01x01 - What Lies Beneath

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

How would you like to think,

On your deathbed,

You didn't know the truth?

I couldn't do it.

♪♪

I was doing some work

In a refinery in dumas, texas,

And that's where we lived

Our lives for 30 years

Until I run into this project.

This got my [bleep] attention

Here.

Pardon the french.

[ Laughs ]

♪♪

I've never been on a projec

Before that I didn't finish.

♪♪

When you got something

Hanging over your head,

That's not a good feeling.

Basically, we just wan

To get into that cavern

Because there's good signs

That there's some serious gold

In there.

But, man,

It's a tough son of a butt.

A few years ago,

We were grinding down,

And finally,

We'd fell into a vault.

And the hole

Was surrounded with frogs.

[ Frogs croaking ]

It was weird.

It was very weird.

They would just sit there

On the edge of the bank,

And they wouldn't move

Until you walked up

And touched them on the nose,

And they'd jump.

They had no -- no way of knowing

That you were there.

I mean,

They couldn't see nothing.

They asked

What we was gonna name it,

And I said, "that's simple."

"We'll call I

Blind frog ranch."

[ Thunder crashes ]

There are some places on earth

That just don't seemright.

The land feels different,

It acts different.

And this here

Is one of those places.

Some say the land is trying

To hold on to something.

Aztec treasure

Holy [bleep]

Caverns of gold

Look at this.

More than riches.

It'll be

A million dollars here.

Some even say

There's a buried spaceship.

Aliens.

Me? I never cared much

About the stories.

I just care about finding

Whatever the hell

Is in the ground.

Aah!

--Captions by vitac --

Captions paid for by

Discovery communications

♪♪

♪♪

We had heard about this property

Up in utah

Where there was

Precious metals on there.

So we hired a group

That was associated with nasa

To run scans on the property.

Basically, the scans showed

That there was about two miles

Worth of flooded caves,

Or voids,

Underneath that property.

So, that was enough for me,

And I bought into it.

The project cost me a lot

Not just in money.

It's really high-risk,

But we always liked

High-risk projects --

Always.

Well, skinwalker ranch

Is just south of us,

20 Miles plus or minus.

We're on a strange plot of land

That has a lot of stuff

Going on.

♪♪

My son chad

Is invested in this, too.

He sold his crop-dusting

Business, sold his house.

So he's up here

Pretty well year-round

Helping me on this project.

♪♪

-Do we have breakfast stuff?

-I have oatmeal.

Oatmeal, yeah.

Got to heat it up.

My motivation in life used to be

Making as much money as I could.

But you always want more stuff,

So I was always working,

And I couldn't, like,

Hang out with my family.

And I'm -- I'm kind of done

With stuff right now

And more -- more abou

The experience.

All right. This is real hot,

Guys. Watch out.

Got one ready?

-Yeah.

All right.

We pretty much

Sold everything

And bought a school bus.

And now we're just gonna try

To live simple

And just enjoy life more

And live free, really.

Woman: go give it to daddy.

Give daddy a bite.

Give me a bite.

It's a really bonding

Experience.

I mean, that's why

We're up here.

I get to spend more time

With my dad now.

Chad, come here.

We've put in so much time

And energy to this.

It's been a long road,

But, you know,

It looks really promising now.

[ Children screaming ]

It's just a little mouse.

-We didn't like that, did we?

Chad: oh, man, I'm sorry.

Sorry.

-We all have our limits,

Don't we?

-Yeah.

-That was real fear, huh?

-Real fear.

Heck, yeah.

Let me see

What we're going to do here.

♪♪

What kind of price are we

Talking about on one of these?

I'm gonna say

Half a million

[ Whistles ]

Counting all the bells

And whistles on it.

Duane:

It's just not me and chad.

It's also charlie boy

I've known for years.

He's one of the few

That I could trust.

All right, big boy,

She's all yours.

Here's the fun part.

[ Engine starts ]

♪♪

Yee-haw!

Excellent job.

It's really helping, isn't it?

Had one of those back

In the '70s, charlie boy.

Snider: I spent 20 years

With the sheriff's department,

So I've had a lot of experience

In security.

You got a $200,000 rig

Back up there.

You got a half-million-dollar

Piece of equipment here.

He's really raising

The stakes this year.

So I need to do everything

I can out here

To protect the investmen

That duane has made.

Duane: basically, we jus

Need to get into that cavern.

So, a year ago,

We drilled a hole

About four foot in diameter,

And we fell into a void

About 20 foot down.

So I reinforced the hole

With a 48-inch casing.

So that was it.

After a lot of hard work,

We finally had our entry poin

Into the cavern system.

So I dove down there myself.

And I about pissed

In my wet sui

Because there was

A huge flooded cave.

Bring it up,

Bring it up.

But when we came back

The next day,

The hole had completely flooded.

So now not only

Is our entry poin

Under about 15 fee

Of murky water,

The chute is now buried under

A massive amount of sedimen

That came in on our pipe

Whenever the water came up.

So the long boom track hoe

Is a huge game changer.

Looking good, old man.

Let her rip.

As soon as we get all the muck

Out of there,

We can take a sho

At sliding down into that hole.

And hopefully into a cavern

Full of gold down below.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Laughs ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Hell yeah!

[ Laughs ]

Digging out that hole

Is just the beginning.

We still have a long ways to go

To get into that cavern.

The truth is, I know a lot more

About drilling for oil

Than I do digging for gold.

So this year, I'm bringing in

Some extra brain-power

To help me get to the bottom

Of what's going on.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

I get hired a lo

By oil companies,

By mineral companies.

Basically, I'm hired

To find things.

I got contacted by this man

From texas.

He has a projec

In northern utah.

And he said that there's --

There could be tons of gold

Involved.

I like that.

But he's informed me

That there's there's an extra

Element to this project.

I'm not sure

Exactly what it entails,

But I've been a professional

Geologist for 40 years,

And I think

It might be worth the risk.

♪♪

[ Light buzzing ]

Duane:

So here's the deal, fellas.

The overall picture of wha

We're wanting to do

Is to get in these caverns

That run underneath

This property.

-Okay.

-So whether it's treasure

Or natural gold,

It doesn't matter much to me,

Because I'm sure

There's gold down there.

And that's why you're here,

Eric,

Is to help us, kind of lead us

Down the right path.

We have a couple leads of our

Own that we want you to look at.

But one way or the other,

We need to get into these caves

Before winter sets in,

And we will do that.

And so,

We want your expertise

To be right in the middle

Of this deal.

I appreciate it, and I'm happy

To help you guys.

So, I'd like to star

From the big picture.

Geologically, caverns are known

To exist along fault lines.

And not only that,

Faults are breaks in the earth.

And so,

You have displacements,

And that's where your gold,

Silver, copper will find itself.

And that's documented.

Your ranch here

Is very interesting

Because you can see

These little lines right here.

We have several faults

In the area.

That's what I'm calling

A fault swarm.

That jumps out at me

From the start.

And I think it could be

A new discovery.

Bingo.

That's exactly

What we want to hear.

His information is matching up

With our satellite scans.

And some of that information

Matches up with the legends

That we've heard

About caves full of gold.

So we're looking real good.

All right. Let's do I

Tomorrow morning early.

Let's go.

-Sounds like a plan.

You have a really interesting

Project here.

-Yeah.

-[ Laughs ]

Duane: to say the least.

♪♪

Man: are you familiar

With blind frog ranch?

I know the area well.

That's my deer hunting country.

Those guys are looking

For gold up there.

What do you

Think of that?

There's gold in there.

It's all through here.

So you think they have

A reasonably good chance

Of finding gold there?

I know they do

Without a question.

But that's just the tip

Of the iceberg.

♪♪

Drummond:

Duane's convinced that there's

Gold here in these caverns.

I'm not so sure about tha

At this point.

But if these caverns

Are really filled with gold,

I would expect to see I

In the soil that's coming up

Through the tube.

So the first thing I want to do

Is test that sedimen

That duane pulled ou

Of the hole yesterday.

That's the scientific method

To search for gold.

Been the same

For over 100 years.

Duane: isn't this

A cat's meow?

This isn't a mining tool.

It's more of a sampling tool.

But before you mine,

You got to find the gold.

♪♪

Gold is much heavier than

All the other rock materials

Around it.

So the water gets the material

In suspension.

When the gold finds the ripples,

It'll sink them

And stay down in the ripples.

Hell, that's cheating,

Eric.

-Nice, isn't it?

-I'll be damned.

♪♪

Chad: we're hitting it from all

Different angles, you know?

So we brought a geologist in

That's looking more for the vein

Or something like that.

It's really helping us

Pinpoint where we need to dig

And where we need to go

And what we need to focus on.

You know, I kind of think

You know some stuff now.

Now we got to find it.

Drummond:

That should about do it.

That should tell us

If there's gold in there.

There we go.

-Wow.

Drummond:

The gold's in the bucket.

This is blind frog wash

Number one.

-I'll be darned.

-I'll bring it over here,

And we'll pan it,

And we'll see what we got.

♪♪

And you just slowly

Wash off the top.

Huh.

If there's gold in there,

It'll show up right --

Right up in here.

And right off the bat

♪♪

You see that?

Holy [bleep]

[ Laughter ]

That's natural gold.

I'll be darned.

We're gonna

Document that.

I'm gonna say one gold.

So that little speck of gold

Means that there could be

More in the cavern?

Yeah. Yeah,

It could be significant.

Yeah, yeah.

Duane: eric just found gold

In the sedimen

That's been washed up

Out of the cave system

That we're trying to get into.

So I'm damn happy.

Now we just have to

Get into that cavern.

Come on, eric.

♪♪

Drummond:

Gold isn't formed in the earth

One speck at a time.

It's formed within larger veins.

So every piece of small gold

You find on the surface

Must have come from

A larger deposit.

Working in areas

With large caverns,

The first thing

That comes to my mind

Is there could be a honey hole,

A void literally

Filled with gold.

With the size

Of the cavern systems

That we think

Are under the site,

There could be huge potential.

You're looking a

Millions of dollars.

♪♪

-You ready?

-Yeah, yeah.

♪♪

Pick up one air tank

Live with hoses on it.

For chad to go in with.

-10-4.

Duane: eric finding gold

In the sedimen

Coming out of the cavern

Is huge.

So now that we've pulled

All the muck out of the bottom,

We should be able to get down

Into that chute

And look into the cavern.

So chad's gonna see

What he can find.

My first thought is safety --

The safety of chad.

Whenever you go underwater,

Bad stuff can happen.

And so, when you go into

A cavern like this,

It's serious [bleep]

I've never dove

In a water-filled cavern, no,

But we're on the right track,

And why not keep going?

Ooh, that looks hot.

[ Laughs ]

Okay.

[ Engine starts ]

Duane: chad's gonna go

Slide down that chute

And see if he can

Get into the cavern.

Drummond: all right,

Be safe, brother.

Normally on a dive like this,

Chad would use a scuba tank,

But -- but it's just too tigh

To get down through that pipe.

So what we had to do

Is rig up a compressor

That would pump air down to chad

Through his face mask.

It's pretty damn dangerous,

But it's the only entry poin

Right now that we know of.

♪♪

You know, you probably shouldn'

Try this [bleep] at home.

♪♪

♪♪

Drummond:

It's hard to see in there.

This will be easy.

♪♪

[ Static ]

I can't hear you.

It's not working.

[ Walkie-talkie beeps ]

[ Static ]

I can't hear you.

My radio is not working.

Hang on.

[ Beeping ]

Ah [bleep]

Machine's fixing to die.

Damn it.

[ Beeping continues ]

♪♪

[ Compressor powers down ]

[Bleep] charlie boy,

What about that compressor?

-Dead.

-[Bleep]

A lot of air coming up,

So he might be fighting it.

♪♪

♪♪

Duane: [bleep] we're gonna

Have to bring him up.

♪♪

All right?

Yeah.

Straight down over here?

It's just sediment?

Okay.

Chad:

Where I was feeling around,

There's just so much dir

Blowing in there.

You can't see anything.

You can't even see your hand

Right here.

It's, like, feeling around.

It's kind of eerie.

You gonna stay in there

All day?

All right. Here we go.

I'm bringing you out.

Duane: the good news is

Chad found the hole,

But it's still plugged up.

So we're gonna have to keep

Working on a way to get in there

So we can get down to the gold.

But what happened with

All the equipment dying

Out of the blue today,

Well, it's not the first time

That something weird

Has happened around here.

So we're trying to

Stick with our plan,

But there's just certain things

That just keep coming up.

[ Insects chirping ]

No, it's a little more

Complicated than that.

Here's the deal --

I can't help I

If it sounds weird

Or whatever,

But in all fairness, eric,

You kind of need to know

Some of the scenarios

That we have run into.

Drummond: okay.

When we got here,

The people just didn'

Seem right.

The whole deal

Was just a different deal.

Blind frog ranch --

Something's out there.

Ufos, skinwalkers.

It's hard to wrap your brain

Around what's going on.

Duane: you know,

The locals say

That we're right next to

The skinwalker ranch,

And that's where

All this weird stuff happens.

And they also say

That there's gold mines

And buried treasures

That came from old mexico.

But what's strange is

There's some kind

Of a dark force

That keeps this gold

From being found.

The night does not belong to us.

I didn't believe a lot of I

Until I live here.

[ Thunder crashes ]

I'm in panic mode now.

I mean, it seemed like

It was a far-fetched deal

Until all these things

Start happening,

Things that made us

Scratch our head.

When we were drilling down

And we firs

Punched into that cavern,

That's where

Hundreds of blind frogs

Started coming to the surface.

[ Frogs croaking ]

An electromagnetic pulse

Screwed our gauges up

The rest of the day.

But the biggest deal is

The equipment we were using

On the projec

All disappeared.

Well, I haven't seen anything

Like that myself,

But I have

An open mind.

And however I can help you guys,

I'm here for you.

You know?

Drummond: yeah, I'm here

To help them as a scientis

Using the scientific method,

And I'm not I'm not judging them

By any means.

Maybe I'm just a boring

Geologist or something,

But until such a time happens

Where I see something

Like that

I don't believe in

That kind of stuff.

♪♪

♪♪

Duane:

Working gold projects like this,

It's not for everyone,

And it damn sure ain't easy.

But if I wanted easy,

I wouldn't be out here.

♪♪

This is a pretty nea

Little deal.

Chad: make sure

Everything's tight.

This is the deep trekker.

It's legit.

Basically,

This is an underwater drone.

♪♪

We've launched.

But this is

A pretty sweet tool.

It's got a camera,

It's got sonar,

And it's got a ripping motor.

It's going down.

When I was down there diving,

I could feel

That the hole

Was all plugged up.

So right now, I'm gonna go down

With a drone

And see if we can get through

All that sediment.

It's basically like

Snaking a clogged toilet.

How deep are you?

12 Feet is wha

It's showing.

This is the pipe.

We can see it.

All right,

Let's give this a shot.

♪♪

All right, I'm in the wall

Right now.

There's jus

So much sludge.

♪♪

It's stuck.

You want to pull it back

Just a little bi

And see

If it'll go down more?

♪♪

♪♪

No good.

It's not working?

[ Sighs ]

I'm trying to move it.

♪♪

How deep are you?

12'6".

I just got another little bit.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

It's just sediment, so I

Might just open that hole up.

♪♪

Roll, you b*tch!

[Bleep]

You're not gonna

Be able to do it.

[Bleep]

♪♪

Unfortunately,

We didn't have enough power

To get the drone through.

It's packed in really well,

So we have to come up

With something else

Or find a whole new entry point.

♪♪

Duane: ain't that a dropkick

In the a*s?

Man: how would you describe

This area of the basin?

I would call the basin

Phenomenal.

Spiritual.

Active.

I'm sure that you've

Heard ofranch,

But there are other spots

In the basin

That are just as active.

Are you referring to

Blind frog ranch?

You better believe it.

Why do you think it's such a

Hotbed of experiences like this?

Well

[ Bell dinging ]

I live right here

In the middle of town,

And a lot of people

Have talked abou

There being, perhaps,

A buried spaceship

Or something like that.

I suspect that it's probably

Something more natural.

But I also believe tha

It's not a good idea

That they got there.

Don't go looking for trouble.

These guys at blind frog ranch

Are digging a lot.

Excuse me?

At blind frog ranch,

They're digging a lot.

Well,

Surely would be careful.

It's not a good idea

That they got there.

And I would strongly urge

That they pray.

Hang on one sec.

Well, we're plugged up, but once

We get all that sucked down,

I guarantee you

It'll be our entrance.

Snider: we just need to

Get the dredge here.

Drummond: well, I'll give you

The bad news.

The conduit is at, what,

About 15 feet below surface,

Right?

-Right.

And that's where the star

Of the sediment is.

-Yeah.

-That's where it starts.

So we're starting

At 15 feet.

But the thing is,

We only have 35 foo

Of hose.

-35 Foot total?

-Yeah.

[ Sighs ]

Dredging out the clog

Is the obvious solution

To open up the hole.

The problem is now the hole's

In the middle of the pond

Under at least 15 feet of water.

So we're using half our hose

Just to get from the surface

Of the water

To the lip of the hole.

Who knows how far

The clog goes down from there?

It could be 8, 10, 12 feet.

We don't know.

So the longer we extend

The hose, the deeper we get,

The less suction power we have.

So we don't want to push it.

It's a tricky proposition.

But I'm working on a solution.

This is just a schematic

Of what it would look like.

Here's the dredge

Right here.

Here's the suction hose.

And this is your conduit,

Right?

First off, we can pu

That dredge on pontoons,

Put it right above the hole

Floating on top of the water.

That gets us pretty close.

What is the spou

Coming off that dredge?

It's a sluice box.

We already know for sure there's

Precious metals down there.

So as we're cleaning ou

The hole,

We'd be nuts not to run

The material over a sluice box

And see if there's

Anything in there.

I think between

The four of us here,

We can make it happen.

-Yeah.

-Good deal.

That's a good way to start.

-Happy about that.

Improvising 101

Right there.

♪♪

The frame

Let's set on here.

Put the motor on there.

Yeah.

Now, this is the nozzle

You're going to be on.

I can't stress enough --

Keep your fingers away

From the intake.

Yep.

Basically, this is

A huge water vacuum.

And with this rig, we'll be able

To guide the hose down

And suck all the sedimen

Out of here.

Thing is, though,

There has to be someone

Down there doing the vacuuming.

So it looks like

I'm gonna go back in.

So the two pulls

You do two pulls,

We pull you out.

Okay.

Two pulls, then

-Then you come up.

-I'll just come up.

Yeah.

Gonna put this here.

There's a little bit of a danger

To this whole deal,

But we have good equipment,

Good people on the job.

[ Engine starts ]

♪♪

♪♪

Nothing much.

There you go.

-There we go.

-There we go. He's on it.

He's on it.

We got sediment coming through.

Copy that.

That's it.

Yes.

♪♪

♪♪

Okay, we're gonna only be

Good for 15 minutes

The way he's blowing air

Right now.

Copy that.

♪♪

♪♪

He's doing a good job.

We're getting good sedimen

Up here, duane.

Copy that.

♪♪

Uh-oh.

What's the deal?

What's the deal?

Snider: anything

Can happen down there.

My concern is he can be

Working in the hole,

And if it gets enough of it out,

Will the rest of I

Just collapse on through?

We can't signal him.

♪♪

He's breathing like a frickin'

Horse, charlie.

At that point, I was prepared

To dive in immediately.

♪♪

Snider: what's the deal?

What's the deal?

We need to get him

On a safety line.

Duane: scuba diving,

It's very tough.

It's no game.

That's the real deal.

It does make you nervous

When somebody goes in

And especially when

It's your kinfolk or anybody.

It doesn't matter who it is.

Charlie boy,

I hate to tell you this --

Pull tha

[Bleep] shirt off.

First thing --

You get rid of your clothes.

Clothes will drown you.

You're better

To go in there nude

As you are

With a pair of pants on.

Drummond:

He's not on his line.

Charlie boy

He's good right here.

Okay. [Bleep]

Chad: [bleep]

What? What the [bleep]

Oh, I though

You lost your deal.

Let's get chad in here.

He can take a rest.

We're gonna do a clean-up

Of the sluice.

Copy that.

Chad:

The safety line came off,

But I didn't even

Notice anything,

Which could have been,

You know, pretty scary

For the people up here.

I was just dredging away

Down there.

Charlie boy, I hated to make you

Pull them boots off,

But I didn't like

That [bleep] at all.

They see the rope, they're like,

"Oh [bleep] do we need to go?"

I guess they were taking their

Clothes off, getting ready,

But I had no idea.

Yeah.

Same thing?

You were moving

A lot of dirt.

Oh, absolutely.

You moved a hell of a lot.

Yeah. You had a lo

Of good material come out.

-Yeah.

-There's a lot of mud

In these riffles.

Couldn't see nothing.

What is this?

♪♪

Duane!

Duane, get down here.

We got something big.

What is it?

[Bleep]

Look at that.

Does that look like

A spanish coin to you?

-Oh [bleep]

-[ Laughs ]

It looks like it's gold

And some silver in there.

Drummond: it was amazing.

It was that feeling of discovery

That happens maybe

A couple times in a lifetime.

To be honest, I was kind of

Doubting this whole project,

But I've just done a 180.

There is something

Going on there.

Yes! This is great.

We find that, it's like,

"Oh [bleep]"

We're not even inside the cave

Yet.

We got to keep going.

There could be some crazy stuff

In there.

Duane:

There is a lot down there.

I'm telling you,

This is part of a huge story.

Oh, yeah. I mean,

We're gonna go forward big time.

This is a good sign

Right here.

There's got to be more.

There's just not one lost coin

In that cavern down there.

Exciting find right there.

Chad: [ laughs ]

It's huge to get to be

On a project with your son

And to get to experience things

Like this.

It's a very honorable deal.

And it's just a matter of time

Before we get into that cavern.

Yeah!

Oh, no!

[ Thunder crashes ]

[ Laughs ]

♪♪

We have 9,600 feet of caves

Underneath that property.

It's a void literally

Filled with gold.

It could be worth millions --

Tens of millions,

Hundreds of millions.

Like, "what?"

Duane:

We need to get in these caves

Before the winter sets in on us.

And we will do that.

But the locals say

There's a dark force

That keeps this gold

From being found.

Look at this.

The riches of this area

Don't belong to us.

You hear that?

Now these legends seem

To be coming true.

The insides are gone.

There's risks on this deal,

But it's all abou

Finding the truth.

And

Maybe there's just a little more

To the story

Than what you think.

Your ranch is part of the

Most famous treasure hun

That's never been solved.

"Rhoades"? What?

[ Grunts ]

Duane: it seems like every time

We make some progress,

Something else steps up

And starts fighting us --

Cave-in

-Let's get out of here.

Duane:

Air problems.

Extract, extract.

Snider:

We don't have any control.

We have to go with wha

Mother nature gives us.

It's like it has

A mind of its own.

Duane: sure, it's weird,

But if we lose focus

You see anything?

We're screwed.

This could be

A major discovery.

Chad:

Something is not normal here.

It's unexplainable,

But it has to be connected

To the cavern system.

You see this?

We have to

Get in there.

Duane: I've paid some dues,

And I haven't backed off yet.

-Let's get out of here.

Let's go.

-[Bleep]

Duane: I will make this work

Keep going.

And I'll make it good

For everybody

That hangs in there.

-Hey!

-Oh [bleep]

-Aah!

That's sounded a little c*ck,

Didn't it?

[ Laughs ]