[music playing]
- How's it going, Chris? - Hey, Kaleb.
How's it going? KALEB BENCH: Good.
TRAVIS TAYLOR: To help us with our ongoing investigation
of Skinwalker Ranch, we've been trying
to engage as many people as possible who
took part in the previous operations
over the last two decades.
Chris Bartell is a former military officer
who was contracted by Robert Bigelow and the Defense
Intelligence Agency when they were investigating Skinwalker
Ranch several years ago.
We used to have trouble getting guys
like him to share anything about what they've seen out here.
CHRIS BARTELL: I was a BAASS security investigator
for Bigelow Aerospace for Skinwalker Ranch
from the years 2010 to 2016.
I was one of the lead members out here.
I spent lots of time exploring, documenting
data, and also safekeeping and protecting the property.
I have a lot of experiences out here.
You know, I lived and breathed this property for six years.
I would love to show you guys some
of the things that I went through
and the important aspects of the property.
Well, I'm eager to do that.
I think we throw you in the UTV right
here and let's start across because I want to hear
everything that happened.
That sounds good.
I appreciate it.
THOMAS WINTERTON: We have this 20-year gap
where Mr. Bigelow owned the ranch
for which we know very little.
CHRIS BARTELL: Yeah.
Right here.
We'll just park here then.
I find it interesting that you stop us here.
This is by a place we call The Triangle.
Been a place we've done a lot of experiments and research
and had a lot of interesting data.
So I'm curious.
Tell me about what you experienced here.
CHRIS BARTELL: There was an area I found on this mesa slope,
and it led to this open cavity that looked like a cave.
So I jumped down into it.
I look around, and it's a decent-sized open cavity.
But inside the cavern, I pulled out two old canine traps.
THOMAS WINTERTON: So any time somebody
says the word cave or cavern here, it catches our attention.
Right.
You think it's still there? CHRIS BARTELL: Yeah.
Do you mind taking us there to it?
Absolutely. Let's go.
All right.
CHRIS BARTELL: So it's going to be in this little area
right here where I was walking down from the top of the mesa
and I found the cave.
THOMAS WINTERTON: Over the years that I have been here
on the ranch, there's been rampant rumors
about underground bases of tunnels,
all kinds of underground things here at the ranch.
If there are some, we definitely want to find them.
CHRIS BARTELL: I just happened to notice it from on top.
Then, I suggest maybe we just all climb up there
and see if we can find it.
CHRIS BARTELL: Yeah.
Hey, I found what looks like to be a cavern.
CHRIS BARTELL: Let me take a look.
Oh, yeah.
I'm pretty sure this is it.
It looks like it.
THOMAS WINTERTON: You can tell that at one time,
it was a lot larger and it's collapsed down in on itself.
CHRIS BARTELL: You can tell that this whole area
looks like a sunken in an area.
THOMAS WINTERTON: Like it was caved in?
CHRIS BARTELL: Yeah.
THOMAS WINTERTON: Yeah.
So strange.
THOMAS WINTERTON: If this is the opening to that cave
that Chris found, did it collapse?
Is it still there?
Does it continue back and it's just covered by rocks?
Definitely a lot of unanswered questions.
I'm ready to head down if you guys are.
I appreciate you showing us, Chris.
Yeah.
No problem, man.
There's multiple layers to this property.
I think what's going on here is bigger than any of us here.
It's bigger than a science experiment.
It's bigger than a government contract.
It's bigger than all of us.
TRAVIS TAYLOR: Right in here somewhere?
THOMAS WINTERTON: Right up on the edge up there.
TRAVIS TAYLOR: To help us figure out if this really is a covered
entrance to something in the mesa,
technologist Pete Kelsey has brought out
a drone with a thermal imaging camera that
will be able to identify any signs of voids or caverns
below the rubble.
This looks great.
Thank you, sir.
The guys have asked me to look for caves here on the property.
The thermal camera could be a really good fit
there because typically, caves, tunnels, the air inside
is much cooler than the air outside.
If it shows cold air, that could mean that there's a network.
All right.
I got all green lights here.
Ready when you are.
Where's the hole, Thomas?
It's basically right up there.
You can only see it from the top down.
You can't see it looking up, so I'm
going to just go up there so that you have an easy point
of reference as you're trying to locate
where this opening is at.
I think it will be a lot easier if I'm
up there standing close to it.
OK.
THOMAS WINTERTON: So OK. I'm going to get started.
Be careful.
Yep.
[music playing]
TRAVIS TAYLOR: So you're flying a thermal camera first?
PETE KELSEY: Yeah.
So the fancy term is this is a radiometric thermal camera,
which means it will give me the temperature,
but it also can do just video.
ERIK BARD: Very cool.
Heading for Thomas.
ERIK BARD: There he is.
PETE KELSEY: I will zoom in on him a bit.
So the hole must be that thing right in front of him.
ERIK BARD: Is that hole really the coldest
thing within the field of view?
Yes.
It's black.
OK.
PETE KELSEY: It's 64 degrees.
ERIK BARD: Whereas on the rock surfaces, you are--
Yeah.
Out in the sun, just went to 102.
A 40 degree difference.
I'm going to go ahead and take one of those smoke bombs
up there.
So you guys keep an eye out down here
and see if you see smoke coming out.
That is a great idea.
TRAVIS TAYLOR: In addition to Pete's high tech drone,
we also brought along some low tech smoke bombs
to look for evidence of holes or possible entry points.
Once we drop the bombs, if the smoke starts emitting back
out of the mesa from different points than where we drop them,
it would be a sign that there really
is a covered up cave or tunnel system
under all these boulders.
BRYANT ARNOLD: Hey, Travis, we're ready for you
to pop that smoke bomb.
All right.
We're going pop the smoke.
3 2, 1.
Popping smoke.
ERIK BARD: You see any effect?
No.
There it's starting to come out.
Look at that!
Blue smoke.
Yeah.
So I'm getting no love on the thermal, so I'll switch to RGB.
Oh, it's coming out down here!
Oh, look!
Look behind you.
It's coming out everywhere.
Oh, well, that makes my day.
Wow, look at that.
Little wasps of it down here.
ERIK BARD: There's a connection between these larger openings.
Perhaps that cave we're talking about.
PETE KELSEY: Yeah.
There was a cave at one time.
Thomas and I found a couple of holes up here.
I think we're going to throw our smoke grenades in there,
so keep an eye out.
See if you see it coming out anywhere on the mesa.
Copy that.
Thanks.
Right here.
Let it get smoking good.
Oh, that's good.
Orange smoke!
I'm gonna step back.
Yeah, definitely we got smoked.
PETE KELSEY: A little bit.
ERIK BARD: Yeah.
There should be a lot more smoke coming out.
Actually, look.
Look, it's get sucked in.
Yeah, the smoke's going down!
THOMAS WINTERTON: Well, look, it's completely gone.
We should be seeing smoke everywhere.
There is no smoke.
There's nothing here.
BRYANT ARNOLD: Where'd the smoke go?
Where'd it go?
Actually, look.
Look, it's getting sucked in.
THOMAS WINTERTON: When we dropped
smoke bombs down this opening, the smoke started to come out.
And then, it was as if somebody turned on a vacuum
and the smoke just disappeared and sucked down in the hole.
Yeah, something's sucking the smoke
into the cave or the hole.
TRAVIS TAYLOR: Nothing.
There's no smoke at all!
That is really strange.
PETE KELSEY: Yeah, it's inhaling.
ERIK BARD: Yeah, it's inhaling all right.
So if that's an inhale, the question is,
where are the lungs?
TRAVIS TAYLOR (ON RADIO): Hey, Erik, you copy?
Yeah.
Go ahead, Travis.
You guys don't see any smoke down there?
Travis, I could only see the smoke at the beginning.
It disappeared just like you reported.
No trace.
I don't see it coming out anywhere.
- You going up top? - Yeah.
TRAVIS TAYLOR (ON RADIO): Thomas is going up top.
Look up there to see if you see any smoke with the drone.
- Yeah. - All right.
Panning up.
You see any effect?
No.
TRAVIS TAYLOR: Anything, Thomas?
No.
TRAVIS TAYLOR: For the smoke to be getting pulled down
into the mesa, that means that there's
some kind of cavern or void sucking the smoke
back underground like a vacuum.
Is it something natural, or could
there be some artificial object or device causing that?
Well, it means there's got to be some sort of an opening
if it's pulling that much smoke and none of it's leaking out.
We're out of smoke bombs.
I guess just head down.
All right.
I'm landing.
ERIK BARD: As I like to say, we are led by the data.
And all of the data are pointing to the existence
of a large void somewhere inside of the face of this mesa.
I would love to get eyes on what's in there.
- Welcome back to Earth. - Yeah.
[laughter]
So you did find something?
We did find something.
Sure weird from what I saw from the air.
It was like the mesa just took a deep breath.
Yeah.
You could literally see it being sucked down through the hole.
And the hole, it seemed like it just went forever.
THOMAS WINTERTON: It was just like a vacuum cleaner turned on
and it sucked all that smoke down.
And then, it was gone. - Yeah.
It was gone. - So it went somewhere.
That hole goes deeper than we think.
Well, I think we got to figure some things out
before we do the next thing.
We really want to do this right.
The experiment definitely confirmed
that there is something that we need to explore
deep inside the mesa.
But we're going to have to move some earth,
and that means digging or drilling
to find out what it is.
So we need to have a serious meeting with Brandon
and get his blessing.
As we've seen in the past, it's always risky to dig
on Skinwalker Ranch.
But I don't see another choice.
THOMAS WINTERTON: Great work as always, Pete.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
- My pleasure. - All right.
We'll load up and head it back.