Integratron

George Van Tassel (1910-1978), one of the original flying saucer contactees of the 1950s, also organized the annual conventions of flying saucer believers at property he owned in the California desert. The presence of a large monolith at the place where the meetings were held gave his land its name, Giant Rock. Correlative to his belief in flying saucers and that he was in contact with extraterrestrials, Van Tassel also developed a belief that he could use some of the ideas of Hungarian scientist Nicola Tesla to create a rejuvenation machine. According to Van Tassel, he was given the actual design of the Integratron, which came to dot the landscape just a short walk from Giant Rock, by the space brothers. Van Tassel believed that it would become a focus of communication with them, and the completion of the Integratron became an agenda item for the Ministry of Universal Wisdom, the organization he founded to spread the teachings of Ashtar and the other space beings with whom he spoke. Research on rejuvenation and construction of the building were placed in the hands of the College of Universal Wisdom.

The Integratron is a circular building 58 feet in diameter with a domed top that gives it the appearance of a planetarium. Inside is a giant static generator, the theory behind the machine being that the creation of a large negative ion field, in which an aging individual could be enveloped, would produce the rejuvenation. This highly speculative venture was supported by scientific works on the effects of magnetic and electrostatic fields on various life forms. Van Tassel believed that once completed, the Integratron would also allow time travel and the nullification of gravity.

Van Tassel never finished the Integratron, due in no small part to lack of funds, and following his death in 1978, all work ceased. The building remained abandoned and unused for a decade. However, at the end of the 1980s it was purchased by Emile Canning and in 1991 it was renovated as a center for research into new technologies for physical and mental rejuvenation. Canning also began to hold pubic gatherings at the Integratron at which Van Tassel's ideas on rejuvenation were explored.

Sources:

Benson, Bob. Integratron. Larkspur, Calif.: Golden State Productions, 1991.

Van Tassel, George. The Council of Seven Lights. Los Angeles: DeVorss & Co., 1958. Reprinted as Religion and Science Merged. Yucca Valley, Calif.: Ministry of Universal Wisdom, 1968.