Original subtitles

[Eric] All right, James, what do we got here?

[narrator] Previously on Blind Frog Ranch...

[James] So, we have a magnetometer.

[narrator] In their quest to find the lost Aztec treasure,

a magnetometer scan revealed a possible hidden tunnel

in the South Cave.

There's something pretty large back there.

[narrator] While attempting to reach the void with a jackhammer...

[jackhammer drilling]

...the mysterious rumbling returned and collapsed the cave.

[rumbling]

[Chad] There's no way we can go back in there.

No, we gotta find another entrance, dude.

[narrator] With the Bead Site now the team's only lead...

[Charlie] Huddle up, everybody.

[narrator] ...Charlie discovered a mysterious building material...

[Charlie] I've never seen anything up here like this.

[narrator] ...which may be Aztecan cement...

The Aztec created massive structures using mortar and concrete.

[narrator] ...leading the team to marshal in some heavy duty gear

to finally break through to the keyhole chamber.

Yeah! You're grinding now!

Hold! Hold! Hold!

What do you got, guys?

This is an altar piece.

-[Josh] This shouldn't be here. -[dramatic instrumental music]

[narrator] Legends of ancient treasures...

This has to be hundreds of years back.

-[narrator] ...and unexplained phenomena... -What the hell is that?

[narrator] ...meet at a 160-acre property in northeast Utah

-known as Blind Frog Ranch... -[frogs croaking]

...where Duane Ollinger and his team are digging in search

of long-lost Aztec gold.

[Chad] So, the Aztecs have discovered this?

[narrator] But the closer they get...

Finally get to hold [bleep] gold in my hand!

[narrator] ...the more the land fights back.

-[man] Poison gas! -Go! [bleep] go!

[narrator] Now, Duane will move heaven and earth...

-Fire in the hole. -[explosion]

[narrator] ...until he gets to the bottom of the mystery...

We started this whole deal, and we're sure as hell gonna finish it.

[narrator] ...and solves what's lurking below...

Holy [bleep] there's something in there!

-[rumbling] -[indistinct shouting]

[narrator] ...at Blind Frog Ranch.

[dramatic instrumental music]

[James] What have we got here?

[Josh] It looks like a metate. This come out of this hole?

It came from that hole, yeah. That all came out.

I mean, it's possible it's a metate.

But this is just a perfect piece of stone that I've seen

many times used as some type of top side of the altar

for them to put all ceremonial goods on top of.

[Josh] So, what do you mean? Like, their offerings would've been on here?

But what's interesting, too, there's a lot of times we ended up finding

stone boxes underneath them

that had permanent offerings to the Gods.

I'm thinking this is an altar piece.

I think there really is something

-to these smoke pipes. -[Charlie] Yeah.

Well, every time I work here, I seem to say, "This shouldn't be here."

We're already finding artifacts. I mean, we just got started.

This is incredible.

What you got, James?

I mean, it's possible that it's a metate,

but what I used to see around some of the pyramids in the temples was,

they were finding altars that the poorer individuals, that couldn't actually access,

were putting on the edges as offerings and, then, putting their artifacts

on top.

There's got to be other pieces to this, too.

[narrator] In the Aztec capital,

offerings of the ruling class were made atop elaborate altars

at the apex of pyramids.

But for peasants and poorer folk,

simpler altars were often placed at the foot of significant ceremonial sites.

And both Mary, a chief executive for the Timpanogos Nation...

This site meant something.

[narrator] ...and Dr. Blomquist...

It could be an altar.

[narrator] ...think the Bead Site

was used as either a religious site for ceremonies,

or a burial site.

That actually could be something that they put offerings on.

We're right next to what was an important cultural site to the ancients.

This was brought in to this spot.

It's not from this cliff line here at all.

But we gotta go deeper in order to figure this out.

It's an incredible find. I mean, this is fantastic.

So, if that's an altar, then there must be more to it.

There's gotta be more to it.

[tense instrumental music]

[message tone dings]

[Josh] Chad wants to meet up at the hideout.

All right, let's wrap for the day, fellas.

[tense instrumental music]

What we do know right now is that entrance that we found,

the South Cave, is done.

We have to find a safer entrance and more stable.

[narrator] Eric and Chad's efforts in the South Cave to reach the keyhole chamber

through the void nearly had deadly consequences.

-[rumbling] -[bleeping]

[man] Come out! Come out!

And, now, they need to try to find an alternate way in.

We have to find another entrance, Duane.

I mean, we just... There's no other option at this point.

We can't go back in there, work in that spot, that South Cave.

Yeah, I agree. I agree on that one.

[Chad] There has to be another entrance

because it's too tight to get these big logs in there.

There's another way in there, and we have to find it.

Yeah, I saw a passage, another passage right there at the timbers.

-[Chad] Right. -So, that could lead right to the surface.

-Exactly. -[Josh] I mean, looking for any depression, any sinkhole.

You see that, we start digging. Open that thing up.

Some of the world's largest caves follow fault systems.

That's a weakness zone in the earth.

So, I think I'll start by looking for faults.

I mean, the South Cave entrance has a fault that appears to extend

from the cave entrance up to the top of the cliff.

So, that'll probably be a good place to start.

And, so, I'm looking at a technology called lidar.

What it does is it creates this really cool 3D image of the ground, basically.

And we're gonna fly it over the entire ranch.

We can look at trends, things like faults.

So, we can follow that fault zone from the South Cave,

and maybe we can find a larger entrance through that.

[Duane] That lidar deal, Eric,

-hell of an idea. Let's do it. -Yeah.

[tense instrumental music]

Eric, this is the lidar you've been talking about?

Yup, that's it.

I'm getting ready to fly it. It's gonna give you some amazing images, Duane.

[narrator] With the South Cave too dangerous to explore,

Eric is using lidar technology in an attempt to identify the fault line

that extends northward from the cave,

in the hopes that there might be another viable entrance

into the keyhole chamber.

The lidar can see through vegetation,

hopefully revealing a larger entrance

that might explain how the hewn logs were brought into the South Cave.

[Eric] This technology has been used to explore in the jungles,

to find hidden pyramids, lost civilizations.

It's a very powerful exploration tool.

[narrator] Using lidar technology,

researchers in 2009 discovered a forgotten Mayan city in the jungle of Guatemala.

Their findings revealed that the ancient city of Caracol

was one of the largest in the world in 700 CE.

They were also able to identify

ancient settlements near Calakmul,

including a pyramidal construction plaza and canal.

[Eric] All right, Duane, here we go.

-Hell, yeah. -Yes!

-Yes! -[Duane] I'll be damned.

[Eric] Yes!

Look at that somebody go!

[tense instrumental music]

This is pre-programmed.

It's gonna fly a grid pattern.

We're looking at it right there

start to get the pattern.

This is gonna give us a super-detailed

3D image of the topography of your ranch.

And that, I can put that next to a geologic map.

I can look at formations. I can look at possible fault lines,

fracture zones, drainage patterns.

-This is some of that Star Trek [bleep] -[laughing] It is.

I agree with you, Duane.

Here it is.

It looks like it's got its data.

It's gonna land.

[Duane] That's a handy somebody.

[Eric] Yeah, isn't that something?

[laughs]

[Duane] That is amazing.

That was one quadrant. We have three more to do.

-Okay. -It'll take about 40 minutes per quadrant.

-Hell, yeah. Sounds good. Good job. -All right, Duane.

[wind blowing]

-We got the results of the lidar scan here. -[Chad] Good.

[Eric] With the lidar data complete, Chad and I are gonna go through the findings

and, hopefully, be able to detect another possible entrance to the cave.

-[Chad] Wow, nice. -[Eric] We can see features.

We can see different geologic structures.

We can see a fault zone going right through there.

[Chad] Nice, look at that.

-Yeah! You see, right here? -Yeah.

That looks like a fault zone that goes right along

towards that entrance of the South Cave.

So, the South Cave lines up with it.

-That's amazing. -[Eric] Yeah.

[narrator] A fault line is responsible for creating the South Cave.

The fault splits the entire rock formation that sits above the cave

and continues north across the area above the keyhole chamber.

Because caverns often form along fault lines,

Eric believes that another entrance may exist

somewhere along this fault that may be big enough to bring in the hewn logs.

[Eric] I'm following this fault to the northwest,

and I'm seeing a little... something a little weird here.

-You see that bare spot there? -[Chad] Yeah, I see it.

-[Eric] There's no vegetation there. -[Chad] Right.

It looks like an open pit mine.

[narrator] Open pit mines are used to extract minerals

that are relatively close to the surface.

As the overburden, or soil, is removed,

more minerals are exposed.

In time, the technique leaves behind an open pit.

You can see the vegetation as you follow the fault zone.

And, then, all of a sudden, the vegetation dies out. There's a big bare spot there.

On the lidar scan, I'm seeing a bare patch of mountainside right over the fault line.

To my geologist's eyes, that looks like an open pit mine

right above the fault,

which means it could be a way into the cave system.

[narrator] Minerals like gold and underground caverns

often have one thing in common,

they exist along fault lines.

An open pit mine sitting on top of a fault,

like the one Eric has spotted, might indicate that miners looking for gold

broke through to a larger underground cave system,

a system that could lead back to the keyhole cavern underneath Blind Frog Ranch.

If we were to find something like that with another entrance,

-we could walk right in. -[Eric] Hell, yeah.

-Yeah. -We just have to get up there.

-Exactly. -[dramatic instrumental music]

[bird screeching]

[Chad] Here's Code Creek. You're saying there could be faults here?

Whenever you see things in nature that are straight like that,

it could be an indication that there's a fault there.

And perhaps, if we find the fault,

maybe we find the other entrance.

-We keep our eyes peeled for anything. -[Eric] Yup.

[narrator] Using data from a lidar scan,

Chad and Eric are following a fault line north from the ranch

toward a suspected pit mine.

Eric theorizes a cavern system may have developed along the fault

and could potentially lead all the way back

to the keyhole chamber under the ranch.

[tense instrumental music]

[Eric] Some tracks in here.

[Chad] Oh, right here, yeah.

-[Eric] Looks like paws in there. -Cat, right here.

-See that? -[Eric] Yeah, yeah.

[Chad] Hey, look at this.

-[Eric] Oh, my. -Bone.

[Eric] There's still some meat on that bone.

-Shin bone, not sure. -Yeah.

It looks pretty recent, though.

-Look at the coloration of it. -[Chad] Uh-huh.

[tense instrumental music]

This is kind of weird. Look at this.

They're broken, but it's almost like there's a little hut inside there,

like a little shelter.

What you'll always see is an entrance and a place to, like, hide.

[tense instrumental music]

Here's another one.

It's almost like it's, kind of, some kind of shelter.

These are all bent over.

There's broken trees.

-[Eric] Like the brush is cleared from the inside out. -[Chad] Exactly.

We're in the middle of nowhere,

and people don't build things like this.

If I was to have a shelter, it wouldn't look anything like this.

-And this is like the third or fourth one. -Right.

-I don't know. -[Eric] It's very strange.

[Chad] Oh, look at this.

There's another one.

[Eric] Jaw bone. Yeah.

-It's a deer, huh? -[Eric] Probably a deer.

-[Chad] So, there's a lot of deer. -Yeah, there's a lot of

predator-prey going on here.

I just hope we're not the prey.

Something large is feeding and possibly denning up here.

I don't know what it is, and I have no intention of finding out.

We just gotta be careful.

We've got a long trek ahead of us.

[Chad] What is this?

Eric, Look at this.

This, right here.

All these branches are just, like, shoved in here.

-Like, if a tree was to fall, you would see the root, right? -Right.

[Chad] And, like, this. This, right here.

That is not from here.

And, like, this.

It's [bleep] shoved in here like this.

[Eric] Yeah, it does look a bit odd.

[Chad] Oh. Hey! Look at this [bleep]

Look at this, right here.

-[Eric] Whoa! -[Chad] Watch out! Watch out!

-[Eric] Whoa. -[Chad] What is that?

[Eric] It's a skull.

Hey, look at this! [bleep] look at this.

[narrator] Eric and Chad are searching for an open pit mine

and another way into the cave system.

But they found something else unexpected.

[Chad] Watch out! Watch out!

-[Eric] Whoa. -[Chad] What is that?

[Eric] It's a skull.

That was sitting up in the tree.

That was up on that tree, man.

[Eric] What do you think this is?

[Chad] Uh, maybe a deer, something like that?

[Eric] Yeah. Doesn't have, like, fangs.

Hey, maybe it's the head to the jaw bones we found down below.

Could be.

-But why was it in the tree? -Why was it in the tree?

-That's exactly right. -[Eric] Exactly.

You know, I did some exploration in Africa,

and I know the only cat

that's known to store their kills in trees are leopards.

-Well, there's no leopards here. -[chuckling] No leopards here.

So, something put it up there.

All right, let's just see if it goes together.

Look at that.

-Look at that. -[Chad] Why was some of it left down there

and some of the skull was up here?

Yeah, I think maybe the kill was down there,

and somebody, or something, took the skull and put it up there, for some reason.

Why were they separate, though? I mean...

For what reason, I don't know.

Yeah, this is [bleep] creepy, you know?

-I'm not digging it. -I don't want to.

-No. -[laughing] Could be a bad omen.

Yeah.

[tense instrumental music]

[James] There they are.

[Josh] Yeah, let's go have a chat with Duane.

[Duane] You know, Charlie boy, that's a hell of a find.

[Charlie] It was a damn good find.

[narrator] Earlier at the Bead Site, the team discovered a flat stone

that might have been part of an Aztecan altar

which was found 30 feet below the top of the rock formation.

-Hey, guys, how's it going? -[Josh] Gentlemen.

-That was a pretty exciting find. -It damn sure was.

Now, that was a major deal. We need to find more of it, though.

-I mean, now that we're finding artifacts... -Yeah.

...God only knows what's gonna come out of that hole.

-You need to go through that up there real good. -[Josh] Oh, yeah.

You know, it was right there where that dirt was and where that tree was.

There's a lot of alcoves right up here, too.

It could have been up there and just, over time,

fallen and, then, buried in that ledge and hardened.

[Josh] Well, I think we learned a lesson.

We just need to take it real slow now, really keep an eye out.

James and I will go up there,

and let's really look that area over that you were digging.

And, then, once we clear it, you can come in and we'll go at it.

Thank God you spotted that yesterday, Duane.

-That worked out well. -Yeah.

But we just need to keep as many eyes on it as possible as we're going.

[Charlie] Yeah, absolutely.

If we find that chamber, you're gonna find tens of thousands of more things

than what we just found.

That's why we're here.

All right, we'll take a look, then we'll get going.

-[James] See you all up there. -All right.

-Let's scour this whole area here. -[James] All right.

Now, let me get up in the hole and see what we've got up here.

Josh, how about if you follow all these roots that are coming down

through the stone here,

see if they've attached to anything or something's got stuck in them.

'Cause roots are great at capturing artifacts.

[Josh] Well, I'm not seeing anything in here.

[Charlie] Is that a hole going back in there,

there in the corner?

[James] That keeps going down, huh?

-Oh, yeah. -[Josh] Oh, yeah. Look at this.

[Charlie] Looks like a hole to me.

Can you follow those thicker roots right there, where your hand is?

Yeah, sure.

-Hey, look at that. Look at that. -[James] Yeah.

-[Josh] Whoa! That's just coming right out. -[James] Yeah, it is.

And look at all the roots that are coming down out of it.

[Josh] Look at this. Look at that, James.

[James] That's still moist.

-Oh, this keeps going, James! -[James] Look at that thing.

And that's going down underneath it, too.

[Josh] Look at this. Oh, my God!

This is soft.

This hole keeps going back, and I can just dig this with my hand.

There's gotta be a way to see if everything's connected.

Well, why don't we just smoke it? Let's see where it comes out.

-Hell, yeah. -[Josh] That's a good idea.

-[James] That's a great idea. -I'm at the end of my reach, and I can't...

It's still going.

When I ran that endoscope up above in the holes above us,

it looked like it opened up.

And I think this thing could connect to that, as well.

Well, let's do what Charles was saying. Let's smoke it, then, right now.

Yeah, let's get some smoke in it and see where it comes out.

If this connects up to the chimney,

-we can start putting that together. -[James] Yeah.

-Hey, let's let Duane know. -Yeah, that's a good idea.

Hey, Duane, you got your ears on?

Go ahead.

We got quite a hole going back underneath this rock.

Copy that.

Looks like we've exposed a vent pipe.

We're gonna smoke it out and see if it connects.

Copy that. Smoke don't lie.

[Josh] Well, we're gonna hook up the smoke machine,

take this hose and put it right in that hole we found earlier.

-[Duane] All right. -And we'll see if it connects.

[narrator] Pumping smoke into the hole

will help the team to understand the structure of the vents

hidden behind the rock,

and could provide clues to how the ancients were using this ceremonial site.

[Josh] Well, let's get it set up.

It'll work. It'll damn sure work.

[dramatic instrumental music]

Well, let's fire it up, and we'll back up and see

-if we see some smoke coming up top. -Yup.

[Josh] Give us the gap there, Charlie.

Yeah, back up towards me a little bit. There you go. Right there.

Now, we're getting a lot of smoke.

Perfect.

You know, city workers pump smoke into the sewer lines

to detect leaks.

So, we're gonna use the same process here

to find connections in this rock.

-Well, we're ready. -Yeah, we got the easy job.

We got the hose down. We're gonna pack a bunch of dirt behind it,

seal it off,

'cause we want all that smoke going deeper into this rock.

Hopefully, that'll tell us where it's coming out.

It's sealed.

Here we go, boys!

[smoke machine hissing]

-You guys seeing anything? -No.

[Josh] Keep pumping, Charlie.

Hey, we're pumping a lot of smoke.

That's gotta be going somewhere. You're not seeing anything?

No. I'm even looking way up at the top. I'm not seeing anything yet.

Well, it's not coming back out of this hole.

It's going somewhere,

-Still nothing? -Not yet.

[tense instrumental music]

Give me as much smoke as you got, Charlie.

I still don't see anything, Duane. How about you?

It's gonna come out of the easiest point first.

Look, that smoke's not coming back out of this hole.

I mean, that could mean that we've got a larger void underneath there.

It's just taking a long time to fill up.

[James] Yeah, I still don't see anything right now.

Wait. I see something right... No, I don't.

No, I think we don't...

we don't have nothing going on right now.

-[James] No. -There's not a spit of smoke.

I don't see nothing, James. I think it was a good idea,

but something ain't working.

[bleep]

Hold on, James!

[dramatic instrumental music]

Get your ass back over here.

Come back here, slick.

-Look at that [bleep] right by Charlie's head. -[James] Oh!

-Oh, yeah. -[Duane] Keep it going, fellas.

-You got smoke? -[James] Oh, we got smoke. Look up!

-No kidding? -[James] Look up!

-Right there! Look up above you! -[Josh] Let's take a look.

[Charlie] I got a remote. I can do it from down here.

Keep it going. Look at it!

-Oh, right there! -Yup.

-[Josh] That is a beautiful sight. -[James] Oh, man.

That's two holes. Two holes, it's coming out of above it.

-Two, right by that... See it? -[Josh] Oh, right here.

-[James] Yup. -[Josh] Right there.

-[Duane] Damn sure shows a connection, fellas. -[James] Yeah.

Charlie boy, use that remote and give it another blast.

All right.

-[Duane] Hey! -[James] Hey, look, there. Look up there!

-Up at the top, Duane. -[Duane] Damn sure.

-[James] Way up there. -[Josh] Oh, man!

-[James] Three of 'em. -[Josh] That's three of 'em!

-It's connected all the way up this friggin' huge rock face. -Hell, yes!

[Josh] That smoke is pouring out of there!

Look right up there towards the dead tree.

[James] Oh, we got another! We got a series going! Look at that!

[Josh] Yeah!

[James] Keep pumping it, Charles. Keep pumping it in there.

[Charlie] I'm giving it all it's got.

There's one more right above it.

[James] Look at the top! Look at that!

Smoking all the way up.

-Oh, yeah. You got a series. -Yeah.

One here. One there.

One at the very top.

The smoke's all going to the right of where the rock wheel was digging.

So, we gotta... We need to move that rock wheel to the right.

We'll go right about here. Let's punch in right there with that rock wheel, Duane.

Probably that. That won't take much, either.

So, there's definitely a system of vents in the hard rock face.

But how connected are they and what's inside them?

And do they lead down into the void?

We're gonna throw an endoscope down there and see if we can find out more.

But we might be one step closer to a discovery that's gonna change history.

[Duane] That is as pretty as a picture right there in front of my eyes.

[James] It sure is, Duane. It sure is.

[dramatic instrumental music]

[tense instrumental music]

-[Josh] This is fantastic. -[Duane] Yeah.

We gotta get up there and see what's in that vent hole right there.

That's where the smoke came out first.

We pump smoke into the rock to see how these various holes are connected,

and smoke started pouring out everywhere.

It could mean that the hole Duane opened

could be connected to the void that we saw with the endoscope

and possibly to the keyhole chamber below.

Somehow, we gotta get in there and take a look.

We just need to endoscope that deal way deep down in there,

find out if we can hit that chamber, and find out which way you're headed.

That's gonna be good, too.

All right, great.

By taking an endoscope through other holes,

we might be able to find other hidden chambers that we can punch into.

How are you gonna get up there?

I haven't quite figured that out,

but we need to get up there somehow.

Might be able to walk that ledge over there or something, I don't know.

[Josh] That doesn't look... You got any ideas, Duane?

We can throw a rope off and hang your ass.

[Josh] You got any better ideas, Duane?

-[all laughing] -Yeah.

All right. I can give you a lift up there.

I can give you a deck to stand on.

Think it'll be fine.

All right. I've got that long-tailed endoscope.

Let's rig this thing up and I'll get up there and I'll see what we can find.

[Duane] All right, let's do it.

[dramatic instrumental music]

[Josh] The excavator's grinder attachment is gonna help us reach the vent

where we saw the smoke come out of it.

Then, I'm gonna thread the endoscope through

and see if there's another way into the rock.

Hold right there.

I'll go ahead and kill the machine.

[Duane on radio] Take this spot, hold it right here, and climb up.

[Josh on radio] All right, copy that, Duane.

Go ahead and kill it, and then I'll try it out.

-Killed and operational. -[Josh] Copy that.

I'm gonna start climbing.

-[dramatic instrumental music] -[Josh grunting]

[Charlie] Do you want him to raise you up further?

No, we're good right here, Charlie.

If he starts that machine, it's gonna make me jump.

-Perfect! -Hell, yeah.

[tense instrumental music]

Look at this, Chad.

[Chad] Oh, yeah.

[narrator] Eric and Chad are following the fault line

to the area where they believe an open pit mine is located.

Eric believes it's possible that miners digging out veins of ore above the fault line,

may have opened an entrance into the underground cavern system

that stretches back to Blind Frog.

This is looking good.

So, Eric believes if we follow the fault line on the lidar scan,

that there could be possible cave entrances or even, like, mining sites.

And mines, to me, means that there could be a possible

entrance all the way to our underground cavern system.

What I'm seeing here, I really like.

This GPS is telling me we're right in that zone.

[Chad] So, the fault would be based in limestone?

-[Eric] Yeah, what we saw on the lidar... -[Chad] Yeah.

...it looked like a linear feature.

Jeez, look at this. Look at this!

[dramatic instrumental music]

This looks like right on the fault zone, too.

Well, it stretches way over there and it goes over there, doesn't it?

Yeah, it's a linear feature. Exactly what we saw on the lidar scan.

That's what we want.

We have an uplifted side here.

This is the downthrown side. It's called a normal fault.

[Chad] So, you think this could be the fault line?

This could be it. I'm quite sure it is.

So, the idea is it's a normal fault.

-So, the earth's crust has broken. -Yeah.

It's gone like this. And, so, it's a zone of weakness.

[narrator] Faults are caused by stress between two blocks of rock.

The earth cracks, pushing one side up and the other below it.

When that happens, you can get these deep-seated hydrothermal waters

that are rich in minerals. And they find the fault zone.

And that could be a rich deposit.

-You have a weakness zone in there. -[Chad] Nice.

And that's where all those mineralized fluids will come up, hopefully.

So, things we'll be looking for

could be right on that fault zone.

And look at this.

What we have here, you see how it's sort of brecciated,

-it's kind of broken up, fragmented. -Yeah.

-That's what's called fault breccia. -Nice.

So, that forms in the zone, the shear zone,

where you have that zone of weakness. All the rock gets crumbled up.

And I'm seeing the red brown...

-[Chad] Uh-huh. -[Eric] ...which is hematite.

And green is malachite.

So, these are indications that we may be on a good gold or silver deposit.

-So, look for rusty red, and look for green. -Right.

-We have a mine in Arizona where you find the green... -Yeah.

-...and you find the gold. -Is that right?

-Yes. -Wow!

So, the old-time prospectors might have dug an open pit mine

if they found rocks like this.

The lidar scan indicated a possible open pit mine.

And, so, we're hoping that the old-time prospectors did our work for us.

In their search for gold, they would have found

and dug open the kind of faults we're looking for.

So, if there's a pit mine here as I suspect,

it could lead right into that underground cavern system.

Some of that hematite is so red that it stains your hand.

Hey, hey. Hey, look over here, too.

Look at this.

This is it. This is the spot from the lidar.

-There's a hole there. -[Eric] This is mining.

Look at the size of that hole.

This is it, man. This could be the start of the mother lode.

You think so?

[Eric] Oh, look at this.

[laughing] Oh, my!

[Chad] Look at that. This is huge!

[Eric] Look at all the timbers.

-Yeah. -Wow!

[dramatic instrumental music]

Good find, brother. This is great.

This is what it's about. This is a treasure hunt.

We're looking for entrances. We're looking for clues.

I mean, this could be something big.

-We used the lidar. We used technology. -Yeah. Nice.

We found it. It looked like a speck on the map,

-[Chad] And it goes on and on. -[Eric] Look at how big it is.

We put boots on the ground, we busted our ass to get up here,

and we found it, brother!

We got it!

[dramatic instrumental music]

[Eric] Look at this!

-[laughing] Oh, my! -[Chad] Nice.

Let's make our way down in there, Chad.

[narrator] After the collapse of the South Cave...

-[bleeping] -[rumbling]

...Chad and Eric used the results of a lidar survey

to search for another entrance into the cavern system.

Following the fault line that runs from the South Cave,

they found an open pit mine

which they believe could be their way in.

-[Chad] Look at all the timber. -[Eric] Ya, that's old stuff.

[Chad] This is everywhere. Look at this.

[Eric] This was all rough-hewn shore.

-[Chad] Yeah. -[Eric] So, they would use this.

This could be the 1930s. It could be the late 1800s. We don't know.

[Chad] I mean, this kind of looks like the timbers we found at the South Cave.

[Eric] Yeah.

Look at how much material they've moved.

Probably all by hand.

-[Chad] Think so? -[Eric] Yeah.

[Chad] The timbers we're seeing here

looks exactly like the timbers we saw at the South Cave.

But we just couldn't figure out how those logs got all the way in there.

These definitely did not get in here through the way we just came.

There's no way.

-[Eric] These came in from somewhere else. -[Chad] Right.

So, if this is a cave entrance,

maybe all these logs were transported from here all the way to the South Cave.

[tense instrumental music]

-[Eric] Look at this! -[Chad] Holy [bleep]

Look at this.

This goes in there a ways.

-Look at this, Eric. -[Eric] Yeah.

[Chad] Oh, you can see it ends right there.

-[Eric] Does it end right there? -[Chad] Yeah.

[Eric] Interesting.

[Chad] Why would they wanna dig right here, though?

-[Eric] Look at the green, up on top. -[Chad] Oh, up top?

-Yeah. -[Eric] Okay?

-That's our malachite. -Oh, it goes right down in there, too.

[Eric] So, they followed that.

That could be a little mineralized zone right in there.

They followed it down. And, then, they decided to go in horizontally.

-So, they really are following the green. -[Eric] Oh, yeah.

[narrator] Malachite is an indicator of copper deposits,

which can contain valuable minerals, including gold.

It is also revered as a powerful stone,

with ancient cultures believing that malachite would protect them

and keep evil spirits at bay.

[Eric] I wanna get to the pit

and I'll see what's in the very bottom of that.

I say we get down there, carefully.

This is a successful mine here.

You know, people wouldn't dig this deep and pull out this amount of material

-if they weren't finding anything. -True, true.

So, they found stuff in here. I know they did.

You see the malachite is all over the place.

We're right in the zone where you need to be.

-We're finding the minerals. -[Chad] Yeah.

-It's everywhere. It's everywhere. -[Eric] Yeah.

So, now, we just need to see if this rich mineralization leads to any cave entrances.

So, mineralization happens along fault lines,

and that's also where caves form.

So, following this rich mineralization here

could lead us back to the fault line into the South Cave,

all the way back to the keyhole chamber.

I think it's possible these old miners here

followed a vein which opened into the cavern system.

I just wanna poke around.

Maybe they didn't pull all the rich stuff out.

Look at that piece.

[grunts] That's a sexy chunk of rock right there, man.

-[Chad] That's definitely a geologist thing to say. -[Eric laughs]

[Eric] So, I mean, we have shoring here.

That, to me, indicates that there is probably a shaft here.

-It just has that feeling to it. -[Chad] Right.

[Eric] And this, you know, it ties back to this whole thing, the fault.

And with faults, not only do you have mineralization,

but there could be a significant cave system here.

-[Chad] True -[Eric] We could have another entrance into the cave system

-right here. -Yeah. Lead into our cave system.

-[Eric] Some of those cave systems are miles long. -Miles, exactly.

I think it's worth spending time tomorrow on this.

But, sun's going down. I say we set up camp

and we come back tomorrow and we search this whole thing.

Let's do it.

[tense instrumental music]

[Chad] This mine area is much bigger than we thought.

We're gonna have to explore all these different mine shafts

to see if they lead back to the cavern system under Blind Frog Ranch

and the South Cave.

So, we're gonna get a good night's rest

and get at it tomorrow morning.

[dramatic instrumental music]

-[Josh] I got the endoscope out. -[Charlie] Okay.

And I think we're running on my end.

Just check that image on your phone, Charlie.

[Duane] What do you got, Charlie Boy?

-That's clear as a bell. -Yeah.

That looks good.

[narrator] At the Bead Site, Duane, Charlie, James, and Josh

are using the endoscope to determine the position

of a chimney vent they found in the rock face

so that Duane can identify the right place to drill.

All right, then. We're in. We're going down right now.

[Charlie] Okay.

[tense instrumental music]

Our smoke test shows that several of these holes

are connected somewhere inside that rock.

So, we're gonna send the endoscope down one of the other vent shafts

and see if it leads a little bit more directly

down into that void that we're trying to punch into.

Yeah, I can see all sides of the vent hole.

Is there any way you can go to the left more?

-[Josh] Left? -Yeah.

All right, we're moving left.

[Charlie] How deep are you?

Well, we gotta be about 16 feet.

Yeah, I think so.

I think you're getting past where we were putting the smoke in.

Yeah, we must be.

I mean, we're well over 20 feet right now.

Hold it right there for a moment

-and turn a little to the right. -Turning.

[James] Look. Look at that.

See all that?

It seems like it's getting bigger.

[Charlie] Yeah, sides seem to be opening up some.

Why don't you move it to the right a little bit? It got a little bit dark.

Move it to the right if you can.

[tense instrumental music]

All right, I'm gonna come up just a little.

[Charlie] Move it just a little bit back and forth.

[James] Oh, no, no, no! Right there, right there! Stop, don't move! Don't move!

Hold on. Stop.

Pull it back just a little. Right there!

-[Josh] Endoscope's at 26 feet. -[James] Look, Charlie.

[Charlie] What the...

-What is that? -What is that?

What the [bleep] is that?

[dramatic instrumental music]

Oh [bleep]

[James] Look.

Look what that is, Charles.

It's a skull.

-[eerie instrumental music] -[Josh] You got a skull?

It's a skull.

Like, a human skull?

[Charlie] The hell?

[dramatic instrumental music]

[Eric] My thought is, most of it was processed by open pit.

They found something really good. And, then, it was dangerous,

so they went in from the top.

[narrator] The quarry that Eric and Chad have found is an open pit mine,

the earliest form of mining.

This method was implemented in 1840 in Sutter's Mill,

the first mine in the California Gold Rush to strike gold.

Adapted from the ancient Greeks and Romans,

these tiered, spiraling pits

allow for heavy machinery to roll in and out of the mine,

a technique still used today.

Just a few hours outside of Blind Frog Ranch sits Bingham County Mine,

an operation that started in the mid-1800s by two Mormon pioneers.

It is the largest open pit mine in the world,

nearly three-quarters of a mile deep

and two and a half miles across from rim to rim.

The operation has yielded over 17 million tons of copper ore,

more than any other mine in history.

[tense instrumental music]

Holy [bleep]

[James] Look what that is, Charles.

A skull.

[narrator] While endoscoping a vent hole at the Bead Site,

Josh has made a discovery.

The vent leads to a small chamber approximately 20 feet below,

and there's a skull inside.

[Josh] You got a skull?

Like, a human skull?

It looks...

[James] Pull it up a little bit.

[Charlie] It's not a human skull. It's an animal skull

because it's got an elongated snout on it.

[James] Out of all the things that we could have found,

I was totally not expecting to find a skull.

[Charlie] That's the size of a coyote or something.

But what would that be doing in there?

[James] Your guess is as good as mine. [bleep] I don't know.

-I'll go with your guess. -I ain't got one.

[Charlie] And it's all burnt or charred or something.

And that's it. It's just a skull.

I mean, I don't see any...

-Can you move just slightly, slightly to the right? -Okay.

There's something weird there.

I don't know if it's a rock, or is it just a bunch of roots or...

[James] A little more.

-Right there! That's it! -[Josh] Okay.

-Good shot. That's a good shot. -Oh!

Yeah? What do you got?

It's a much larger skull of an animal.

[Josh] So, there's two skulls. How did it get in there?

[Charlie] We're not seeing any other bones around it or anything,

so I don't think an animal dragged it in there.

[Duane speaking]

Well, there has to be a larger opening then, somewhere.

There's no way these skulls fit down that chimney vent.

So, there must be a larger entrance.

And that entrance might be even deeper underground.

There has to be. There's no way that could have got in there.

Somebody had to put it in there.

So what the hell, boys? Are we in somebody's fireplace or what?

[suspenseful music]

I think it was used for something else.

There's, like, charred all around the other edges.

And, then, there's this skull right there.

It just don't make no sense.

[James] So, we have a narrow rock chamber with two scorched animal skulls

that look like they were placed there.

So, now, I'm thinking,

"Could this have been some sort of oven?"

Well, there's a lot going on inside this rock.

Well, it's damn sure not in there naturally.

So... But it's not human remains or it's nothing like that.

[James] No, it's not human at all.

[Duane] Well, the good thing about it, we're not in a human grave,

so we need to go in there and see what the hell it is.

Duane, your property is one crazy [bleep] place!

Welcome to the ranch, brother.

[Josh] I vote we get an early start tomorrow and come back and start digging.

Let's find out exactly how deep we gotta go.

I can pull the camera back out and we'll just use the cord as a measuring tape.

If we grind away at that rock right where it meets the soil,

I think we can open it up and figure out

how those skulls got down there.

I think it's what we've been looking for for a long time.

Hell, yeah! Let's see what this thing is.

[Duane] Now, this is good.

[narrator] Next time on Mystery At Blind Frog Ranch...

You need to watch your ass.

[narrator] ...the team continues digging at the Bead Site...

[Charlie] Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up!

Hold up! You're hitting something hard up in there!

[narrator] ...and makes a shocking discovery.

Look at this. There's, like, a solid rock face right here.

Oh-ho-ho!

Look it back there.

There's an eye socket right there.

This just don't make no sense.

[narrator] Meanwhile, back at the open pit mine...

-[bleep] -[Chad] Look at this!

-[Eric] It's a mine! -[Chad] Yeah, it is!

[narrator] ...Chad and Eric become the prey.

[Chad] Eric?

There's [bleep] moving up here, man.

-Something's going on. -[Chad] Let's go.

[dramatic instrumental music]

-[Eric] Down there, down there. -[Chad] Look at that!

-Look at that right there! -[Eric] What the [bleep] is that?

[Chad] What is that?

-Holy... -[dramatic instrumental music]