The Men Who Stare at Goats
OCLC 56653467 | |
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2004) is a non-fiction book by Jon Ronson concerning the U.S. Army's exploration of New Age concepts and the potential military applications of the paranormal. The title refers to attempts to kill goats by staring at them and stopping their hearts. The book is a companion to a three-part TV series broadcast in Britain on Channel 4—Crazy Rulers of the World (2004)—the first episode of which is also entitled "The Men Who Stare at Goats". The same title was used a third time for a loose feature film adaptation in 2009.
Content
Book synopsis
The book's first five chapters examine the efforts of a handful of U.S. Army officers in the late 1970s and early 1980s to exploit
In the middle third of the book (Chapters 6–11), the author leaps to the present day—i.e., 2004, just after the
The final section of the book (Chapters 13–16) leaps backward to the 1950s and attempts to connect the Army psychic program, and later interrogation techniques, with the CIA's
Featured individuals
Interviewed by Ronson
- Glenn B. Wheaton, retired remote viewer; set Ronson on the trail of the "men who stare at goats"
- Albert Stubblebine, retired Army major general; career military intelligence officer; proponent of psychic warfare, levitation, spoon-bending and walking through walls
- Jim Channon, retired Army lieutenant colonel; author of the First Earth Battalion Operations Manual; New Age guru and consultant
- John B. Alexander, retired Army colonel; proponent of non-lethal weapons and of military applications of the paranormal; introduced Channon's book to Stubblebine
- Frederick Holmes "Skip" Atwater, retired Army lieutenant; Gen. Stubblebine's "psychic headhunter"; later president of the Monroe Institute
- James V. Hardt, research psychologist and expert on the electrophysiological basis of spiritual states; assisted the "men who stare at goats"
- Steven Halpern, new-age musician consulted by the Army on how to deploy music as a weapon or for mind-control via subliminal messages
- martial artist and psychic; recruited to work with US Special Forces by Col. Alexander; purportedly "downed" a goat and killed a hamsterusing only his mind
- Pete Brusso, martial artist and psychic; inventor/marketer of a personal self-defense weapon ("the Predator"); Savelli's rival for US military contract work
- spoon-bendingIsraeli celebrity psychic entertainer; self-described consultant to the US military
- Prof. Courtney Brown, Emory University political scientist and paranormal proponent; allegedly barred from the Art Bell radio show after inspiring the Heaven's Gatemass suicide
- Prudence Calabrese, psychic who worked with Courtney Brown; also banned from the Art Bell radio show
- PsyOpssoldiers in Iraq
- GTMOprisoner
- Edward ("Ed") A. Dames, retired Army major, intelligence officer and psychic; frequent guest on the Art Bell radio show; known as "Dr Doom"
- Joseph McMoneagle, retired Army NCO and chief warrant officer; intelligence officer and psychic; now runs a remote viewing business
- Lyn Buchanan, retired Army intelligence NCO and psychic; unlike several of his colleagues, did not go on to develop a civilian "psychic franchise"
- Eric Olson, son of Frank Olson; lifelong activist to uncover cause of his father's mysterious death
- Bob Ricks, American law enforcement official; incident commander at 1993 Waco siege
- Norman Cournoyer, Ft. Detrick colleague of Frank Olson; confirmed to Frank's son Eric that, in his view, his father's death was a CIA murder
Discussed in depth
- Michael Echanis, self-styled "soldier of fortune" and psychic martial artist; "pin up" icon for Special Forces groupies; died in a 1978 accident in Nicaragua
- Gen. Manuel Noriega, superstitious dictator of Panama; exploited sorcery and witchcraft to wield power; nemesis of Gen. Stubblebine
- Art Bell, late night radio host and proponent of all manner of paranormality and conspiracies; mentor to Ed Dames
- Tony Robbins, self-help guru and firewalker; mentor to Gen. Stubblebine
- Frank Burns, retired Army colonel and Internet pioneer; purportedly coined (with Channon) the Army's '80s recruiting slogan "Be All That You Can Be"
- Igor Smirnov, Russian psychiatrist; mind-control and thought projection expert; consulted by FBI during the 1993 Waco siege
- Frank Olson, American bacteriologist and Army bio-weaponeer; died in 1953 in tragic CIA misadventure
- Sidney Gottlieb, American chemist and CIA spymaster; dosed Frank Olson with LSD days before his death
- "Dr. Bucha", U.S. Army scientist who, in the 1950s, investigated tactical uses of helicopter flicker vertigo; may be an urban legend as no one knows his first name
- David Koresh, American leader of the Branch Davidians religious sect; subjected to musical weirdness and finally killed during 1993 Waco siege
Reception
Ronson's book was met with mostly positive, often glowing, reviews: the
Some critics, however, were skeptical of what they considered Ronson's shaky logic and some of his bolder assertions.
Television series
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2015) |
The 2004 series Crazy Rulers of the World was aired in three parts:
- Part 1: "The Men Who Stare at Goats"
- Part 2: "Funny Torture"
- Part 3: "The Psychic Footsoldiers"
It was broadcast in Britain on Channel 4.
Feature film adaptation
A fictionalized feature film version of the book was released in 2009 under the same name.
Coinciding with the release of the feature film in 2009, John Sergeant, the producer of the TV series Crazy Rulers of the World, accused Ronson of "airbrushing him out of the story". While Ronson dedicated his book to Sergeant and included an afterword commending his research and guidance, the feature film did not mention his contributions.[8][9]
References
- Union-Tribune San Diego, Union-Tribune Publishing Co. [Book review of The Men Who Stare at Goats]: “This so-called "remote viewing" operation continued for years, and came to be known as Star Gate.”
- ^ Clarke, David (2014), Britain's X-traordinary Files, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, pg 112.: “The existence of the Star Gate project was not officially acknowledged until 1995... then became the subject of investigations by journalists Jon Ronson [etc]...Ronson’s 2004 book, The Men Who Stare at Goats, was subsequently adapted into a 2009 movie...”
- ^ Shermer, Michael (November 2009), “Staring at Men Who Stare at Goats” @ Michaelshermer.com.:”...the U.S. Army had invested $20 million in a highly secret psychic spy program called Star Gate .... In The Men Who Stare at Goats Jon Ronson tells the story of this program, how it started, the bizarre twists and turns it took, and how its legacy carries on today.”
- ^ Krippner, Stanley and Harris L. Friedman (2010), Debating Psychic Experience: Human Potential Or Human Illusion?, Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/Greenwood Publishing Group, pg 154: “The story of Stargate was recently featured in a film based on the book The Men Who Stare at Goats, by British investigative journalist Jon Ronson (2004)”.
- ^ Heard, Op. cit.
- ^ Geoff Boucher (November 1, 2009). "Jeff Bridges, psychic warrior". LA Times.
- ^ "These are The Men Who Stare at Goats". ComingSoon.net. September 12, 2008. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
- ^ Sergeant, John (2009-12-01). "How My Involvement with The Men Who Stare at Goats Was Erased Entirely". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
- ^ Akbar, Arifa (2009-11-03). "Clooney caught in crossfire as war breaks out over latest film – News, Films". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
External links
- The Men Who Stare at Goats at IMDb
- The Crazy Rulers of the World at IMDb
- PDF of original First Earth Battalion manual
- "Book Discussion on The Men Who Stare at Goats". C-SPAN. 14 April 2005. Retrieved 2 May 2015.