Wake Up Down There
Wake Up Down There
May 19 2008

“Men Who Stare At Goats” To Be Filmed

Last week at the Cannes Film Festival, a deal was struck to adapt Jon Ronson’s book The Men Who Stare at Goats into a feature film starring George Clooney. Ronson chronicled the US Government’s research into psychic phenomema in the 1980s and ’90s.

As far as I can remember from skimming through the book, Ronson didn’t so much make fun of the subject, so much as let the events speak for themselves, although the publishers apparently took pains to give readers the impression that the entire thing was a colossal joke. Although much of the research (spurred on in part because of Soviet efforts to harness psychic phenomena) was inconclusive or an outright failure, perhaps the filmmakers will take an even hand with the subject.

Clooney is well-known for his interest in conspiracy and spycraft stories, starring in such films as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Syriana, and the just-completed Burn After Reading.

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10 Comments to ““Men Who Stare At Goats” To Be Filmed”

  1. crgintx Says:

    I remember some thinly veiled scifi novels written in the ’80’s about the psychic wars between the Soviets and the US. From what little I’ve gleaned from official reports, the Soviets were well ahead in developing telekenetic powers and the US had the lead in developing telepathic and empathic skills such remote viewing and reading folks true emotional state. From what I’ve researched, the average person can disrupt a random number generator simply by staring at a monitor or even being in the same room with it. We know that bio-electric fields exist and that they can effect sensitive test equipment but how they effect larger electrical systems maybe of greater importance if you consider that there are now 6.6 billion humans generating huge amounts of bio-electricity overall.

  2. mister ecks Says:

    A good, non-sensationalist insider’s account of the US governments psi-spy program can be found in Reading the Enemy’s Mind by Paul H. Smith.

  3. red pill junkie Says:

    I remember reading that Boris Yeltsin was very paranoid about the possibility of psychic spies causing him a heart attack.

  4. drew hempel Says:

    Greg — what’s your take on Ingo Swannm — the father of “staring at goats” (U.S. paranormal government experiments). Someone mentioned his “Psychic Sexuality” book and I searched for it: Not in stock and not available used and only in two libraries in the U.S.

    Then there’s his UFO contact autobiography - listed for $499!!

    The contents for his “psychic sexuality” book seemed completely accurate to me — for example he states that the beginning of visions is to see blue light. Last full moon I saw blue light very strongly. I know he’s right on this. Then he states that auras and lucidity compete with intuitive information. The “dream healer” Adam states this as well in his biography — and his work is recommended by qigong master Effie P. Chow whom I met and know is the real deal. Of course the thread of the book is the sex energy and this is also totally accurate.

    Anyway but Greg — Swann’s autobiography states that aliens walk the planet secretly, that the U.S. government is monitoring an alien base on the dark side of the moon, etc.

    So do you think Swann slipped into the CIA Stargate Conspiracy OR WHAT?!? What’s the disinfo on Swann?

  5. Greg Bishop Says:

    Drew,

    You have read a bit more on Swann than I have. His intro to the remote viewing program came very early, as Hal Puthoff and Russell Targ invited him to the SRI facility in the early 1970s to check on his claims and found them to be somewhat accurate. He also devised the early versions of RV protocol, so in a real sense, he is the father of American remote viewing. His admittedly strange beliefs (I didn’t say “wrong”) could not have helped but influence those he was training.

  6. drew hempel Says:

    Thanks Greg. There’s randomness and then there’s Randy-Ohm-ness and a lot of strangeness in between.

  7. sasdave Says:

    I read some where that the Montalk project was the testing ground for the further development that may have led to the staring at goats project. As it sounds like it is another form of psychic advancement or psychic security.

  8. digigeek Says:

    The book is widely available as a PDF via torrents.

    I can’t stand seeing people just read anything and completely believe it. It’s as bad as ritual skepticism.

    Montauk, as in Long Island. Not Montalk.

    Lastly, as far as I can tell Ingo Swann is just another cat trying to make a buck from stories of his alleged past military career. Holy mackerel, these guys are a dime a dozen. The ones I listen to are the ones who whisper or are who are found by others, not the self-promoting fools like Swann. Like Lemmings, many of you are.

  9. sasdave Says:

    digigeek, Guess you were refering to me? Sorry about the spelling error and another thing I was not talking about Ingo swan. It appears your just as much a lemming yourself. I just asked a question and you can falsely believe what you will. For one it appears you have no idea what was done at Montauk. You are very right regarding ritual skeptisism it appears that’s what is keeping the lid on the finding answers. Whether it comes from whisperers or those with guts to talk openly, doesn’t make it more true. I guess there is no need to be here as just asking a question and being brave enough to ask one just gets ya ritual skepticism and abusive lemming jargon; to which, has nothing to do with what I was referring to. Thanks for your concerns though.

  10. drew hempel Says:

    Yeah I was going through Jim Marrs’ PSISPIES book at B & N yesterday — he notes Swann getting into paranormal skills after Swann realizing his little pet could telepathically communicate with him.

    That falls into the “anti-book” genre for me — all those psychic pet books (granted Nick Redfern’s new memoir has a whole spiel about his psychic pet connection).

    I’m not saying I haven’t had telepathy with my pets (I had a best-friend parakeet that I raised from its nest).

    But that type of telepathy is more like an emotional connection where you talk with body language. And yes birds do smile with the eyes!

    Anyway so who’d want to work for the CIA anyway? Seems pretty silly to me but if you live in New York and are a starving artist you HAVE to find some new angle for cash. That was Swann’s story at least.

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