George Van Tassel

George Wellington Van Tassel

Van Tassel circa 1965

Born| (1910-03-12)March 12, 1910

Jefferson, Ohio

Died| February 9, 1978(1978-02-09) (aged 67)

Santa Ana, California

Occupation| Inventor and Pilot

George Wellington Van Tassel (March 12, 1910 – February 9, 1978) was an American author.

## Contents

* 1 Early life
* 2 Integratron
* 3 Conventions and organizations
* 4 Death
* 5 Publications
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 Sources
* 9 External links

## Early life

Van Tassel was born in Jefferson, Ohio in 1910, and grew up in a fairly prosperous middle-class family. He finished high school in the 10th grade and held a job at a small municipal airport near Cleveland; he also acquired a private pilot license. At age 20, he moved to California, where he worked as an automobile mechanic at a garage owned by an uncle.[1]

While pumping gas at the garage, Van Tassel met and befriended Frank Critzer, an eccentric loner who claimed to be working a mine somewhere near Giant Rock, a 7-story boulder near Landers, California in the Mojave Desert. Although Critzer was born in the US and an American citizen, others believed him to be a German immigrant, and during World War II, he was suspected of being a spy for Germany. In 1942, Critzer killed himself by detonating dynamite during a police siege at Giant Rock. After learning of Critzer's death, Van Tassel applied for a lease of the small abandoned airport near Giant Rock from the Bureau of Land Management and eventually was given a Federal Government contract to develop and maintain the airstrip.[2]

Van Tassel became an aircraft mechanic and flight inspector who at various times between 1930 and 1947 worked for Douglas Aircraft, Hughes Aircraft, and Lockheed. While at Hughes Aircraft he was their Top Flight Inspector.[2] In 1947, Van Tassel left Southern California's booming aerospace industry to live in the desert with his family. At first, he lived a simple existence in the rooms Frank Critzer had dug out under Giant Rock. Van Tassel eventually built a new home, a café, a gas station, a store, a small airstrip, and a guest ranch beside the Rock.[2]

## Integratron

Historical marker near Integratron in Landers

Main article: Unsolved:Integratron

George Van Tassel started hosting group meditation in 1953 in a room underneath Giant Rock, excavated by Frank Critzer. That year, according to Van Tassel the occupant of a space ship from the planet Venus woke him up, invited him on board his space ship, and both verbally and telepathically gave him a technique for rejuvenating the human body. In 1954, Van Tassel and others began building what they called the "Integratron" to perform the rejuvenation. According to Van Tassel, the Integratron was to be a structure for scientific research into time, anti-gravity and at extending human life, built partially upon the research of Nikola Tesla and Georges Lakhovsky. Van Tassel described the Integratron as being created for scientific and spiritual research with the aim to recharge and rejuvenate people's cells, "a time machine for basic research on rejuvenation, anti-gravity and time travel".[3] The domed wood structure has a rotating metal apparatus on the outside he called an "electrostatic dirod". Van Tassel claimed it was made of non-ferromagnetic materials: wood, concrete, glass, and fibreglass, lacking even metal screws or nails. The Integratron was never fully completed due to Van Tassel's sudden death a few weeks before the official opening. In recent times some people who visit the unfinished Integratron claim to be rejuvenated by staying there, and experiencing "sound baths" inside.[4]

## Conventions and organizations

Van Tassel was a classic 1950s contactee in the mold of George Adamski, Truman Bethurum, Daniel Fry, Orfeo Angelucci and many others. He hosted "The Giant Rock Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention" annually beside the Rock, from 1953 to 1971, which 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, called Giant Rock Airport.[3]

Over the years, every famous contactee of the period appeared personally at these conventions, and many more not-so-famous ones. References often state that the first and most famous contactee, George Adamski, pointedly boycotted these conventions; however, Adamski did, in fact attend 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 apparently the only such convention Adamski ever attended.[3]

Van Tassel founded a metaphysics research organization called The Ministry of Universal Wisdom, and The College of Universal Wisdom to codify the spiritual revelations he claimed to be receiving via communications with the people from space. He published and distributed Proceedings of the College of Universal Wisdom from 1953 until his death in 1978. His widow published one more newsletter in 1979. [5] [6]

## Death

George Van Tassel died in Santa Ana while printing a publication and visiting friends.[7]

## Publications

Van Tassel's books:

* I Rode A Flying Saucer (1952, 1955), recounts his claims of receiving "cosmic wisdom" from "Solgonda" and a large number of other people from outer space.
* Into This World and Out Again (1956)
* The Council of Seven Lights (1958)
* Religion and Science Merged
* When Stars Look Down (1976)

## See also

* Ashtar (extraterrestrial being)
* Ted Owens (contactee)

## References

1. ↑ "I Rode A Flying Saucer - George Van Tassel". https://www.scribd.com/doc/467760/I-Rode-A-Flying-Saucer-George-Van-Tassel. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "When Stars Look Down - by George van Tassel". https://www.scribd.com/doc/19708836/When-Stars-Look-Down-By-George-Van-Tassel. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Integratron's George Van Tassel and the Giant Rock Spaceship Conventions with George Hunt Williamson 1950s". http://www.labyrinthina.com/rock.htm. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
4. ↑ "Integratron". 1966-11-17. http://www.integratron.com/. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
5. ↑ \"Universal Wisdom: Identified and Acknowledged". https://archive.org/details/universal-songs-of-freedom/. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
6. ↑ "About: The History of the Integratron". https://www.integratron.com/history-about/. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
7. ↑ "George Van Tassel Dies". The Desert Sun: p. A2. 14 February 1978. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19780214.2.26.

## Sources

* Lewis, James R., editor, UFOs and Popular Culture, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2000. ISBN 1-57607-265-7.
* Ronald D. Story, editor, The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters, NY, NY: New American Library, 2001. ISBN 0-451-20424-7.

## External links

* "A Brief History of Giant Rock Covering the Last 90 Years (1887–1977)" , integratron.com; accessed 2 July 2017.
* "A planned revival of Van Tassel's Spacecraft Conventions". USA Today. 27 April 2006. https://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060427/a_ufo27.art.htm.
* Theriault, Michelle (August 5, 2005). "Big enough to see from Venus". http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050805/LIFESTYLES0106/508040344/0/topics.

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UFOs

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Claimed sightings|

| General|

* List of reported UFO sightings
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Pre-20th century|

* Tulli Papyrus (possibly 15th century B.C.)
* Ezekiel's Wheel (circa 622–570 B.C.)
* 1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg
* 1566 celestial phenomenon over Basel
* José Bonilla observation (1883)
* Aurora (1897)

20th century|

* Los Angeles (1942)
* Kenneth Arnold (1947)
* Roswell (1947)
* Mantell (1948)
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* Barney and Betty Hill abduction (1961)
* Lonnie Zamora incident (1964)
* Solway Firth Spaceman (1964)
* Exeter (1965)
* Kecksburg (1965)
* Westall (1966)
* Shag Harbour (1967)
* Pascagoula Abduction (1973)
* Travis Walton incident (1975)
* Allagash (1976)
* Tehran (1976)
* Petrozavodsk phenomenon (1977)
* Operação Prato (1977)
* Valentich disappearance (1978)
* Kaikoura Lights (1978)
* Robert Taylor incident (1979)
* Val Johnson incident (1979)
* Cash-Landrum incident (1980)
* Rendlesham Forest (1980)
* Trans-en-Provence (1981)
* Japan Air Lines (1986)
* Voronezh UFO incident (1989)
* Belgian UFO wave (1990)
* Varginha (1996)
* Phoenix Lights (1997)

21st century|

* USS Nimitz UFO incident (2004)
* Campeche, Mexico (2004)
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* Alderney (2007)
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Confirmed hoaxes|

* Maury Island incident
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Types of UFOs|

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Hypotheses|

* Ancient astronauts
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Conspiracy theories|

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