What’s Hiding Beneath Underground? (S1) | The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch | History

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Experts conduct a series of noninvasive tests at Skinwalker Ranch and uncover mysterious underground hotspots that hint at something hidden beneath the surface. See more in this clip from Season 1, Episode 5, “Dangerous Curves.”

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TRAVIS:
Because we don’t know if the strange radiation surges we’ve been getting are coming from high above the ranch or below it, we’ve invited a team of experts to come up here and conduct a series of noninvasive tests.

That way, if there really is something dangerous or life-threatening underground, we might be able to find out what it is before we start digging.
We haven’t done experiments yet to look beneath the surface.

Okay.

So, we’ve been doing some measurements with these signals that we’ve been picking up, and we’ve kind of triangulated a few hot spots, and this is the starting line.
And anywhere there’s a roadway, flat surface along all the way from the gate on the east end to the fence on the west end, just start mapping it out.
Then we’ll go from there to the mesa, and then maybe out into the field and around the homesteads.

Okay.

Since there is so much varied area of Skinwalker Ranch to cover, we decided to use two different methods to search below the surface.
One is GPR, or ground-penetrating radar, which works by sending radio waves down into the earth that will bounce off of any solid objects or structures.
And soil resistivity, which does pretty much the same thing, but it uses metal stakes and wires to send electrical currents down into the ground.

ERIK:
Am I holding a speed that you like there?

PHIL:
Yeah, you’re good.

ERIK:
Okay. It’s gonna get a little bumpy here.

BRYANT:
Yeah, I think it goes without saying just be careful going through the dips.

ERIK:
Yeah. What was that?

PHIL:
I don’t know. Could be… I don’t know what that is.
I mean, we certainly see a difference than this garbage we’ve been seeing the whole way.

BRYANT:
Right.

ERIK:
Yeah, yeah.

That is unusual.

Yeah, it is.

So, as we’re dragging the device behind us, Phil noticed that there was a structure.
Could have been something mundane.
Could have something to do with the utilities on the property.

So, for Phil’s benefit,

you see that roof over there?

PHIL:
Yes.

BRYANT:
Right in this grove of trees up on the left.

ERIK:
We call it Homestead Number Two.

PHIL:
Okay, got it, got it.

Now, uh, look at this right here.

ERIK:
Okay. Whoa! I see that, I see that.
How do you interpret that… that feature?

PHIL:
Well, it looks like a dome feature.

ERIK:
Then we see another interesting anomaly in the Homestead Two area, and we don’t know what the origin of those… structures really is.

Look.

Oh, wow!

What—what does this?
I cannot tell you what’s causing that.

Man, it could be… it could be something buried, you know, metal.

Really?
Yes.

We’re seeing very interesting multilayer structures at depths of anywhere from eight feet below the surface to 24, 25 feet below the surface.

PHIL:
All right. Stop right here, Erik.

(engine shuts off)

Interesting.
Oh, wow.

I can see a couple of parallel features right here.

Uh-huh.

We saw this in both directions.
I-I mean, you may be seeing the top and the base of a possible tunnel.
And it opens up as you move this direction.

So, we’re looking at something quite large in here.

Oh, wow.

I hate to point it out, but, you know, this is exactly where we were when we had the difficulty with the drone survey.

So, let’s get going.

BRYANT:
Yeah.

ERIK:
This is an area where we did try drone thermography measurements, but we were not successful, due to some mysterious electromagnetic interference.

DERRICK:
No connection.

We are in one of the most interesting and notorious regions of the ranch.
This is Homestead Two.
I’m wondering if this is coincidence.

Clear as mud, Erik.
It’s what this place is.

PHIL:
Okay, we’re here to, uh, discuss the processing of the GPR data that we collected out in the field.
Uh, I took a look at all the data, and I’m really gonna concentrate in and around Homestead Two.
So, that’s what we’re gonna be looking at on the screen today.

Okay.

Well, let’s see it.

All right, let’s take a look at the data here.
See, here’s where we started again from west going east.

TRAVIS:
Right.

It’s just noisy data.
And now we’re seeing these features in more detail.

TRAVIS:
Oh, wow!

ERIK:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Basically, looks like para… upside down parabolas.
Right, they’re—they’re hyperbolas.

Now, what creates the hyperbolas are objects.
A lot of things can cause those.
Uh, boulders can cause those types of features.
Tunneling can cause that type of feature.

TRAVIS:
Gosh, it goes all the way as far down
as 25, 30 feet.

PHIL:
Right. Well, it’s clearly an anomaly.

Yes.

I’ll tell you what it looks like to me.
Look at this.
Here’s the top point.
Right there. Right?

Here’s another point.
There’s one here.
And then you could say maybe it kind of starts over here.

And so there’s your connecting the dots.
Connect all these peaks, and it looks to me like you got a football shape.

Well, give me a pen, then.

All right.

Actually, tear me off about three more pieces of paper.

So, there’s the spot for the peak, probably here,
and down here on the bottom.
It’s, like, here, here, here.
There’s another one kind of down here, lower.

So now let’s lay it on the table,
and we’ll draw…
we’re gonna connect the dots.

All right.

So, guys, if we look,
there’s something that has… surface points.
Something… along those lines.

BRYANT:
Wow.

TRAVIS:
I marked the high and the low points of the parabolas that we saw on the screen.
And once I connected all the dots, the size and shape of the object we found underground became clear—
it looked like a giant football or a saucer.

I like the shape of it.

BRYANT:
And… it’s almost at the start of Homestead Two to the end of Homestead Two.
This thing is… a thousand feet long.

Wow.

I wasn’t expecting to see that today.

Right here…
that’s “X” marks the spot.

That’s—that’s, like, 15 feet below the surface or something.

And we drill into that,
and we’ll know, is it rock,
is it metal,
is it… whatever.

And so we got to…
we got to dig there.

Or drill, at least,
take a core sample.

Well, you’re gonna have to get Brandon to sign off on that.

TRAVIS:
Well, I-I understand that.

I-I always get painted as…
the guy that’s the anti-digging guy,
and look, I’m interested to know what’s there, too,
but at the end of the day,
that was one of Brandon’s big mandates to me.

BRYANT:
Looking at that interesting shape we found,
the knee-jerk reaction is we need to dig and find out what that thing is.

It could be amazing or whatever.

My first reaction is,
“Wait a minute.”

We have radiation in the area,
and we don’t know what this is,
and you pile that on top of the whole “don’t dig” lore about this place.

I mean, Thomas had a major injury that almost took his life.
Travis was exposed to radiation.

The last thing I’m gonna do is just say,
“Hey, yeah, let’s head out there and start digging up the road and see what’s down there.”

I’m extremely sensitive to what’s going on right now,
between what happened to you the other night when we were camping again,
what Travis experienced.

Certainly, I don’t see the data the same way you do.

I’d like to see what your opinion is.

I think there’s…

You’re the professional in this.

Right. I think, from what…

I don’t have an opinion, Jim?

Is that what this is?

PHIL:
I think, from what I see here,
I would absolutely see this as being an anomalous area,
is what I would say.

Just being…

BRYANT:
When you say “anomalous,”
different than the rest of the area?

PHIL:
Different than the rest of the area,
that we didn’t see, or…
nine-tenths of the road that we went down.

Well, I think we take this to Brandon
and tell him the whole story, Dragon,
and say…

You guys better take it,
’cause apparently, because I’m not a PhD,
I don’t have a (bleep) opinion at the table.

Look, I care about you guys.
You know, I care about you.

If… if I didn’t like you,
I would just say,
“Fine, you know what,
I’ll be at the front gate.
You guys go dig.
Just keep me the hell away from this…”

I’m sorry that I kind of blew up there a little bit,
but it’s just because I’m sensitive,
especially now…
that all this stuff has started happening.

And I’m sorry, going back to your analogy,
I don’t want to poke a hornets’ nest
that has radioactive hornets come flying out.

I already been stung once by it, right?

BRYANT:
Yeah, I know.

To that point,
if we’re going down two feet and we’re testing,
and two feet and we’re testing,
if that is the case,
those levels are gonna be going up,
and we can stop.

Absolutely.
We’ll see it every time.

And if Brandon looks at the data and says,
“Okay, I will sign off on this,”
you’re good with it, then, Bryant?

Is that what you’re saying?

He’s—he’s my boss.

But I’m—I’m just trying to get a read
for where you are personally.

If he signs off on it,
are you comfortable with it?

SEGALA:
‘Cause you’re ultimately responsible…

Look, I… like I said,
I just answer to him.

No, but you’re…

So, if that’s what he wants to do, then…

BRYANT:
You know, I had my points,
those guys had their points.

You know, we weren’t totally in agreement,
so it was time to get on the phone
and get Brandon up to speed
with what we found
and get his take on things.

Zach, Phil,
thank you so much for coming out.