CIA Claims Its Psychics Had Found the Ark of the Covenant?

Psychics, secret files, and a legendary relic—how the U.S. government got pulled into a biblical mystery

It sounds like something out of a Hollywood script—but it really happened.

Recently resurfaced CIA files reveal that in 1988, U.S. intelligence officials believed one of their psychics had “located” the Ark of the Covenant. Yes, that Ark. The sacred chest said to contain the Ten Commandments, described in the Bible and lost to history for over 2,500 years.

The twist? The psychic never left the room.

A National Security Gamble on the Paranormal

The documents, declassified in 2000 but now gaining renewed attention, describe a Cold War-era experiment involving a supposed psychic who used “remote viewing”—a form of ESP the CIA once seriously explored.

The anonymous subject was given nothing but geographical coordinates. What they described from that mental journey was astonishing: a hidden, golden object in a dark, wet, underground chamber, “somewhere in the Middle East.” The language heard? Arabic. The vibe? Supernatural.

“There were entities guarding it,” the viewer warned—“entities capable of destroying those who approached it.”

The Ark: Sacred Myth or Lost Artifact?

For centuries, the Ark of the Covenant has fueled religious devotion, wild speculation, and pop culture obsession. It was reportedly housed in Jerusalem’s First Temple before the Babylonian siege around 586 BCE, after which it simply vanished.

Today, various groups claim to know its location—from a chapel in Ethiopia to remote caves in Jordan. But so far, no solid evidence has surfaced.

And yet, the CIA took the idea seriously enough to fund psychic research into the ark’s potential whereabouts. Why?

A Cold War Race into the Unknown

This was all part of a broader U.S. government program called Project Stargate, a psychic espionage initiative born from Cold War paranoia. After hearing whispers that the Soviets were investing in paranormal research, the Pentagon and CIA launched their own efforts to explore “remote viewing,” telekinesis, and other fringe capabilities.

Under Stargate—and its precursor, Project Sun Streak—the CIA and U.S. Army trained psychics to spy on Soviet bunkers, find hostages, and, yes, locate ancient relics.

Dr. Edwin May, a physicist who once directed the program, defended it decades later: “We were exploring human consciousness, not magic tricks.”

But not everyone was impressed.

A Blistering Reality Check

Psychologist Ray Hyman, one of the researchers tasked with evaluating Stargate, didn’t hold back.

“The overwhelming amount of data… is vague, general, and way off target,” he wrote in a 1996 review. “It’s exactly what you’d expect from guessing and wishful thinking.”

Ultimately, the CIA shut the program down in 1995, concluding that ESP had produced no actionable intelligence.

Even so, the government spent over $20 million on the effort—fueling decades of conspiracy theories and cultural fascination.

Pop Culture and the Power of Belief

The search for the Ark has inspired everything from Indiana Jones to The Men Who Stare at Goats, a satirical film based on real government psychic research. Starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor, the 2009 movie showcased attempts by U.S. military officers to kill goats—telepathically.

Spoiler alert: the goats lived.

Still, stories like these continue to grip the American imagination.

“Even if the science doesn’t check out, the symbolism is powerful,” says Dr. Amanda Levin, a religious studies professor at UCLA. “The idea that governments would chase legends like the Ark speaks to how mythology still shapes our reality.”

The Real Takeaway

Was the CIA’s psychic really seeing the Ark? Or just projecting a mental fantasy from deep in the collective subconscious?

We may never know. But the episode reminds us of something enduring: that even in a data-driven world, the line between myth and national security is sometimes thinner than we think.

And in the halls of power, belief can be just as potent as proof.