, let's start

-with your GPR device.
-Yup.

-So, Kaleb and Jim are
at the bottom of the hill.
-Okay. Okay.

They're gonna be assisting us,
making sure

that nothing gets caught up
at the bottom.

Okay.

JAN:
Okay.

THOMAS:
All right,
the GPR is in the pipe.

We're gonna start
our slow, steady descent.

TRAVIS:
I'm gonna get
my hand-held instrument

out of the Jeep, and I'm going
to kind of walk up the mesa.

-Great. Sounds good.
-All right, man.

TRAVIS: While the GPR device
was being run down Borehole 1...

One hundred and thirty.

TRAVIS:
...I was hiking down the mesa
along that line

with my handheld
spectrum analyzer.

I wanted to look out
for any strange energy spikes

or radio frequency signals
that we've detected in the past

while we drilled both boreholes.

Here we go.

Look at that-- bone dry.

-Awesome.
-Awesome. Look how...

-Look how clean it is.
-We just put an instrument

from the top of the mesa down to
the bottom for the first time.

JAN:
It worked perfectly.

We should get really good data
out of this.

I'm gonna head down right now

and get started on that.

That sounds great.

Okay. See you guys.

ERIK:
All right, Sam, you're up.

SAM: Yeah. Just need to go,
uh, get it recording,

and then we'll send it down.

THOMAS: So, you're gonna be
collecting the profile,

the magnetometry data
and the radiation.

-Awesome. Let's do it.
-Yeah.

What is inside of this mesa?

And might there have been
a deliberate effort

to conceal something?

I want
to get magnetometry information,

I want to get side-looking,
ground-penetrating radar

measurements from Borehole 1.

I'm anxious
to take a look at the data

and look
for meaningful correlations.

THOMAS:
The sensor's loaded
into the pipe

and we're ready to start
making a descent into the mesa.

Copy that. We're ready to go.

TRAVIS:
Hey, Jim. You copy?

Yeah. Go ahead, Travis.

Yeah. The spectrum analyzer
was picking up

a 1.6 gigahertz signal,
and then the signal went away.

It don't make any sense.

Yeah. That is crazy.

TRAVIS: I wondered if I might
see something during this scan,

because when we drilled
both boreholes,

we detected numerous
1.6 gigahertz signals

that appeared to be coming
from inside the mesa.

And when I picked this one up,
it was very close

to where the drill was damaged
the other day.

You're not gonna
believe this, though, Erik.

Yeah, I put the spectrum
analyzer literally on the dirt

on the ground, right where
the anomalous area is.

And I started
getting a 1.6 gigahertz signal

-when the sensor passed by.
-That's strange.

ERIK:
And there's nothing in our
devices that should cause that.

TRAVIS:
There's nothing.
It makes no sense.

ERIK: Well, Sam has just
finished running his scans.

I say we pack it up and get back
to the command center.

TRAVIS:
All right, guys, we'll see you
at the command center.

-ERIK: Hey, Jan.
-TRAVIS: Hey, Jan.

Hey, guys, good to see you.

I'm excited to show you
what I've got.

Later that night,
both Jan Francke and Sam Deriso

already had their data
from Borehole 1 processed.

So, we couldn't wait
to see what they might reveal

about the buried objects
in the mesa.

So, before we jump
into your data,

Sam's got the output
of his instrument.

Sam, how about
you take us into the data?

So, I'm gonna bring
your screen up here.

SAM:
So we took

the magnetometer, we started
from the top of mesa,

and we sent it down Borehole 1.

So, as you're going
through the data,

the leftmost side
is the actual top.

There are several spikes,
but I'm really interested

in these two large,
magnetic data spikes.

As we're looking at this
blue trace across the screen,

that represents the disturbance
of the Earth's magnetic field.

So, if there's anything
along the borehole

that we drilled,
like big pieces of metal,

anything with magnetism,

if there's iron,
it could explain

-that disturbance.
-ERIK: So that points

to the possibility
of some actual feature

in the mesa that is causing
this temporary elevation

of the magnitude
of the magnetic field.

THOMAS:
Could a large metal object

in Borehole 1
be responsible that?

Yeah.

ERIK:
Wow.

ERIK:
We have every reason to think

that there are, in fact, regions

of some very hard stuff,

possibly metal,
that we're encountering

-in the mesa.
-SAM: Right.

And this data says "yes."

Wow. Wow.

TRAVIS:
According to the magnetometry
scans that Sam ran

in Borehole 1,
between 240 and 280 feet,

he detected numerous
potentially magnetic objects

buried in the mesa.

And that's
a major corroboration

of the previous
ground-penetrating radar data

we collected before our drilling
operation began three years ago.

Very interesting.

-Yeah.
-And I'm just seeing that is

right where we do have
an artifact assemblage

-Yeah, yeah.
-from the spoils,
including metal

in that area, so...

THOMAS:
Well, after seeing this,
I'm really excited to see

how this correlates or does not
correlate with what Jan found.

Well, let's get Jan to show us.

Hey, guys.

Uh, gonna share my screen.

All right,
does everybody see this?

-Yes.
-Okay, great.

So this is the GPR scan
that I took in Borehole 1.

Along the X axis,

we see the number of meters
down the hole.

I'll move through the scan,
going kind of deeper

into the borehole as I advance.

So let's go down,
you know, 30, 40.

We're down 50 meters into the
hole, which is about 165 feet.

Nothing to talk about
until you get

to about 270 feet to this.

Wow. Look. I mean, look at that.

-Oh, wow.
-What is that?

JAN: That is something
that is so distinct.

And it sits out

away from the hole,
approximately,

12 feet, and this thing is

six feet thick.

That is just unbelievable.

-Oh, wow.
-JAN: And then we see

other little bits and pieces

further down.

TRAVIS:
So, this is

about 270 to 280 feet in.

-It's the same place.
Same place.
-The same place

that your data, Sam,

was picking up
the anomalous data.

Right.

This bears evidence
of a similar structure,

potentially to the large object
we believe is in there.

-Yeah, it does.
-Which means
that what we encountered

at Borehole 2
may be continuous with

what's happening
near Borehole 1.

TRAVIS:
Jan's new GPR scans
have also confirmed

that there appears
to be a central, massive object,

that could be made of metal,

between Borehole 1
and Borehole 2.

And now, he's given us data
that suggests

it's at least six feet thick.

Is this what's covered in that
ceramic material that we found?

Or what may have been emitting
gamma rays when we put a camera

in Borehole 2 earlier this week?

If so, what the heck is it?

So, Jan,
would it be fair to say

that we're looking at something
potentially not natural?

-Yeah.
-Possibly technological

-in the mesa?
-I think it would be fair to say

"Yes, absolutely."

That is amazing.

Wow.

ERIK:
Well, guys,

this is... this is great.

Jan, thank you
for jumping on with us.

Always a pleasure.

Take care, guys.

TAMMY:
Okay, welcome to the lab.

TRAVIS:
A couple of days later,

Erik, Jim, Thomas and I went
back to Utah Valley University.

-All right, well,
let me get the samples out.
-Okay.

TRAVIS: There, we met
with chemist Dr. Tammy Clark

to run a series of new tests

on samples
of the ceramic materials

that we believe are related

to the massive object
buried in the mesa.

ERIK:
For the first part of what
we want to do, we need a sample

that's about, what,
200 milligrams?

-Yeah, that would be great.
-Okay.

TRAVIS: Our hope was
to learn not only more

about the composition
of these ceramics

but also
if they really are related

to some kind
of advanced technology.

-ERIK: So I've got one selected.
-TAMMY: Great, the first thing

we're gonna do is
clean up the sample.

We'll use the gas chromatography
mass spectrometer.

And that's gonna let us know

if there's organics in there
and maybe identify

what they are,
if they're known substances.

-Hmm.
-Okay.
-And then, with what remains,

we're gonna mortar and pestle
that down,

and then we're gonna digest that
with really strong acids.

-Mm-hmm.
-And we'll be able to use

the atomic emission spectrometer

to be able to see what metals
are present in the sample.

Okay, that makes sense.

TRAVIS:
So, this test should tell us

all of the elements
that are making up the material.

TAMMY:
Right.

TRAVIS:
Yeah, the tests we ran here

last time were crazy.

A couple weeks ago...

All right, I'll close this up.

TRAVIS:
...we examined the ceramics

in a scanning
electron microscope.

There we go.

TRAVIS:
And as the beam of electrons

hit the sample,
its surface suddenly began

to open up
with all kinds of holes.

But when we turned the beam off,

it went back
to its original state.

ERIK:
So that does not
look as porous

-BRIAN: No.
-as it was.

This stuff is fixing itself.

Yes, it's healing.

Now, we don't know
if there was

some kind of organic material
on the surface of the ceramic

that might explain
why it behaved that way.

So, this first process
will clean the ceramic

so we can better analyze it
with additional tests.

So, we're just gonna
take this sample,

and we're gonna put it
in the sonicating bath

to start cleaning up
the ceramic piece.

And this is in the isopropanol.

And we're gonna put some
sound waves through there.

-There we go.
-(whooshing)

So, the tests that we're
gonna run are going to be

the gas chromatogram
and mass spec.

We first need to separate
the organic components

and pull them out
of the ceramic material.

Essentially cleaning it up.

Take a peek.

We're going to do that
by putting them

into different types
of solvents,

isopropanol
and dichloromethane.

And we'll sonicate it. That'll
hit it with some sound waves.

SAM:
When you say
you're adding sound to it,

we can't hear it, so
it's at such a high frequency,

-in the ultrasonic range
above what we can hear?
-Yeah.

Yeah, I mean you can hear it
buzz a little bit.

And then
those sound waves are going

to essentially loosen up

any organic molecules

that might be embedded
in the ceramic

and help dissolve it
into the solvent.

So this is step one
of stripping it down?

-Yeah.
-Yes. Yes.

Okay, so, we're gonna
transfer it to another flask,

and then we'll add
dichloromethane to that one.

Look at this.

It's floating.

Oh, wow.

A normal ceramic would not

be floating in a liquid.

Wow.

ERIK: A normal ceramic would

-not be floating in a liquid.
-TAMMY: Yeah.

It is sort of unusual
to have something

that looks like a rock
float in dichloromethane.

ERIK:
Wow. Wow, wow, wow.

TRAVIS: Dr. Clark's analogy
about the ceramic floating

in this liquid cleaning solution
was spot-on.

There are rare, porous ceramics
that do float, but we believe

that this ceramic could be part

of what destroyed multiple
drill bits in the mesa.

So, how could it be light enough
to float like that?

More and more,
this stuff is proving

to be something very strange.

ERIK:
We're gonna dry that out,
so we're gonna

dry off the solvent
in preparation

for crushing the sample
for subsequent analysis.

Okay. So, we've got
a hot plate over here.

It's getting warm.

So, it's just forming bubbles
underneath it.

TRAVIS:
After the cleaning process
was done,

next, it was time
to dry out the sample

and then pulverize it
into tiny particles

for compositional analysis.

But the question was,
would it break apart easily?

TAMMY:
Okay, let's go use
the mortar and pestle.

-The moment
we've been waiting for.
-ROYSTON: Yes.

-TAMMY: Okay.
-THOMAS: So now,
you finally get to crush it up.

ERIK:
We have a whole series
of moments of truth here.

So, it is crushing.
It's crushing pretty easily.

Except there's one
large piece in here

that is less happy

to get destroyed.

There was one piece
in the middle

that took a little bit more.

You clearly
didn't put 15,000 PSI

-No.
-pounds of pressure
per square inch on that sample

-right there,
like the drill did on the ranch.
-No.

We were all stunned that most
of the ceramic samples broke up

into dust very easily

when Dr. Clark started
grinding it up in the lab.

When we found that stuff,
it was right after

an industrial drill struggled
for hours to break through it.

You look at it, and it looks
so brittle, and I'm thinking,

there's no way that that is
what's stopping the drill.

I would say "no"
looking at this,

unless it was behaving somehow
differently while in the mesa.

Right. Yeah.

We didn't know
what to think. I mean,

during our previous lab test

with a scanning
electron microscope,

we watched this stuff morph
from having a smooth surface

to opening up
with all kinds of holes,

and then literally going back
to its original form.

So, does it really
have the ability

to change
physical characteristics?

What is this stuff?

Well, we're gonna
dissolve this in acid

so we can do
quantitative analysis.

-All right.
-TAMMY: Okay.

TRAVIS:
After those strange results,

Dr. Clark prepped
the ceramic materials

to run them through the atomic
emission spectrometer, or AES.

It emits a plasma beam
that excites the electrons

in the material to identify
the elements in them.

We conducted a preliminary
elemental analysis

back on the ranch,

but this equipment
is much more sophisticated.

So, we absolutely
wanted to confirm

just what's in this stuff

to figure out
what it actually could be.

TAMMY:
So, we have the results
of the AES here.

And so, what we can see here
is titanium

-and calcium.
-ERIK: Which comes as

-no surprise.
-TRAVIS: Right. Yup.

And it's so high here
that it's actually

going off
of our calibration curve.

-TRAVIS: That's interesting.
-Okay.

And next is iron.
When we look at our sample,

we see
that it has a lot of iron.

-TRAVIS: It has a lot of iron.
-Yes.

-Okay?
-TRAVIS: Got it.

And here we have aluminum,
nice, solid aluminum,

-just like
you would expect to see, so...
-ERIK: Yup.

So there's aluminum
in the ceramic?

-Yup.
-Yeah.

Now we go down--
So this is vanadium.

TRAVIS:
Oh. Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.

-Yup.
-Vanadium is in it?

-That's what this is telling us.
-Okay.
-Remember?

-Yeah. Yes.
-ERIK: Those metal flakes

did have trace amounts
of vanadium.

TRAVIS:
They sure did.
So, the other pieces of metal

that we pulled out
three years ago now--

uh, they had vanadium
on the surface.

So that must mean it's embedded
in the material somewhere.

Which is even more interesting
when you think about it.

-TRAVIS: Yeah.
-THOMAS: What makes

-vanadium interesting?
-TRAVIS: Well, I do know

that vanadium is very durable
and used in the construction

of military vehicles
and spacecraft.

Why in the world
would that be in the mesa?

THOMAS: What are the properties
of vanadium?

What makes it interesting?

Well, I do know that vanadium

is very durable
and used in the construction

of military vehicles
and spacecraft.

-This is pretty interesting.
-Yeah.

Every test that we've performed
on the ceramic materials

that came out of the mesa

only adds more evidence
that something incredible

is buried on Skinwalker Ranch.

-Let's move on
to our next test, right?
-TAMMY: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Last week, Erik got
the idea to place a piece

of the ceramic on a magnet
to see if it would stick to it.

At first, it did.
But then,

the ceramic actually pushed
itself away from the magnet.

That ability to repel
a normal magnetic field

is what is known
as the Meissner effect.

And it suggested
that these ceramics

are highly-advanced materials
called superconductors.

Want to try just
for Meisner effect first?

BRIAN: Yeah.

So, you're gonna
freeze the sample?

-ERIK: Yes.
-TRAVIS: Yes.

ERIK: In liquid nitrogen.

And what does
freezing it accomplish?

So, in order for the materials
that we know of today

that are superconducting,
they don't become

superconducting until they get

to the temperature
of liquid nitrogen.

-Okay.
-And so, if we cool this down

to that temperature, about
negative 320 degrees Fahrenheit,

and it shows superconductive
properties, then we'll know

this material
is a superconductor.

Okay.

Superconductors are
cutting-edge materials

that scientists are researching
and developing today

because they can transfer
and store energy

without losing any of it,
and some even believe

that they could be used
to construct vehicles

and spacecraft
that actually defy gravity.

What the hell is that
in the sky?

Who knows?

Maybe this ceramic material

and whatever is in the mesa
will get us closer

to some answers about all
the UAPs we keep seeing

on Skinwalker Ranch.

So, we'll have a magnet,
and then on top of that,

we'll put this chamber, we'll
put the liquid nitrogen there,

and the sample.

Now, if the sample
becomes superconducting

when it gets cool,
and it's over this magnet,

this thing is gonna
push the ceramic upward.

-Okay.
-And so that's what
we're looking for here.

All right.
Well, let's do that.

ERIK: Some of our observations
on this ceramic material

are quite out of step with
anything I've ever seen before.

We're dealing with something
certainly unusual.

It is something that appears
to be an engineered material.

It begs for an explanation.

It deepens the mystery
of the drill site

and of the ranch overall.

At this point, I think
it's too early to say anything

about the origins and the true
design intent of this material.

Oh, that's probably enough
to cool it.

Well, it'll evaporate
pretty continuously.

So, we just want to make sure

there's enough in there
to stabilize.

Notice how
it's still boiling off?

-THOMAS: Uh-huh.
-BRIAN: That means

that the ceramic itself
hasn't reached

the temperature
of liquid nitrogen.

It's still warmer
than the nitrogen,

so the nitrogen is boiling away.

THOMAS:
So, when it quits bubbling, then

-it's the same temperature?
-TRAVIS: Yes.

It's still boiling away, man.
Look at that.

We expected the liquid nitrogen
to boil for a little while

as it cooled the ceramic down.

But it was crazy
how it just kept boiling.

A normal ceramic
should have cooled rapidly,

or even shattered from exposure
to such a negative temperature.

ERIK:
I am reminded
of the thermal mystery

-with the drilling.
-Yes.

Yes, the fact that

that bit appears
to have gotten so hot,

even to the point of fusing
or welding itself,

and yet the temperature gauge

never registered any kind of
climb in the temperatures.

Yeah.

TRAVIS:
Erik and Tom were right.

The drill bit was nearly welded
to the drill rod

as it was grinding up
against something

right at the spot where we found
the ceramics in the mesa.

Which suggests
whatever's in there

just absorbed the intense heat
from all that friction.

BRIAN:
It is taking longer

-than I would have expected.
-TRAVIS: Yeah.

It's taking a lot longer
than I was expecting, right?

That's data by itself.

That is absolutely data.

That just makes no sense
to me at all.

TRAVIS: It does to me

if it's like
a space shuttle tile.

Watching this makes me want
to do follow-up.

We're gonna have to.

-Wow.
-ERIK: And I think
we got out answer.

We've got a final experiment
of the year.

KEVIN:
So, we have several fuel mines.

That's gonna fully ignite,

and then you'll have
the rolling smoke rings.

TRAVIS:
Oh, my God. Look.

Is it bumping into the bubble?

Wow!

DAVE:
Hey, Erik, take a look at this.

I saw something going
from right to left.

ERIK:
This is really weird.

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