Daniel Paul
Appearances
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
But the other was that they threw a flashbang into his little hovel beneath the rock, probably knowing that there was TNT in there and knowing that they were going to kill him. And the flashbang, you know, caught the dynamite on fire and it blew up and Frank Kritzer was dead. So...
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Van Tassel finds out about this and he works with the Bureau of Land Management to acquire that property to sort of homestead it. And Van Tassel eventually moves out there. I think this is about 1947. He leaves the aerospace practice altogether and decides to run the landing strip out there.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
He builds a little cafe for his wife to run called the Come On In, where people could land on the landing strip just to go get a piece of pie, like Howard Hughes apparently did all the time. He would fly and get a piece of cherry pie and leave. And when Van Tassel first moved in there, he had three young daughters also. He cleaned Kritzer's blood off the rocks.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
I mean, his blood and his innards were still in there. Like, it was just, you know... Van Tassel, what a weird experience. He cleans it off. One of his daughters told me later that they never actually lived under the rock. They lived kind of next to it in these sort of tents, but they lived outdoors. But Van Tassel gets really interested in what's going on under that rock.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And at a certain point, he starts leading regular Christian church services out at Giant Rock. prayers, singing of hymns, so on and so forth. I mean, he's not a minister, but he's doing this. And he's running the airstrip that Kritzer had established. And at a certain point, those who are gathered with him underneath the rock, Start getting really interested in experiments.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
I believe it's called telekinesis, where you move objects by thinking, you know, thinking your way through moving them and whatnot. And he starts getting into more things, a little more esoteric than just your typical church service. And that led to a series of channelings that... Van Tassel and others claimed to begin having underneath the rock.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
The first occurred on January 6, 1952, and the space being's name was Lutbun. I don't know where these names come from, but L-U-T-B-U-N-N. Lutbun says, this was the channeling. It's short. I'll read it. I am Lutbun, senior in command, first wave, planet patrol, realms of Shari. We have your contact aboard 80,000 feet above this place.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Your press will have more to report on your so-called flying saucers. We return your contact. Discontinue. Hmm. So that was his first channeling. And from there, there are going to be numerous of these channelings from beings with names like Newt, Morko, Deska, Ashtar, and the Golden Density, where George would just kind of take on this green-gold sort of radiance and channel through him.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And so underneath the boulder, George and his friends start getting these channelings. George refers to them as telethought, and sometimes he calls them omnibene. And sometimes they give messages like, There are some issues. He had a newsletter called Proceedings, and some of them give messages for the Christian holidays.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Like there's an Easter message from Esu, and they give channelings according to George and the others. And a lot of it is kind of life advice. There's instructions on how to get rid of the headache. Anything useful? I haven't tried it, actually. I'm trying to remember the details, but I can't offhand. It involved...
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
something, almost something around a polarity where you would touch one part of the body with another and then switch it over. George is really interested in polarity in a variety of his endeavors with the Integratron too. So anyway, I think there's a lot of, I won't say fear, but the space beings, according to George and the others, this is right after the bomb went off, right?
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
This is right after Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the bombs. And there's a lot of concern on the space beings about where this is going and concerns about humanity. They seem to be pretty positive. I mean, none of them say anything really evil. They seem to be, according to what George experienced in the others, they seem to have kind of a positive spin on all this.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
So he's having these channelings for a while, about a year. And suddenly, one night out of these channelings on August 24th, 1953, that's when he has his visitation from Solganda. It was one night around, I think, 2 a.m., and George Van Tassel said he was in his, I think he said he was in his boxers or underpants of some kind. I think he referred to them as skivvies.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
I don't know if people still call them that. He was outside the rock, so this would have been just outside Giant Rock, and he said it was a Venusian space being, 5'6", Tanned and handsome 28-year-old man who was 300 years old. He was wearing a one-piece gray suit like a sweatsuit with no buttons or pockets. So he remembers all these details.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And the being said, I am Solgonda, and I would be pleased to show you my craft. And in so many words, the being said, consider this a reward.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Yes, he went inside it and talked about some of the instrumentation, from what I remember, that there were fluorescent tubes. He went inside the craft. He said Salgonda had a dog that looked like a rabbit, like with really big ears. Went inside the craft. Salgonda showed him around a little bit. I don't think the craft went anywhere with George in it. Apparently, he was sort of like...
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
like portaled up into the craft, like sort of lifted almost like an out-of-body experience, you know, where you're kind of lightweight and floating. This is what he claimed happened. And then the being said, the problem with you earthlings is that by the time you know what you need to know, you are too old. You need to live longer.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
So what the being imparted on George was that by the time humans have the wisdom that they sort of need to understand the world, they're ready to die or they're starting to decay. And so there must be a way to extend human life. And apparently Solganda gave George various instructions on how to build what later became the Integratron.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Some of these George took with him, you know, never shared it with anybody. But from what we know, from what he did share, the structure was to be made entirely of wood. Humans were not to wear metal. And he imparted on George an equation of F equals one over T. Frequency equals one over time. So after this, George kind of hit the ground running.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
He acquires 10 acres where the Integratron is eventually going to be made. He has plans to start a whole campus based off the teachings of these channeling experiences. And shortly after this, he starts what's called the Interplanetary Spacecraft Conventions at Giant Rock, which lasted from 1954 until 1977, but only missing one year there, like 1971. And these were the first in the U.S.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
sort of conventions or gatherings where people would come together and talk about contact or UFO experiences. So George Van Tassel becomes kind of an important person in what's called ufology. And immediately after this experience, he begins to get going on building this campus. He builds an observatory that's still there and kind of like a room for taking care of business, like an office.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And then there's plans to build the College of Universal Wisdom Research Laboratory with the Integratron as its center point. And all of this is done. I mean, starting in 1947, that's right when Van Tassel moved out there. This is when a lot of people think they're seeing flying saucers, UFOs. You know, you have Kenneth Arnold, Marjorie Cameron, who I think was the first...
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
in the post-war era to see something that we would call today a UFO. I think she saw hers in like February or March of 1946. So George is kind of like part of this whole milieu. He's coming out of the aerospace thing. He's working with Howard Hughes
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
he's he's deep in the desert he's kind of like the perfect person to have this experience you know in looking back and uh leads these spacecraft conventions right around that time the fbi opens a file on him i mean they're totally like a little freaked out by everything he's doing somebody he had given up he had been giving a lot of talks all over the country in tv interviews
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
I wrote a book called I Wrote a Flying Saucer, even though he really didn't. As soon as you get in the book, it says, the being said I did. I don't claim to write a flying saucer, the being said I did. A little bit of a disclaimer there, I guess. After this experience, it was all about starting this campus and building the Integratron and finding a way to make the Integratron happen.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Up in the sky. It's almost frustrating that it's happening. I'm going to die. It's limbs were just like, wrong.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
You know, who knows? I mean, like, did George really have this information in his head? Or is that mythology? I don't know. But George Van Tassel did hire an architect named Howard P. Hess. Because of George's background with aerospace... I'm guessing, and because of how similar the Integratron is to an aircraft fuselage, I'm guessing that George already knew a lot of this information.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
I mean, whether it was sublimated to a being named Solgonda or not, George was around it. On the document, we have a space where we list architects. So I did credit Solganda. And the way I did is after George Van Tassel's name, I gave Solganda a parenthetical because according to George, the instructions came from Solganda. So who am I to disagree with George on this?
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
If George says it's Solganda, then I'll just go with that because that's what he said. Even if this other architect, Howard, has had a lot to do with it, George credited Solgonda, and I'm just going to honor what George credited or how he would want it.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Okay, so George has this experience, gets 10 acres of land near Giant Rock, which is where the Integratron lives, is eventually built and starts the Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention, starts writing books, starts doing television interviews. He had already, before the visitation from Solaganda, he had already been having OmniBeam and telethon experiences and channelings and recording them.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
So I feel like the Solaganda visit is kind of the culmination. But then from there, he has to build this. So he starts a magazine called Proceedings, which is published more or less quarterly. And it prints a lot of the channelings from various space beings and talks about the progress of building the campus, the need for funds, how far along they are and what his plans are.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And he finally gets enough money to get going on the College of Universal Wisdom Research Laboratory. So the construction began in 1958. So that's about five years after his visitation. And the dome was completed by 1960. But in 1958, right after he started, the early proceedings, newsletters mentioned that they're running short. You know, they need more money. And suddenly, on May 4th, 1959...
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
He gets a donation of $40,000. It's an anonymous donation of $40,000, which is about $436,000 today. It's an anonymous donation. It allows him to finish the Integratron. Nobody knows who did it. But in the mid-70s, whenever it was when Howard Hughes died,
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
George Van Tassel ran a very nice homage to Howard Hughes in one of the issues of Proceedings from the 70s, saying he was more generous than anybody will ever know. In all likelihood, because George was friends with Howard Hughes, worked with him. We know they got along. Nobody's going to have that kind of money in George's circle except for Howard Hughes.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
So in all likelihood, it probably was Howard Hughes who paid for the Integra fund.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Yeah, I don't know. I would be curious to know if the Space Beings ever gave any recipes.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Right, right. I'll show you my UFO. Give me pie.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
In terms of the architecture, what makes the architecture special is it's all wood construction. There's no nails even used anymore. It's wood doweling. So these 16 ribs that sort of support this hemispherical umbrella dome, they're all wood doweled together. And they all meet in an oculus, which is an opening in the roof that's 1.5 tons of concrete and a material called micarta.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And that oculus is so heavy that it compresses everything down. So what makes it special is the structure is all wood. It's quite beautiful without ever intending to be beautiful. And it's remarkably strong. There was no damage from a 7.1 earthquake just three miles away. And George at the time even knew it would be strong.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And on top of it, what makes it special is acoustically, it's quite magical in there. Even though, again, that's a byproduct of everything else. The Integratron was intended to be a life extension machine based off a variety of studies, papers, information out there at the time about electricity.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
and the possibility that if a human cell can receive a certain amount of electricity at a certain frequency, that that would regenerate the human cell and therefore extend human life. So the way the integrotron was to function People walk in. There's one door. I think it's facing south. People walk in. They are to turn counterclockwise.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And as they walked counterclockwise, they were going to be the recipients of... a generous amount of electricity that would be regulated to the human cell through equipment that George operated in a control facility outside of the dome itself. And the belief was that if people undertook this walk, You know, they weren't supposed to wear any metal.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
If they undertook this walk and were the recipients of this electrical charge, not to mention the billions of negative ions that the Integratron was intended to generate, that this could possibly be a means of life extension. So part of the way that the electricity was to be generated was was on the outside of the building. Originally, George Van Tassel had what's called a wind-sourced apparatus.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
That's what he proposed. It's a way to generate electric static energy. There's 64 of these metal rods protruding out. He was able to flip a switch and to turn those rods on, and they were to spin really fast, generate electrical energy that a collector comb and some other aspects of the Integratron would collect.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Yes, I did. And so I'm an architectural historian for a living. I have a master's in art history. A big part of my work as an architectural historian involves writing what we call landmark applications. They could be for I've done City of Los Angeles applications for the Capitol Records building in Hollywood, the entirety of Griffith Park in LA.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
and redistribute back inside the dome in a way that was to be safe and appropriate to regulating it toward the cells of the humans that were to walk through there. And George had a very strong belief in this because he believed very strongly in the connection between humans and electricity. In fact, there's a quote
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
from George that we are electrical creatures using a biochemical body to exist in an electrochemical environment. He even saw spirit as electricity. So for him, there was a sort of a scientific logic to a lot of this, he's coming at this as an engineer, as an aerospace guy, but he's tapping into some very interesting territories by connecting electricity with spirituality.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And he's also turning to electricity to extend human life. And that was the purpose of the Integratron, its primary purpose. By the way, it's called the Integratron for the ability of electricity to integrate with the human cell. So it's about integration between electricity and biology. That's where the name Integratron comes from.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
No. So the later issues of Proceedings magazine, he sort of comes up with this sort of like percentage. And they're quite funny if you read them month to month. It's like we are 79 percent there. We are 81 percent there. We are 88 percent there. We're almost there. And my understanding is it was never fully completed in George's lifetime. And he died in 1978 of a heart attack.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And there's some thoughts around his death. A lot of people found it quite suspicious. They said he was in really good health. But, you know, heart attacks happen. I have sometimes wondered if the integrotron got far enough to where he was trying it on himself, some aspects of this, and that may have caused a problem.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Because, you know, if you zap a body with a lot of electricity, that's going to cause something to go wrong with your heart. I mean, there's a lot of issues left to be resolved with what he was proposing. He didn't die on site, though. He died in Orange County, visiting some friends and getting a publication done. But he was only in his 60s. He lived a very interesting life.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
I mean, he left the aerospace industry at age 37 and just lived out the rest of his years out there doing this. He was 68 or 67 when he passed away. You know, a very, like, a weirdly full life, if you will. But as far as I know, it never got to the point where it was operational. I know that there are some people out there who said, oh, we got to get it running again.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
They're just interested in getting this thing going, which all the machinery's gone now. Right after George died, a lot of the machinery disappeared. I've heard different stories that the government came and took it or maybe just got cleared off the site some other way.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
I don't know, but I also heard from a lot of folks about some other thoughts or theories about what happened to the machinery and did the FBI come and take it? The FBI file on George, by the way, closed... It was signed by J. Edgar Hoover, which is interesting, but it closed by the late 60s. They kind of saw him as benign. They weren't too worried about him after a while.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
They just basically said, you know, he's harmless. He's just eccentric, you know, doing his own thing. He's different. And they let it go. And...
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
At this time, especially to go back to something I mentioned earlier, because Southern California was sort of the center point of aerospace and high tech for the world at that time, and it had a lot of open space, you probably are going to see a lot of things in the air at that time that the military doesn't want you to know about. So people are probably, they probably are seeing things that are
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
different and distinctive and the government's not going to want to talk about it. You know, if it's a military craft, they're just going to want to say, yeah, that's, don't look at it or just that's not what you think or whatever. A lot of the channelings that George experienced, a lot of information around the dangers of the nuclear situation and concerns about what humans are going to be doing.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And so that coupled with just How intense the bomb was and what technology led to with the bomb, I think, sort of led to this, I don't know if you want to call it sublimation or what, but a lot of energy toward these feelings or experiences, in their words, of being channeled or going through something like this.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
So the family of three, the Carl sisters, they hired me to write a National Register of Historic Places landmark designation for the Integratron property that allows it to be a protected property. It makes it harder to demolish. And it allows the property to use a more flexible building code here in California called the State Historical Building Code.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Wow, well, that would be nice if somebody's trying to make sure we don't. I mean, that's a nice thought, you know.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
A couple things that happened. Right after George died, he had a wife named Doris. And there was a man who sort of, in a sneaky way, ended up with the deed to the property and kind of having it signed the property over to him in a way that she may not have intended. And his plan was to turn it into a gay nightclub called the Lavender Disco.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
So that was the plan. Okay. And that didn't happen. For a while, there was a couple that owned it. And I think they wanted to, they were either friends with George or sort of true believers in the Integratron. And they were going to try to get it running again. And it kind of just sat there. It was maintained good enough. I mean, I think it had some problems.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
It was getting, you know, there was never a lot of money around it for like the 20 years that it kind of sat there. I actually first came across it in 1997. Yeah. Before it sort of took on the new life that it has now, I was actually, I was there with my friend Godfrey, who was one of the fellows who discovered the Mojave telephone booth.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
If you've ever heard about that, this telephone booth that was deep in the desert near an off-ramp called CIMA, C-I-M-A. And just on a dirt road, miles and miles in the desert, suddenly there was a working telephone booth in the 90s and we used to go camp there. Anyway, he had a car, it was a 1963 Chevy completely covered with the album cover whipped cream and other delights by Herb Alpert.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And the car was called Whip It. Back then you can get those, you'd get that at any thrift store. I had my little Honda Civic hatchback and we're driving around. He drives me out to Landers to show me Giant Rock. Then we go to the Integratron and both our cars get stuck in the sand, both of them.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And this old man comes up to us and he had a white beard and he's holding like, I don't know if he's drinking beer out of a cozy or what, but he's holding like one of those styrofoam cozies. It's like 1130 or one in the afternoon. And he looks at us and he says, you're here to see that? And we're kind of sheepishly saying, yeah, you know.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And we're thinking this guy's going to just mock us, you know, because we're here to see this UFO, ufology thing. And he kind of stops and he kind of looks up and he says, yeah. He says, I remember the night it happened. Like, what are you talking about? The time stood still. It was like time stood still. And he saw all these lights. And I had no idea what this man was talking about.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
But he gave us this whole thing. And at the time, I knew zero about the Integratron. I had no idea what he was talking about. And so he kind of goes into some detail about time standing still and these lights and And he said his name was Daniel Boone. And I'm like, that's interesting. Daniel Boone. Okay. And it turns out that his name really was Daniel Boone. He was George Van Tassel's son-in-law.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
So, yes, as you mentioned, I did do all of the paperwork to complete the National Register of Historic Places application.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
So I was talking with George Van Tassel's son-in-law this whole time. And I had no idea. I had no idea who George Van Tassel was. I had no idea who this Daniel Boone, I mean, I remember telling him, my name's Daniel too. I mean, what do you say in that situation? He pulled both our cars out with his truck and we were on our way.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And I didn't know until years later that that was George Van Tassel's son-in-law telling us that.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Yeah, so the sisters, the Carl sisters bought it about 2000 from this couple that had it before. And they're the ones who are kind of really responsible for regenerating it. And I think a lot of them were interested in the idea of audiology or hearing like a therapeutic healing through sound.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And they had the, you know, realizing how amazing the acoustics are on that upper level, which again was never intended to even have anybody in it. It was never intended to have anything in it but machinery. Van Tassel ended up making something so beautiful and so magical for so many people, but that is totally peripheral to what he intended. So it's funny how life works out.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
I mean, the Integratron itself now has an extended life, if you will. It's the Integratron that lives on in this sort of beautiful new afterlife form.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
You know what I mean? Yeah. It's gorgeous. It was not a form that it was ever intended. It took on this beauty in the next life that nobody at the time could have ever predicted. So the Integratron itself... is what got extended life through, through these sisters. And they've, they're very good about preserving the building and they're the ones who hired me.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And, uh, you know, everybody understood how distinctive this was and that it spoke to a very unique chapter in ufology and that, and that Southern California after World War II, especially had a sort of lineage with ufology. Carl Jung, he called Southern California classic saucer country. Hmm.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
I think that, well, you mean on a personal level? Yeah, on a personal level. Oh, man. Well, I think I try to look at these things very clear-eyed. You know, as a historian, I need to. That's how—that's important for me to do. And so everything I've just told you is basically what George— stated in his words.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And I have no right to disagree with him on anything that he claims to have been an experience of his, which is part of the reason why he gave Salgonda a parenthetical in the nomination. The way I see the potential for other life to be out there, I guess there must be something out there that equivocates to consciousness.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
I would like to think that there are all kinds of things insofar as they have an energy that perhaps there is some form of life to them. That we're in a living, we're on a living planet and we're part of of a living universe in ways that we may not be able to possibly even perceive yet. And as we do, perhaps that becomes more what we equivocate to consciousness as humans.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Yes. Okay. So what is the Integratron? Well, the Integratron, if we look, let's start off with it physically, and then we'll talk a little bit about its intention and its purpose. The Integratron is located in a town called Landers. So this is what we call the high desert here in Southern California. It's near a town called Joshua Tree.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Yeah, well, we know that at least one person's tried.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's a very interesting property and I hope you've enjoyed learning more about it.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And if you were to drive up on the Integratron, the first thing you would see is a large white dome. So the Integratron is basically a substantially scaled hemispherical dome structure, about 43 feet in diameter and 33 feet tall, with these 64 metal die rods, you know, rods sticking off of it. So this is a very peculiar dome. building to identify.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
So when you first see it, it looks like something from 1950s science fiction or outer space or some sort of stage set for something related to something very otherworldly. Originally, the Integratron was not called the Integratron. It was called the College of Universal Wisdom Research Laboratory.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And the building was intended to be the primary building of a campus that was going to be about 10 acres, that was going to be focused upon information that George Van Tassel and others had received through channeling activity and primarily information given to George and these others from what he called the space people, what are commonly called aliens.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
When I was working on the nomination, they preferred not to be called aliens. So I guess we could stick with space people or these entities. But in general, the Integratron was intended as a life extension machine.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
that through electrostatic if the integrotron was to generate electricity modulate it basically to a human cell as a way to keep the cell alive and to therefore extend human life so this was intended as a life extension machine primarily. I mean, among some other uses that George Van Tassel talked about, but that was the primary purpose for the Integratron.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Yes, they are. So it's essentially what we call a whispering gallery. It's a dome. So the acoustics in there are absolutely incredible. And it's that effect... where if you say hello or anything, you sort of hear your own voice coming back at you and surround sound.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Today in the Integratron building, they do sound baths where people lay down and they have various crystal bowls and they hit the bowl and rub the rim of the bowl and come up with these frequencies.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
So the acoustics in there are magnificent and to the point where during these sound baths, if somebody's whispering something to their friend or if they're falling asleep and snoring on one side of the Integra Tron, everybody could hear everything they're saying on the other side.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
I'm not surprised. I don't really talk with a lot of people about their experiences, but I'm not surprised by that. I think being inside that dome is a very special experience for anybody.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Now, the thing I want to get to, though, that I think is kind of interesting about this, and I think it will circle back, is George Van Tassel, first of all, the acoustics were never intended to be anything on that floor. That floor was just intended to hold machinery. And the building is made entirely out of wood because when George had this contact with this space being named Solganda,
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
That is what Salgonda instructed George to do because there was a concern about metal interfering with some frequencies around the life extension or the healing process. So the funny thing about this, perhaps looking back now, is in George's mind, all of this was just science. There was a spiritual quality to the Integratron. He compared the Integratron to the tabernacle of Moses. But...
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
In terms of the experiences that people have in that room now, I think one of the remarkable aspects of the Integratron is how much it has given back to so many people, coupled with the fact that none of that was ever intended. It was really just intended to be a machine. And it wasn't made out of wood to be beautiful.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
It was made out of wood for a very practical purpose based off teachings given to George by a space being. It's almost like George Van Tassel, with help from Silgonda, created something very beautiful and giving to so many people. Yet that wasn't the deliberate or conscious intent. So in one sense, it becomes even more pure, beautiful in its own way. You know what I mean? Yeah.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
So George Van Tassel was born in Ohio in 1910. He did not finish high school, but his siblings considered him a super intelligent person, very, very smart. Apparently when he was like 12 or 13, he built a roller coaster off the family barn and put his siblings on it. So he was an engineering mind even at a very young age. By the time he was around 20, he had a pilot's license.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
He was very interested in flight. And when he was in his early 20s, he moves to California. He lives with an uncle in Santa Monica.
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Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
and he's fixing cars in a garage in Santa Monica, meets this fellow named Frank Kritzer, who was a German, even though, you know, of German descent, even though apparently he was an American citizen and even born here, you know, I think a lot of people just thought he was German and I'll get to that. This fellow says, I live deep in the desert.
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Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
I live at this large boulder, which we know today as Giant Rock. aptly enough. And George befriended Frank. Frank would have George out to the boulder. He thought Frank Kritzer had a very good positive energy. And he thought he somehow attributed Frank's well-being to living underneath this rock. It's believed to be world's largest freestanding boulder.
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Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
George would visit him, go out there, hang out with Frank. And that was that for a while. Well, at a certain point, George takes on aerospace work. I think he works for McDonnell Douglas, Hughes Aircraft, and Lockheed. At this time, Southern California is sort of the... world's sort of center for aerospace and high tech. And so George is in the milieu of that.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
In fact, for a while, George is working directly under Howard Hughes as one of his test flight inspectors. So George has a personal relationship with Howard Hughes, which is going to factor into this too.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
Absolutely. There's all kinds of that stuff out there. Right after World War II, Southern California was the world's capital for aerospace manufacturing. I think it was probably the primary generator of the Southern California economy was defense, satellite missiles and aerospace and all of that. So George is right in the middle of that.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
During World War II, Frank Kritzer builds an antenna on Giant Rock and the locals, including some of the local sheriffs, accuse him of being a spy. And they're getting really suspicious of him because here's this German living deep in the desert with an antenna on his boulder.
Otherworld
Episode 123: The Story of The Integratron
And at a certain point, they accuse him of stealing dynamite because Kritzer is doing some, you know, mining or whatever in the area. they get suspicious. And at a certain point, there's two different stories as to what happened next. One of them is that he committed suicide as they were closing in on him.