Ingo Swann and the Stanford magnetometer
In June 1972 Hal Puthoff reported that Ingo Swann seemed to change the output of a heavily shielded magnetometer at Stanford. The CIA kept his letter.
1972 CE · 37.43, -122.17 · status: disputed
The account
Swann was taken to the superconducting-shielded SQUID magnetometer used in Arthur Hebbard's quark experiment, in a well under the Varian Physics building. According to Puthoff's letter of 27 June 1972, the calibration signal doubled in frequency for about 10 seconds while Swann 'looked' inside. When Hebbard challenged him, the signal stopped altogether. The tracing changed again whenever Swann later talked about the device. Swann also described the inside of the apparatus. Puthoff called this 'an observation, not a controlled experiment' and wanted variables checked. A CIA Technical Services memo of 2 August 1972 forwarded the letter, noted 'a very active interest' in ESP within the DDS&T, and planned a visit to Swann on 11 August. This began the CIA-funded SRI work.
The sceptical view
Puthoff himself called it suggestive rather than proven. There was no blind control run, the recording equipment was not tested separately, and the only record is Puthoff's own description.
Connections in the atlas
- The Sherman-Swann Jupiter probe
- Russell Targ
- Hal Puthoff
- Ingo Swann
- SCANATE and the start of remote viewing at SRI