Brendan Jesus
Welcome back, fellow treasure hunters! I know I’m a bit behind with this one, too! Besides not having any interesting UFOlogy news, I want to get right into this episode because there are some big developments! Without further ado, let’s head back to one of our favorite ranches in Utah and see if we get any closer to uncovering the Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch.
Back To The Pit
Eric Drummond meets with Chad Ollinger, Charlie Boy, and Josh Feldman at the Hideout. They discuss Eric’s most recent find, which is a shatter cone. It’s not just a shatter cone; it’s the third shatter cone they’ve found on the ranch. Could these be fragments from the same meteor?
At this point, Eric is confident that the Open Pit Mine will provide a lead into getting to the Keyhole Cavern. He also course-corrects on the idea of the Open Pit Mine being manmade. The new belief is that the Open Pit Mines were a result of mining because of the meteors. Josh even says that ancient civilizations mined at meteor sites.
As a new day dawns, Eric, Chad, Charlie Boy, and Josh prepare to head to the Open Pit Mine. Charlie Boy is locked and loaded with a repeater rifle because of the animal that stalked Eric and Chad at that location previously. The mine is five miles north of the ranch, so the boys get an early move on.
Once at the Open Pit Mine, Josh is awestruck. He even refers to it as a “literal gold mine.” Chad and Eric plan to head north of the Open Pit Mine, an area they didn’t have the opportunity to explore previously. Josh will stay back at the Open Pit Mine and do some digging (literally), and Charlie Boy will stay back with his rifle.
Eric and Chad depart for their treacherous journey. They quickly come across an escarpment (which is basically where two land masses rub up against each other via a fault line). Realizing the only way forward is down, the two prepare to rappel down the 60-foot escarpment. Using his metal detector, Josh examines the area around the Open Pit.
Eric and Chad make it safely down the rock face and soon come upon a large open-air cave entrance. Chad stays back for safety, and Eric enters. The walls are lined with oxidized iron and hematite, both indications of potential gold ore. Eric notices something small and black on the ground. He examines it for a few seconds and quickly realizes what he’s holding in his hand…it’s a meteorite fragment.
Eric exits the cave, and they decide to follow the escarpment fault south.
Back at the Open Pit Mine, Josh has a hit with his metal detector. He starts digging around the ground and finds a lead. The ground is littered with quartz. Josh moves the quartz out of the way and finds some GOLD! The gold is near a metate. That means this could be a Native American worksite. From here, Josh decides to follow a natural fault line from the Open Pit Mine with Charlie Boy. That’s when they find a large opening in the ground.
Josh and Charlie radio to Eric and Chad to meet them. Once there, Chad decides he will rappel down into the hole with a magnetometer. This hole looks quite treacherous, where a single rock could mean life or death for Chad. Chad slowly lowers himself down. The magnetometer reveals a potential void, which gives the team momentary happiness. Suddenly, the rocks start falling around Chad, who quickly scales up the rope, narrowly avoiding great injury.
Not all is lost, though. Eric says they can use this information to lead them in the right direction. They will bring out better equipment and use it to follow the direction of the void Chad found. But that’s a tomorrow problem. Tonight’s problem is making it through a night in the middle of the woods.
As they walk back to camp, Josh notices what looks like a rockfall. And just a few feet away from the rockfall are three handcrafted, wooden crosses. Is this a memorial site? And if it is, was it due to the rockfall or something more nefarious?
What’s That?
Camp is being set up, and Charlie Boy isn’t letting his guard down. He hears a snapping of twigs down below him. The production crew tells Charlie Boy that all of the crew are with them at the camp. This news puts Charlie Boy on even higher alert.
Charlie Boy cocks his rifle, and he, Chad, and Josh wander into the darkening woods to inquire more. Suddenly, Charlie Boy sees a large, black wolf. He fires his gun in the air, and it scatters. The three men walk in the direction of the wolf. This is where Chad finds multiple LARGE footprints.
Up-Duane-te
Chad pulls up to a hotel, where Duane Ollinger is waiting in the lobby. Duane tells us that there isn’t an update to his medical issue. He plans to head to Amarillo, TX, to get some more medical work done. As usual, Chad and Duane share little to no emotion with one another.
Also, Charlie Boy does some shooting practice.
It’s A Bird?
At the Hideout, Eric, Josh, Chad, Charlie Boy, and James discuss their next moves. Eric says they need to scan the area, and he has just the toy! They’ll use a full-waveform LIDAR drone, which can find any cave openings, whether they’re covered by rock or foliage.
The next day, all five men are at the Open Pit Mine. Eric does his first of four drone quadrants. He doesn’t find much, or so he thinks. Eric tells them it looks like a potential cliffside with holes on its face. Chad and James decide to check it out, while the rest stay back with Eric.
Chad and James get to work looking for the cliffside. They quickly find it and see a few holes in the cliffside. Chad looks into one and doesn’t see much. The magnetometer doesn’t reveal anything. The next opening…does. Chad gets a positive indicator of a void below him, but that’s not all. James joins him in the tiny hole. They start to dust off the side of the rock, and that’s when they see it!
A glyph of an eagle. Chad thinks this glyph could only mean one thing…it’s a lookout. Whoever would be in this knook would have an incredible vantage point. Since Chad’s now in charge, he decides they need to look for a cave opening from this vantage point.
Final Thoughts
What an episode! I personally loved the Open Pit Mine when it was first shown. Well, maybe it’s just because I like the woods. Part of me was wondering why I like this show more than The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, and I have finally figured it out. While I’m sure there are many scripted lines in this show, this cast just has better “actors”. (I use that term loosely because I truly believe this crew has better intentions than anyone on Skinwalker Ranch.)
It’s easy to go along with what these people say BECAUSE they’re believable.
AND there are stakes with this show! From the poachers, to the cloud seeding, to the damn mysterious cylinder! Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch is just a more grounded, believable show. I don’t think it would fall into a show like Oak Island; they all seem too passionate to let that happen. And I really hope Duane is okay. It really hurts to see him as dejected as he is here.
