Brendan Jesus
Now that Season 5 of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch has come to an end, I’ve found myself longing for more high strangeness. Even if this latest season of Skinwalker Ranch fluctuated in quality, I still love it. While writing up coverage for Episodes 13 and 14 “The Breakthrough” & “Shock and Awe” I had Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch on in the background. This turned out to be detrimental as I found myself binging four episodes and not writing a single word. That’s when I decided I wanted to cover it!
I’ve never seen Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch before, but many people in the SWR Facebook groups and subreddits talk highly about it. Immediately, I was intrigued by how scaled back and grounded the show was. Even though it premiered in 2021, shows like The Curse of Oak Island had set the precedent of style over substance. Something about Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch felt authentic. Maybe it’s because ranch owner Duane Ollinger is constantly hands-on, maybe it’s because of the four-man crew, or maybe it’s because Duane Ollinger looks like the lovechild of Alec Baldwin, Jeff Bridges, and Clancy Brown.
Nevertheless, Blind Frog Ranch doesn’t pose answers in the form of vague questions, like SWR. No hate on SWR, but it’s become a spectacle that seemingly focuses on viewer retention over the truth. It’s refreshing to hear Duane, and the rest of the crew, talk candidly in their talking heads. At no point does it feel like they’re reading talking points written by a PA’s intern. Does the show stay this way? Who knows. All I ask is that you sit back, relax, zip up your scuba suit, and join me as I dig into the Mystery… at Blind Frog Ranch.
What Is Blind Frog Ranch?
“A frenzy seized my soul. Piles of gold rose up before me. In short, I had a very violent attack of the gold fever.” – Hubert Howe Bancroft
What is the purpose of ranch owner Duane Ollinger’s purchase of Blind Frog Ranch? Local legend reports of gold in them there hills. TONS of it. Duane has previously drilled a hole into part of the mountain range and after some digging, broke into a cavern. What was in the cavern? Well, would you believe me if I said it was full of blind frogs? I guess that’s how it got the name!
“There are some places on earth that just don’t seem right.” With this singular line uttered by Duane, we’re keyed into the entire vibe of Blind Frog Ranch. Besides the gold in the caverns, there are also theories and rumors of Aztec treasure and even an alien spacecraft buried deep under the ground. In 2018, Duane Ollinger purchased this 160-acre ranch in the Uintah Basin, a plot of land known for being rich with silver and gold deposits. It also happens that Skinwalker Ranch is about 20 miles south of Blind Frog Ranch.
After hearing about a location in the Uintah Basin that was rife with precious metals, Duane hired a group associated with NASA to run scans on the property. These scans revealed roughly two miles of flooded caves beneath the property. That news was music to his ears and he purchased the property.
Quickly, let’s just touch on one thing here. In the opening, I made mention about how this show has an air of authenticity that I believe SWR has lost. This NASA comment, which is a blink-and-you-miss-it statement, does two things. One, it obviously lends a level of credence to the rumors of caves below the ranch. Two, it shows that Duane does have a bit of a showman in him. It’s not talked further about what this NASA group is, and it hasn’t been brought back up in the few episodes I’ve watched thus far. This group associated with NASA could easily be someone who was once subcontracted through NASA to do something, but there is no real follow-up with this. I don’t have an issue with Duane saying this one bit because it’s [presumably] true! But it does show a sort of potential History Channel-ification of Blind Frog Ranch.
Along with Duane is his son, Chad Ollinger. Chad sold his house and business to help his father in his Indiana Jones-esque quest. In the nicest way possible, Chad is a dread-headed hippie who is hard-headed, optimistic, and full of unbridled positivity. It’s incredibly refreshing to see someone like Chad, who lets his expletives fly and his cheeks hang loose. On top of selling everything, Chad lives in a renovated bus with his wife and four kids.
The Head of Security for Blind Frog Ranch is someone named Charlie Snider, or as Duane calls him, Charlie Boy. Charlie spent 20 years in the Sheriff’s department and now finds himself in the remote hills of the Uintah Basin. Little does he know, based on just a handful of episodic knowledge, he’s in for quite a few surprises!
A year ago, these three men drilled a hole that was four feet in diameter in the hills, above where the NASA-associated group imaged the two miles of caverns. While drilling this hole they broke into a void that went roughly 20 feet down. This hole was reinforced with a 48-inch casing. They finally had an entry point into the cavern. The very next day, the entire hole was flooded. Direct access to the pipe was hindered and the hole, which was now roughly five feet below the surface of the water.
Now, we are at the current events of Season 1 Episode 1. They bring a CAT excavator to the hole to prepare for their first dive of the season. Blind Frog Ranch is a damn good promo for CAT products and if they aren’t sponsoring the show, they’re dumb. As the excavator arrives at the hole, Duane reveals that they’ve decided to bring more brainpower to their operation.
We now arrive at the Dr. Travis Taylor of Mystery of Blind Frog Ranch with Eric Drummond. Eric has been a geologist for 40 years and has worked a bevy of occupations. He’s clear about his skepticism regarding high strangeness but agrees that there could very well be something beneath the hills of Blind Frog Ranch.
The Whole Gang Is Here
Near the dig site is the Miner’s Shack, a roughly 15×15 shack with a single table. We join Duane, Chad, Charlie Boy, and Eric sitting around a map. Chad makes it clear they need to be inside of the cavern before the winter season. Eric discusses the map with the team. The map reveals the caverns are all along fault lines with one part of the cavern set upon something Eric describes as a fault swarm. Within the fault swarm are multiple fault lines that converge upon each other at multiple points.
The four head out of the Miner’s Shack and go down to the hole. Eric’s first plan of attack is to test the sediment from the hole. I mean, the only way to find gold is to pan for gold! Eric begins panning the runoff from a bucket marked Blind Frog Wash #1. Immediately, Eric struck gold. Literally. There is a dime-sized gold nugget!
In a talking head, Eric discusses the process of gold creation. He states gold isn’t formed in specks, rather it’s formed in large veins. Every piece of small gold you find on the surface must come from a larger deposit. Here’s where it gets wild. Large caverns mean there could be something called a honey hole which is a void likely filled completely with gold. Basically he’s saying it’s like in Deep Rock Galactic when you blow up a Crassus Detonator. Anyway, Eric says what’s in there could possibly be worth millions.
They decide it’s time to get into the water. Chad suits up in a wetsuit and bares it ALL. That’s something you don’t see on SWR. Due to the size of the hole, Chad won’t be able to wear a full scuba suit, due to the size of the hole so, they go a bit of a different route. This is where the show starts to feel a bit… guerrilla? Redneck? They attach a hose to an air compressor in order to pump oxygen into Chad’s facemask. This is clearly dangerous. Duane says that you shouldn’t try this sh*t at home.
Chad climbs into the excavator’s bucket and is lowered down, from the ridge overlooking the water, into the water. Duane, who is operating the excavator, lowers Chad down into the water. It’s murky as ever, but Chad goes forth to check out the hole. That’s when Charlie Boy’s radio starts to malfunction. THEN Duane’s CAT excavator goes out. AND THEN the air compressor breaks! It’s insane! Eric yanks the rope around Chad’s waist to let him know he needs to resurface. When Chad finally comes up, and it’s played extra for dramatic effect, he reveals the reinforced hole is chock full of sediment.
Night Swim
Duane, Chad, Charlie Boy, and Eric sit around a campfire later that night. One thing Blind Frog Ranch does which I find incredibly interesting is how they include local residents. While SWR does occasionally have some locals on the ranch, or Jim, Tom, or Kandus would go visit a resident, they never really found intriguing ways to truly integrate them into the story. While they sit around the campfire, local residents speak in a literal Blair Witch Project-like interview. It looks really cool. Some of the interviewees allude to the high strangeness around Blind Frog Ranch. This is intercut with Duane saying there is a dark force protecting this gold. He also reveals when they first dug the hole that’s in the pit, which is now full of water, an electromagnetic pulse shot up and bricked all of their equipment. So Duane, Chad, and Charlie Boy had left the equipment there overnight. When they got back in the morning, all of their equipment was gone. Eric is impressed by all of this but stands true to his convictions. He is here as a scientist and will remain a skeptic. That being said, he will believe what he sees with his eyes.
The team decides to head out to the water pit to do a night experiment. Chad sets up a cool little device called the Deep Trekker. It’s basically a drone for the water. In Chad’s words, “It has a camera, sonar, and a ripping motor.” Using the Deep Trekker, they want to try and provoke the sediment. Many times this is referred to as “snaking a clogged toilet.”
They set off the Deep Trekker into the water. The men are huddled around the HUD on the Trekker’s controller. It makes it to the hole and visually confirms the sediment. Chad rams the Deep Trekker into the sediment multiple times. Unfortunately for them, the Deep Trekker keeps getting stuck. After a few more failed attempts to make headway into the sediment, they call it quits for the night.
Haunted Water
We hear some interesting lore from Uintah Basin resident Veronica Lawson. She is headstrong with saying they should not dig out at Blind Frog Ranch. Hmm… where have we heard that before! Veronica also says that if they do end up digging, they better pray to whatever they believe in. While they’re speaking with Veronica, their microphone promptly dies. “Welcome to ‘The Basin,’” Veronica says with a grin.
Back at the Miner’s Shack, the team sits around the table to figure out their next move. They end up deciding the best course of action is to dredge the clog. The only issue is, if they set up the dredge on the edge of the water pit the 35-foot hose won’t reach too far into the sediment hole. Eric comes up with the great idea to set up the dredge on a pontoon. The dredge will also have a sluice box on it, so having the dredge on a pontoon means the water runoff will just funnel right back into the water pit. (If you’re unfamiliar with a sluice box, it’s a long object with a bunch of conical ridges. The sediment and water rolls over the ridges and metals fall into the cracks. From there, the panning can begin.)
The makeshift pontoon is brought to the water pit and set up. Jack Barber, dredge technician, shows up and gets the dredge set up. Chad gears back up in his scuba suit and will be operating the hose.
Once everything is set up, Chad goes into the water and the dredging commences. Chad quickly makes contact with the clog and starts sucking the sediment out. Water and detritus shoot through the sluice box. Suddenly, one of the camera drones starts receiving interference. It crashes into the hills of Blind Frog Ranch. Duane is on the overlooking ridge, shirt unbuttoned and looking rugged and cool as hell. Out of nowhere, Chad’s underwater camera feed goes out. To make matters worse, he somehow becomes disconnected from the rope around his waist. Charlie Boy is the first to realize this and is ready to dive in at a moment’s notice.
Veronica Lawson comes back to reveal some haunting information about the ranch. She states that a long time ago, due to starvation and ‘bad times’, mothers in this area were forced to drown their newborn babies. Some Native American cultures believed the babies still lived in the water…and they’re not nice. You heard it here first folks, we’re dealing with HAUNTED WATER!!!! (In all seriousness, if that lore is true, I find it really heartbreaking.)
Chad eventually resurfaces safely. Eric goes over to the sluice box and starts to check the sediment for any goodies. Immediately, Eric finds an old Spain coin! At this point, Eric, and I, are completely sold. Something is going on here at Blind Frog Ranch.
Final Thoughts
This episode hooked me. Duane is captivating and his intentions are clear. I don’t necessarily think this team is as captivating as the team from Skinwalker Ranch, but I like the dynamic they have so far. Chad is an interesting character and his optimism is infectious. I can’t wait to see where this show goes and I hope you enjoy the ride with me!
