Brendan Jesus
It’s no secret that there are strange goings on within the perimeters of Skinwalker Ranch. The previous four seasons of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch have provided staggering and irrefutable evidence of something. One thing that ranch owner Brandon Fugal has made clear time and time again is that he’s NOT saying there is clear-cut evidence of aliens or extraterrestrial beings, he’s merely documenting the countless strange phenomena that take place there. In the five years we’ve been privy to the strange occurrences within the boundaries of these tumultuous territories, we’ve met some interesting characters along the way—as has Brandon.
Since the airing of Season 5 Episode 3 “Dead in the Water,” some interesting developments have come to light, and some relationships have been ruined; all have taken place on Twitter. While I will not chronicle every tweet, subtweet, block, and salacious comment, I find a few points necessary to discuss. Firstly, the feud between Brandon and Jeremy McGowan. McGowan was previously on a handful of episodes (sorry, I forget which season) with his impressive storm-chaser-like vehicle O.S.I.R.I.S. (Off-road Scientific Investigation & Response Informatics System). This United States Air Force veteran has quickly become one of the leading voices in UAP research and study. Only…his credibility has now [possibly] been called into question.
This all starts with a tweet from Brandon on the 9th of May, which is due in part to a larger conversation. We’ll get back to Jeremy McGowan momentarily. In Brandon’s tweet, he shared photos of a confidential meeting he took in D.C. with the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence & United States Armed Services Committee. In said meeting was none other than physicist Sean Kirkpatrick, the original director of AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office). AARO was tasked with [basically] studying UFOs, UAPs, and USOs (unidentifiable submerged objects). AARO’s findings were that there is “no empirical evidence” of alien technology. It has been stated, by Kirkpatrick in this shameful interview with the New York Post, that all tools necessary, classified documents, and resources were at his disposal. If Kirkpatrick’s interview revealed anything, besides his snide and callous attitude, it’s that we shouldn’t trust him. A quick peak into the comment section under this “interview” proves how the overwhelming majority of people felt about Kirkpatrick, “You know that feeling you get when someone is clearly lying [sic] to you,” one commenter questions.
Brandon’s meeting may have been off the books, but it did indeed happen. Sean Kirkpatrick’s remarks on the meeting are staggering. He states he was only asked there as a 3rd party observer and that he had no clue the meeting was about Skinwalker Ranch, moreover, he said the term Skinwalker Ranch wasn’t even mentioned. The cherry on top of the proverbial sundae? Kirkpatrick claims he’s never even MET Brandon Fugal! Now, in Steven Greenstreet’s New York Post piece, he gave Fugal a chance to respond. What’s interesting, and telling of his overall character, Brandon was hesitant to answer Greenstreet. Brandon’s first question to Greenstreet’s request for comment was to inquire about whether or not this line of questioning was to tarnish Kirkpatrick’s character. Even when faced with pure falsities lobbed at him, Brandon still aims to take the high road and refuses to hurt anyone’s character, no matter what that person says about Brandon.
During this meeting in D.C., Brandon is joined by Sean Kirkpatrick, Erik Bard, occasional Coast to Coast host, and author, George Knapp, as well as former Vice President & Chief Scientist [of] Environmental Control & Life Support Systems of Bigelow Aerospace, and Coast to Coast guest, Dr. Colm Kelleher, and a handful of other people. The presentation given by Brandon is one that we see later on in one of the seasons to a few political leaders in Utah. Brandon confirmed Kirkpatrick’s attendance at the meeting with photos and stated [Kirkpatrick said], “Wait. Before we proceed any further. I want to establish an understanding. All the gentlemen here, Mr. Fugal, that you are presenting to are all very aware of the UFO phenomena. So please dispense with any part of the presentation that would seek to convince us of the reality because we already know.”
So why does this even matter? Besides the implications that one of the people involved in reporting “no empirical evidence” of alien technology is blatantly lying to the public about information he’s received. If he had truly wanted to prove UFOs/UAPs were not real, then why not ask Brandon to run tests and/or experiments on the ranch? Granted, talking Brandon into letting government spooks onto the ranch is probably the last thing on his list. But if he did ask, and Brandon said, “NO,” then Kirkpatrick could have EASILY stated so. In short, that would make Brandon look like a fool and put the onus back on Brandon.
BUT TELL ME why this matter? (The thought going through our editor’s head right now.) Presumably, in retaliation to the Kirkpatrick interview, Brandon shared those photos of the D.C. meeting in 2018. This is where Jeremy McGowan comes back into play. The same day of the D.C. photos, McGowan shot back with a long post regarding his time on Skinwalker Ranch. McGowan tweeted, “3 years is a tremendous amount of time to look back and realize that while strange events that are psychologically tied to the paranormal and/or aliens, that critical thinking is emboldened by time – and as one pulls back the fog of sensationalism, personal desire/bias, and the excitement of being involved in the “research” the level of clarity builds.” He would also go on to say, “I can say with definitive conviction that during my brief time on the ranch, there was absolutely nothing that occurred that with a sufficient budget and manpower couldn’t be replicated with current technology.” Also, “the research was not performed in any suitable process for legitimate scientific experimentation. Hypothesis were not developed prior to an experiment, potential outcomes were not identified that would validate/disprove the anticipated experimental outcome. Equipment was not calibrated, standardized or even of a quality required for legitimate scientific inquiry.”
There was a back-and-forth between Brandon Fugal and Jeremy McGowan, which led to Fugal blocking McGowan. But what is interesting here is how McGowan criticized Fugal for “breaking an NDA,” to which Fugal responded, “I did not sign or violate any NDA.” McGowan also stated that Fugal tried to accuse McGowan of breaking an NDA. Again, why does any of this matter? Well, McGowan, who, again, is described as a leading voice in UAP research, has apparently tried to tarnish Fugal’s character and has stated the cameras blinded him. But for someone who has been in MANY documentaries about the search for the truth, one even being from the History Channel, it’s a bit odd that that is the route he is taking with this excuse. On top of all of this, McGowan has been sharing anti-Skinwalker Ranch posts on Twitter and has even sent praise toward AARO (which brings us, in a roundabout way, back to Kirkpatrick, though he is not with AARO anymore).
It just seems a bit…odd that Jeremy McGowan would pick NOW out of all times, when Sean Kirkpatrick is being called out, to come out against Skinwalker Ranch and Brandon Fugal. Look, I’m not saying McGowan is a fake or a fraud. I’m sure, in his own way, he wants the truth. It just optically is a weird look, for McGowan, especially since he still has The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch in his author’s biography.
I also wanted to talk about the NORAD NHI whistleblower or the astounding news about Dyson Spheres! But we should probably talk about The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch Season 5 Episode 4 “Bad Taste.”
“Dead in the Water” The Evidence Pt. II (“Holy Cow”: The Evidence Pt. III)
We join Dr. Travis Taylor, Erik Bard, Thomas Winterton, Dragon, Kaleb Bench, Kandus Linde, and Tom Lewis in the Skinwalker Ranch Command Center. Ben Woodruff of the Hutchings Museum Institute joins by video call. The first finding, from “Dead in the Water,” Ben discusses is the charred branch from the olive tree, which was found along the river in the western part of the property.
Ben reveals the charred branch looks like it underwent something called pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is basically a burn without combustion, with no external accelerant, or oxygen to fuel the flame. There are some questions about what could cause something like pyrolysis, and Travis reveals something that emits an extreme heat source. That’s when Travis refers back to when Thomas and Kaleb found the charred fence post in 2022—this is also where the silver orb appeared. Could this orb be emitting such a heat source?
Next, Ben goes back to the cow rib, from “Holy Cow.” Remember, Ben has posited most animal teeth could not break the cow’s rib the way it was broken; his experiments resulted in multiple shattered animal teeth. Ben refers to his process for the process of identification of the jaw bone found in the dead animal that was floating in the river, the process is called comparative anatomy. First, Ben shows how a coyote’s jaw bone isn’t strong enough to make a crunch hard enough to penetrate a bone that thick. Nor would a gray wolf, which has an even bigger jawbone than a coyote. The only animal who has a similar jaw bone to the jaw bone of this animal carcass…is a DIRE WOLF! (Henry Zebrowski guitar noise.)
Understandably, the entire team is gobsmacked.
Here Today, Jan Tomorrow (The Experiment)
International GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) Expert Dr. Jan Francke joins the team on the ranch for the first time in two (I think) seasons. Welcome back, Jan! Dr. Francke is informed he will be heading over to where the radar balloon and magnetometry scan found evidence of something beneath the ground near the bottom of The Triangle. Jan has a new and improved GPR and will work in a push broom pattern across this area, in hopes of finding more concrete evidence of something. For those who aren’t aware, the GPR sends signals down beneath the ground, and if the signals bounce off something, an open-air tunnel, metal, etc., it will transmit to Jan’s radargram that the signal is bouncing back. When Jan is receiving a signal up from the ground, the GPR, at that point, can also detect if the signal is sent BACK DOWN. Basically, think of it like this, if the GPR is in a tunnel, the radargram will show the bottom of the tunnel and when the signal pops back up, it will then bounce off the top of the tunnel.
Travis, Thomas, and Dragon head over to the East Field, while Jan and Kaleb head over to The Triangle. While Jan runs his GPR, Travis will be shooting rockets straight up in conjunction to where Jim Royston, of OmniTeq, lost GPS signal on his LIDAR drone. Erik is back at the Command Center watching a few instruments.
The first rocket fires, and flies straight up into the air at about 1,000 feet. As soon as the rocket goes off, Jan gets a blip on his radargram…from above. Erik reaches out to Travis and tells him that even though the rocket flew straight up, the GPS data shows it going into the ‘in’ point on The Mesa. On top of that, the GPS data shows the rocket only went about 40 or 50 feet into the air, when it clearly went significantly higher than that.
As the second rocket is prepared, Jan and Kaleb decide to stand in place for this one. The rocket goes straight up, again, to about 1,000 feet. Again, Erik informs the team that the GPS data shows the rocket going off in a pattern it clearly did not fly in, at a height of about 40 or 50 feet. Jan also reveals he received the same blip on his radargram at about the same height.
This Is Not A Drill: The Setup
The next day, we join Travis, Dr. Francke, Thomas, Erick, Dragon, and Kaleb at the Skinwalker Ranch Command Center. Some of the GPS data from the rocket is rehashed, with no new points discussed about it. Jan also goes back over the blips on his radargram, at 40-ish feet, during both of the rocket launches.
Erik Bard pulls up a video from an observation point in the East Field. The video is incredible. This video took place around the same time as the rocket launch, and we see an object enter the frame from the right, speed quickly to the left, and disappear. What’s interesting about this is that the UAP lasts for five frames, and disappears from the frame WITHOUT flying out of the left side of the frame. It just…vanishes. Coincidentally, this UAP disappeared in the same spot where Jim Royston’s LIDAR drone GPS data went dark. Jan chimes back in to reveal an incredibly odd blip found in his GPR data.
Underground, Jan found evidence of something that returned data to the radargram. While he isn’t exactly sure what it is he is sure that it is not dirt or rock. This is when Thomas says the thing he probably never wanted to say again: it’s time to drill.
This Is Not A Drill: The Experiment
The next day, the team from Snowshoe Engineering, Jeremy Lebeau, Brady Davis, and Mason Barratt show up. Snowshoe is here to set up a drill around where the tunnel is supposed to reside and take some core samples from the ground. Remembering the two injuries Thomas received when drilling into the ground, Dragon makes sure to remind Snowshe that if anything feels off at any point, to cease drilling and let someone know. All I can say there is…spoilers. Erik also attaches a GPS tracker to the head of the drill, just to see if any anomalies pop up underground.
Once the drilling starts, things quickly go awry. Snowshoe halts the drill momentarily to reveal to Thomas that they hit something hard. It’s not clear what they’ve hit, but it doesn’t seem to be rocks. Jeremy pulls the core out of the middle of the drill head and Thomas takes the sample over to Erik and Tarvis. Interestingly enough, there is a void toward the tail end of the sample—where they hit that hard spot. This void in the sample also correlates to what Dr. Jan Francke found with his GPR data. Before bagging the sample, Erik takes radiation measurements of the sample. Nada.
Thomas goes back over to the Snowshoe team, and the drilling is set to commence again. Suddenly, Brady mentions a metallic taste in his mouth when the drilling starts back up. Thomas quickly shuts everything down and pulls Brady far away from the drill. Brady is whisked off the ranch. Erik mentions that a metallic taste in the mouth could be a sign of exposure to high magnetic fields and increased radiation. Erik heads back to the drill and tries to take another radiation measurement. The detector goes off, they are being exposed to two times the radiation that naturally emits from the earth.
At this point, we see that Jim Royston is there with them. Jeremy makes it clear, that Brady is the drill operator, and the drilling cannot continue without him. Out of nowhere, Erik makes a declaration, “I taste metal, too.” Without a second of hesitation, Thomas forces Erik to leave the ranch. Just because he’s a lead investigator on the ranch, he doesn’t get special priority. The metallic taste is described as the taste you get if you touch your tongue to the end of a battery.
Before clearing the scene, Travis and Thomas go back over to the hole in the ground. They touch the drill, only to find out it’s electrically charged! Travis instructs Thomas to grab a volt meter. After zeroing it out, Thomas touches the black prong to the ground and the red prong to the drill. The volt meter reads half a volt, this is 10 times more than it should be! Travis also reveals this drill should only be showing this reading if the drill was drilling into something…electric!
Final Thoughts
Not only can I say what an episode, I can say what a WEEK! The past few days have been filled with insults, criticisms, and friendship-ruining moments. Not to mention, at the time of my writing this, former director of AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) Leu Elizondo felt compelled to release an, “I’m not suicidal,” message.
Skinwalker Ranch-wise, we’ve got some compelling information and even more evidence of the ranch fighting back against people drilling into it. Thomas seemingly came back around to the idea of drilling on the ranch, but after this episode, who knows if he’ll ever want to do that again? The most compelling data in this episode is unquestionably Ben’s positing of the possibility of a deceased baby DIRE WOLF on the ranch! Wild! Each episode of Season 5 gets better and better, and I’m foaming at the mouth for Episode 5.
Oh, and wanted to say one more time, there is no hate being thrown at Jeremy McGowan. I am simply pointing things out the way they seem on the surface, and how it comes off oddly. There is no doubt McGowan and Brandon Fugal have their own differences to resolve, and that is between them. At the end of the day, we just want disclosure, and my worry is McGowan’s actions could possibly tarnish some of his future findings.
