The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch Season 7 Episode 1 Recap

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch season 7 premiered May 19 on History Channel and the season premiere, “All Fired Up,” was firing on all cylinders. The team of Brandon Fugal, Dr. Travis Taylor, Erik Bard, Kaleb Bench and Thomas Winterton are embarking on another year of investigations into the mysterious forces at Skinwalker Ranch.

Be sure to check out my exclusive interview with Dr. Travis Taylor and the Skinwalker Ranch team from San Diego Comic-Con.

At the start of the episode, ranch owner Fugal noted that he’s “more motivated than ever to get back to Skinwalker Ranch” to continue the investigations. He’s hoping for a “breakout year” when it comes to finding answers about the unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) and other mysteries at the Utah compound.

Taylor added that he’s seen evidence of the mysterious forces, strange signals, flying objects and, perhaps most importantly, proof of something buried in the site known as the Mesa. This season, he said he looks forward to “connecting new dots and taking things further.” Some of the key areas he’s interested in are the goings-on both above and below the Mesa, specifically as it pertains to the ceramic pieces they found deep inside the Mesa in season 6. These “game changer” ceramic fragments are heat resistant and seemingly self-repairing, and they could be linked to the strange, 400-foot object that has been spotted through radar deep inside the Mesa.

Archaeologist Chris Roberts was on hand to reveal that over the winter he found another ceramic fragment in the Mesa, but this new fragment is unlike the other pieces that were found before.

The team agreed on a plan of attack to approach this year’s investigations:

• Instead of horizontal drilling into the Mesa, the plan is to drill vertically with a larger four-foot bit. This time, they’ll be working from the top of the Mesa and the plan is to drill down 33 feet, which would connect to where they were digging last season up until the drill bit broke under mysterious circumstances.
• The Bubble Anomaly will be another key area of focus. This 2000-foot “bubble” that encapsulates space above and below ground over the Triangle and parts of the Mesa (including where they found the ceramics) is capable of blocking signals and has been the source of several UAP sightings. In 2022 the team discovered “the Blob” inside the Bubble after a rocket launch revealed an anomaly inside the greater anomaly. The hope is to find answers as to what this Bubble and Blob are.

To help with their efforts, they also have some new tools to help their investigations:

• Thomas Winterton worked on 30-foot towers at the Triangle to allow for more experiments to be conducted above the ground and in the middle of the Bubble.
• Erik Bard developed his own “Metaframe” software that will allow them to capture fleeting movement, including lights and UAPs, so that they can review them. The software captures 24 hours worth of data that they can then review.

Between the towers, Bard’s software, LiDAR, thermal flare cameras and high speed video cameras, the team expressed hope that they will be able to find more answers to what’s happening on the ranch.

What happened on Day 1 at Skinwalker Ranch?

Day 1 was a busy day and the team hit the ground running.

The Ceramic Fragments

Bard, Winterton and Taylor met with Roberts, who had set up a lightbox to study the ceramic fragments, labelled Type A and Type B, with UV365 light. Interestingly, the Type A fragments glowed with a blue-green florescent light while the Type B fragment was more yellow in color. Robert showed them that normal ceramics absorb light and don’t glow. He also revealed that if he had to guess, the fragments were likely very old.

Given the strange reactions that the fragments have to being examined under different conditions, it seems likely that they are either part of some kind of government technology or they are alien in origin. However, if Roberts’ speculation about their age is correct, it would be very difficult to explain their machined edges.

Roberts suggested that they send some samples to a lab in Colorado for further study.

The Towers and the Triangle

With the towers erected in the middle of the Triangle, Taylor decided that they should start the investigation into the Blob by using upside down rockets to shoot sustained smoke and heat up into the air. They would also launch a rocket from the ground into the anomaly to see what happens.

Things didn’t go according to plan. Before they could start, a mysterious 1.2 GHz signal started jamming signals. Taylor, who was on site at the Triangle, and Bard, who was at the base camp, realized that they were receiving the signals from opposite directions, as if the Bubble was bouncing the signals around.

When it came time to fire the rocket, as soon as it launched the crew started to see lights in the smoke. Was it a UAP? Taylor hoped that the equipment caught it. However, when they went to recover the rocket they discovered that the 500-pound parachute cord attached to it broke. It didn’t burn, it broke. Curiouser and curiouser.

As they prepared to launch another rocket, the signal between the launcher and the rocket was lost. The data would not transmit to the server even though they could see data being collected. Something was blocking the signal. “It’s like something is jamming our equipment,” Taylor proclaimed. Could it be the mysterious 1.2 GHz signal, which was starting to grow stronger?

The team used the upside down rockets to shoot smoke into the air with hopes that their new equipment would give them more data.

Command Center Revelations

Bard gave the team a look at the data captured by the Metaframe software. During the rocket launch, Bard’s software picked up a strange flare up near the launch, which could explain how the cord broke. Was it a UAP?

Pete Kelsey played the drone footage from the rocket launch, revealing that the drone shook after the rockets launched. When he showed another angle, it’s possible to see the concentric circles in the sky above the Triangle. Taylor correctly guessed that the height of the phenomena was 610 meters, or about 2000 feet, which is the same radius as the Bubble. The thermal video captured the Bubble and the Mesa. The area above the Mesa was very cold compared to the other area, and that same cold spot appeared in other places.

The end of the episode featured the team talking about their plans for Skinwalker Ranch this year. They believe they’re closer than ever to getting answers, and they’re prepared to do what it takes to find them.

Thoughts

There’s no question that the Skinwalker Ranch team is learning more and more about the secrets within the ranch. They have a solid plan to study the Bubble and the Blob and the ceramic fragments, and all of these things will no doubt yield more data to be analyzed.

I can’t help but think about how the US Government just released a trove of declassified information about UAPs and other unexplained phenomena. I have to wonder if any of this new information will dovetail with the findings at Skinwalker Ranch. Given the timing, we likely won’t have those answers until Season 8, but it’s still interesting to consider that the team’s findings might be corroborated by these new declassified documents.

All in all, this was a spectacular season premiere and I’m eager to see where the investigation leads.

The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch season 7 airs Tuesdays at 9pm ET/PT on History Channel. Keep track of all the new episodes with this handy episode guide.