The Integratron

   Southern California enjoys unparalleled weather, attracting millions to live on it's balmy shores. Most choose to reside in the urban centers, near jobs and shopping, but a small minority come here to be alone or to persue offbeat activities, and the isolated expanses of the Mohave desert serve those purposes perfectly.

     Some 60 miles east of Los Angeles one finds the Integratron, a 38-foot high, 50-foot diameter, non-metallic structure designed by the engineer George Van Tassel as a rejuvenation and time machine. Van Tassel, a former test pilot for Howard Hughes and Douglas Aircraft, lived at Giant Rock, a tiny community named after a huge boulder rising out of the desert nearby, and operated Giant Rock airport.

    George Van Tassel began weekly meditation sessions in 1953 at Giant Rock with interested persons which, he claimed, led to UFO contacts and finally to an actual encounter with extra-terrestrials when, in August of that year, a saucer landed from the planet Venus, woke Van Tassel up and invited him onto the ship. There the aliens gave him the technique for rejuvenating living cell tissues. In 1954 he and his family began building a structure they called the Integratron to perform the rejuvenation. He spent the next 18 years constructing the Integratron but died in 1978 before completing it. During this time he hosted annual Spacecraft Conventions that were attended by thousands, featuring high profile UFO contactees and pioneers in the fields of antigravity, primary energy research and electromagnetics.

   Although Van Tassel is gone the Integratron lives on. Owned and operated by new age adhearents, the dome is open for weekend tours and special events, such as the Palm Desert Didgeridoo festival,  yoga meetings and the "sound bath". The latter is described on their website as "... a unique and healing experience. Imagine being cradled in a floating sky chair in the center of a highly resonant sound chamber, listening to quartz crystal singing bowls and music. Quartz crystal bowls are played for 30 minutes while you relax either in the floating sky chair or lying on the floor. The Sound Bath produces an overall effect, like a deep massage on the body, mind and Spirit levels. With it, come waves of deep peace and relaxation that restore the body and refresh the soul. " Ya right.

    Although BeneathLA attempted to visit the site, when we arrived it was closed  for a private yoga meeting, and we were unable to actually go inside. The Integratron is located near Landers, California, north of Palm Springs and Yucca Valley.