BILLY HOLCOMB CHAPTER

OF THE

ANCIENT AND HONORABLE ORDER OF

E CLAMPUS VITUS

 ANNOUNCES ITS 36^TH ANNUAL

SPRING CLAMPOUT

THE INTEGRATRON

 APRIL 29, 30, MAY 1, 2005

(IN THE RECKONING OF OUR ORDER 6010)

 HELD UNDER THE REIGN OF NOBLE GRAND HUMBUG

BOB “SHORTNECK” GREEN

EDITED BY MIKE "MOLAR MECHANIC" JOHNSON, CP, XNGH

THE INTEGRATRON

          To the casual observer, the Integratron appears to be an observatory for scanning the heavens, or perhaps a domed dwelling built by some eccentric desert resident. Although it is neither, there is an element of truth in both descriptions.

          The building is 38 feet high and 50 feet in diameter, originally made without any metal fasteners. It was constructed by legendary UFO proponent George Van Tassel over an 18-year period, and remained uncompleted at the time of his death in 1978. Under private ownership today, it is open for tours and is frequently rented to such disparate groups as historical societies, scientists, astronomers, yoga and meditation groups, and musicians and recording artists.

          According to Van Tassel, its location on a large magnetic vortex was critical to its intended function. The site was determined according to a complex set of theories involving the earth’s magnetic field and the location of the Great Pyramid in Egypt and nearby Giant Rock, claimed to the “the world’s largest free-standing boulder.” He believed that the great weight of Giant Rock created a piezo-electric effect on its quartz crystals, thus generating the necessary magnetic field.

          Van Tassel further stated that, in addition to the powerful magnetic forces, there was a large underground aquifer in the area. These conditions, along with concentrations of gold, copper, quartz, and granite, result in a powerful vortex of energy. The Integratron’s parabolic shape, its “sacred geometry”, is said to focus and amplify this energy, creating an environment beyond normal audible and visible parameters.

          Our story of Giant Rock and the Integratron begins with Frank Critzer in 1930. In that year Van Tassel, born in Ohio in 1910, came to California to visit his uncle, who owned an automotive garage in Santa Monica. A penniless Critzer visited the garage in an attempt to get his automobile repaired. Van Tassel and his uncle took a liking to this friendly man who exhibited knowledge of desert prospecting. They invited him to stay at the garage while his car was being repaired and sent him on his way with a $30 grubstake. They also loaded up his car with canned goods, all in return for a promise to write to them and share in any mining claims that he might discover.

          A year passed without any word. Then came a letter from Critzer with a hand-drawn map to Giant Rock. Van Tassel and his uncle left the next weekend for the desert, where Critzer had tunneled out a small living space underneath the giant boulder. This served the dual purposes of being cool in the summer and warm in the winter, while eliminating the necessity to purchase lumber, nails, etc. to construct a more conventional dwelling. He graded five straight roads leading to Giant Rock, which are still in use today. He built a runway on the nearby dry lake and set out a windsock. Curious pilots saw it and began to land, and Critzer soon found himself in the aircraft repair business.

          In July of 1942, in response to allegations that Critzer had stolen gasoline, dynamite, and tools from Banning and Palm Springs, he was visited by three Riverside County deputy sheriffs. There were also rumors that Critzer was using his desert airstrip to transport illegal aliens, had failed to register for the draft, and perhaps since he had a German name, that he was a Nazi spy using a clandestine radio to send reports to the Fatherland. Despite protests that they were in San Bernardino County and therefore had no jurisdiction, the deputies advised Critzer that they were taking him to Banning for questioning.

          What happened next is subject to interpretation. Since Critzer was a miner and prospector, he often stored dynamite in his home under the rock. Some reports say that Critzer asked to get a jacket from his house before leaving, then went inside and blew himself up to avoid capture. Others say that he barricaded himself inside and refused to come out. One of the deputies tossed in a tear gas grenade, which ignited the dynamite. Either way, Critzer was dead, and the rumors could be neither proved nor disproved.  Inside the remains of his home were a rifle, a radio (a receiver, not a transmitter), and binoculars, but the same could be said for many desert dwellers, and dynamite was sold to the public at the store in Twentynine Palms.

          The explosion is also said to have destroyed Critzer’s personal papers, some of which had previously been examined by Van Tassel. The paperwork allegedly detailed the manufacture of a glass crankshaft stronger than steel for internal combustion engines, and chemical formulas for plastics, which were unknown at the time. Also said to be missing was a nearly completed formula for what would later become Teflon.

          George Van Tassel, friend and benefactor of Critzer, began working in the airline industry at the age of 17 in his native Ohio.  After coming to California he worked for Douglas, Hughes, and Lockheed for 27 years. He was employed as a flight engineer, and according to Rosemary Evans was considered somewhat eccentric by his associates. Evans states that even at this early time he was interested in the possibility of manned space travel.  Van Tassel got Critzer a job with Douglas, and when Critzer left to live full-time in the desert, the two men frequently visited at Giant Rock. They forged a strong bond of friendship, and Van Tassel was shocked and dismayed by its abrupt end.

          He was unable to visit Giant Rock until a month after his friend’s death, finding the place stripped and Critzer’s belongings hauled away. During the war years, while still mourning his friend, he continued to visit on family outings and vacations, and grew to love this spot in the desert.

          In 1945 Van Tassel applied to the BLM to acquire the property and to make a proper airport here. In 1947 the paperwork was completed, and he finalized the lease on 2,600 acres of government land and moved here with his wife and three young daughters. They seemed like a normal family, except that they lived under a rock!  More and more people flew in to the Giant Rock Interplanetary Airport, and they built the Come On Inn Café to feed campers, fliers, and rock hounds. Howard Hughes is said to have often flown in on weekends for a piece of the pie made by Van Tassel’s wife. The locale became a popular desert destination.

          In 1951 an event occurred that changed Van Tassel’s life forever. According to his story, a great airship passed over the mountains on the far side of his airstrip. It seemed very large, perhaps 400 feet in diameter, and far faster than any normal aircraft. At first he kept his story to himself, but when the sighting was confirmed by two other men, George Van Tassel determined that he had seen an unidentified flying object. Unlike many others who claim to have had a similar experience, he set out to do something about it. If contact with alien beings was to be made, Giant Rock seemed a likely place to do so. He began holding weekly meditation meetings under the giant boulder, leading to what he believed were alien contacts received through channeling. These meetings continued on into the 1970s.   

          About 2 a.m. on the morning of August 24, 1953, Van Tassel was sleeping outside in the warm desert night, as he often did. He stated that he was awakened by an alien being from Venus named Solganda, who telepathically invited him to come into his spaceship, which was hovering nearby, 25 feet off the ground. He was actually taken up into the ship and shown its layout and propulsion plant, although it did not take off. He experienced nausea and dizziness in the process, but was helped through this by the aliens.

          The Venusians were said to be impressed by the human race, but felt that human beings were hampered by their short life span. During his visit to the spaceship he was given instructions for a machine that would rejuvenate human cells, much like recharging a battery, thus increasing human longevity. Van Tassel described it as “a high-voltage electrostatic generator that would supply a broad range of frequencies to recharge the cell structure” and thereby extend human life for 20 to 50 years.  This “machine” would come to be called the Integratron.

          Construction began in 1954 and continued up to the time of Van Tassel’s death in 1978, at which time the building was approximately 90% complete. Van Tassel helped fund construction of the Integratron by staging annual UFO conventions at Giant Rock for seventeen years and by asking supporters for donations. At their peak, as many as 15,000 people attended the conventions. Sometime around 1970 the conventions began to be frequented by a tougher crowd that seemed more interested in fighting and causing trouble than in UFOs, and the conclaves were discontinued.

          In 1958 Van Tassel founded a scientific and philosophical organization called the Ministry of Universal Wisdom, Inc., for “the purpose of research into the unseen truths of life.” He also founded the College of Universal Wisdom, which published a magazine, Proceedings, which featured articles and photos on UFO sightings, many of which were said to have taken place at Giant Rock. The Ministry called the Integratron “a time machine for basic research on rejuvenation, anti-gravity, and time travel.” Howard Hughes was a big contributor to the project.

          The building is unique. It was constructed as a 16-sided dome supported by glued and laminated wooden spines held together by the pressure of one ton of concrete at the apex. The dome was to rotate, generating 50,000 volts of static electricity. The concept was for seekers of rejuvenation, dressed in white clothing, to walk through the building while in operation, thus exposing every cell in the body to the cosmic forces that would prolong life.

          During this time, Van Tassel made numerous TV and radio appearances, and authored several books outlining his theories. He was widely considered to be an expert on extraterrestrials and space travel. Despite all his efforts, however, he was unable to complete the Integratron before his death, passing suddenly on February 9, 1978 in Santa Ana. His epitaph read “Birth through induction, death through short circuit.”

          The machinery that was to make the Integratron operational was never installed, and whether it would have worked as advertised will never be known. The buildings on Van Tassel’s Giant Rock property were vandalized, and eventually fell into such a state of disrepair that the BLM had to bulldoze them. Some materials and equipment were also “salvaged” from the Integratron.

          Today, the Integratron is privately owned and is open to the public for tours, “sound baths”, musical recording, meetings, etc. Although it never achieved its intended purpose, it remains as a monument to man’s continuing interest in UFOs, extraterrestrials, and contact with intelligent life from other planets and galaxies. Perhaps further instructions will be forthcoming some day, allowing the Integratron to fulfill George Van Tassel’s quest for cosmic enlightenment.

http://www.integratron.com/Welcome.html  

A NOTE ON SOURCES

          Although there is considerable data on the Integratron, there are frequent conflicts among sources. Some of the sources are apocryphal, and it is difficult “to separate the wheat from the chaff.” The author has made a good faith effort to present a balanced view of the subject, but cannot be held responsible for the final accuracy of the data.

           The main source for the article was the Integratron’s website, www.Integratron.com. It will also prove useful for those wishing more information on the subject.

           Also used was an article entitled “The Legend of Giant Rock” by Pat Rimmington from the 1993 edition of the Landers Area Visitors Guide and Civic Directory.

           Newspaper sources include “Aliens: An Ashtabula County Man Had Close Encounter”, from the Ashtabula, Ohio Star Beacon, June 20, 1998, and “Out-of-This-World Dome in the Desert” from the Riverside Press-Enterprise, February 17, 2003.

           Desert Magazine provided two sources:  “This is a True Story about Mr. Van Tassel Who Lives in a Rock and Has a Time Machine”, June Pearson, March, 1967 and “George W. Van Tassel and His Anti-Gravity Time Machine”, Rosemary Evans, May, 1981.