George Van Tassel (March 12, 1910- February 9, 1978) was an American
ufologist.
A contactee, ufologist, and religious
cult leader who, in 1958, commenced building---but never completed---the Integratron, in the desert town of Landers, California. It was
supposedly a domed time/energy machine built partially upon the theories of Nikola Tesla.
Created to recharge and rejuvenate people’s cells, at the behest of an advanced entity with which Van Tassel communicated
telepathically, for a coming “Lord” from outer space, it was however not without its
risks, according to Van Tassel's theory. An overcharge could make a person spontaneously combust---or even explode. The wood
structure lacks a rotating metal apparatus on the outside which was to be the functioning part. Now it is simply an empty all
wood dome, lacking even metal screws or nails. In recent times New Agers have declared the structure a power spot and claim to be rejuvenated by staying there, and experiencing sound
baths inside. Van Tassel was born in Jefferson, Ohio and grew up in a fairly prosperous middle-class family. He dropped out of high school in the 10th
grade and got a job at a Cleveland airport; he also got a pilot's license. At 20, he
headed for California, where at first he worked for a garage owned by an
uncle. It was while working at the garage that he met an eccentric loner, Frank Critzer, who
claimed to be working a mine somewhere near Giant Rock, a 7-story boulder near Landers,
California. Frank Critzer was a German immigrant trying to make a living in the desert as a prospector. During World War II, Critzer was under suspicion as a German spy and died during a police siege at the Rock in
1942. Upon receiving news of Critzer's death, Van Tassel started making plans to buy the land around the Rock and eventually to
move there.
Van Tassel became an aircraft mechanic and flight inspector who at various times between 1930
and 1947 worked for Douglas Aircraft,
Howard Hughes, and Lockheed. He finally left
Southern California's booming aerospace industry
for the desert in 1947. He and his family at first lived a simple existence in the rooms Frank Critzer had dug out under Giant
Rock. Van Tassel eventually built a home, a cafe, a small airstrip, and a dude ranch beside
the Rock.
Meditating beside the Rock in 1951, Van Tassel claimed to have been transported astrally to a huge alien space ship orbiting the earth, where he met the all-wise "Council of Seven Lights." In 1952 Van Tassel reported he had been visited in
the flesh by human-appearing, friendly space aliens from Venus, who instructed him to
build a structure aimed at extending human life, to help people take advantage of the wisdom acquired through age. It was of
course the Integratron, and it became his apparent obsession for the next 25 years. The
structure actually was finished by 1959, but seemed completely non-functional; Van Tassel tinkered
with it fruitlessly for the rest of his life. Van Tassel's now-rare book, I Rode a Flying Saucer, recounts some of the
cosmic wisdom he received from "Solgonda" and a large number of other god-like Space Brothers. Like most 1950s contactees, he founded a religious
cult---not one, but two related ones, The Ministry of Universal Wisdom, and The
College of Universal Wisdom, to codify the spiritual revelations he was now continually
receiving via "psychic resonance" with the Space Brothers.
He also hosted The Giant Rock Spacecraft Convention annually beside the Rock, from 1953
to 1978, that attracted at its peak in 1959 as many as 10,000
attendees. Guests trekked to the desert by car or landed airplanes on Van Tassel's small airstrip, grandly called Giant Rock
Airport.
Every famous contactee appeared personally at these conventions over the years, and many
more not-so-famous ones. References often state that the first and most famous contactee,
George Adamski, pointedly boycotted these conventions. In fact, however, Adamski attended
the third convention, held in 1955, where he gave a 35-minute lecture and was interviewed by
Edward J. Ruppelt, once head of the Air Force Project Blue Book. It was the one and only such convention Adamski attended; he told Ruppelt he
was annoyed both by Van Tassel's semi-comical antics as a channeller, and by his beliefs
about Space Brothers. Van Tassel had demonstrated to attendees the so-called adaphone, which allowed him to carry on live
conversations with a bewildering variety of Space Brothers--but the demonstration was basically a wild comedy routine in which
Van Tassel spoke in a variety of "strange" voices.
Van Tassel was a classic 1950s contactee in the mold of
George Adamski, Truman Bethurum,
Orfeo Angelucci and many others. Among his published books are I Rode A Flying
Saucer (1952, 1955) and The Council of Seven Lights
(1958). He also wrote Into This World and Out Again, Religion and Science Merged, and
When Stars Look Down. An offshoot of one of his cults still survives today, in greatly "evolved" and "unauthorized" form,
as The Ashtar Command.
Gallery
I Rode a Flying Saucer (1954 edition)
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References
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templates for deletion to help reach a consensus. ›
- Lewis, James R., editor, UFOs and Popular Culture, Santa Barbara, CA:
ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2000. ISBN 1-57607-265-7.
- Story, Ronald D., editor, The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters, NY, NY:
New American Library, 2001. ISBN 0-451-20424-7.
External links
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