Stargate Project

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (April 2008)
This article is about United States government-sponsored remote viewing program. For other uses, see Stargate (disambiguation).

The Stargate Project[1] was the code name of one of several projects established by the U.S. Federal Government to investigate the reality, and potential military application, of psychic phenomena, particularly "remote viewing:" the purported ability to psychically "see" events, sites, or information from a great distance.[2] These projects were active from the 1970s through 1995, and followed up early psychic research done at Stanford Research Institute (SRI). [3]

The information on psychic research in foreign countries was sketchy and poorly detailed, based mostly on rumor or innuendo cooked from second-hand or tertiary reporting, attributed to both reliable and unreliable sources.[4][5]

Despite the dubious origins of much data, the CIA and military intelligence decided they should know as much about it as could possibly be understood. Programs were approved on a year-to-year basis and re-funded accordingly. Reviews were made semiannually at the Senate and House select committee level. Work results were reviewed, and remote viewing was demonstrated with the results being kept secret from the "viewer". It was thought that if the viewer was shown they were incorrect it would damage the viewer's confidence and skill. This was standard operating procedure throughout the years of military remote viewing programs. Feedback of any kind, to the viewer, was very rare. It was kept classified and secret.[6]

Remote viewing attempts to sense unknown information about places or events. Normally it is performed to detect current events, but during military intelligence applications viewers claimed to surprisingly sense things in the future, precognition. It is thought in these cases the material is being introduced from the future back to the present.[7]

Contents

[edit] The Stargate Project

The Stargate Project created a set of protocols designed to make clairvoyance a more scientific process, and minimize as much as possible session noise and inaccuracy. The term "remote viewing" emerged as a generalised short hand to describe this more structured approach to clairvoyance. Stargate only received a mission after all other intelligence attempts, methods, or approaches had already been exhausted.[8] The Stargate Project was to provide any intelligence information when there was nothing. In despair, it was believed something was better than nothing.[9] At its peak Stargate had about 22 remote viewers. When the project closed in 1995 this number had dwindled down to 3. One was using tarot cards. People leaving the project were not replaced.[10] According to Joseph McMoneagle, "The [US] Army never had a truly open attitude toward psychic functioning". Hence, the use of the term "giggle factor"[11] and the saying, "I wouldn't want to be found dead next to a psychic."[12] When gathering intelligence believed misinformation can be very more dangerous than none.[13] See: CIA informant Rafid Ahmed Alwan. As is common with all intelligence information, intelligence gathered by remote viewing must be verified by other sources. Remote-viewing information could not stand alone.(According to Ray Hyman in the AIR report, if Ed May's[14] conclusions are correct remote viewers were right 20% of the time and wrong 80% of the time.)

In 1995 the project was transferred to the CIA and a retrospective evaluation of the results was done. The CIA contracted the American Institutes for Research for an evaluation. On 30 June, before the AIR revue was to begin the CIA closed the Stargate project.[15] An analysis conducted by Professor Jessica Utts showed a statistically significant effect, with gifted subjects scoring 5%-15% above chance, though subject reports included a large amount of irrelevant information, and when reports did seem on target they were vague and general in nature.[16] Ray Hyman argued that Utts' conclusion that ESP had been proven to exist, especially precognition, "is premature and that present findings have yet to be independently replicated."[17] Based upon both of their collected findings, which recommended a higher level of critical research and tighter controls, the CIA terminated the 20 million dollar project. Time magazine stated in 1995 three full-time psychics were still working on a $500,000-a-year budget out of Fort Meade, Maryland, which would soon close up shop.[16]

[edit] Claims of Precognition

A few examples of confirmed future targets being sensed by Stargate remote viewers are the following given by Joseph McMoneagle[18] and Paul H. Smith.[19]

The predicted launch date for a newly constructed submarine months before it actually rolled from its construction crib and into the harbor by Joseph McMoneagle. McMoneagle guessed the submarine would be launched about "four months later", sometime in the month of January 1980. Satellite photos confirmed this in mid-January 1980 [20]According to Paul H. Smith, McMoneagle predicted "several months" in the future.[21]

The predicted release of a hostage in the Middle East and a correct description of the medical problem precipitating his release. The information was provided three weeks before the hostage takers made their decisions.

This conclusion seems to be associated with the following text: "When one of the hostages was released early because of medical conditions and shown the information we [remote-viewers] had accumulated, he was enraged. In his mind, the only way we could possibly had such accurate information, would be to have someone inside the embassy with the hostages..."[22] The data given by Keith Harary[23]at SRI, the Stargate Project, was: "He seems to be suffering from nausea. One side of his body seems damaged or hurt." He will be on an airplane in the next few days. The target turned out to be the hostage Richard Queen, held by Iranian militants and now desperately ill with symptoms including muscle weakness, lack of coordination, difficulty in vision, spasticity, vertigo, facial numbness, tremor, and emotional lability, multiple sclerosis, that affected his nerves on one side. In part due to his input, Harary says he was later informed by contacts at SRI, President Carter dispatched a plane to bring Queen home.[24] There is no reference to a three week prediction. There is no mention of the Iran hostage crisis (November 4, 1979 - January 20, 1981) or this incident in the 1984 book, The Mind Race: Understanding and Using Psychic Abilities, by Russell Targ and Keith Harary, which centers around remote viewing experiments and SRI.[25]

Upon reading of the May 17, 1987 attack on the frigate, the USS Stark, in the Washington Post, Paul H. Smith became convinced his three days earlier remote viewing, of an attack on an American Warship: the location, the method, and the reason for the attack, was precognition. [26]The American Warship "viewing" session was around 30 pages long, including writing and sketching of ships, parts of ships, map-like diagrams, etc.[citation needed]

[edit] Key project personnel

[edit] Major General Albert Stubblebine

Main article: Albert Stubblebine

A key sponsor of the research internally at Fort Meade, he was convinced of the reality of a wide variety of psychic phenomena, leading him to even attempt to walk through walls. In the early 1980s he was responsible for Army Intelligence, during which time the remote viewing project in the army began. Some commentators have confused Project Jedi supposedly run by Special Forces primarily out of Fort Bragg with Stargate. Stubblebine was made to retire and the new INSCOM commander became Major General Harry Soyster, who had a reputation for being anti-anything-paranormal.[27]

[edit] Ingo Swann

Main article: Ingo Swann
Remote Viewer
Biography
Name: Ingo Swann
Resume
Field: Author
Paranormal Area: Paranormal researcher/writer

An OT VII Scientologist, who coined the term 'remote viewing' as a derivation of protocols originally developed by René Warcollier, a French chemical engineer in the early 20th century, documented in the book Mind to Mind. Swann's achievement was to break free from the conventional mould of casual experimentation and candidate burn out, and develop a viable set of protocols that put clairvoyance within a framework named “Coordinate Remote Viewing” (CRV). In a 1995 letter Ed May [28] wrote he had not used Swann for two years because there were rumors of him briefing a high level person at SAIC on remote viewing and aliens, ETs. Though Swann was a good receiver May had two current receivers that were better.[29]

[edit] Pat Price

Remote Viewer
Biography
Name: Pat Price
Died: July 14, 1975
Resume
Field: Police Officer
Paranormal Area: Project Stargate Participant

A former Burbank, CA Police Officer who participated in a number of Cold War era Remote viewing experiments, including the US government sponsored project SCANATE and the Star Project. Working with maps and photographs provided to him by the CIA, Price claimed to have been able to retrieve information from facilities behind Soviet Lines. He is probably best known for his sketches of cranes and gantries which appeared to conform to CIA intelligence photographs. At the Time, his claims were taken seriously by the CIA.[30]

In addition to his participation in remote viewing experiments, Price believed that aliens had established four underground bases on Earth. He offered reports on these locations to Harold E. Puthoff, formerly of SRI International, the principal scientific investigator for Project SCANATE.[30]

For a time he worked alongside/in competition to Ingo Swann.

[edit] Joseph McMoneagle

Main article: Joseph McMoneagle

McMoneagle claims he had a remarkable memory of very early childhood events. He grew up surrounded by alcoholism, abuse and poverty. As a child he had visions of small rabbit that would come to him at night, to comfort him when he was alone and scared, and first began to hone his psychic abilities in his teens for his own protection when he hitchhiked. He enlisted to get away. McMoneagle became an experimental remote viewer, while serving in U.S. Army Intelligence.[31]

[edit] Lyn Buchanan

Buchanan was a sergeant brought in by General Stubblebine for two main reasons: firstly he was believed to possess extraordinary telekinetic abilities, and secondly computer software expertise. These made him exceptionally well-qualified to be the database manager for the Stargate project. In this role, Buchanan had the opportunity to work with all the key members of the unit, and in possession of statistical analysis of the session data, was able to properly assess the accuracy of the session data obtained. After leaving the forces, Buchanan founded "Problems, Innovations, Solutions", contracted Mel Riley to work for his company, and continues to undertake private tuition.

[edit] Mel Riley

Riley is an army Sergeant who retired in 1991. Riley was noted for being able to describe what lay under objects in aerial photography. In 1984, the CRV unit had only several trained remote viewers, and Riley was requested transferred to the unit. Riley was featured in the documentary released in 1995 by the BBC titled "The Real X-Files." He has recounted past life experiences as a Native American, and continues to be involved in native American culture.

[edit] Paul H. Smith

Smith is a retired U.S. Army Major and intelligence officer. Smith was one of the five people trained as a prototype test subject in Ingo Swann's psychic development of the CRV protocols in 1983. Smith was later assigned to work part time in the Defense Intelligence Agency’s remote viewing unit. He was the main author of what is known today as the “CRV Manual”. Its purpose was simply to serve as a guide and a reference for the terminology and it served to show inquisitive lawmakers what the millions of dollars were being spent on.[32] Swann wrote to Smith giving Smith's manual his approval. Smith has published articles on remote viewing in UFO Magazine, and about dowsing and remote viewing in The American Dowser, the quarterly journal of the American Society of Dowsers. His book Reading the Enemy's Mind was the book bonus feature for the March 2006 Reader's Digest.[33] In his informative book Smith tells the reader there are those who can bend spoons with their minds, claims he has remote viewed into the future and biolocated, has some doubts about the memories of his fellow remote viewers, shows he believes in Ingo Swann's teachings, honesty and versions of events, and supports the military potential of remote viewing. Smith blames bureaucrats afraid to take a risk, selective data and close-minded skeptics for the closing of Star Gate. [34]

[edit] Ed Dames

Because it was known to others around the Fort Meade area that Ed Dames was obsessed with UFOs and extraterrestrials, he was not one of the first five remote viewers trained by Ingo Swann. Instead, Dames was trained as how to "run" remote viewers (a monitor) as an aid to Fred Atwater.[35] He quickly established a reputation for pushing CRV to extremes, with target sessions on Atlantis, Mars, UFOs, and aliens. Mel Riley arranged a fake session in which a description was given of Santa Claus coming over the North Pole in his sleigh (Schnabel). Dames said the object over the north pole was a nuclear attack, and was set to call the highest levels of the military, before he was informed of the prank. Internally, his reputation never recovered. He is a frequent guest on the Coast to Coast AM radio show, having been a guest more than 30 times[36].

[edit] David Morehouse

David Morehouse entered into the DIA's Remote Viewing unit in 1987. Despite being designated by his superiors as “Destined to wear stars,” he resigned his commission in 1995 after his decision to write Psychic Warrior. He is the director of David Morehouse productions, and his company has trained 15,000 civilians in Remote Viewing Techniques.

[edit] References

  1. ^ related projects included Sun Streak, Grill Flame, Center Lane by DIA and INSCOM, and SCANATE by CIA
  2. ^ The Ultmate Time Machine: A Remote Viewer's Perception of Time, and the Predictions for the New Millennium by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing Co., Inc., 1998
  3. ^ Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate America's Psychic Espionage Program by Paul H. Smith, Forge Books, 2005
  4. ^ Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain: The astounding facts behind psychic research in official laboratories from Prague to Moscow by Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1970, A New Age Bestseller [1] and [2]
  5. ^ "Some of the intelligence people I've talked to know that remote viewing works, although they still block further research on it, since they claim it is not yet as good as satellite photography. But it seems to me that it would be a hell of a cheap radar system. And if the Russians have it and we don't, we are in serious trouble." Omni , July 1979, Congressman Charles Rose, Chairman, House Sub-Committee on Intelligence Evaluation and Oversight
  6. ^ Memoirs of a Psychic Spy: The Remarkable Life of U.S. Government Remote Viewer 001 by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing Co., 2002, 2006
  7. ^ The Ultmate Time Machine: A Remote Viewer's Perception of Time, and the Predictions for the New Millennium by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing Co., Inc., 1998
  8. ^ The Ultimate Time Machine by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing Co.,Inc.,1998, p.21
  9. ^ Mind Trek: Exploring Consciousness, Time, and Space Through Remote Viewing by Joseph Mcmoneagle, Hampton Roads, Publishing Co., Inc., 1997
  10. ^ Mind Trek: Exploring Consciousness, Time, and Space Through Remote Viewing by Joseph Mcmoneagle, Hampton Roads, Publishing Co., Inc., 1997
  11. ^ Mind Trek: Exploring Consciousness, Time, and Space Through Remote Viewing by Joseph Mcmoneagle, Hampton Roads, Publishing Co., Inc., 1997, P. 247
  12. ^ Memoirs of a Psychic Spy : The Remarkable Life of U.S. Government Remote Viewer 001 by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing Co., 2002, 2006, Revised and updated version of McMoneagles' The Stargate Chronicles, first edition
  13. ^ Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War by Bob Drogin, Random House, 2007 ISBN 1400065836
  14. ^ Beginning in 1976, Dr. May joined the on-going, U.S. Government-sponsored work at SRI International (formerly called Stanford Research Institute). In 1985, he inherited the program directorship of what was now called the Cognitive Sciences Program. Dr. May shifted that program to Science Applications International Corporation in 1991. Dr. May’s association with government-sponsored parapsychology research ended in 1995, when the program, now called STAR GATE, was closed.
  15. ^ Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate America's Psychic Espionage Program by Paul H. Smith, Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 2005
  16. ^ a b Time magazine, 11 December 1995, p.45, The Vision Thing by Douglas Waller, Washington
  17. ^ [3] Evaluation of a Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena by Ray Hyman.
  18. ^ The Ultimate Time Machine by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing Co.,Inc.,1998, p.116
  19. ^ Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate America's Psychic Espionage Program by Paul H. Smith, Forge Books, 2005, pp. 303-312
  20. ^ Memoirs of a Psychic Spy : The Remarkable Life of U.S. Government Remote Viewer 001 by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing Co., 2002, 2006, p. 123, Revised and updated version of McMoneagles' The Stargate Chronicles, first edition
  21. ^ Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate America's Psychic Espionage Program by Paul H. Smith, Forge Books, 2005, pp. 128-129
  22. ^ Memoirs of a Psychic Spy : The Remarkable Life of U.S. Government Remote Viewer 001 by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing Co., 2002, 2006, p. 110, Revised and updated version of McMoneagles' The Stargate Chronicles
  23. ^ Psychology Today: Confessions of a Star Psychic
  24. ^ http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:lbG6UtKMu60J:psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20051018-000003.html+richard+queen+remote+viewing&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us
  25. ^ The Mind Race: Understanding and Using Psychic Abilities by Russell Targ and Keith Harary, Villard Books, 1984
  26. ^ Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate America's Psychic Espionage Program by Paul H. Smith, Forge Books, 2005, pp. 303-312
  27. ^ Memoirs of a Psychic Spy: The Remarkable Life of U.S. Government Remote Viewer 001 by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing Co., 2002, 2006
  28. ^ Beginning in 1976, Dr. May joined the on-going, U.S. Government-sponsored work at SRI International (formerly called Stanford Research Institute). In 1985, he inherited the program directorship of what was now called the Cognitive Sciences Program. Dr. May shifted that program to Science Applications International Corporation in 1991. Dr. May’s association with government-sponsored parapsychology research ended in 1995, when the program, now called STAR GATE, was closed.
  29. ^ Stargate - Remote viewing history - military
  30. ^ a b
    • Schnabel Jim (1997) "Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies" Dell, 1997 , ISBN 0440223067
    • Richelson Jeffrey T "The Wizards of Langley: Inside the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology"
    • Mandelbaum W. Adam "The Psychic Battlefield: A History of the Military-Occult Complex"
    • Picknett Lynn, Prince Clive "The Stargate Conspiracy"
    • Chalker Bill "Hair of the Alien: DNA and Other Forensic Evidence of Alien Abductions"
    • Constantine Alex "Psychic Dictatorship in the USA"
  31. ^ Memoirs of a Psychic Spy : The Remarkable Life of U.S. Government Remote Viewer 001 by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing Co., 2002, 2006, Revised and updated version of McMoneagles' The Stargate Chronicles, first edition
  32. ^ Remote Viewing - Defense Intelligence Agency Coordinate Remote Viewing Manual (CRV Manual)
  33. ^ Learn Dowsing From Expert Paul Smith
  34. ^ Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate America's Psychic Espionage Program by Paul H. Smith, Forge Books, 2005
  35. ^ Memoirs of a Psychic Spy : The Remarkable Life of U.S. Government Remote Viewer 001 by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing Co., 2002, 2006, p. 163, Revised and updated version of McMoneagles' The Stargate Chronicles, first edition
  36. ^ http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guests/4.html

[edit] Further reading

  • Morehouse, David, Psychic Warrior, St. Martin's, 1996, ISBN 0-312-96413-7
  • Morehouse, David, Remote Viewing, Sounds True, 2008, ISBN 978-1-59179-239-0
  • Schnabel, Jim, Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies, Dell, 1997, ISBN 0-440-22306-7
  • Ronson, Jon, The Men who Stare at Goats, Picador, 2004, ISBN 0-330-37547-4 —- written to accompany the TV series The Crazy Rulers of the World[4]The military budget cuts after Vietnam and how it all began.
  • Buchanan, Lyn, The Seventh Sense: The Secrets Of Remote Viewing As Told By A "Psychic Spy" For The U.S. Military, ISBN 0-7434-6268-8
  • Smith, Paul H, Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate — America's Psychic Espionage Program, Forge Books 2005, ISBN 0-312-87515-0
  • Targ, Russell and Puthoff, Harold E, Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Abilities, Hampton Roads 2005, ISBN 1571744142 (originally published 1977 by Delacorte, ISBN 0440056888) - original book describing the early SRI remote viewing protocol while the experiments were ongoing, recently updated
  • F. Holmes Atwater, Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul: Living with Guidance, Hampton Roads 2001, ISBN 1-57174-247-6
  • McMoneagle, Joseph, The Stargate Chronicles: Memoirs of a Psychic Spy, Hampton Roads 2002, ISBN 1-57174-225-5
  • Utts and Josephson,The Paranormal: The Evidence and Its Implications for Consciousness,1996

[edit] External links

Languages