Brendan Jesus
I’ve been chomping at the bits to jump back onto the ranch with Duane and the boys. Something about Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch is incredibly addicting. Could it be the authenticity mentioned in my coverage of Season 1 Episode 1 “What Lies Beneath”? Or how about the true mystery of what lies beneath the hills of Blind Frog Ranch? Finding the golden coin at the end of Episode 1 was more captivating than most of what happened in The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch Season 5.
It’s time to jump back into the Uintah Basin and meet up with Duane and his charming ragtag group of explorers. What does Episode 2 “Submerged Treasure” have in store? Well, if that title means anything…you get it.
There’s History In Them Hills
It’s an undisclosed amount of time since the previous episode, and a whole new bunch of equipment shows up at the water pit. The main piece of equipment to be used in this episode is a rathole rig, but we’ll get into that later. Due to how long the rathole rig process will take, Duane tells the team to take a breather for a little. Even though he wouldn’t mind a cold beer, Charlie Boy can’t help but dig into the lore of the treasures already found.
Charlie Boy meets up with historian John Barton to discuss the Spanish coin that was found in the sluice box. John Barton gets into a bit of a history lesson, duh, and what he has to say is quite illuminating. Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés attacked the Aztecs in the early 1500s. He rounded up their gold and took it north to have their cousins keep watch over their treasures. These treasures were stored in the Uintah Mountains. Blind Frog Ranch just so happens to be close to a noted Sacred Storage Cavern. According to legend, there was a major entrance that happened to have seven caverns. Charlie Boy lights up when he realizes this coincides with what geologist Eric Drummond revealed with the Fault Swarm.
John Barton also heeds a warning that anyone who takes gold from the caverns will be cursed.
Digging Up That Hill
We join Duane and Chad Ollinger, Charlie Boy, and Eric Drummond at the Miner’s Shack. Charlie Boy fills them in on what he and John Barton discussed, and it piques their interest as much as it did his. They transition from the Miner’s Shack over to the area of the new drill site. This is where the rathole rig comes in! The first hole Duane dug, which turned into the water pit, was done with a drill similar to the one used by Mark Construction Inc. over on Skinwalker Ranch when they attempted, for an entire season, to dig into the Mesa.
The rathole rig is a top-down drill, which slowly spins its drill head straight down into the ground. Duane decides the new hole will be dug on the ridge overlooking the original water pit, with the hopes of creating a hole large enough for Chad to dive into. Once the rathole rig is in place, the drilling can commence.
Shortly into the drilling process, they hit wet clay. This is good news! The drill eventually gets to 23 feet and then to 35 feet. At the 35-foot mark, the drill hits a trouble spot. Even when faced with adversity, Duane keeps his optimism high but is insistent on punching through into the cavern. Suddenly, the drill hits something hard and makes a loud BANG. They have a drill break! Now, because this is not The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, when I say drill break, I mean that in a positive way! The drill has broken through into a cavern!
After a great day of promising work, the team heads back to the campfire for the evening. One of the things I appreciate about Duane is how honest he is. At this point in the night, Duane reveals he’s not entirely sure what is going to happen going forward, but he makes a promise to be completely open and honest about everything. That’s when they’re interrupted by the mooing of a spooked cow, which is odd because Duane reveals they do not have any cows on their ranch!
Duane, and the team, quickly run into the wooded area behind them to see what the fuss is about. They run into the woods, in a really fun Blair Witch Project-like moment. After doing some searching they find truly haunting evidence. There is a mutilated deer. Like a thousand times more concerning than the mutilated animals on Skinwalker Ranch. The deer is completely ripped apart and its head is sheered clean off. Its whole stomach is ripped open by a surgical-looking thoracoabdominal incision. The deer is also missing all of its guts.
Dive On In
The next day, we join Duane, Chad, Charlie Boy, and Eric at the new hole. Eric reveals to the team they’ve pulled some limestone out of the new hole. We also get a bit of a geography lesson about these hills. Eric states the mountain is made of Nuggest Sandstone deposited as windblown dunes. It’s not clear why the limestone finding is a huge deal, but if a geologist says it is, then I’ll accept it.
At the Miner’s Shack, we learn that the water table is really high in the new hole. Duane says there are too many risks of diving into this hole. This gets Chad slightly annoyed as he is insistent on diving into the new hole. As much as Chad is frustrated, Duane is steadfast on not diving into the new hole. If Chad wants to dive, he has to dive in the original water pit.
There’s a breakaway from the action momentarily while Charlie Boy meets up with someone. Charlie Boy connects with Mark Julien who is a member of the Navajo Nation. They discuss the mutilated deer. Mark tells Charlie Boy they could be dealing with a skinwalker, and that they are shapeshifters intending to do harm. He also reveals to Charlie Boy that the Navajo cursed these lands back in the 1860s.
Back at the Miner’s Shack, Charlie Boy tells Duane they need to ramp up security. This leads Duane to question why skinwalkers could be showing up now. While it’s not specifically stated, it could be presumed the potential invasion of skinwalkers could have something to do with how close they may be getting to the gold or that they’re digging into the mountain. So haunted water and skinwalkers? I was already sold, but now I’m going back for seconds.
It’s time to get some work done, now. Duane is working on clearing the debris and sediment from the reinforced hole at the bottom of the water pit, with his CAT excavator. Duane finally gets the entire reinforced pipe out of the hole and it’s been cleared and ready for entry. They decide to let the water settle for the night and once morning comes, it’s diving time.
The next morning, the team meets at the water pit. With clear water and the arrival of many new frogs, it’s time to get started. Chad gets the Deep Trekker in the water to see what they’re working with. Once it’s in the water, we get a clear view of the hole that leads into the cavern! They’re moving lightyears faster than anything Skinwalker Ranch has done.
Chad changes into his scuba gear on top of the ridge. Camera operator Ryan Walsh will also be joining Chad to capture everything. Duane sits them down and gets incredibly stern, but not in an offputting way. He tells Chad and Ryan they are only going down to observe and they should not go into the “horizontal.” As they get ready to go in, Duane pulls Chad aside and reinforces the fact that he is NOT to go into the hole, or in Duane’s words, “Don’t go in the f*cking hole.”
Chad and Ryan head into the water. After some careful maneuvering, Chad and Ryan go deeper than Duane told them to. They explore the beautiful underwater caverns and continue going deeper. Duane is visibly uncomfortable throughout this entire dive. Maybe it’s because I’m claustrophobic, or don’t like the idea of being deep underwater, but this is a whole new level of fear The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch has never once hit.
After some more exploring, Chad and Ryan come to something truly extraordinary: a wooden box. Well, that’s how they describe it. It looks more like an adult-made Lincoln Log house with actual tree stumps and rope instead of tiny wooden child-size pieces. Chad starts freaking out, and I did as well! This is truly an amazing find. This is unquestionably a human-made structure and was purposefully put here. It’s not something that would have been washed away by a flood because it’s entirely intact.
Chad and Ryan finally resurface and Duane ends the episode with a line that made me tear up, “The best day of your life is when your children become your hero.”
Final Thoughts
When I saw that wooden box/house, whatever you want to call it, I was shocked. My mouth went agape. It probably has something to do with the withholding nature of Skinwalker Ranch and how it’s turned into a spectacle. What they found here is truly incredible. I have no clue how this could have ended up here and I’m not sure if we’ll find out. The whole skinwalker/haunted water is fun and all, but it’s the finds like this and the Spanish coin that are the most intriguing. Honestly, where can we go from here?!
