Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch: $3 Billion Heist (S3E1)

Hello weary traveler, it’s been a while since we talked. I took some time away from Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch post-Season 4, but now I’m back and ready to talk about the highly controversial Season 3. (Controversial in my eyes.) With no Eric Drummond, and too much James Keenan and Ryan Skinner, Season 3 feels like more quantity than quality. Before we get into Season 3 I want us to take our usual trip to our Ufology Corner and see if there’s anything interesting happening. 

Since it’s been a few weeks since we’ve come to Ufology Corner there has been a few new developments. One of the most laughable videos of a UAP was shared on Newsmax and taken seriously; known as the “egg video” Newsmax “anchors” took one of the most ridiculous videos in the world and tried to cash in on their gullible viewers. It worked. And yes, Lue Elizondo is still out and about making hilarious debunked claims. 

What really got my goat, and this came out the day I wrote this, is someone from the party of Elon Musk deciding to waste government money. Representative Anna Paulina Luna (the one who believes George Washington was visited by angels and warned of the impending doom of communism) decided to start the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. One of Looney’s Luna’s comments during her press briefing was to get to the bottom of JFK’s assassination. During this talk, Luna said she wants to bring some of the people who investigated JFK’s death to the table to talk (you know, the people from the Warren Report). The only thing is…they’re all dead. Stellar start for the TFDFS! 

Okay, that’s enough shade from me. Let’s get to the topic at hand. It’s time to join Duane Ollinger and crew in the hills of the Uinta Basin to see if Season 3 brings us any closer to finding the Mystery…at Blind Frog Ranch. 

A Temple Tour Down In Mexico

Season 3 starts with Duane arriving in Yucatan, Mexico. He’s driven to the site of an Aztec temple where he tells us he’s set to meet with a world-renowned expert on ancient civilizations. This individual is said to have studied places with ancient tunnel systems. He’s a “Real-life Indiana Jones,” says Duane. 

Claim Jumpers

Before we learn the identity of Duane’s mystery expert, we meet up at the ranch with Chad Ollinger and Charlie Boy. They arrive at the ranch while it’s still covered in snow as they plan on getting an early start on this season’s work. Things quickly ramp up to an 11 when Chad and Charlie Boy realize uninvited guests have infiltrated the property. And no, we’re not talking about mystery men clad in black. 

Chad and Charlie Boy see one of the setups these people, who they refer to as claim jumpers, have created. This first spot has a deep hole dug into the ground, which is blocked off by red caution tape and littered with forged mining claim documents. We know they’re forged as Chad is certain his father never signed them. Charlie Boy rigs up a camera to a stick and puts it down the hole. Chad says it’s pretty clear that these men are digging toward the location where Duane thinks the gold is. 

“This is a heist,” says Chad.

Chad and Charlie Boy continue their perimeter search and find a disturbing site. It seems the men who have the claim jumper site (which is on Blind Frog Ranch property) have a camp set up just feet off of Blind Frog Ranch property. Here they have trailers, Side-by-Sides, generators, and snow trekkers. Unfortunately, this camp is a few feet off Duane’s property and on BLM public land (Bureau of Land Management). 

A Temple Tour Down In Mexico Pt. II

We finally learn who Duane is in Mexico to meet…it’s James Keenan. Yes, Season 4’s James Keenan. Oh boy! Duane is at Ek Balam ancient ruins to learn what he can from James. James has been researching lost kingdoms like that of the Aztecs for over a decade. We learn that Ek Balam is in the middle of a jungle and Blind Frog Ranch is in the middle of nowhere. This is important to James because it’s not where these two similar locations are…it’s what is underneath. 

Ek Balam sits on top of hundreds of miles of underground tunnels, and James seems to think the same thing could be said for Blind Frog Ranch. Duane asks James if he’d like to come out to the property and join their exploration. James says he will and to give him a few days.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Duane arrives back at Blind Frog Ranch. After he tells Chad and Charlie Boy about James, they tell Duane about the claim jumpers both on and off the property. Duane is immediately pissed off. One thing that made me sad when going back to Season 3 is how coherent and aware Duane is. It’s clear he had a medical issue of some sort between Seasons 3 and 4. While he’s still significantly slowed down from Season 2, he’s more active in the first episode of Season 3 than he is in the entirety of Season 4. 

Duane refers to the claim jumpers as thieves but still wants to get on with their exploration. In the hopes of getting new information, Duane says he has a friend who will come to the property for some new scans. There’s a fella (Duane’s word) with a technology called Quantum and he can help direct them where to focus their research. 

A 6’6” Cowboy With A Computer

Owner/operator Stephen Leeah arrives at the property. He’s described as a 6’6” cowboy with a computer, and that’s a fairly accurate statement. Stephen arrives with two vegans from Silicon Valley (there’s a joke there but it’s too on the nose). Stephen tells Duane and the crew what they’re going to do and what his technology is. Basically, they will use quantum imaging to scan the property. Their proprietary scanning system detects fluctuations in energy above and below the ground. It uses light to detect electrons and magnetic fields within the electromagnetic spectrum. This will compile visual images that will hopefully direct the team to where they can focus their efforts. 

Stephen, and his vegan boys, send the drone up in the air as it sets flight to take 30 photos of the ranch. As the drone is up in the air, Chad notices a Side-by-Side coming down the road. As the driver sees the team it slams on its brakes, pops a u-ey, and hightails it out of there. Chad says it’s the claim jumpers. Since it will take Stephen and his team some time, Duane, Chad, and Charlie Boy hop in their Side-by-Sides and chase after them. 

The Chase Is On

A tense chase takes place. Chad goes to their slightly off-property location to get a top-down view of where the trespassers might be and sees they are at their illegal location on Blind Frog Ranch. Duane arrives and prepares to approach the men but slightly holds off until Chad and Charlie Boy arrive. 

Chad immediately jumps out, starts ripping down their red caution tape, and confronts the trespassers. One of the “sovereign citizens” holds his camera up to Chad, practically bumping chests with one another. The masked individual whines that Chad assaulted him but that’s laughable. And if it were true, that man is on someone else’s property and was warned to leave. 

Duane tells Chad to call the cops, and he finally does. The claim jumpers wait feet away on BLM property. After some time, the cops show up and get both sides of the story. While the cop can’t do anything, go figure, Chad and the team fill out police reports. 

Quantum Results

Two days later, Stephen and his team come back with the results of their scans. Without much fanfare, we jump right into it all. Stephen says there’s an unusual area that immediately stuck out to them. The first image we see is a top-down view of the ranch with one half of the image being red, and the other half blue–a small purple circle in the middle is the only overlap. Stephen says this red and blue imaging shows something called the Doppler Effect. 

The Doppler Effect is present when concentrated energy is present. The red means energy is expanding and the blue means energy is contracting. Stephen says he has only ever seen evidence like this in cosmological work with black holes. Simply put, it doesn’t belong on this ranch. Chad quickly realizes the purple overlap spot is exactly where the Energy Zone is. 

But that’s not all! Stephen found a series of resonances directly beneath the Energy Zone–this is what we constantly referred to in our Season 4 coverage as the Keyhole Cavern. Roughly 500 to 1,000 feet across, this image reveals multiple tunnel-like features. More to come on that soon.

Indiana James

James finally shows up on the property and is shown the quantum scans. One thing he quickly picks up on is a natural formation right above the Keyhole Cavern/Energy Zone, which looks like a head. In fact, James thinks it looks like the Native American God of protection Towat. Towat has been mentioned in rare manuscripts and local lore, but never authenticated. If there’s one thing James seems to be sure of it’s that they could be sitting on a fortune of gold. 

Final Thoughts

As I’ve stated many times before, Season 3 doesn’t really do it for me. It’s frustrating that they completely ignore the Season 2 finale where Duane almost dies. James Dube doesn’t even make an appearance and his absence isn’t mentioned once. This season feels more like Season 2.5–it’s supplemental. 

James isn’t a bad addition to the team but he’s highly sensationalistic and often takes away from the authentic nature of what the show was before. There are some fun moments in Season 3 but don’t expect any huge revelations. The claim jumpers are a fun addition to the drama but it feels like it’s a dead end that’s being used as a time filler. 

Oh well, it is what it is. All I can hope is that a second viewing of Season 3 can give me some more insight on whatever the hell is going on and hopefully get us closer to finding the Mystery…at Blind Frog Ranch.