Brendan Jesus
Welcome back, fellow ranchers! We have one more episode until we reach the finale of one of the messiest seasons in this show’s history. All was for naught when we learned that Brandon Fugal wanted to stop drilling Borehole 2. Some people, myself included, have been frustrated and left feeling slighted by this development. But it’s the findings around this ceramic shard that are keeping many of our interests piqued. (Skinwalker Ranch: Hard Boiled)
Someone recently commented on one of our recent articles and asked a really great question. The question raised was whether or not the ceramic shard changed weight after Dr. Brian Patchett placed it under the Scanning Electron Microscope. I sat with this question for some time and wondered why, as a scientist, Dr. Patchett didn’t feel the need to check its weight. But hey, I’m not a scientist.
Anyways, let’s take a trip to the ranch that started it all and see if we find ourselves any closer to uncovering The Secret…of Skinwalker Ranch.
A Step Through Time
Skinwalker Ranch Command Center. 9:25 AM.
We join Dr. Travis Taylor, Erik Bard, Thomas Winterton, Kaleb Bench, Jim Royston, Sam Deriso, and archeologist Chris Roberts at the Command Center. Erik has an image pulled up on the screen that is from 1969. It’s a top-down view of the Mesa. In light of the findings of a nickel from 1964, Erik attempts to dig deeper into the timeframe.
Erik has three images of the Mesa. One is from 1961, one is from 1963, and the final one is from 1969. Travis had used software to analyze the three photos for any differences that may be difficult for the naked eye. The images from 1961 and 1963 look, more or less, the same. But it’s the photo from 1969 that raises eyebrows.
If you recall, it’s now believed that the nickel from 1964 was placed as an archaeological marker, indicating to future researchers that the area had already been searched.
The image from 1969 has a spot that appears to be dithered and smoothed over. In their eyes, the archival photo of the Mesa has been doctored. Travis has an idea as to why this might be. Around that timeframe, NASA had been experimenting with launches. Some of the crafts had been recovered…some had not. So, hypothesizes Travis, what if what they’re seeing inside the Mesa is a lost NASA spacecraft?
Darkness Reigns
Mesa Drill Site. 12:38 PM.
Thomas now has the camera that will be used on the drill to see inside the Borehole. Mark Construction sets up the camera on the drill head. They get the camera about 240 feet into the Borehole 2 and then pull it out.
They check out the video, and it’s pitch black. The team is confused by this, as the camera has lights, but the lights are not illuminating the hole. Suddenly, they see tons of tiny little flashing specks of light. Travis thinks these are gamma ray lights hitting the camera’s focal plane. Since they cannot see in the Borehole, they decide the best course of action is to use Borehole 1 and get whatever equipment they can into it. The first course of action is to get a long PVC tube down the hole.
Laying [PVC] Pipe
Mesa Drill Site. 3:01 PM.
To case Borehole 1 with the PVC tube, they need to feed the drill back up the Borehole. They will then use a pulling eye to bring the PVC tube down. Bearcat gets into the driller’s seat and starts feeding the drill head up the hole. At around 450 feet, Bearcat hits a snag. (Wasn’t Borehole 1 already cased with a gel cement?)
4:57 PM.
Bearcat eventually gets the drill head past the 450-foot obstruction. As the drill head peaks through the top of the Mesa, the team notices the side teeth on the new bit are completely chewed down. They eventually get the PVC attached to the pulling eye, and Bearcat begins bringing the PVC down Borehole 1.
As par for the course, they hit a snag.
Alex Swanson takes over for Bearcat. Alex tries pushing the pulling eye back up the Borehole, but it won’t budge in either direction. They try for hours and have no luck. That’s when they use some backwoods logic. Mark Construction decides to hook a semi up to the drill, and they pull the drill with the semi. Some force finally gets the PVC unstuck, and the tube is now making its way down the Borehole.
All The Fixins
Mesa Drill Site. 5:52 PM.
GPR expert Dr. Jan Francke is back on the ranch with a new piece of GPR equipment. His new equipment can send signals out in a 20-foot radius. Sam Deriso also has a special sled of instruments that will get put down the PVC pipe, too.
They put Dr. Francke’s GPR inside the PVC and hopefully get the information they need. While this is going on, Travis is following the PVC along the Mesa with a handheld Spectrum Analyzer. After Dr. Francke pulls the GPR out of the PVC, Sam puts his equipment inside the PVC. He’ll be collecting the profile of the Borehole and will be using a magnetic and radiation sensor.
Suddenly, Travis gets a 1.6 GHz hit on his Spectrum Analyzer.
Later that night. Skinwalker Ranch Command Center. 11:33 PM.
Travis, Erik, Thomas, Chris, and Sam (no Jim) are joined by Dr. Francke via video call. Sam’s magnetometer data shows a strange disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field. This points to a possibility of a physical object causing the disturbance. Dr. Francke’s GPR data reveals a 6-foot-thick object around the 270-foot mark.
Dr. Francke’s data is at the same location where Sam’s data revealed a disturbance in the magnetic field. Everyone agrees that it’s fair to say none of this is natural.
Weird Science
2 days later. Utah Valley University. 10:30 AM.
Travis, Jim, Erik, Thomas, and Sam head to Utah Valley University. There, they meet up with Chemist Dr. Tammy Clark. They plan to do a series of tests on the ceramic material. The first test will include the use of a gas chromatography mass spectrometer. (I’m gonna be honest with you all, a lot of the scientific stuff makes sense to me. But even I was lost throughout a lot of this.)
The gas chromatography mass spectrometer will reveal more accurate readings of what’s inside the ceramic shard. They will use high-frequency sound waves and solvents to clean the material. Once it’s cleaned, Dr. Clark places the shard on a hot plate to dry it out. From there, it’s crushed. What is interesting is how easily the ceramic shard breaks apart. If you remember, the larger chunks that these shards broke off caused days-long holdups during digging.
Once the shard is crushed, Dr. Clark puts the powder through an AES (Atomic Emission Spectrometer). The AES reveals the shard is made up of titanium, calcium, iron, aluminium, and vanadium. (You may remember that three years ago, they found metal flakes in the Mesa that had vanadium).
Travis reminds everyone that vanadium is used in the construction of spacecraft.
Dr. Brian Patchett is back and places one of the shards in a pool of liquid nitrogen. Getting the shard to -320 degrees Farenheight will reveal if the shard has superconductor properties. Weirdly, the shard does not stop bubbling when placed into the liquid nitrogen. It bubbles for way longer than it should have.
To be continued.
Final Thoughts
Did they even end up coating Borehole 1 in that gel cement? Weirdly, they keep having hangups inside the Borehole even though it was supposedly coated in cement. And why could they not see inside Borehole 2 if there were lights on the camera? Things aren’t adding up to me.
And why do we keep wasting time testing the ceramic shard for its contents? We’ve now seen it tested FOUR different times and always get the same answer. It feels like the History Channel gets off on edging the viewers and then not following through. Is The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch nothing more than one big blue ball?
Watch The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch: Hard Boiled (S6E8) and previous episodes on The History Channel. When you’re done, check out more of Brendan’s coverage from this and previous seasons.
