Giant Rock

This AP article brings back memories. When I was a student at Caltech, we drove far out in the desert to Giant Rock, where UFO maven George Van Tassel lived. I don't remember who my traveling companions were, but they might have included John Forbes, Dale Paynter or Phil Drake.

Van Tassel had a little coffee shop out there and when he heard he had visitors from Caltech, he rushed over to talk to us. Of course, he soon found out we were mere students and not professors. He was pleasant enough and not obviously loopy other than his eccentric theories. He tried to convince us of his point of view, but we were rather dogmatic on matters of science.

This would have been in the late 1960s. We only got to see the Integratron and the room under the rock from the outside. He had a very basic airport there, for small planes and UFOs. People were riding dirt bikes and stirring up dust. I can't say I fancied staying in the room under the (tippy looking) Giant Rock. I'd never get to sleep there and it wouldn't be aliens keeping me awake either.