Despite wielding one of the most powerful military forces globally, the United States military has long explored unconventional methods to secure strategic advantages—venturing beyond traditional warfare into the realm of the paranormal. Among these clandestine efforts was a multi-million-dollar program investigating psychic phenomena, particularly extrasensory perception activities (ESPA). This secret endeavor, part of the larger Stargate Project, sought to harness the power of the mind for intelligence gathering and warfare, often remaining shrouded in secrecy until governmental disclosures in the mid-1990s.

Origins of Psychic Warfare: From WWII to the Cold War

The concept of integrating psychic abilities into military operations was not exclusive to the United States. Its roots can be traced back to Nazi Germany during World War II. The Ahnenerbe, a scientific research organization under Heinrich Himmler, dedicated a division to studying supernatural phenomena, collecting mystical artifacts and conducting unorthodox archaeological expeditions. When Allied forces raided these operations in 1945, they uncovered a trove of esoteric materials that later influenced postwar paranormal research.

Following the war, both the United States and the Soviet Union gained access to these archives, fueling a covert competition between the two superpowers to develop extrasensory espionage techniques. Though the extent to which the USSR invested in these studies remains uncertain, their scientists famously examined individuals like Nina Kulagina, who claimed to exhibit psychokinetic abilities such as moving objects with her mind and allegedly stopping a frog’s heart. However, skeptics often dismissed these feats as tricks.

During the Vietnam War, U.S. troops experimented with dowsing rods to locate Viet Cong tunnel networks, reflecting an openness to unconventional methods when conventional intelligence failed or morale waned. The effectiveness of these early attempts is difficult to assess, but they set a precedent for further explorations into ESP-related tactics.

Remote Viewing: Peering into the Invisible

The height of the U.S. military’s psychic experimentation came in the late 1970s and 1980s, focusing largely on remote viewing (RV). Pioneered by physicists Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ at the Stanford Research Institute, RV was defined as a controlled practice allowing individuals to mentally perceive details about distant or unseen targets without physical interaction—distinct from traditional clairvoyance.

Initially a privately funded exploration, the program caught the attention of intelligence agencies, which began collaborating on official projects. One notable RV case took place in 1976 involving secretarial participant Rosemary Smith. Tasked with locating a downed Soviet bomber lost in the African jungle, Smith produced maps reportedly accurate within a few miles, guiding paramilitary teams to the site through indirect evidence.

Skepticism was not absent, and some members of Congress, such as Representative Charles Rose, openly debated the merit of psychic espionage. Still, the prospect of a low-cost, effective intelligence tool motivated military leaders to pursue these programs.

The Grill Flame Era and Military Endorsement

In October 1978, the U.S. Army officially launched Project Grill Flame under Major General Edmund Thompson. Managed by Lt. Fredrick Holmes Atwater and supported by Major General Albert Stubblebine III—a strong believer in remote viewing—Grill Flame operated at Fort Meade, Maryland, with the goal of identifying paranormal phenomena with military applications.

The unit, composed of fewer than twenty select individuals thought to possess psychic talent, primarily focused on gathering Soviet intelligence and locating missing personnel from conflicts in Southeast Asia. Results were mixed, with successful incidents like a 1979 RV session ahead of schedule in which viewers mentally reconstructed a classified Soviet naval base. Descriptions included an industrial-smelling shoreline and a weapon resembling a coffin with shark-like fins. Notably, satellite imagery months later confirmed the existence of a ballistic missile submarine named Akula—the Russian word for shark—at that location. This episode inspired both Jon Ronson’s book The Men Who Stare at Goats and a subsequent film adaptation.

Other high-profile targets included the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Panama’s Manuel Noriega, with efforts to locate these figures proving ultimately unsuccessful during the project’s lifespan.

Project Stargate: Umbrella for Psychic Espionage

Over time, a series of code-named efforts—such as SCANATE, GRILL FLAME, GONDOLA WISH, CENTER LANE, and SUN STREAK—were consolidated under the umbrella of Project Stargate. Beyond remote viewing, the project experimented with psychoenergetics, attempting to influence or communicate with distant beings or objects.

However, controversy dogged the program. Criticism mounted over the lack of scientific rigor and reproducibility in the results. Some analyses suggested that data may have been manipulated to secure continued funding. Major General Stubblebine’s enthusiasm for increasingly speculative practices, including hosting "spoon-bending" parties to demonstrate alleged telekinetic powers, alienated some military peers.

Closure and Legacy

After nearly two decades of secret research, Project Stargate was terminated in 1995 following a CIA report. The concluding assessment found no practical intelligence gains from psychic methods; collected data were often vague, inconsistent, or irrelevant. Further suspicion lingered over the integrity of some outcomes, hinting at possible result tampering.

Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, approximately 12,500 documents from the project have since become publicly available, providing ample material for researchers and enthusiasts to examine this unique chapter in military history.

Far from signaling an absolute end, the exploration of intangible senses seems to persist. In 2014, the Office of Naval Research initiated a $3.85 million program studying intuition, motivated by anecdotal battlefield accounts such as that of Staff Sergeant Martin Richburg, who reportedly sensed and prevented an IED detonation in 2006. Navy officials described this as a kind of "sixth sense" or "Spidey sense," enabling rapid responses without conscious analysis.

Conclusion

The U.S. Army’s enigmatic journey into the paranormal embodies a fascinating intersection of military pragmatism, human curiosity, and the allure of untapped potential. While mainstream science largely dismisses extrasensory perception and psychic phenomena, these secret programs reveal a willingness to venture into the unseen—searching for advantages hidden beyond the physical realm. Whether visions of psychic warriors and mind-based espionage are the stuff of fantasy or a misjudged investment remains debated, but the story of the Stargate Project continues to captivate as a testament to humanity’s enduring quest for knowledge and power in all its mysterious forms.