Brendan Jesus
As quickly as they came, they went; the drones are gone! Seemingly overnight nearly all reporting, from citizens and the media, on the drones has ceased. Has the craze finally gone away? Did we ever truly get reasonable answers? Like I stated last week, most of the reports were nothing more than airplanes but there were some videos that I just couldn’t wrap my head around.
Oh well.
The only other interesting thing to come out of the Ufology world is regarding one of the interviewees of James Fox’s The Program. Alien bounty hunter Jason Sands has come under fire for comments regarding his participation in the hunting and killing of aliens and that he was subcontracted via the government to do so. Or something like that. James Fox was asked about the credibility of Sands after these mental health-alarming comments surfaced and Fox seemingly refuses to say it harms Sands’s credibility (regarding what Sands discusses in The Program). I don’t have a stance on this other than I think Sands has harmed his credibility by basically claiming to be some Jango Fett-like character for the American government.
That’s enough of that! It’s time for us to take a trip out to the Uinta Basin. Let’s pop in with Duane Ollinger and the boys to see what they are up to this week and to see if we are any closer to uncovering the Mystery…at Blind Frog Ranch.
Where Do We Go From Here?
We join Duane, Charlie Boy, Josh Feldman, and James Keenan at the Bead Site: Vent Holes. Duane is still using the rock wheel attachment on the excavator to dig into the vent holes. Charlie Boy notices a void at the base of the rockface and tells Duane to focus his digging on that spot. Duane starts to dig and then pulls back so the team can assess.
Josh takes a look at it and questions if it is indeed a void or just a small gap in the rock structure. He calls James over to take a look and James confirms Josh’s thought, it’s nothing more than a dead end to a shallow hollow. Seemingly with no progress made, they ask Duane what he thinks is the next best step.
Frustrated at the lack of progress, Duane thinks it would be best to work from the top down. They decide a rathole rig digging into the top of the Bead Site will potentially provide them access into the Keyhole Cavern…or at least provide some answers.
Before we go any further I just want to make note of two things. First, is Duane. In Season 4 Episode 1 “Death Rumble”, Chad makes a note about his father’s health. Throughout Season 4 it’s been clear that Duane has taken a backseat to this treasure hunt. But something about his speech pattern in this episode was alarming. He’s slurring his words more than usual and seems incredibly low energy. I really hope he is okay because, at the end of the day, he is the heart and soul of Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch. If he were to leave the show completely, for whatever reason, I don’t know if it could go on the way it has to this point.
Second, is the lack of actual progress. Every episode seems to end with, “THIS will be the best thing for us to look into on the next episode.” Well, the next episode comes, and the progress plateaus. No new information, no new progress. If it weren’t for the fascinating intro to Season 4 Episode 1, where Chad and a mystery man dive into an open-air cave, I’d be nervous that nothing really happens in this season. Don’t get me wrong, I still love this show! But I could see that casual viewers might get turned off by the lack of progress.
We rejoin with the entire team at the Hideout. Eric Drummond tells them about the abandoned open pit mine they found (when Eric used the LIDAR drone). He also informs them of the gold nugget they found with one of the samples. Duane is pleased by this information.
Eric says that gold mineralization in that type of geology indicates that there could be caverns and tunnels beneath the open pit site. The fault line that the open pit is on runs across the meteorite impact site (which was found in Season 3 and contained large traces of Iridium). Like Duane in Season 3 and James earlier in Season 4, it’s now time for Eric to jetset across the states to try and get some useful information.
Eric knows of a site in Southern Ohio and there’s a colleague who is an expert in meteor impact sites. In this area of Ohio is a site called the Serpent Mound Disturbance. The Serpent Mound Disturbance is a verified meteor impact site and is also a culturally important site. This impact site is home to a burial mound in the form of a serpent. He thinks that he can gather data there which could help all of them learn how to properly attack drilling at Blind Frog’s very own meteor site.
Chad Ollinger thinks this is a good idea, but he also knows there are more interesting aspects of the fault line on the ranch. While Eric heads to Ohio, Chad plans to travel the fault line to see if he can find any new information. He also plans to bring Josh along so he can show Josh the collapsed mine he, James, and Ryan Skinner found in Season 3. This will be a half-day-long hike, so they plan to take horses.
Duane ends this part with a great quip that made me see a glimmer of the previous season’s Duane that I miss so much. He tells Eric, “Take first class there, but if you don’t find anything then you can take a bus back.” Classic Duane!
Drills In Them Hills
In order for a drill to get to the top of the Bead Site, Duane must clear a mile-long path through the treacherous terrain. Josh and Charlie Boy say they will lead Duane in a Side-by-Side to guide him through this uneven terrain. Shortly into their adventure, they have a communications issue.
Josh and Charlie Boy come across a fence that is lined with barbed wire. They radio over to Duane and tell him to stop so they can cut the fence—but the walkie-talkie malfunctions. Duane continues barreling down behind them. Thankfully, he’s able to come to a stop just in time for them to finish removing the barbed wire.
They eventually make it to the top of the Bead Site and have a perfect path cleared for the drill. Now they just have to wait for it to arrive…
Galloping And Gallivanting
Chad and Josh pack up their horses with gear for their first solo trip on the ranch. The trip starts off well enough but they soon arrive at terrain that would not be suitable for horses. After tying off the horses, the two men continue and take only what’s necessary. By the time they make it to the collapsed mine, they’re huffing and puffing…well, Josh is.
Josh quickly confirms this area was dug by hand and definitely not naturally occurring. He also wonders out loud whether this was a cave that someone found and extended, or whether it was a mineral deposit that someone had worked as a mine.
The Shatter Cone
(Strap in friends, we’re going to get a little bit scientific-y here.)
1,500 miles away from Blind Frog Ranch, Eric arrives in Peebles, Ohio. He makes it to the Serpent Mound Disturbance which is a 9-mile-wide crater formed 250 million years ago and is one of 28 known impact craters in the United States. Eric meets up with his colleague Dr. Mark Baranoski (who basically just looks like an elongated Eric). Dr. Baranoski is one of the original scientists who figured this location was an impact site.
Eric wants to know what evidence was used to assess the meteor impact. The first thing Dr. Baranoski reveals is a shatter cone. Made when heat is strong enough to liquefy rocks, a shatter cone is a geological feature that can only be created in the bedrock below meteor impact craters (or with underground nuclear explosions). Shatter cones are created when rocks are subjected to shock pressures between two and 30 GPa (or 290,000 psi to 4 million psi). Eric has never seen a shatter cone in person before and is floored!
The shatter cone is what convinced the scientists in this area that an impact site was in their vicinity. These cones show where the impact came from–they revealed that the energy came from a middle point and that the energy was shot out horizontally. Eric realizes that shatter cones are basically pointer indicators. The surrounding strata infer the angle and location of impacts.
Dr. Baranoski takes Eric to a ridge to show him another way you can spot evidence of impact. Baranoski says the impact was so powerful that it completely changed the magnetism and polarity of the rocks beneath it. All rocks have a magnetic polarity running north to south and rocks won’t change until it encounters high heat or violent impact. Dr. Baranoski also says that polarity change can affect instruments…which is something we’ve seen over and over again in the Energy Zone!
Chad And Josh; Two Best Friends
We join back up with Chad and Josh at the collapsed mine. Chad tells Josh about how they felt a constant airflow from within the collapsed mine. Josh pulls out his metal detector and runs it over the ruins. Very quickly, Josh gets a hit on the detector. They take some samples.
One of the samples Josh pulls up is limestone and has a brachiopod fossilized within it. Simply put, limestone equals caves. Limestone caves are formed over the course of millions of years when acidic rainwater dissolves the calcium carbonate that makes up limestone. Over time, small cracks become massive fissures which can become mile-long cave systems.
Limestone, airflow, and fault lines…Josh thinks they’re obviously standing at the entrance of a cave. The only issue is that they’re standing at the bottom of a rock fall. To safely gain entrance, and clear out the debris, they first need to clear out the large boulders that are above them. This will be no small task.
Drills In Them Hills Pt. II
Duane, Josh, and Charlie Boy eagerly welcome the drill when it arrives. Operated by Denzel Roberts, they are going a different route than their usual rathole rig. This time, they’re using a sonic drill. Regular drills use pressure to crush and grind through rock while sonic drills use high-frequency vibrations and can reach depths of nearly 600 feet. Before it can make it to the top of the Bead Site, the drill must take the treacherous path that was created for it.
The drill makes it to the top of the Bead Site without incident and the drilling begins.
Drones And Ancient Calendars
Eric follows Dr. Baranoski to a cemetery that has a great view of the entire meteor impact site. He pulls out a drone and maps the entire impact zone for ranch reference. From here, Eric heads out to meet with local Serpent Mound Effigy expert Thomas Johnson.
This effigy is 1,300 feet long and is an earth-work sculpture built thousands of years ago on top of the meteorite impact zone by the Adina. The Adina were a Native American culture famed for constructing massive ceremonial and burial mounds throughout the Midwest. By the time Europeans began “investigating” the Serpent Mount Effigy, the Adina had been gone for centuries and left behind no record of why they chose a meteorite crater for their effigy.
Eric learns from Tom Johnson that the burial mound was only recently found and that three bodies were buried in the rear of the serpent’s head. Tom says this effigy was kept as a calendar and each bend in the body of the snake lines up with the sun during important astronomical events like solstices and equinoxes (the most important alignments were the summer solstice).
After Eric checks the effigy out, Tom takes him to a place called The Grotto. It’s a hidden, and stunningly gorgeous area, and has a naturally occurring stone formation that was sacred to the local Native Americans. The stone formation looks like the head of a serpent. Eric says it’s a carbonite material that’s similar to limestone. The odd thing about the effigy area, Tom says, is how it serves as some protection from storms–the effigy (or rock polarity) seemingly deflects storms from this area.
Drills In Them Hills Pt. III
We end the episode at the top of the Bead Site. The drill is all set up and the drilling has started. Once it hits the 10-foot mark, they get their first core sample. Josh looks through the sample and sees manganese, iron, and fine green sandstone, but no limestone.
At the 50-foot mark, Josh mentions they are officially right behind the base of the Bead Site. The core sample at the 65-foot mark reveals darker soil samples and, finally, limestone! But things get wild when they hit the 80-foot mark…a geyser of water SHOOTS out of the hole!
Final Thoughts
I must slightly eat my words from earlier in this article. The things Eric learned from Dr. Baranoski and Tom are beyond fascinating. We’ve seen the electronic equipment malfunction exactly the way Dr. Baranoski described it. And knowing that parts of a meteor were found on the ranch seems to point us in the direction of focus. I hope Eric takes his focus away from the open pit caves from the past episodes and decides to change his attention to the meteorite.
Now, let’s talk about the water from the sonic drill. This implies one of two things. The first is that they hit a water vein in a flooded cave. This is great because that means they at least found a new cave. The second is that they found an open air void and the water shot into it so quickly that it filled up and shot out of the hole. Both seem fairly likely so we’ll have to wait a week to find out!
This episode felt like it went back to the roots of what made this show so interesting. We learned some great history, Eric has the information he needs, and the team may have stuck liquid gold. Who knows what all of this means in the long run all I hope is that it brings us closer to the Mystery…at Blind Frog Ranch.
