We've laid the foundation. We explained, although unproven, the Haynesville Shale potentially holds a lot of oil and natural gas. Even though nothing is set in stone, people are cashing in on this coveted rock. If you own land, and oil and gas companies want to put a well on it, you're gonna get paid.

Pat Williamson owns some acreage in De Soto Parrish, South of Shreveport. Before this land grab she says she would have been happy to lease her land for 100-dollars an acre, but now things have changed..

"A lot of people have gotten up to 9-thousand dollars, but we got 4,250 and i was thrilled to death," she says.

That's 4-thousand-250 dollars per acre. That's just the icing on this cake. Most land leasers, like Pat, also get 25-percent of whatever profits these wells produce.

Pat says, "It's just awesome really, you know, it's really good...but it just shocks me too."

Richard Bohnert lives in Blanchard. He says he's okay with a well on his property. His house is less than 500-feet away from where a well - will be.

"I think, uh, as they call the mailbox money will be worth the trouble for a couple month's worth of chatter," he says.

Excavators have been pulling up trees and moving dirt, it's some of the "chatter" Richard is talking about.

"When they come in on your property, build a road, they're actually changing the look of your property....from a pasture, to a road, they classify that as damages," Richard says.

Richard and his family are getting a pond, courtesy of this damages plan. The price-tag for this whole thing is picked up by the energy company.

"They're actually gonna increase the value of my property by damaging it...if you would," Richard says.

Geologists and oil experts say this shale potentially stretches from Blanchard, East to the town of Minden, then South, all the way down into De Soto Parrish.
A similar shale has been found in Texas too. Bill Pittman, founder of "MyOilPro.com" says both could be the same Haynesville Shale.

"We are correlating, think it might be the same thing....and if it is, that would mean that everything, in through here, could be productive...possibly," Pittman says.

Speculation, possiblity, potential, all words that find their way into conversations about this shale. We do know many people have already made a bunch of money, and that group could soon include some East Texans.

In part three of our special report, we'll show you the drilling has in fact begun in East Texas. It's closer than you might think. We'll also tell you why not everyone is rolling out the red carpet for everything that comes with this "hype."