In the Mojave Desert of southeastern California, along a narrow two-lane road that runs through the small town of Landers, a white dome glimmers amid the desolate landscape. From a distance, it seems like a trick of the eye. Up close, it resembles a small observatory or even one of those new glamping tents that have popped up recently around nearby Joshua Tree. In fact, the Integratron is something far more unconventional: a monument to one man’s otherworldly ambition.
His name was George W. Van Tassel, and starting in the late 1920s, he made his name in the California aviation industry, working for the Lockheed Corporation and the Douglas Aircraft Company, and as a test flight inspector for Howard Hughes. He was drawn to Landers by the allure of Giant Rock, a seven-story-tall boulder reputed to have mystical powers (Native Americans deemed it sacred), and he moved to the area in 1947. California’s UFO culture was then in its infancy, and when he
