05x13 - The Breakthrough

[bunniefuu]

- TRAVIS: Whoa, what is that?
- BRYANT: Whoa.

THOMAS: Whoa! It's
raining drones over here!

We just had
catastrophic failure.

That's got to be
the FPV right there.

- TRAVIS: Yeah, that's got to be.
- ERIK: Gone.

- TRAVIS: It vanished behind something.
- ERIK: Yeah.

There's something there.

We broke... somewhere.

We got to figure out
where we broke now.

- We broke another rod?
- We broke a rod, yeah.

TRAVIS: There's something
blocking us in the mesa.

NARRATOR: There is
a ranch in Northern Utah.

It is considered the epicenter

of the strangest and most
disturbing phenomena on Earth:

animal mutilations,

bizarre UFO sightings

and unusual energies that
have proven harmful to humans.

For 20 years, the
federal government

tried to find
answers and failed.

Now a new team of
dedicated scientists,

researchers and
experts has taken over.

They are determined to
solve the mystery and reveal...

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.

- Did you get your fishing tool?
- Got it.

- Good deal.
- Got to put it on and everything.

THOMAS: So, this
little tool right here

is what you're hoping

to grab onto that
pipe and pull it back?

Yeah, yeah, it's
got a cone shape

on the inside with threads.

So, if we can hit the end of
that pipe and thread onto it,

we'll be able to
pull it out enough

to where we can
get everything apart

and get the rods
put back together.

Okay.

TRAVIS: For more than
two months now, we've been

struggling with an operation
on Skinwalker Ranch

that should have been
pretty easy to complete.

The goal is to
drill two boreholes

up through the sandstone mesa

where ground-penetrating
radar has detected a huge

dome-shaped object
that is surrounded

by several smaller anomalies.

We need these boreholes

so that we can insert different
scanning devices in them

to study, and
hopefully identify,

what these strange
anomalies could actually be.

But during this
operation, our team

from Mark Construction Drilling
has experienced crazy setbacks

just trying to get
the first hole drilled.

It's not moving very well.

TRAVIS: Their equipment
has repeatedly failed

after making possible
contact with the anomalies.

And just last week,

after finally reaching
more than 400 feet in...

We broke... somewhere.

TRAVIS: their drill rods
mysteriously came apart,

and one of them broke.

It's like whatever is in there

is trying to stop us
from getting this done.

So, today, Alex Swanson and
his team are using a fishing tool

to extract the drilling
rods from inside the mesa.

Hopefully, we can get at
least one of these holes drilled

before the weather
gets too harsh

and forces us to postpone our
investigation until next summer.

Hold that right there, Jared.

Okay, Jared, push into it.

We're almost at the rod.

THOMAS: If this doesn't work,

I don't know how we're going
to be able get up in there.

I really can't get up in there
with the excavator without

risking a rockslide
coming down on top of me.

So, this is a really
tense moment for me.

Hold that.

I think we're onto it, bud.

Okay, try and pull back.

Keep going, keep pulling.

- We got her.
- THOMAS: You got her?

We got her.

- Wow.
- ALEX: We got it!

THOMAS: Heck yeah!

We catch our first big
break of this entire job.

Although we've encountered
a lot of setbacks and obstacles,

it looks like everything's
coming together.

I actually believe now
we're going to be able

to actually break through
the top of this mesa.

Fingers crossed,
this is the last time

- that we have a problem.
- Yeah.

We certainly don't want to
stop again. That's for sure.

THOMAS: What do you got

- before you break through?
- ALEX: We're thinking probably...

- About five rods.
- Five rods, we should be out.

Okay. So another 75 feet,
and we should be out the top.

- Yup.
- THOMAS: Cool.

So, how long you
thinking it's gonna take you

to push through
that last 75 feet then?

JARED: Probably,
say, at least five hours.

Give or take, if
not a little longer.

Well, I guess
we'll get to it, huh?

- Yup.
- Okay.

It's been quite the journey.

TRAVIS: While the
drilling operation continued

at the mesa...

later that afternoon...

- Hey, Cam.
- Hey.

TRAVIS: Cameron Fugal
arrived to help us conduct our last,

and most ambitious,
experiment of the year.

Well, the lidar trucks are
coming down the road.

And we also welcomed a
whole team of lidar experts,

including Pete Kelsey,

John Brown, Jim
Royston and Sam Deriso.

ERIK: Well, before we jump in
to what we're planning on doing,

this looks like
some serious tech.

JOHN: It's pretty
serious technology

when it comes to lidar.

This one is specifically used

for long-distance collection.

ERIK: Okay.

And it's incredibly accurate.

PETE: I hear you have something

creative in mind for it.

We've got a few creative
somethings in mind.

TRAVIS: Several weeks ago,

using a terrestrial
laser scanner,

Pete Kelsey detected a
massive cone-shaped anomaly.

It stretched more than a half
a mile from Homestead Two

over to the east field canyon

and had a 2,000-foot-high
apex directly above the triangle.

Other than the mesa,

these are the
three main hot spots

where we've experienced
the most phenomena

on Skinwalker Ranch...

We have several
objects moving in unison.

TRAVIS: including UAPs...

What is that signal?

Energy spikes

and even possible evidence

of something that resembles
a traversable wormhole.

So, our hope is that tonight's
experiment will reveal more data

on all the anomalies we've
seen in these different locations.

Maybe it will help us determine
how they might all be connected.

Once the sun goes down,
we'll start the experiment

by launching a
rocket in the east field

to see if we can
stimulate phenomena.

From there,

imaging expert John Brown
will drive his mobile lidar vehicle,

while Cameron Fugal
shadows him in the helicopter.

They'll move past the
east field, the triangle,

the mesa drill site and
over to Homestead Two.

John will be scanning
the entire area

between the ground
and the helicopter

for signs of the cone or
any other strange things.

ERIK: We're going to
have that lidar truck platform

running right
under the helicopter.

Cameron, you're going
to be following along.

That's going to give
a target, basically.

TRAVIS: That's right.

Sam, you'll be
in the lidar truck

with one of the
multi-sensor boxes

- that is data logging.
- Okay. Mm-hmm.

And Erik, were you going to
put a GPS tracker with him?

- Yes, I am.
- TRAVIS: Okay.

TRAVIS: Cameron will be
wearing night vision goggles,

which may also enable
him to see aerial phenomena

that's invisible
to the naked eye.

Once they reach Homestead Two,

Thomas Winterton will
launch another rocket

from the mesa drill site,

and then, they'll repeat
the scanning process

back toward the east field.

Jim, I want you flying

the lidar path with your drone,

- and fly the in-and-out path.
- Okay.

TRAVIS: To help us gather
even more aerial data,

Jim Royston will fly his
drone-based lidar device

between the triangle
and the east field.

This is where we've detected
mysterious voids in GPS data

throughout the year.

And it's also

where we captured
video back in 2022

of a UAP entering,
then exiting the mesa

before flying right
toward the triangle.

Kaleb, uh, you'll be down

at the east canyon
area with Dragon.

Use the handheld lidar
scanner, and I want you

to paint that whole area, right?

KALEB: Yeah, I'm going
to be everywhere with that.

Thomas, if anything
happens with the drill,

then I'm not that far away,
either. You can give me a call,

and I'll come running.

Because we're still trying

to break through
the top of the mesa

to complete our first borehole,

the drillers are going to
keep on drilling tonight.

Maybe it'll cause
something strange to happen

that we'll be able to detect,
and hopefully, identify.

Then, after that experiment
is done, we're going

to do an experiment
at the triangle.

Yeah, let... let
me describe that.

We're going to have the
burner from a hot-air balloon

heating up that space

where we have detected something
at an altitude of about 30 feet.

And we'll be doing some
thermal and lidar imaging on that.

It's a pretty interesting area

in terms of what
we've seen to date.

TRAVIS: One of
the craziest things

that we've ever
encountered on the ranch

was a blob-like anomaly

that may have actually
destroyed a rocket


the triangle in 2022.

And since then,
Erik has determined

that he captured video of
it from a second camera,

confirming that it was
a real phenomenon

and not some kind
of camera artifact.

So, we'll be using a
hot-air balloon burner

to blast flames into
that 31-foot region

while we scan it
with lidar devices

and record it with high-speed,

night vision, thermal
and infrared cameras.

And all during the experiment,

we'll be monitoring
numerous spectrum analyzers,

radiation detectors
and GPS devices

to collect more data
than we ever have before.

This place has been
hiding its secrets from us

for more than five years now.

But tonight, we intend

to finally reveal just
what they truly are.

CAMERON: So, as serious

as this is, this
is exciting, too.

- Oh, it's very exciting.
- Oh, yeah, very.

And we have a lot of work to do.

CAMERON: It's a super
science project tonight.

We have a lot to do.

Well, guys, I can see

our shadows are
getting awfully long.

I think it's time
to get out there,

get set up and get ready to go.

Yup. Let's get to work.

- We got to go.
- ERIK: Okay.

CAMERON: Okay, we're
going to get airborne.

TRAVIS: All right,
looks like Cameron's up.

Sam, do you copy?

SAM: Yes, so we have just

entered the gate. We are ready.

TRAVIS: Just after nightfall,

Cameron Fugal lifted
off in the helicopter

to get positioned 1,000 feet

above John Brown's mobile
lidar truck at the eastern gate.

It was time to start our
ranch-wide experiment.

THOMAS: Guys, be advised,

we're over here
at the drill site.

The rig is running, and
we're monitoring the drilling.

TRAVIS: Copy that, Thomas.

Erik, do you copy?

ERIK: Yeah, Travis. Go ahead.

TRAVIS: Yeah, I say this is
about our one-minute warning.

We're going to launch a rocket.

Be prepared to
look in that direction.

Copy you. Thanks for
the heads-up, Travis.

TRAVIS: All right, Dragon.

Good to go whenever, as
long as Kaleb's scanning.

We got our scans going here.

Copy that. We are scanning.

The rocket is hot.

TRAVIS: As the drilling
operation continued

and our other team members
prepared to run handheld

and drone-based lidar scans

in the east field and
the triangle areas,

Dragon was ready to launch
a rocket from the east field

so we could start our
first mobile lidar run

from the eastern
end of the ranch

all the way over
to Homestead Two.

Cameron, are you in place?

We're going to go

in five, four...

- BRYANT: Three, two.
- Three, two.

One.

There it goes. Rocket's up.

BRYANT: We had a good launch,

good chute, and you can
send them on their way.

Tell him let's go, we're good.

TRAVIS: All right,
here they come.

Right after Dragon
launched his rocket,

John Brown began
driving his lidar truck

from east to west
across the ranch

while Cameron was
positioned right above him,

flying at an altitude
of 1,000 feet.

Keep the lidar going
and go all the way down,

uh, to past the drill rig,

uh, past Homestead Two
and turn around in that field.

Hey, Erik, do you copy?

Are you watching
the lidar truck?

ERIK: Copy you,
I've got eyes on that.

This is a very ambitious

and complicated operation
that we are conducting, so

we don't know
exactly what to expect,

but we are very interested
in what we might see.

TRAVIS: That's the
lidar truck right there.

They're about to come
around the corner up here.

ERIK: And I am both excited

and perhaps a
little apprehensive

about how the
experiment will play out.

But I'm confident
that there will be

meaningful
scientific deliverables.

Well, that lidar
truck's at the triangle.

TRAVIS: All right, Jim!

Drone going up, Pete.

TRAVIS: After the
chopper and lidar truck

passed the triangle, which
was the halfway point in their run,

I had Jim Royston
begin flying his lidar drone

from the triangle
toward the east field.

ROYSTON: I'm going northeast.

TRAVIS: That's where
he previously experienced

mysterious voids
in his GPS data,

as though his drone
momentarily disappeared.

And of course,
it's also the path

where a UAP passed
through the mesa

and flew directly toward
the triangle back in 2022.

SAM: Tom, this is Sam,
confirm we are clear

to pass by the drill?

THOMAS: The road is clear,

you are good to go
by the drill site, over.

SAM: 10-4. Thank you.

THOMAS: This is Thomas. The
lidar truck just passed the drill site.

We're prepping the rocket,

it'll be ready to go
here in a minute.

TRAVIS: After about 15 minutes,

John and Cameron
passed the mesa drill site

and arrived at Homestead
Two to complete their first run.

We didn't see or detect
anything unusual in the moment

during that first scan.

SAM: This is Homestead
Two on your left,

the carriage
house on your right.

Be advised, the lidar truck
has passed Homestead Two.

We are turning around.

TRAVIS: So, as the chopper
and lidar truck prepared

to leave Homestead
Two and head back

to conduct another scan
heading toward the east field,

Thomas Winterton got
ready to launch a rocket

from the mesa drill site

to see if that would change
anything during that return run.

- [alarm sounding]
- The rocket's ready,

lights on, sirens going.

TRAVIS [over radio]:
All right, Thomas,

Cameron is clear,

you are good to launch
the rocket whenever.

THOMAS: Five, four,

three, two, one.

TRAVIS: Oh, yeah!

TRAVIS [over radio]: Copy that,
Sam, go all the way to the gate

and turn back around.

THOMAS: Lidar truck
just passed the drill site,

proceeding to
the triangle, over.

TRAVIS: Copy that, Thomas.

TRAVIS: Everybody, be advised

that, uh, the lidar truck

is passing through
the triangle right now.

THOMAS: Just curious,
is the helicopter, uh,

does he think he's
directly over the lidar truck?

'Cause he's directly over
the drill site right now.

TRAVIS: Yeah, that's a
good question, Thomas.

He's way behind the lidar truck.

I don't know...
something's going on.

Yeah, I can confirm, that's
exactly what I saw here.

Behind them?

[chuckles]: There's no way.

Okay, now this was really odd.

Cameron said, according
to what he was seeing,

he was tracking directly
above the lidar truck

as they headed back
east past the triangle.

But we could all see
the helicopter positioned

way behind the truck

and much closer
to the mesa drill site.

So, were our eyes
being deceived or his?

It made no sense.

ERIK: Yeah, hey,
just for what it's worth,

I have been tracking
you and the lidar truck,

and there has been a
significant discrepancy

between your reported positions.

TRAVIS: Yeah, Cameron,
when the lidar truck came through

the triangle, you were
still at the drill site.

ERIK: I've been tracking
you and the lidar truck.

There has been a
significant discrepancy

between your reported positions.

CAMERON [over
radio]: Oh, my goodness.

TRAVIS: What we were all seeing
with our eyeballs on the ground

was that Cameron's helicopter

was nowhere
near the lidar truck,

even though he was reporting

that the truck was
directly beneath him.

So, something was clearly
causing an optical illusion

for either Cameron,
us or everyone.

THOMAS [over radio]: Yeah, negative,
the truck is still to the east of you.

Uh, you're not over it.

There's no way.

Wow, Cameron, we
can tell you for a fact

that you're really not.

You need to head about


Copy that. Yep,
that's very interesting.

TRAVIS [over radio]:
There you go. That's it.

Now you're right over the truck.

It looked like, for
a-a good while there,

that you were way
behind the lidar truck.

If you thought
you were over him,

then there's some kind
of an optical distortion

that's, uh, happening here.

It took about a minute for
Cameron to get reoriented

and back in the correct
position above the truck

as it headed east
of the triangle.

The question was whether or not
the massive cone-shaped anomaly

that we previously detected
was what caused him to think

he was over the
truck the entire time.

Once we could process our
data, we hoped to find out for sure.

But in the meantime,
we were all on edge

wondering what else
might happen in the moment.

SAM [over radio]: Travis,
this is the lidar truck,

we have reached the gate.

Cameron, we've reached
the gate. We're holding.

Yes, copy that, over.

Once they reached the
end of their second run,

the lidar truck and chopper

got back into their
starting position

to make another scan
on the east-to-west route.

And this time, we
had Cameron go up

to an altitude of 2,000 feet

to give the lidar truck a
much higher target to track

and, ultimately, scan
a much larger area.

Especially since the
first time we detected

the cone-shaped anomaly,

it was 2,000 feet
high at its apex

right above the triangle.

You ready, Cameron?

Rocket's gonna be launching
here in a few seconds.

All right, Dragon,
launch the rocket.

BRYANT [over radio]: Copy that.

Five, four,

three, two, one.

Y-You should have been
able to see that, Cameron.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

TRAVIS: I don't
either, that's weird.

Is it possible that something

was blocking Cameron's
view of the rocket?

Just last week, during a
crazy drone swarm experiment

that we conducted between
the triangle and the east field,

our surveillance cameras
imaged a rocket as it ascended,

but incredibly, the rocket
vanished for a moment

about 100 feet in the air,

and then, suddenly,
it reappeared.

We have no idea what
caused that to happen,

but could it be the same anomaly

that just obstructed
Cameron's view?

If so, as the lidar
truck and helicopter

made their next
scan across the ranch,

we hope to find out.

We've got something
here on Jim's lidar.

What? W-What have we got?

Oh, you do, in the air?

ROYSTON: That's down at
the east, right over the spire.

TRAVIS: Holy crap, what is that?

PETE: I'm going to check
the terrestrial laser scanner.

TRAVIS: Hey, Dragon, be advised
that on the lidar from Jim's drone,

they did pick up something
in the air over the spire.

BRYANT: That's good to know.

TRAVIS: In 2021, Pete Kelsey
ran a photogrammetry scan

in the east field and detected

a 300-foot-high,
column-shaped spire,

which is also the area
where Erik has detected

GPS voids in Jim
Royston's drone scans.

It made me wonder not
only if Jim Royston's lidar

had detected the
spire anomaly again,

but also if that was
what had obstructed

Cameron's view of the
rocket from the helicopter.

We've documented countless
phenomena all over the ranch.

But when we start seeing
repeated patterns in the data,

it means we might be
getting closer to figuring out

just what might be causing them.

PETE: Uh... [chuckles]

Hey, Travis,
have a look at this.

Now, granted, this
is just preview...

- Right. Oh!
- But once again...

Another vertical feature.

TRAVIS: I see it.

PETE: That suggests
we've got another cone.

TRAVIS: Uh-huh.

It will be interesting
when we post process.

Can't wait to see
that post processed.

I was stunned when
Pete showed me the data

on his terrestrial lidar
scanner of what appeared to be

that 2,000-foot-tall,
cone-shaped anomaly again.

Steve, we're going to
start the burner experiment.

Okay.

TRAVIS: So I immediately asked

hot air balloon
pilot Steve Jones

to get ready to sh**t flames
straight up at the triangle

with his propane burner.

All right, so,
uh, we'll run this,

we'll run the thermal.

And, uh, we'll start
doing the fire experiment.

If the cone, which also
covered the triangle,

was showing up again,

I wanted to see if
evidence of the blob

would also appear
at 31 feet in the air.

TRAVIS [over radio]: Hey, Erik, uh,
be advised that we are going to start

the balloon burner experiment.

ERIK: Copy that, thank you.

I've got assets
trained on the triangle.

TRAVIS: Hey,
Dragon, do you copy?

Yeah, Travis, go ahead.

We're done with the,
uh, rocket launches,

and so if you guys want to
come down here to the triangle

and watch the burner
experiments with us.

Copy that, Travis.

We'll head back that way

and observe the
other experiment.

Copy that. We'll
see you in a bit.

Cameron, on the next run,

uh, you need to
go up to 5,000 feet.

TRAVIS: Since Cameron's
view may have been obstructed

by something in
the air at 2,000 feet,

I wanted him to
climb up to 5,000 feet,

which should have
been out of the range

of the cone-shaped anomaly.

I really wanted to test

if he would still have
strange optical distortions

at a higher altitude.

- Kaleb, how you doing, man?
- Good.

So, get that SLAM
scanner ready to go

'cause we're gonna
start firing this burner.

Why don't you go ahead
and get in place, Steve?

Taking off.

TRAVIS: As Steve Jones
prepared to start sh**ting flames

up above the triangle...

We're running, lidar's running.

We activated our stationary
and handheld lidar devices.

- I'm live.
- Oh, you're up.

Then, Pete Kelsey got his
thermal camera drone in the air,

and we also started recording

with a FLIR thermal
camera on the ground.

TRAVIS [over radio]: Go
ahead and do a run, Sam.



TRAVIS: Steve, you copy?

Copy.

TRAVIS: Are you ready to go?

STEVE [over radio]: Yes, sir.

All right, we're
gonna go in five,

four, three, two, one...

Whoa!

TRAVIS: Three, two, one, stop.

KALEB: That's awesome.

Yeah, make it as hot
as you can make it.

Okay.

TRAVIS: After
seeing new lidar data

of what could be the
massive, cone-shaped anomaly

that was centered nearly


we wanted Steve Jones to
blast as much flame as possible

up to the 31-foot mark

to see if we could also
get the blob to reappear.

So, as Steve prepped
an even bigger blast

from the propane burner,

we were scanning
with our lidar devices.

We also were watching our
aerial and ground-based thermal

and night vision cameras
for anything strange

that might be invisible
to the naked eye.

CAMERON [over radio]:
So, now, we're going to climb

up to 5,000 feet
above the triangle.

DON [over radio]: 10-4, Cameron.

TRAVIS: And from the
helicopter, nearly a mile high,

Cameron was looking out
for phenomena in the air

with his night vision goggles.

All right, we're
gonna go in five,

four, three,

two, one, go.

[static hissing]

Three, two, one, zero, stop.

That's a good copy, yeah.

I like you just
following it, Dragon.

BRYANT: Okay. I can do that.

Five, four, three,

two, one, go.

[static hissing]

TRAVIS: Three, two, one, stop.

How can fire cause static
on the radio? That's crazy.

There was nothing
in the mechanics

of the balloon thruster

that could have caused
Cameron's communications system

to suddenly experience
a bunch of static.

But in recent years,

we've detected
strange energy spikes

right around 5,000 feet
directly above the triangle.

And we've also seen a number
of different anomalies there

between that altitude
and the ground.

Go.

It made me wonder if the
flames that were directly hitting

the 31-foot blob
zone at the triangle

were somehow triggering
more phenomena

that was affecting
the helicopter.

So, we needed Steve
Jones to sh**t more flames

to see if it would
keep happening

or possibly stimulate
something even stranger.

Stop.

- KALEB: Whoa, what was that?
- BOBBY: I don't know,

something just went right
across the mesa like that.

- Yeah.
- It looked like it was right in front of the...

- Like a band just went across.
- Yeah.

KALEB: I'm looking at
this monitor and I see

almost like a-a fog

or a field of some kind
moving across the mesa

and we don't know what it is.

Hopefully, Erik caught
some more video footage of it

in his cameras

and we can figure
out exactly what that is.

TRAVIS [over radio]: Hey, Steve,
we're gonna do one more burn.

STEVE: Copy that.

Three, two, one, go.

KALEB: Right there,
it just did it again.

ROYSTON: I saw it again.

[burner whooshing]

TRAVIS: Two, one, stop.

Looks like a smoke
ring, like a donut.

It looked like it was going
along the side of something.

Yeah, there was that little
section right there on the edge.

And it looked like it hit
something and, like...

- BOBBY: And it went around it.
- KALEB: Yeah.

Kaleb, did you say you saw
something in the scanner?

Well, so, a couple things.

When, uh, Steve was
making the flare go...

- Mm-hmm.
- It looked like there was,

like, a circle that
kind of went around.

And it almost like it
followed the edge of a bowl.

Oh, wow.

And Pete had the
drone come back out

and we saw two different things

look like they went
across the screen.

But they, almost like
they were distorted.

- All right.
- So...

We'll absolutely look
at that. That's awesome.

It was odd that the flames

might've possibly affected

Cameron's comms
system in the helicopter

nearly 5,000 feet
above the triangle.

But when the guys
saw a distorted shadow

move across the face of the mesa
on Pete's thermal camera screen,

and then the flames
appeared to wrap around

an invisible object right
at the 31-foot blob level,

it seemed like we were
definitely getting responses

from something on the ranch.

The question was,
just what could it be?

We reset everything
on the SLAM scanner

and so the next experiment,
we'll... I'll try and scan again

and I'm gonna try and
do that same pattern

- around the triangle, so...
- Okay.

- Isn't that bizarre?
- Yeah.

CAMERON: We had a
couple of small objects fly by.

But we are at about


Okay, just confirming, you
did see two smaller orbs.

Yes!

All right.

- That's awesome.
- Okay, Travis says it's awesome.

And I bet you Erik
will be looking forward

to seeing that data, Cameron.

TRAVIS: None of us could
see any signs of the UAPs

that Cameron... who was
wearing night vision goggles...

was reporting flying all around

the helicopter nearly 5,000 feet

directly above the triangle.

But from the tone in his voice,

we could all tell he was

definitely seeing something

that had no
conventional explanation.

So three different anomalies

that, uh, Cameron
caught at that...

- elevation.
- Well, he was directly overhead over the triangle

when-when I heard him call you.

So that's-that's where it was.

- That's great.
- And we got

that whole array of
cameras on the bottom

of the helicopter now, so who
knows what he couldn't see

- that we might have captured on those cameras.
- That's right.

Maybe it's just like
before when he said

- he saw all those orbs up there.
- DON: Yeah.

TRAVIS: Back in 2022...

as Cameron was conducting
an aerial experiment with Erik,

Brandon and Kaleb,

he also reported seeing,
in the night vision goggles,

a bunch of UAPs
zipping by the helicopter.

TRAVIS: And that was the
same exact night that one

of the specialty cameras
mounted on the chopper

caught a UAP flying
through the mesa,

and then heading
straight toward the triangle.

Kaleb, do you think
that was happening

at the same time
when Cameron seen

those, uh, smaller orbs,

or that, uh, strobe of light?

Yeah, they were definitely
within the same window

of time for sure. Yeah.

Hmm.

TRAVIS: It's hard to know
if those UAPs were related

to the static Cameron
had on his comms

or the shadow that
moved across the mesa

and the possible blob activity

that were both captured
by our lidar devices.

But Don was right.

These events all happened
at roughly the same time

when we were sh**ting
the flames up at the triangle.

So who knows what
we'll see once we review

the video from our
specialty cameras

and crunch all the data
that we've collected tonight.

I mean, he was
directly overhead.

- And very, very high.
- Yeah.

At 5,000 feet above
where we're standing now.

Yeah, absolutely.

THOMAS: Hey, guys,
you guys got a copy?

TRAVIS: Yeah, go ahead, Thomas.

The ground's moving.

We are minutes

from breaking
through the surface.

Do you guys want
to head over this way

and watch the drill
bit break through?

TRAVIS: Copy that.

Dragon, Don and me are gonna

stay down here and keep
an eye on all the equipment.

But Kaleb's gonna
head back to the helipad

so Cameron can
give him and Erik a lift.

They'll be there in a minute.

Uh, we'll wait for you.

And, uh...

should be any minute.

ERIK: Cameron is coming
to transport Kaleb and myself

to the top of the mesa so that
we can witness and measure

what happens when
that drill head erupts

from the top of the mesa.

It's a very important moment

in our investigation
this summer.

I know that everyone is anxious
to get news of that success.

Okay.

Yeah, he's airborne.

I can hear it.

THOMAS: I'm really excited

because we've
been trying to find out

what's in this mesa

now for several years.

And right now we're literally

sitting inches away from

what could be some
of the biggest answers

that we've ever gotten
here on Skinwalker Ranch.

THOMAS: It's gonna
pop up over the mesa.

We've been out here
drilling for the longest time.

We've faced tons of obstacles

and tons of delays.

So it's fitting

that we're gonna finally

punch through the top of
the mesa the same time

that we're doing
our final experiment.

- Hey, guys.
- Hey there.

Exciting day.

Looks like we're
gonna get through.

Yeah.

So, Alex, you want to show them

right where you think
it's gonna come out?

Yeah. I mean, we saw
these cracks starting

to happen, and the ground
was starting to heave

right here, so I'm guessing
somewhere in this area

- right here.
- Oh, wow.

THOMAS: Oh, there's water.

Well, go ahead and
keep drilling her, bud.

Oh, check that out.

ALEX [over radio]: She's
coming out right now.

You can go ahead
and just push it.

Oh, check that out.

ERIK: Travis?

Be advised,

we have broken through.

[whoops]

All right, how about that?

Hey! Finally.

Hey, congratulations!

Sounds like Travis
is a little bit excited.

So, uh, Travis, there's a lot

of work ahead of us once
we reem this thing out.

Looks like we have
got a perfect asset

for studying what's going
on inside of this mesa.

TRAVIS: You know,
you're absolutely right.

After all the insane setbacks
that this operation encountered

over the past several months,

I could hardly believe it
when the guys radioed

to me that we finally
got one of our boreholes

completed up through the mesa.

And for it to happen in
the midst of everything else

that went down tonight
was like icing on the cake.

I'd say this was one of the
best experiments we've ever had

during our investigation
here on Skinwalker Ranch.

I think it's a, a
victory right there.

We've been trying to get
through that mesa for months.

Uh, I think it's
pretty exciting.

ERIK: Hell yeah.

TRAVIS: Now we
can actually do, uh,

a GPR through
that, uh, casing and

do, uh, basically, RF tomography

of whatever the
anomaly inside there is.

- That's the name of the game.
- Yeah.

THOMAS: Well, I think we've
done everything we can do tonight.

I think we head down,
meet up with the guys down

at the triangle and, uh...

- get off the hill.
- Yeah.

All right, let's
get out of here.

THOMAS: Seeing that six-inch

bit pop through the top

just felt like such a victory.

And, uh, we're gonna
take that victory lap.

We're gonna enjoy it.

And we're gonna
come back next year.

We will get our 18-inch hole

from top to bottom,
because we're not gonna stop

until we figure out
what's inside this mesa.

Well, uh, I guess
first of all, tell us about

the drill getting
through the mesa.

We were almost
exactly on our target,

- we were just a bit to the west...
- THOMAS: Yeah.

Of the spot we
were sh**ting for.

But, as far as north to south,

we are almost spot-on.

Yeah. So that, you know,
so that still keeps us clear

of the anomaly,
according to Jan's data.

TRAVIS: So, once they
reem it, then we should be able

to get his ground-penetrating
radar through there, right?

- ERIK: Oh, I think so.
- Yeah.

ERIK: I think we've accomplished

just about every single
one of our objectives tonight.

- Correct.
- TRAVIS: We did get a lot of data.

In fact, what we've
done tonight has

probably generated more data
than any other data collection

exercise that we've
done in a single evening.

Dude, you're right.

We've got more data
points to go through right now

than we've had probably
in the entire summation

of the five years
that I've been here.

That's daunting to
even think about.

That's an insurmountable
task, but hey, look, you know,

it's late, we still got to
break down and put stuff up.

So I say we divide and
conquer and let's get out of here.

- Feels like it's almost time to get up.
- Yeah, it is.

TRAVIS: We've run
experiments before

where it seemed like
nothing strange happened

until we reviewed the data.

Well, tonight, we all witnessed

different things with each step
of our ranch-wide experiment

that were completely
unbelievable.

So I can't wait to go
through everything

that we captured on all of
our devices and cameras.

Who knows?

The answer to
what is truly behind

all this crazy phenomena
here on Skinwalker Ranch

just might be revealed
in tonight's data.

ERIK: We often say that
we're lead by the data.

But what are we to
do when the data lead

in so many different directions?

We find ourselves refining
not just what we know,

but how we think about
the things that we're seeing.

I didn't come here only
to revel in the mysteries

and to marvel at
how strange things

can sometimes be out here.

I came for answers.

So our search for a
unifying explanation

will continue.

BRANDON: The mesa
has been holding mysteries

for thousands of years.

We can only guess
what will be uncovered,

as we now have access

for the first time to
deploy technology,

sensors, and personnel

in service to exploring...

really what lies beneath.