All language subtitles for Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch S04 E06

[narrator reading]

Here he comes.

[narrator] On their quest
to dig
into the keyhole chamber

below the bead site...

This could be
a game-changer, Charlie boy.

It looks like some type
of crematorium.

[narrator] ...the team
uncovered what appears to be
an ancient altar.

-Is that more bone?
-Yeah.

Now you're talking.

[narrator] While Chad and Eric
trek to north,

following the fault line
from the South Cave...

That's what we're looking for,
brother.

[narrator] ...they unearth
an abandoned mine,

which might be connected
to the cavern system...

[Eric] This is what
we've been looking for.

[narrator] ...and uncover
a vein of gold ore...

-[both laughing]
-That's it.

[narrator] ...which puts
the team closer than ever
to the Aztec treasure.

We got gold, boys. [laughs]

Whoo! [laughing]

[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,

where Duane Olinger
and his team are digging

in search
of long-lost Aztec gold.

[man] Did the Aztecs
have discovered this?

[narrator] But the closer
they get...

I finally get to hold
[bleep] gold my hand.

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

-I'm gonna ask--
-Oh, my [bleep] God!

Now Duane will move heaven...

There you go.

-[narrator] ...and earth...
-Final.

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

We've started this whole deal
and we're sure as hell
gonna face it.

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

Holy [bleep]!
There's something
in there! [bleep]

God!

[narrator]
...at Blind Frog Ranch.

[Duane] Drill, drill.

[narrator] In an attempt
to find an open entrance
into the keyhole chamber,

Duane and the team
are excavating
at the base of the bead site.

[Charlie] Hey, Duane,

we've got a void here.

Let's chase this
and see where it goes.

Copy that.
That's what we're looking for.

[Charlie] If it's part
of the chimney system,

it's gotta be going in
the cavern then.

-That could be an entrance in.
-Yeah.

Yeah, he's gotta dig us down.

[narrator] Prior to digging
at this rock face,

Duane and his team attempted
to excavate

at a different vent hole
beneath the bead site

and made a shocking discovery.

This is some type
of sacrificial altar.

There's this skull
right there.

[narrator] So the team shifted
their excavation 20 feet

to the east of the altar.

And have been digging
at the base
of a different chimney vent.

[Josh] There he goes!
There he goes!

Let's open this baby up!

[Josh] Charlie saw that there
was a void there,
right in the hard rock.

It doesn't make a lot of sense
and God only knows
what it could be.

Let the dust clear.

I mean, that could be
the key to get us in.

[Charlie] Hey, Josh.

Come over here
and look at this.

What do you got?

Yeah, let's see.

Man, I've got this void here.

I can't tell
if it's a man-made chimney,

or just a gap here
in the rock.

I'd like to get James up here
and let him look at this.

James!

[James] What's going on?

[Josh] We need you
up here, buddy.

[James] You know, that doesn't
look like it goes
anywhere, does it?

[Charlie] I agree with James.
This isn't a chimney.

Yeah, this is kind of
maybe not
what we thought it was.

You know, we tried
to drill down below
the second chimney vent,

but it just dead ends
into this small hollow.

Let's get Duane's opinion
and see where he wants
to go from here.

[James] Yeah, absolutely.

[Josh] Hey, Duane.

What do you think?

Well, that void's there,
but it doesn't look like

it's an entrance
into the larger
cave system below.

Yeah, you can tell
that rock wall
keeps going straight down.

Ah, we don't really know
where to go from here.

You know, guys, we could--

We could go
in the side of this still

until the cows come home
and we won't find nothing.

We could be a foot away
from them.

But we know from the smoke pit
that there's a chimney.

That runs right up to the top
of the bead site.

I think what we need
to do is go up top
and start drilling

and see if we don't drop
into a void.

[narrator] For the past week,

Duane was focused
on excavating

under the bead site to try
and reach the keyhole chamber.

So far, he and his team
have uncovered
what they believe

is an altar and a small void
beneath it, but nothing else.

Now, Duane wants
to try a radically
different approach

and try drilling
into the bead site from above,

following the path
of the highest vent shaft.

[Josh] I like it.

You think we can get
a drill rig up there?

Oh, hell yeah.

All right. We'll tack it
from another angle.

-Literally.
-Let's do it.

-I like it.
-Yeah. Let's drill.

[Duane] What do we got
goin' on, fellas?

Well, we went up
to that anomaly

that I noticed
on the LiDAR scan.

-[Josh] Really?
-Yep.

Well, where's that at?

[Eric] Just a little northwest
of here.

[James] It's on that
same fault line
where that South Cave is.

Yep. What we found seems to be
an abandoned mine.

[narrator] After the collapse
of the South Cave,

Eric used the LiDAR scan
to identify a fault line

that passes through
the South Cave

and continues
eight miles north,

where he discovered
an abandoned pit mine.

This could mean
the cavern system
under Blind Frog Ranch

extends all the way
up to the pit mine.

We separated out about
three or four samples.

I brought the samples back,
processed them,
and we found this.

-There it is.
-[laughs]

Look at that.

[Charlie] Oh, my.

We got gold.

Really?

[Josh] Yeah, that is gold.

[Eric] So gold mineralization
in this type of geology

indicates that
there could be caverns
and tunnels beneath this site.

And we found tunnels.

So if they're all
on the same fault line,

is that the cave system
that we're looking for here
under this ranch?

Very possible.
The world's largest caves
do follow fault lines.

Because it's a weakness
in the earth.

That's wild.

This is what I would call
a small open pit mine.

It's a series of small pits.

And we didn't see
any indication of a void
going down into the earth.

Not now. There could have been
in the past.

And they could have
purposefully filled it in.

Oh, you can see
it ends right there.

-[Josh] Does it end
right there?
-Yeah.

[Josh] Interesting.

[Eric] While these tunnels
are dead ends,

they're validating our theory.

There could be caves
like these anywhere
along the fault line.

I think we may be better off
following that fault line.

Just trying to find
a new entrance.

[Duane] What are you thinking?

[Eric] So the other end
of the fault line

actually runs right across
the meteorite impact site.

[narrator] Last year...

They just hit
something hard, hard.

Because it's really slow,
he said, the drill.

[narrator] ...while attempting
to drill into
the keyhole chamber

in an area known
as the Energy Zone,

the team learned there was
an impenetrable meteorite
110 feet below ground.

[man] We found iridium.

Well, iridium means
off earth, right?

It's not natural
to this planet.

[narrator] But Eric discovered
that the fault line

that runs from the South Cave
to the open pit mine

crosses directly
through that meteor site.

Yeah, we literally
couldn't drill anymore.

It just kept on bouncing
off that hard layer
and couldn't get through it.

It was just eating up
the drill bits.

[Eric] Actually,
I've got an idea

on how we can further explore
that meteor impact site.

I happen to know a place
in southern Ohio,

and I know a colleague of mine
who is an expert
in meteor impact sites.

And so this site is called
the Serpent Mound Disturbance.

And it's a verified
meteor impact site.

It's huge.

At the Serpent Mound
Disturbance,
we also have a cultural site.

It's a burial mound
in the form of a serpent.

What I'd like to do,

with your blessing of course,

is go there, get some
baseline measurements,

and compare them
with our meteorite here.

So if we can determine
the size and the angle
of impact,

we can make a plan
to get past it

into the keyhole chamber
below.

I think
that's a good idea, Eric.
Let's do that.

I like it.

[Chad] I gotta admit,
Eric is onto something.

But the meteor
isn't the only site
that sits on this fault line.

When I came back
from the open pit mine,

I was looking at the map
and I realized

that the collapsed mine
was also
on the same fault line.

[narrator] Last year,

Chad and James discovered
a collapsed pit mine...

[Chad] This is definitely
a mine shaft
of some kind, 100%.

[narrator] ...that sits
on the same fault line

as the meteor impact
that is at the Energy Zone,

the South Cave
and the open pit mine.

[Chad] I'd like to go up there
and check that out.

How far up
is this collapsed mine?

[Chad] It's a good
half-day's hike.

The way to get there,
we just take game trails
the whole way.

It's too narrow
for us side-by-side to go
through there.

Well, we need
to take equipment up there,

uh, to really do
a good assessment.

-Can horses get through there?
-Yeah, good idea.

I like it. Let's do it.

Josh, before you leave,

I'd like you to give me a hand
at the beachside.

And, Eric, go find out
about that deal
and take first class.

But if you don't find nothing,
take a bus back.

All right,
we got a plan, fellas.

Let's move forward.

-Let's do it.
-[Josh] Yeah, good luck, Eric.

[Eric] I'll let you all know
what I find.

[Charlie] This way, Duane.

Here he comes.

[narrator] In order to bring
a drill to the top
of the bead site,

fifty feet in elevation,

Duane will need to clear
a mile-long path
with the excavator.

-You in?
-I'm in.

Here we go.

[narrator] Josh and Charlie
will help guide the rig

through the rough,
uneven terrain.

[Duane] Y'all go first
and give me the one
that's fast.

[Josh] Okay.

[Charlie] Uh, Duane,
you got a tree ahead.

[Duane] Copy that.

Yeah, just head for that tree
with the U in it.

[Duane] All right, got it.

There's an operator
who knows what he's doing.

[Charlie] Here we go.

Uh, I would say
here's the fence.

-[Josh] Oh, yeah, right here?
-Yeah.

This is what I got to take out
right here.

Radio Duane. Let him know.

We got to cut this fence
and get it
back out of the way.

[Charlie] All right, Duane.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Josh] You just don't want
barbed wire
spinning around tracks.

It could really hurt
somebody bad.

Certainly don't want that.

-You got your cutters, too?
-[Charlie] Yeah.

[Josh] Radio Duane.

[Josh] Hole 'em right there.

Duane, right here, Duane.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[bleep] Whoa.

[Josh] Radio Duane.

We gotta cut this fence
and get it back
out of the way.

[narrator] Duane is clearing
a path

to the top of the bead site
for the vertical drill rig.

But a comms malfunction
has the team
on a collision course.

-[Josh] Hold him!
-[Charlie] All right, Duane.

[Josh] Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa!

We got wire right here, Duane!

[bleep] right in front of you.

-You got your radio on, right?
-Yeah.

I couldn't hear nothing.

[Charlie] You know,
things have always gone
haywire here.

Equipment quitting,
everything.

We'll just chalk it up
as Blind Frog Ranch.

I think we're clear.

We're clear, Duane, go for it!

Copy that.

[Josh] We have to get
into this cave system
underneath here,

and we think that
this is a location
that that can be done.

So we're gonna bring in
a drill rig,

and we're gonna
drill vertical.

And I think
we're gonna get there quicker
and find more answers.

We're currently
looking around, Charlie.

[Josh] I'm gonna get out
in front of him, Charlie.

All I can
say is this place is...

It's a place
that I just don't have
a lot of answers for.

I don't know.

[Charlie] We're close
to a landing down here.

[Josh] But what I do know is
that this spot up here

is gonna be our best bet
to access the cave system
beneath us.

And some new tech
might be the thing that
finally gets us there.

[Charlie] I think we're clear.

I think we can get
that drill rig in here.
It ain't gonna be bad.

[Charlie] Yeah, good job.
Good work.

-[Chad] Got it all
packed up, Josh?
-[Josh] Almost. Yeah.

This is the last strap,
and we're good to go.

[narrator] With the bead side
excavation on hold
until the drill arrives,

Chad and Josh
are traveling north
to the end of the fault line,

where last year they found
a collapsed mine.

[Chad] We're going horseback
because it is rough terrain.

And we have a lot of tools
that we're bringing, too.

We're bringing
metal detectors.

Besides, it's fun
to ride horses, too.

[Josh] Boy,
what a beautiful canyon!

[Chad] Isn't it great, man?

[Josh] It's just fantastic.

I want to show you
what we think
is some kind of entrance,

but we don't know exactly
what it is.

[Chad] Well, if it's a mine,
I'll be able to tell you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Come on! Yeah, boy. Yeah.

[grunting]

I think this is a good place
to stop.

It gets a little too rugged
for the horses past here.

Last year, we came up
along this creek.

There's a little game trail
we can follow.

-All right. I think
I'm following you, then.
-Yeah.

We'll cross the creek here,
and it's about
another mile hike.

Chad, I'm starting
to second-guess that idea
you leaving the horses behind.

It would have been rough going
for the horses, though, huh?
What do you think?

-It would have been
a rough go for us.
-Yeah, it's true.

It's just right around
this bend, I believe.

Josh, it's right here, man.

[Josh] Coming.

Here we go.
Here's the mine. [laughs]

Awesome.

Finally here, brother.

[Chad] What is going on
with this place?

[Josh] Man, this ranch
is full of surprises.

Chad is showing me
this giant collapsed cavern
in the middle of nowhere.

There's no roads here.
There's no trails.

I mean, if you didn't
know to look for this place,

you wouldn't find it
in a million years.

What do you think?

There's something
going on here,

because all of this
was dug out below.

This is not natural.

Somebody has been in here
messing around,

but I don't know
if it was originally a cave

-and then somebody came
in here and did more work...
-Right.

...or if it's actually
a mineral deposit

that somebody was working
as a mine.

[Chad] So you do think
that this is a cave,
though, right?

[Chad] Absolutely.
There's no question.

That's why I'm so excited
about this find
you have here, Chad.

[Chad] Hell yeah.

[Josh] We got
more exploration to do.

We need to look
in every nook and cranny.

[Chad] Yep.

[narrator] Over 1,500
miles away in southern Ohio,

Eric has arrived
at the Serpent
Mound Disturbance,

a nine-mile-wide meteor crater
formed over
250 million years ago.

It is one of only
28 known impact craters
in the U.S.

-[Eric] Mark Baranoski.
-[Mark] Eric.

I could tell
it was a geologist

'cause you have
all your rocks out here.

I had to bring
a couple samples
for you to see.

Nice. Thank you for coming out
and talking with us here.

-It's all about education
for me.
-Yeah.

I'm really excited
to meet with Mark.

He was one
of the original scientists

who figured out
that this was
a meteor impact site.

I asked him to show me
the evidence that they used

to assess
the meteor impact here in Ohio

so I can use
the same techniques

at our meteor site
back at Blind Frog Ranch.

All that will allow us
to drill around the meteorite

and get us down
into the keyhole chamber.

What have we got here?

[Mark] Well, this one
is kind of
a rare shatter cone,

-but if you look--
-I can see it.

Can you see the edges there?

This is the first time
I've ever seen,

actually seen a shatter cone
in real life.

[narrator] A shatter cone
is a rare geological feature

with a ripple pattern

formed by intense pressure

and heat strong enough
to instantly liquefy rocks.

Only two forces
are known to create them,

an underground
nuclear detonation
or a meteor attack.

It was the presence
of shatter cones

that convinced scientists
it was a meteor

that caused
the Serpent Mound Disturbance.

Think about this.
It's on the edge
of the crater.

The energy came in
from the middle

and then shot out horizontally
by the time I got here.

[Eric] This one,
you can really see it,

the cone, like,
sort of radiating out
from the middle there.

Shatter cones
are one of the check boxes

that we use to determine
if it's an impact or not.

These shatter cones
are literally pointers

pointing back
to the very center

of where
this meteorite crashed.

We can infer
from the surrounding strata,

number one,
the angle it came in,

and number two,
where exactly it hit.

What's another check box
that we can look at?

It's actually
just up the ridge.
Lemme show you.

-Let's go.
-All right.

[Eric] All right.

We're right in the crater zone
there, right?

[Mark] Yes. Here we are.

[Eric] Nice.

[Mark] When that meteorite
came in to hit
this part of the world,

it just busted
everything up tremendously.

There was fracturing,
shatter cones.

The geomagnetic survey
indicated that it was altered
most likely by the impact.

So what you're telling me
is that this impact
was so powerful

that it actually
changed the magnetism,

changed the polarity
of the rocks
beneath the impact.

-Is that correct?
-That's correct.

Wow.

[narrator] All rocks have
a magnetic polarity

running north and south,
much like a magnet.

This polarity stays the same
unless the rock encounters

extremely high heat
or a violent impact.

In that case,
a polarity change can occur

and can even
affect instruments.

[Charlie] That's west,
but my compass
is telling me that's north.

[narrator]
At Blind Frog Ranch,
this type of interference

is often encountered
at the Energy Zone.

[Eric] Wow.

When I get back,
I'd like to check

for the magnetic polarity
at Blind Frog Ranch.

But I also wanna check
for shatter cones.

That way, we can see
exactly where it landed
and how big it is.

[Eric] And how big it is.

Where do we go next?

[Mark] Well, let's head
up to the northeast
side of the crater.

Hopefully,
we'll get a better view
as to what's in that crater.

[Eric] Okay.

[Chad] Put your hand in there.

[Josh] Oh, yeah.

[Chad] When we
were in here last year,
we moved some rocks around

and there was, like, cool air
pushing in and out.

That's amazing. That's a lotta
airflow coming out of there.

This thing's breathing.

I want to run
the metal detector
around this hole

and see
if I can find any clues
on how to get in here.

[Chad] All right.

[Josh] See, if we can
find some objects,

steel objects
that people were actually
in here working--

-Oh, like, mining equipment
kind of thing, or--
-Yeah, exactly.

There we go.

-[metal detector beeps]
-[Josh] Here we go.

[metal detector beeping]

[Josh] So, I don't
know what that is.

[Chad] What the hell is that?

[Josh] I don't know.

[Chad] No, I don't either.

-[Josh] I sure
as hell want to find it.
-[metal detector beeping]

[Chad] What is that?

-[metal detector beeping]
-[Josh] I don't know
what that is.

[narrator] After following
the fault line north,
Chad and Josh

have begun investigating
a possible entrance
to the collapsed mine.

[metal detector beeping]

[narrator] And something below
the opening has set off
Josh's metal detector.

[Chad] What is that?

-[Josh] I'm definitely
picking up on something.
-[metal detector beeping]

[Chad] Let me see if I can get
a camera down in there.

[grunts]

Oh, it's just
so [bleep] tight.

[Josh] How far can
you get in there?

[Chad] Uh, that's about it.
Well, I can go a little more.

Uh, I mean, it looks like
it could go way down here.

[grunts] I can't get it
in there any further.

I don't know
if we're gonna
be able to

get to what
your metal detector
was picking up in there.

[Josh] Let's start
taking some samples.

-Check this out, Chad.
-[Chad] What's that?

[Josh] This one right here.
Look at this.

[Chad] What is it?

[Josh] This is limestone.

That's exactly what
I needed to see.

That's a brachiopod.

So it's
a fossilized clamshell.

-That is not found
in sandstone.
-Ah.

This is limestone.
And it is so important
that you have it here.

Because limestone
equals caves.

Nice. Good find, man.

When in caves,
this is what you
want to find, right here.

[narrator] Limestone caves
are formed over the course

of millions of years

when acidic
rainwater dissolves

the calcium carbonate
that makes up limestone.

Over time, small cracks
become massive fissures,

which can become
mile-long cave systems.

[Josh] Now I know we can
possibly get underground.

-[Chad] Yeah.
-I wasn't sure
until this moment.

-[Chad] Hell, yeah.
-[Josh] I'm just
freaking excited

that you have limestone,

which means that
you could have
a huge complex

of a cave system
underneath your property.

I'm glad you
got to see this,

to make sure we're [bleep]
telling you some truth here,

that you can see
what we're talking about.

I see what
you're talking about,
but I'm gonna tell you,

riding up here today,

-I didn't expect
to find limestone.
-Right.

Not at all. And we get here,
sure enough, here's this

[bleep] limestone hidden
underneath the sandstone.

This site checks
a lot of boxes.

We've got limestone,
we've got airflow.

And just like the open
pit mine south of here,

it sits right
on the fault line.

Obviously, we're standing
at the entrance of the cave.

A natural-forming cave.

Definitely. A natural cave
that somebody was working on,

-maybe to mine,
maybe to hide something.
-[Chad] Yeah.

[Josh exhales]

We've gotta find a way in.

The only problem is,
we've got to move

all these big boulders
out of the way.

All this stuff up here.
That's just held up
by imagination.

[Chad] Yeah.

[Josh] This is way too
dangerous of a site.

We'd have to shore all this up
before we even start
working here.

And we haven't even
started digging yet.

[Chad] Yeah, that's true.

-We're talking a big process.
-A big process.

This is... Right now,
this is a dangerous site
that can't be worked.

-Yeah.
-I mean, we're literally

at the bottom
of a rock fall.

[Chad] This cave here
is too dangerous to excavate.

But the pattern
that we're seeing here
is a huge discovery.

We've now found
two sets of limestone
tunnels along this fault line.

Here, and at
the open pit mine.

And both of them have
signs of mineral deposits.

And that could mean
that these limestone tunnels

could lead all the way back
down to the South Cave.

And the way in
could be anywhere
in between.

All right, let's head out.

-You think you can carry me
out of here, Chad?
-[chuckles]

[Josh] I think
you could, honestly.

-[Chad] We're just
halfway home.
-[chuckles]

We're following Mark
here to the, uh, cemetery,

and the reason
we're going to a cemetery

is because
it's an elevated spot
so we can get a good view

of the entirety
of the disturbance.

[narrator] Eric is
in Southern Ohio,

where he is examining
a location

called the Serpent
Mound disturbance,

a massive meteor
impact zone.

So, Mark,
what I'm gonna do

-is I'm gonna go from the
east edge of the crater...
-Okay.

...to the west.
We're gonna take
a bunch of just still shots.

-Okay.
-We're gonna take
it up a little bit higher.

[Mark] Get that bird's-eye
view of the crater.

-[Eric] Here we go.
-[Mark] Awesome.

-Up, up and away.
-[Eric] Here.

Climb?

[narrator] Eric is using
a drone to map
the impact zone.

He can then use
the topographical data

as a reference
when examining

the meteor impact
at Blind Frog.

This will allow the team
to determine exactly where

the impenetrable
meteor ends

and where they
can begin digging.

[Eric] I'd like to try
to scan the entire crater,
if possible.

So let's start with
the northern edge.

Nice.

The north side shows
nicely from up here.

[Mark] Yeah,
it's a great view.

[Eric] Okay, let's shift west.

The western part of the rim
should be right about there.

So we're going
to keep turning south.

[Mark] Right in here.

[Eric] Last but not least,
the eastern rim.

Done.

[Mark] Good deal.

So honestly,
there aren't a whole lot

of documented
meteor impact sites
in the United States,

especially that are
this well researched.

So, I'm really excited
that I was able

to get this
topographical data today.

I'm really excited to show
this to Duane and the guys.

[man] Here it comes.

[narrator] A new
day at the ranch

comes with some
new equipment.

[Josh] Chad and I got a big
win in finding that limestone

up at the collapsed mine.

It's proof
this cavern system

stretches for miles,
even beyond Blind Frog.

And today, with this new rig,
we might be able to drill

into the heart of that system
at the Bead Site.

That's a good-looking rig.

Duane Ollinger.

-[Denzel] Nice to meet you.
-I'm Josh.

-Denzel.
Nice to meet you.
-Pleasure.

Our pleasure. Pleasure.

-Denzel or Denzelle?
-Denzel.

-Denzel.
-Yeah.

I picked up on it.
It sounded different,
so I wasn't--

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

He got all the money, looks,
the fortune and fame.

And I come from the foothills
of the Appalachians.

-Hell, yeah.
-Yeah.

It looks like one hell
of a good rig.

Yeah, I've never been
around one like this.

[Josh] This year,
Duane's up in the game.

He's bringing in
his sonic drill,

and that thing is gonna
drill faster and deeper

than he ever has before.

[narrator] Unlike
traditional drills

that use pressure
to crush and grind

through rock, sonic drills
use high-frequency vibrations,

and can reach depths
of over 600 feet.

This make it up
the road okay so far?

-Yeah, yeah.
-[Josh] Yeah.

The road gets
a little primitive
from here,

and so
we'll just take the lead,
and just follow us in.

-All right.
-[Duane] You ready?

-Come on.
-Yeah.

-[Josh] All right.
-All right.

-[Josh] Here we go.
-[Duane] Hell, yeah.

-All right.
-[Josh] It's gonna
get dangerous as [bleep].

-[Duane] Oh, yeah.
-[Josh laughs]

[man 1] This is a rough ride.

[narrator] At the northern
edge of Blind Frog Ranch...

[man 2] Yeehaw!

[narrator] ...the team's
new sonic drill rig

has begun its trek
to the Bead Site.

Once there,
the team will attempt

to drill down
into a vent hole

and reach the keyhole
chamber below.

[Josh] Look at that.

All right, here he comes.

Just before we get to the pad,
it gets a little steep there.

[Josh] Not a bit.

Denzel knows
what he's doing.

[man 3] It's coming all right.

[man 4] Charlie,
we're coming in.

[Charlie] Yee-haw!

It's here!

Well, let's get to it.

[machine whirring]

Look at this.

[narrator] As the sonic
drill bit descends,

it will collect long cylinders
of material called cores.

Each core will provide
samples of the Earth

from deep beneath
the site.

If any material
associated with caves

appears, like dolomite

or limestone, the drill
could be entering a cave.

[Josh] I'm hoping
to see limestone.

That's what I want to see,
because this cave
is underneath us,

and it's got to
be in the limestone,

and we're standing
on top of sandstone.

So if we get limestone,
then I'm gonna be ecstatic.

Drill, boy!

So I'm on my way
to meet the local expert

to learn more about
the cultural aspect

of the Serpent Mound effigy.

[narrator]
The Serpent Mound effigy

is a 1,300-foot-long
earthwork sculpture

built thousands
of years ago on top

of the meteorite
impact zone by the Adena.

The Adena were
a Native American culture

famed for constructing
massive ceremonial

and burial mounds
throughout the Midwest.

By the time
the first Europeans

began investigating
the Serpent Mound,

the Adena had been
gone for centuries,

and they left behind
no records on why

they chose the interior
of a meteorite crater

as the location
for their mysterious

Serpent Mound effigy.

Eric is meeting
with Tom Johnson,

a local expert.

He has a lot of knowledge
on the indigenous people

and what different cultures
occupied the site.

It's a very,
very old site.

And we'll see what Tom

has to say.

I'm really excited
to see if there's
any similarities

to our cultural site
at Blind Frog Ranch.

Hey, Tom.

-Hey, Eric.
-How you doing?

-Glad you made it.
-Yeah, good to be here.

Look at this.

It's amazing
how intricate it is.

It's a burial mound.
Is that correct?

[Thomas] Yes.

The rear of the head

-on the right-hand side,
that had three bodies in it.
-[Eric] Okay.

-But they didn't discover that
until a few years ago.
-Okay.

Did it serve any
other purpose?

They kept it as a calendar,
and there was actually

an alignment
on the winter
solstice sunrise.

Wow.

[narrator] According to Tom,
each bend in the body

of the snake
lines up with the sun

during important
astronomical events,

such as solstices
and equinoxes.

The most
important alignment

is summer solstice,
sunrise or sunset.

This is the
sunset alignment.

-The line going
through like this?
-Right.

-[Eric] Okay
-[Thomas] Yep.

-We're standing on a path
across the way.
-[Eric] Okay.

-[Thomas] On the other side...
-[Eric] Okay.

...you would be observing
the summer solstice sunrise.

[Eric] Okay.

So, I mean,
this is fascinating.

According to Tom,
if you stand in this one spot,

look at this bend
in the snake,

it'll line up exactly with
the summer solstice sunset.

This is ancient astronomy.

-Wow.
-It's some sort of
a sun calendar.

[Eric] Yeah.

So obviously,
they're sun worshippers,

-because you can rely on
the sun to grow your crops.
-Right.

Once you have agriculture
and you have things like art,

-and you have
a sophisticated culture.
-[Thomas] Mmm-hmm.

So it has
a lot of energy.

-[Eric] Okay.
-And I think a lot

of the Native Americans,

-they had to tap
into that, they had to.
- [Eric] Yeah.

So there's more
going on here than just
an archeological site.

[Thomas] Absolutely.

[Thomas] Let's go
to the underwater serpent.

[narrator] While visiting
the Serpent Mound effigy,

Tom offers to show Eric
another site nearby.

It's a naturally occurring
stone formation

he believes was sacred
to local Native Americans.

[Thomas] Here she is.

They call this the grotto.

-[Eric] Okay.
-[Thomas] It looks like
the head of a serpent.

You could, if you wanted to,
you could climb up there.

[Eric] Yeah. How did
you find this place?

[Thomas] I have
a blueprint from 1939

from the
University of Cincinnati

that shows this very rock.

It actually shows it? Wow.
It's a carbonate.

And it seems
similar to limestone,
a little bit different,

but, um, it's also
the type of rock

-you find in the big
cave systems then, too.
-Mmm-hmm.

-[Eric] I might try
to get up on top.
-[Thomas] Yeah.

[Eric] This is a cool spot.

I've had a lot
of tribal members
stand down here,

and they're
filled with emotion.

-Yeah.
-Because they see
the spirits in the canoes.

[Eric] Yeah.
It gives you that feeling.

Now how the hell am
I gonna get down here?

[Thomas] Jump in the river.

[Eric] This is crazy.

[narrator] In Southern Ohio,
Eric is exploring

the mysterious
Serpent Mound effigy,

an earthen
snake sculpture

built inside a massive
meteor crater,

hoping it can provide insights
into the impact site

at Blind Frog Ranch.

When you talk
about energy,

are there any, like,
unexplained-type things

-that happen out here...
-A lot.

...or in the crater?

Yes. It serves a certain
amount of protection...

[thunder rumbling]

...from storms, 'cause
I've been here 25 years,

and I've observed
many storms

being deflected
from the crater.

[Eric] Wow. Yeah.

You've got to wonder
what's going on with that.
I mean--

I think it's just
the magnetic anomalies...

-[Eric] The anomalies. Yeah.
-...of the crater.

Yeah.

It's so interesting,
'cause we're seeing

the same type of phenomenon
out at the ranch.

We also have
an archeological site there.

They also had
an impact site there.

And you said
there's a specific area
that the energy is most--

There is. It's up here
by the head of the serpent,

and that's where
a fault comes across it.

[Eric] You've got faults, too?

[Thomas] We have
two faults here.

This is really crazy.

There's a lot of parallels
to what we're seeing in Utah.

Talking to Tom,

we really have
something very similar

that's going on
at Blind Frog Ranch
to what they have here.

We have ancient peoples
building structures

atop a meteor
impact site,

and these are sites
that also exist

right on the fault line.

But the strangest
thing is the energy
that Tom talked about.

I mean, we witnessed
the same thing at the ranch.

I've never seen
my compass act like this.

Is it related to the
meteor impact site?

Is it the reason
people build

sacred sites
at both locations?

All I know is whatever's
happening here,

it could be happening
at Blind Frog, too.

Yeah, it's a
really special site,
I'll tell you that.

-It really is.
-I'm glad they preserved it.

-Yeah. I--
-I really am.

[narrator] At the top
of the Bead Site,

Duane and the
sonic drill crew

have bored ten feet
below the surface...

[man 1] This is our first
core right here!

[narrator] ...as they drill
down towards the cavern

beneath the Bead Site.

[man 2] See what
it looks like at depth.

We got trace manganese, iron,
fine green sandstone.

-No sign of limestone.
-All right.

I'm keeping a log
as we go down,

looking for any
change in the soil.
Change is what we're after.

[machine whirring]

We just hit 50 foot,
and that puts us

right at the Bead Site below.

So we're on top
of this rock.

So now we're at the level
of the Bead Site.

The next 50 feet to 100 feet,
that's gonna be exciting.

[machine whirring]

[Josh] This is 65 feet
right here in the core.

-So we're way into
the Bead Site right now.
-All right.

And look how
gray it's getting,
It's getting dark.

-It's not brown.
-Exactly.

[Josh] I'm definitely seeing
some change in the cores.

They're getting
darker and grayer,
and that's limestone.

And limestone
is what you need
for cave systems.

We'll know more in a second,
right after this next sample.

All right, here it comes.

[imperceptible]

[Duane] Hell, yeah.

So we're about
at 80 foot right now,

and hopefully, we'll drop into
that underground cavern soon.

-Yeah. We got it, Charlie.
-Yeah.

Wait, can you hear that?

-[man] Whoa.
-Everything good?

No, it's stopped.

Whoa!

[bleep]

What the hell is going on?