The Men Who Stare At Goats ((exclusive))

Despite occasional successes, Project Stargate was officially shut down in 1995. A government review concluded that there was simply not enough scientific evidence to justify its continued existence. Psychologist Ray Hyman, who reviewed the program’s data, stated bluntly: “There’s no science behind it. There’s just no evidence behind it”.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina — 1983 (Declassified, maybe)

The program officially began in 1972 and operated for two decades, training roughly 25 remote viewers who were selected not only for their analytical abilities but also for their creative, “right-brained” talents in music, art, and language. According to retired Major Paul H. Smith, who participated in the program for seven years, the remote viewers were brought in when conventional intelligence failed—as a “last resort”. Viewers would describe their psychic impressions in broad strokes; if they saw large containers holding a viscous, harmful substance, analysts might determine that a facility housed biological weapons.

While highly dramatized, much of the material is based on real programs from the late 1970s and early 80s.

To the astonishment of rational officers, the Army brass didn't laugh Channon out of the Pentagon. They funded it. The unit was known as the "Remote Viewing" program, later codenamed Project Stargate , based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Men Who Stare At Goats

Instead of lethal weapons, these soldiers would carry lambs into combat zones.

This led to the conception of the , a proposed unit of "warrior monks" who would win battles not through brute force, but through superior mental abilities.

1. The Origin: The New Earth Army and "First Earth Battalion"

In the late 1970s, Channon compiled his radical ideas into the First Earth Battalion Operations Manual , a 125-page graphic field guide that reads like a blend of The Whole Earth Catalog and a military handbook. This manual served as the blueprint for turning American troops into psychic supersoldiers and was embraced by a small group of true believers within Army intelligence. There’s just no evidence behind it”

In 1983, Major General Albert Stubblebine III, the head of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, frequently attempted to . He believed that if he properly aligned his mind, his molecular structure would pass cleanly through the drywall. While he routinely ended up with a bruised nose, his dedication to the impossible never wavered.

The same openness to unconventional thinking that gave rise to psychic spy programs also led military psychologists to experiment with musical torture—playing children’s songs like the Barney theme song on endless loops to disorient and break prisoners. The techniques Ronson documented as bizarre and humorous in the 1970s and 1980s had, by the 2000s, metastasized into systematic abuses documented in the most notorious detainee facilities of the modern era.

It is a tale that bridges the gap between Cold War paranoia, New Age ideology, and the absurd realities of military intelligence. What Is "The Men Who Stare At Goats"?

One particularly successful viewer, , reportedly predicted the existence of a new class of Soviet submarine months before photographic confirmation arrived. In 1985, an Army report concluded that “psychokinesis could, with continued research, have a potential military value for future military operations”. Smith, who participated in the program for seven

"Stop projecting, Ray," whispered Sergeant First Class Bill Django. "You’re flooding the area with anxiety. The goat is a mirror. If you feel fear, he will reflect fear. You need to be a still pond."

Channon authored a 125-page field manual that included ideas like carrying lambs into battle to disarm the enemy, practicing "warrior hugs," and using portable speakers to play "indigenous music and words of peace".

The characters are largely inspired by actual figures from the First Earth Battalion. Inspiration / Role George Clooney

The Men Who Stare at Goats " refers to both a by Jon Ronson [16, 18] and a 2009 satirical film starring George Clooney [2]. Both explore the bizarre, true-life attempts by the U.S. military to use psychic powers and New Age concepts in combat [2, 16]. 🎬 Movie Details (2009)

Major General —the head of U.S. Army Intelligence in the early 1980s—was one of the most powerful proponents of psychic warfare. Ronson discovered that Stubblebine, a decorated career intelligence officer, genuinely believed he could walk through walls by lining up the atomic particles in his own body with the spaces in the wall. He had similarly ambitious plans for other paranormal abilities: levitation, spoon bending, and psychic combat techniques. Stubblebine’s protégé, Major Ed Dames (nicknamed “Dr Doom”), became the public face of “PSYOPS” (psychic operations) and was a frequent guest on paranormal radio programs.