Brendan Jesus
If you read my coverage of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch Season 5 Episode 4 “Bad Taste,” you’re familiar with what is happening behind the scenes. After doing coverage last week, I realized I, too, may have been blinded by the cameras. While I did make it incredibly clear that I was in no way saying anything negative about Jeremy McGowan’s (O.S.I.R.I.S.) character, I realized I was only looking into the side of the story I aligned most with. And that was unfair. So I tweeted at Jeremy McGowan and he promptly responded and agreed to answer a few questions.
Instead of giving you my usual long preamble, we’re just going to get right into it. Following the episode coverage, I will share with you the correspondence I had with Jeremy McGowan. There was no need for McGowan to respond back to me, but I am greatly appreciative that he did. While I believe in things like the supernatural, Bigfoot, intelligent life beyond our comprehension, and, judge me, the hollow earth, I do realize it’s important to take a step back and evaluate. My conversation with Jeremy reminded me that it’s not just important, but necessary, to be objective and reasonable. What started as me wanting to spill some fun tea for the Skinwalker Ranch fans, turned into a wonderful learning experience.
Okay, I’m done now. Thanks again to Jeremy for taking the time to share his thoughts! While I still enjoy the spectacle of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, this conversation corroborates some of my complaints in my coverage of “What’s Up,” regarding control tests and things of that nature.
This Is Not A Drill: Some Evidence
We join the crew, Dr. Travis Taylor, Erik Bard, Thomas Winterton, Dragon, and Kaleb Bench, at the Skinwalker Ranch Command Center. After a quick rehash of the possible medical complications suffered by Snowshoe Engineering’s Brady Davis and Erik Bard, it is decided to have Snowshoe come back out for supplemental drilling. Before that, we take a look at some of the information gained from the previous day’s drilling. Firstly, Travis informs Erik of what was found with the voltmeter; and how the voltmeter showed 10x the amount of electrical energy than it should have. From there, Erik reminds everyone of the GPS sensor he installed on the drill head.
As you can imagine, the GPS data isn’t what it appears to be! The data shows the drill head, which should only be moving on the Y-axis, clearly going directly INTO the Mesa! Travis realizes this plot of data points almost mirrors, on a parallel, the data provided by the LunaSonde radar survey. And that’s when it’s discussed that the drilling should start back up.
You know, in my coverage of Season 5 Episode 1 “What’s Up,” I mentioned how Thomas was pretty gung ho about the idea of starting the drilling back up. What’s interesting is how Thomas, out of everyone, is the person charged with hanging out at the drill site with the Snowshoe crew, rather than, I don’t know, someone who hasn’t been hospitalized because of drilling…TWICE! It feels like a wink from the producers or something like they’re trying to tease whatever caused Thomas to be hospitalized.
The final interesting piece presented by Erik comes from the high-speed video camera he had pointing at the area over top of the triangle. It’s a bit unclear as to what point this video was taken, but there is one thing clear: something! Ignoring the lens flare, we can see multiple objects flying through the frame at multiple speeds and going in multiple directions. “That’s not natural,” says Erik Bard. Indeed, Erik, indeed.
Here Today, Jan Tomorrow Part II // A Friendly Chat
Dr. Jan Francke is back with his GPR scanning device. He, and Kaleb Bench, head to the top of the Mesa (where in 2021 data possibly revealed a long 300-foot dome-shaped metal object, and upon drilling into that spot, materials were found that had the same chemical consistency as materials used in NASA spacecraft).
While Jan and Kalen prepare for their data graphing of the Mesa, Kandus Linde and Tom Lewis meet with two people who live near the ranch, Adelita Diaz and Bubba Diaz. The four of them meet at Homestead One to discuss a few things. Adelita reveals that they live close by and are no strangers to the idea of cattle mutilations around the area. They talk about how their grandfather had reported a dead cow in 1997.
When the cow was found, it had no nose or tongue, and its ears were torn off. Moreover, the liver was placed next to the cow, on a log, and all of its insides were missing. What’s crazier is the fact that there was no hole/wound on the cow for the insides to be removed.
As they’re discussing all of this, a military-looking plane flies overhead. What marks this as odd is how low the plane is flying, it’s significantly lower than how a plane should be. In a talking head, Travis recounts the numerous times government-looking planes and helicopters have flown over the ranch. He also mentions that Erik did some research and the plane is definitely a C-17, which is a plane used by the United States Air Force. Tom questions if this could be the military spying on them. Bubba says they are no strangers to Chinook-like planes flying over their land.
One of the most fascinating points Adelita raises is how growing up they were never explicitly told to stay away from Skinwalker Ranch, that is until Robert Bigelow purchased the property. That’s when a heavy military presence around the ranch started, with large cargo trucks coming in and out on a daily basis.
Here Today, Jan Tomorrow: The Evidence Part II
At the Skinwalker Ranch Command Center, Travis, Erik, Thomas, Dragon, and Kaleb are joined, on video, by Dr. Jan Francke. Jan is here to go over his GPR radar scan from the previous day. Jan goes over the 300-foot object they scanned under the Mesa last year, and his goal yesterday was to try and recapture that with newer, better equipment.
The data is very interesting, revealing pretty much what has already been documented; a large object that does indeed go back into the Mesa about 300 feet. Jan is able to show a 3D rendering of 12 different spots that make up this anomaly. Travis, upon learning this, says that it’s clear this evidence is repeatable. Upon looking at this 3D rendering of Jan’s findings, Travis says it almost looks like a debris field. Could this be evidence of what is discussed in Jeremy’s video (linked below)?
Kaleb decides to mention something I was thinking throughout this whole reveal. Back in 2021, they invited demolition expert Jake Huffman out to inspect part of the Mesa where unnatural boulders cascade down the face of the hill. Jake says it looks like an explosion could have this rock slide. (Could Bigelow’s team have found something under the Mesa, and demolished the entry point to whatever it is?) Travis says they are going to drill into the spots from Jan’s reaffirmed data.
As Above, So Below
Travis arrives at the ranch with a guest, his daughter Kalista Taylor. Kalista is an engineering student at the University of Alabama Huntsville. She is here because Travis asked her to build a sensor, and she built one hell of a sensor. It can measure GPS altitude, pressure altitude, and can map its trajectory by accelerometer data. It’s very impressive. Jeremy Lebeau, Jonathan Lebeau, and Mason Barratt, of Snowshoe Engineering, come back to the ranch for some more digging. Interestingly enough, Brady Davis (metal mouth), is not with them. Also on site are Jim Royston and Sam Deriso (OmniTeq).
We learn the purpose of Kalista’s multi-sensor is that it will get strapped to Jim Royston’s LIDAR drone. The drone will fly its usual path from the north point of The Triangle and out to the East Field (where the LIDAR disconnects from the controller and GPS data goes missing). As usual, the LIDAR drone lost connection to the controller in the same spot, hopefully Kalista’s sensor was able to collect some interesting data.
The drilling starts back up in a similar spot to the previous drill spot. As if on cue, the drill hits an incredibly hard surface at about 35 feet. Thomas instructs them to pull the drill up so they can check the sample from within the drill rod. Only, the drill rod is stuck. While they eventually are able to get the drill up, the drill rod is stuck below the surface.
Erik says they should relocate their drilling efforts to the center of the triangle, and Snowshoe obliges. While this is going on, Travis, Kaleb, and Dragon get some rockets around to fire off. Erik will be at the Command Center monitoring the usual items.
The first rocket is shot off, and a light instantly flashes high in the sky. Travis is certain this is definitely not an aircraft or satellite. Dragon says they should go ahead and launch the second rocket. Travis agrees but first wants to check out the core sample from the center of The Triangle. Jeremy tells them they hit bedrock at about 35 feet, which seems normal but different from what was hit at the 35-foot mark over at the other drill site. That’s when Travis notices a circular object moving high in the sky going east to west. Everyone else sees it too.
After hammering the drill core open, something that shouldn’t have been hard to open, they realize…it’s empty. This thing should be chock full of dirt, mud, and stone.
As Above, So Below: The Evidence
The next day, over at the Skinwalker Ranch Command Center, Travis, Erick, Jim, Thomas, Dragon, and Kaleb circle up to look at the data. First, they pull up Kalista’s sensor data. It’s clear that the starting point of the data is completely off and is only showing half the height it should. On the path back to the starting point, we see Kalista’s data dip (even though the LIDAR drone stayed at the same height) at the exact point Jim’s drone usually has missing data.
Then, Erik pulls up a video imaging of the flashing circular orb. They investigate this orb frame by frame. We see a very bright light in the center of this flashing orb, meaning the light we see could be emanating from an incredibly bright single source. It’s also not a consistent brightness, varying in brightness multiple times. This orb is compared to something we saw in 2021, where a flashing orb (with a bright center point) was seen near Orion’s belt.
Final Thoughts
No final thoughts this week, I’ve put you through enough. Enjoy my conversation with Jeremy McGowan!
Brendan Jesus: About your initial interaction (May 9, 2024) with Brandon, which I think prompted him to block you, you mentioned how Brandon accused you of breaking an NDA. In as much detail as you would like, could you touch on that?
Jeremy McGowan: A couple of years back, after visiting the ranch and speaking with Erik Bard, I learned of an event from Bard where an “entity” apparently communicated with Erik via his laptop. Afterward, I began to read various theories, ideas, and stories about both Skinwalker Ranch and the general idea of ancient AI being the cause of the strangeness at the Ranch. There were a LOT of theories out there (and still are)—several books were written about the idea of an ancient AI that had visited Earth in early human history. So, I developed my own theory based on my direct observations and information from those books and articles. I created a video positing my (at the time) theory of Skinwalker Ranch. Brandon lost his shit. He accused me of violating an NDA—publicly—(which I did not—and it should be noted that I never received ANY legal demand, only Brandon claiming I violated an NDA.) Apparently, my theory presented in the video was too close to something that Erik was thinking about and it stole his thunder, so to speak.
And for the record, my NDA was not with Brandon nor Erik nor Skinwalker Ranch. My NDA was with Prometheus Entertainment, and I have emails to/from Prometheus negotiating a clause that would allow me to remove data from the Ranch and to study, publish, and use it as I needed to for study. Additionally, Prometheus was perfectly fine with any statement, theory, interview, writing, or other output AFTER the airing of the Episode I was in. Brandon was disingenuous in his assertion that I violated an NDA. His words, over Twitter, caused a large group of folks to begin to attack me and spread rumors that I wasn’t trustworthy. It was an ill-conceived statement, false, and designed to attack my personal credibility and provide smoke and cover for the operations on Skinwalker Ranch.
BJ: Based on the information I’ve put together, I can understand your reaction to Brandon’s 5/9 tweet regarding his meeting in D.C. in 2018. Without naming names, is there anyone else who has appeared on The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch that feels similar to you?
Jeremy McGowan: I can tell you with 100% confidence that there is certainly people who have been on the ranch that feel the same as I do. Steven Greenstreet being one of them. Chris Bartel is another. Outside of them, I don’t have permission to name names.
BJ: Where do you stand on Sean Kirkpatrick? The UFO/UAP community seems to be split down the middle about him. On May 14th you tweeted something positive regarding AARO, an office that is highly criticized by an overwhelming majority of UFO/UAP believers. Does your previous conversation with AARO, and the appreciation you discussed, have anything to do with your wanting to reply to Fugal’s tweet?
Jeremy McGowan: AARO is a seriously misunderstood organization. The general population does not understand their mandate or reason for existence. They do NOT study UFO reports. Their only mandate is to search for, discover, and report on UFO/UAP Reverse Engineering programs. Everything else outside of that is tangential to their actual Congressional mandate. It takes a LONG time for a new Government Agency to get to Full Operational Capacity. For Fiscal Year 2024, they don’t even have an operational budget—it will be in place in FY25, but imagine their inefficiency in having to request funding for every small expense required just to do basic office operations…The Government is NOT a well-oiled machine. Rules and regulations, policy and guidance have to be adhered to in the processes they were written for—and it takes time to get things operational. Sure, the last AARO report was rife with inaccuracies—but let’s give them a chance to correct mistakes, and let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water. Based on my direct interaction with AARO, I can personally tell you that during my interview with them, the entire team was engaged, and interested, asked clarification questions, dug deep into details, and did so even with the understanding that my report didn’t allude to or identify a USG reverse engineering program. My information was converted into a memorandum of record and inputted into a database they will use to correlate similar events in the hopes of a resolution to the sighting at a future date when more evidence/data becomes available.
BJ: From some of your posts, and a few posts in relation to Lue Elizondo, it seems you might have made a turn from believer to debunker. Is that an accurate statement? (I appreciate how you made it clear you were NOT diagnosing Lue with anything, you merely were looking at what Lue had said and wanted to ‘understand the conditions and recognize the behaviors’)
Jeremy McGowan: I am both a believer and a debunker—and I feel as if that is the best way to approach things. I 100% believe that we are not alone in the cosmos. I believe that Earth has been visited in the past. I believe there is a non-zero chance that we are being visited currently. However, I want to KNOW. Belief and Knowledge are two vastly separate things. It doesn’t matter how strong your belief is—it is still just faith. I want to KNOW what I BELIEVE. To do that I need to rip down the lies, grifting, sensationalistic stories, obvious hoaxes, and outright bullshit to decrease the noise. After the fog and junk of BS is eliminated (7,000 mph ufos on a ranch that turn out to be bugs, the most crystal clear image of a black triangle coming out of the water, remote viewing my personal future based on information handed from a 3rd party, etc…) then what remains is the truly anomalous that is deserving of further study. When people lie for clout, social exposure, and to sell books, it does NOTHING to help move the ACTUAL discovery and resolution forward—it only increases the level of conversation and doesn’t provide any tangible evidence or testable theories.
BJ: You’re [understandably] critical of the ‘scientific’ process behind the phenomena on the ranch. If you could give constructive criticism to Brandon regarding practices he/History Channel should take going forward, what would that be?
Jeremy McGowan: One of the most significant issues with the show is its portrayal of itself as a scientific investigation. A critical aspect of any credible scientific inquiry is the process of replicating experiments and releasing data for independent examination by other experts. Unfortunately, The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch falls short in this regard. Throughout the series, the team conducts various tests and experiments, attempting to uncover the cause of the strange occurrences. However, these tests are rarely, if ever, repeated under the same conditions, which is essential for establishing the validity of the findings. Moreover, the data collected during these investigations is not made available to the scientific community for independent analysis. This lack of transparency raises doubts about the authenticity of the results and the show’s commitment to a genuine scientific approach.
- Proper Control Measures: To rule out possible confounding factors, the team should have established control sites away from the ranch, where they could compare EMF readings. This would help to determine if the detected anomalies were unique to the ranch or a result of environmental factors, such as geological formations or man-made structures.
- Replicability: The team should have repeated the EMF measurements multiple times, at different times of the day, and under varying weather conditions. This would help to ensure that the results were not due to chance or temporary fluctuations in the electromagnetic fields.
- Independent Verification: The data collected should have been made available to other researchers for independent analysis. By allowing external experts to review the findings, any potential biases or methodological flaws could be identified and addressed.
- Consideration of Alternative Explanations: Before attributing the unusual EMF readings to paranormal forces, the team should have thoroughly explored other potential causes, such as nearby power lines, underground utilities, or even malfunctioning equipment.
- In order to address concerns about repeatability and scientific methodology, the show should emphasize the importance of iterative experimentation. By conducting multiple trials under varying conditions, the team can increase the reliability of their results and minimize the influence of external factors. Furthermore, the show could submit their findings to peer-reviewed scientific journals, inviting other experts to scrutinize and validate their work. This process of external review would provide a higher level of credibility and ensure that the show’s conclusions are supported by robust evidence.
