Brendan Jesus
It seems a week or two of not interacting with UFOTwitter has harmed my Twitter algorithm. I still see a few posts here and there but it’s far from what it once was. This has caused me to start interacting with these posts again so hopefully, I have some fun Ufology news for you next week!
While I don’t have any exciting news in that category…there is something we can definitely get hyped about! Season 4 of Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch has been announced! It’s set to premiere on November 20th! That’s less than a month away! In other good news, there is another exciting development regarding our coverage of Season 4…but that’s all I’ll say for now. (Wink!)
When Season 4 comes around, we will temporarily halt our backlog of coverage to focus on the new season and then return to previous seasons when it ends. Anyway, it’s not November 20th yet, so that means it’s time to jump back into the deep end and try to discover the Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch.
I’ll Smelt With You
Duane Ollinger, Chad Ollinger, and Eric Drummond get together to rehash a few things from Episode 5 “Radioactive”. Eric talks about their use of the gravity meter and how it’s not accurate enough to pinpoint a new drill location though it will be helpful to figure out where to focus further tests. Chad reveals the smelting pit he found. Eric is immediately interested and wants to see while Duane heads back to the cabin.
Chad and Eric arrive at the smelting pit and Eric’s first thought is that it’s definitely not a fire used for a campsite. How it’s built into the rock face, Eric says, is an indication of the pit being used for a makeshift blast furnace. Specifically, a beehive-shaped blast furnace. As they discuss the smelting pit, a horde of bats fly over their heads. The sky is starting to get darker at this point so this group of bats is indicative of bats leaving a nearby cave.
It’s now pitch black and the two men are still deep in the bush. They’re walking around the area where the bats came from with the hopes of finding the entrance the bats flew out from. As they search, they stumble upon something wild…another smelting pit. And then a second right next to it. AND THEN a third! One smelting pit was strange enough, but four in total in such a small area is incredibly fascinating.
Eric says they should call it a night at this point. He pulls out his compass to figure out which way is back to their vehicles. That’s when he sees his compass completely freaking out. It spins wildly out of control.
Duane Jumps The Gun
It’s 7:15 AM the next day. Duane hops right into his CAT excavator and plans to take things into his own hands. This will not be the last time in Season 2 that an Ollinger tries to force an outcome prematurely. “At my age, patience isn’t a virtue,” Duane says as he prepares to dig in the general vicinity that Eric pinpointed. He thinks Eric has done enough at this point to find the broad location of where the dry entrance to the cave could be. So he’s going to dig.
Chad pulls up to see what’s going on and learns that Duane has called in a rathole rig. While Eric eloquently states how he thinks Duane is jumping the gun, by stating being just a few feet off could prove damaging in the long run, Chad is more direct. He thinks his father is wasting money. Chad also believes, at this point, there may be too many cooks in the kitchen. This is interesting for Chad to say seeing he’ll do something very similar to what Duane just did later on.
The rathole rig arrives and starts drilling. It’s now 5:45 PM and the rathole rig has made it to about 24 feet. As usual, Eric is taking samples of the dirt. One of the minerals Eric is looking for is calcite and limestone. These are two minerals Eric has mentioned before that are present in cavernous openings.
The time is now 10:40 PM and the rathole rig has reached a depth of 80 feet. Unfortunately for Duane and his wallet, they haven’t found anything. Morale is quite low at this point, but you can’t say Eric didn’t try and warn Duane. While this is good for the dramatic aspect of the show, I do feel bad for Duane. In an earlier episode, Eric mentioned how even he was starting to feel the gold fever. It’s clear the pressure is on and it’s not being helped by everyone’s incessant search for treasure.
Duane realizes his mistake and owns up to it. Chad also reiterates this being an expensive mistake.
Jamie’s Song
Jamie’s driving late at night. He’s on his way to meet with someone he was put in contact with by Dave Miller. This is someone who used to work at Skinwalker Ranch. Only, Jamie shows up with a film crew—this person was not expecting that. He agrees to talk with Jamie on the promise that his identity will be hidden. (Even though they show the front of his house.)
This anonymous man tells Jamie he’s familiar with the goings on at Blind Frog Ranch. Jamie goes over some of their recent troubles. The man says they were under constant outside surveillance at Skinwalker Ranch and it’s most likely a fact that Blind Frog Ranch is under surveillance, too.
Interestingly, this man also tells Jamie that while he worked on Skinwalker Ranch, they were told to carry out some rather dubious tasks. They would be told to sneak onto other properties around the Uinta Basin and test for gravitational anomalies. Toward the end of this man’s tenure on the property, an outside organization started doing physical exams on the people working on Skinwalker Ranch. Very interesting if you ask me!
Chad Tries To Jump The Gun
Duane, Chad, and Eric head out to the general location where Eric thinks a void might be. They’re there with someone named Stefan who has a magnetometer, Stefan is here to help narrow the field of where a potential void would be. Eric has narrowed the location down from over a thousand acres to 10 acres and down to the size of a football field. Stefan, quickly, gets multiple positive hits.
They mark the lowest spot. Just because they found this spot doesn’t mean they are in the clear to start digging. Eric says he has to run one more test which should hopefully find the depth of the hole and pinpoint an exact location to dig in.
With a point to prove, without saying it just yet, Chad goes back out to look for a cave opening near where he and Eric found all the smelting pits. Once there, Chad finds a dead bat. He quickly radios for Eric. Eric shows up and takes a look at the dead bat. He notices something is off. There are splotch marks all over the bat, which leads Eric to think it’s infected with a disease of sorts. Eric pulls out his Geiger counter to check the bat for radioactivity. The meter goes off!
Chad and Eric pack up the bat and take it over to Duane at the Miner’s Shack. Duane is intrigued by this revelation. And this is where things get off the rails, a little. Chad thinks the best course of action is to get a group of guys around and have them spread out to search around the smelting pits for a cave opening. Eric immediately curses him out and says it’s “f*cking” stupid. He thinks Chad’s idea will take too long and is a waste of resources.
Eric says he just wants one more day to run another test, that’s all he needs. If they don’t run this test they won’t find the depth of this potential cavern. This does get a little confusing because Chad wants to find a cave entrance near the smelting pits while Eric wants to find the depth of a potential void. It’s a bit murky, but I live for the drama. Thankfully, Duane, who is still possibly licking his wounds from earlier, agrees that Eric’s idea is the right one. He says they’ll run one more test and then course-correct if necessary.
Later that day, Chad brings Dave Miller to speak with Duane at the Miner’s Shack. (This whole thing feels very out of place pacing-wise.) Dave shows Duane a similar video of an Apache Attack Helicopter flying over Bottle Hollow; Bottle Hollow is a location directly in between Skinwalker Ranch and Blind Frog Ranch.
Dave tells Duane it’s no secret that someone is spying on him and the ranch. He also says the more Duane discovers, the more eyes that will be on him. There’s also a mention of how AATIP was started around this area and mentions the dreaded Lue Elizondo lie about AATIP’s $22 million. (The whole AATIP/AAWSAP thing is too much to get into right now.)
Eric, Duane, Chad, and someone named Brett arrive at the smelting site location. Brett is here to do a seismic survey. They set up some Geofoam in a straight line where the anomaly was located. This test is quite involved and rather interesting. Once the Geofoam is set up, a small charge will be sent through the ground to simulate a seismic wave. As the waves are pushed through the rocks, the speeds will be recorded in a device. The data will be put through seismic refraction software. Once recorded, they will have a direct location of how deep they need to drill.
Brett, and the team, get everything set up for the test. They load the shotgun charge in the ground and Eric is given the opportunity to blow the charge. He hammers it and it goes off. It’s quite a large bang for a small shell. Once the data is collected, they pack up all their gear and head out to the Miner’s Shack while the data processes.
Brett has good news for everyone! His data reveals air at around 80 feet. This is most definitely a target for the void! Huzzah! Chad is happy he waited and listened to Eric and science.
Final Thoughts
This whole Dave Miller inclusion feels forced but it’s proving some alarming information. I would love to know more about these smelting pits. Part of me wonders if there is a way for them to carbon date the rocks that make up the pit? Or can soot be tested? Because the one cave formation has soot-covered walls.
I’m glad Eric’s final test revealed promising information and I really hope it’s all for the best. Part of me is bummed both Eric and Duane had diva moments in this episode, but, as stated, it makes for great television! Will we learn anything more about this radiation bat? Who knows! Each episode just proves there really is a Mystery…at Blind Frog Ranch.
