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.
The story of The Men Who Stare at Goats has been the subject of much debate and controversy. Some have questioned the validity of the goat experiment, while others have raised concerns about the ethics of using psychic powers for military purposes.
In the pantheon of bizarre military history, few chapters are as simultaneously hilarious and deeply unsettling as the one chronicled in Jon Ronson’s 2004 book, The Men Who Stare at Goats . For most people, the title conjures the image of Ewan McGregor and George Clooney in the 2009 Coen-brothers-esque comedy: a rag-tag group of Jedi warriors in desert fatigues trying to kill a goat with their minds.
Adopting a "cloak of invisibility" to bypass enemies. Phasing: Attempting to pass through solid walls. The Men Who Stare At Goats
The absurdity of the 1970s—meditation in the jungle—had curdled into the brutality of the 2000s: a Global War on Terror where prisoners were hooded, shackled, and forced to stare at walls for 72 hours.
But what does this story reveal about the real-life implications of exploring the paranormal and the occult? The CIA's forays into remote viewing and psychic espionage raise important questions about the boundaries between science, pseudoscience, and the military.
George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, and Kevin Spacey. Major General —the head of U
Before the book or the movie, there was a documentary. In 2004, Ronson produced a three-part Channel 4 television series called , the first episode of which was also titled “The Men Who Stare at Goats”. The series took three years to make and gave Ronson first-hand access to the leading players in the story—from Stubblebine to Channon to the various psychic headhunters and self-proclaimed seers who populated the fringes of the military intelligence community.
But the system that funded them? That took a silly goat manual and turned it into a torture manual? That is the real horror.
In 2004, the British journalist Jon Ronson began his bestselling book with a startling disclaimer: "This is a true story." Few opening lines in modern nonfiction have carried such a weight of disbelief. The Men Who Stare at Goats takes readers on a journey into the heart of the U.S. military's most secret—and arguably strangest—programs, exploring how some of the nation's top brass spent millions of taxpayer dollars attempting to harness the paranormal. From an elite unit of "psychic spies" who claimed to see Soviet military bases from across the globe, to a lieutenant colonel who wanted to create a battalion of New Age "Warrior Monks" armed with nothing but love and discordant sounds, the story that unfolds is a stunning blend of investigative journalism, dark satire, and disturbing political reality. He had similarly ambitious plans for other paranormal
The most famous member of this group was a retired Vietnam War intelligence officer named Major General Albert Stubblebine. Stubblebine was the head of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM). He was in charge of 14,000 spies and analysts. And he was convinced he had a problem: his physical body kept getting in the way.
The story behind The Men Who Stare at Goats is a bizarre blend of Cold War paranoia and New Age mysticism, detailed in Jon Ronson’s 2004 non-fiction book and later adapted into a 2009 satirical film starring George Clooney. The Core Premise
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