From the early 1970s to 1995, US agencies funded research into "remote viewing": describing a distant place using only the mind. By the end it was called the Stargate Project. A 1995 review split down the middle, and the programme was shut down.
Truth label: Established. Strong evidence and broad agreement among experts.
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How a session worked
A viewer was given only a set of numbers linked to a hidden target, then sketched and described whatever came to mind.
Two experts, two verdicts
Statistician Jessica Utts concluded the effect was real. Psychologist Ray Hyman concluded it had not been shown. Both reviewed the same data.
Why it ended
The final report said remote viewing had never produced intelligence that was actually useful in an operation.
Learn
- Where it began. Early experiments ran at the Stanford Research Institute in California, partly out of fear the Soviet Union was ahead in psychic research.
- What is established. The programme existed, ran for decades and is now documented in declassified files.
- What is still debated. Whether any viewer did better than chance in a way that can be repeated under strict conditions.
Test yourself
What was remote viewing meant to do?
Describe distant places. Viewers tried to describe hidden targets far away.
Sources
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