Ingo Swann's magnetometer test (1972)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | June 1972 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Remote viewing & psi (topic) |
| People | Ingo Swann, Harold Puthoff, Pat Price |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 75 |
| Year | 1972 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1972 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 6 |
In June 1972 New York artist and psychic Ingo Swann was taken by physicists Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ of the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) to a shielded magnetometer at Stanford University to see whether he could affect its readings by mind alone. Puthoff reported that the output changed; the test helped launch the CIA-funded remote viewing research that became the Stargate program.[1][2]
The test
The magnetometer, a sensitive instrument shielded and buried to detect quarks, showed fluctuations in its readout while Swann concentrated on it. Puthoff circulated a report describing the result, and he and Targ later announced in Geneva that they had demonstrated psychokinesis. Critics said the instrument had a history of fluctuations; its builder later said the variations were within normal parameters, and the magician and skeptic James Randi concluded they were ordinary machine noise.[1][3]
The CIA contract
Within months the CIA, worried by reports that the Soviet Union was researching psychic phenomena, agreed to fund research at SRI into "remote viewing", the claimed ability to describe distant places by mental means. Swann helped develop the protocols, and others, including former police officer Pat Price, took part in experiments. The Israeli psychic Uri Geller was also tested at SRI and was the focus of a 1974 paper in Nature by Puthoff and Targ, which critics said reflected sloppy controls.[1][2]
The later program
The work grew into a long-running government program, later run by the Army and the Defense Intelligence Agency under names including Grill Flame and Stargate, and moved in 1991 to the contractor SAIC. It was declassified and closed in 1995 after a review by the American Institutes for Research, which concluded it had never produced intelligence useful in operations.[1][4]
Legacy
Scientists generally see no reliable evidence that remote viewing works. Puthoff later became a key figure in the UAP story of the 2010s through the Pentagon's AAWSAP program and To the Stars Academy.[3][4]
People and topics
- Ingo Swann — Artist and psychic whose tests at SRI led to the government's remote-viewing program.
- Remote viewing — The claimed ability to describe distant places by mental means.
- SRI International — The research institute where the government's remote-viewing studies began.
- Central Intelligence Agency — The U.S. foreign intelligence agency, which has followed UFO reports since the 1940s.
- Harold Puthoff — Physicist who co-founded the SRI remote-viewing research and later worked on AAWSAP and To The Stars Academy.
- Pat Price — Remote viewer at SRI who described four alleged alien bases in 1973.
- Defense Intelligence Agency — The Pentagon's military intelligence agency, which ran AAWSAP.
- Stargate Project — The U.S. government's remote-viewing program, which ran from the 1970s until 1995.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- AAWSAP — The Defense Intelligence Agency's UAP research program of 2008–2010, carried out by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies.
- To The Stars Academy — The company founded by Tom DeLonge in 2017 that released the Navy UAP videos.
On the Timeline
- Project Outgrowth (June 1972) — An Air Force propulsion lab report, Project Outgrowth, examines advanced propulsion ideas.
- Puthoff's report of a new secret study (1972) (7 October 1972) — Hal Puthoff tells Vallée a former NSA colleague said a new secret UAP study was underway.
See every 1972 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Parapsychology research at SRI — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Harold Puthoff, "CIA-initiated remote viewing at Stanford Research Institute" · newdualism.org · archived copy
- Ingo Swann — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Stargate Project — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Parapsychology research at SRI — Wikipedia · Www.Wikipedia.org · archived copy
- remoteviewed.com · remoteviewed.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Stargate collection — CIA Reading Room · cia.gov · archived copy
- Harold E. Puthoff — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- UFO documents — CIA Reading Room · cia.gov · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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