CIA used psychic to locate Ark of the Covenant, unclassified document claims

An unclassified CIA document circulating on social media claims agents may know where the Ark of the Covenant is located – thanks to the help of a psychic. 

The document, which was unclassified in 2000, references a "coordinate remote viewing" session that took place in December 1988, with the training target being the sacred religious storage chest that’s said to store the Ten Commandments. 

What is remote viewing? 

According to the CIA, "coordinate remote viewing" is a psychic technique in which a "viewer" transcends time and space to see or perceive people, places or objects, "without the viewer being present."

Retired U.S. Army Chief Warrant Joe McMoneagle told The New York Post that when a remote viewer is asked to search for a target, the object in question is written down on a piece of paper and put into an envelope. The remote viewer does not know what is written and is guided through the process by another person. 

What does the CIA’s Ark of the Covenant document say? 

The CIA document says remote viewer #32 "attained excellent site contact" and was able to keep AOL, or analytic overlay, to a minimum. Analytic overlay is the subjective interpretation of the remote viewer’s visions. 

"Target is a container," the session summary reads. "This container has another container inside of it. The target is fashioned of wood, gold and silver.

"The target is located somewhere in the Middle East … individuals in this area were clothed in virtually all white, had black hair and dark eyes … the target is hidden – underground, dark and wet."

The remote viewer said the container is protected by "entities" and can only be opened by those who are authorized to do so. 

"This container cannot be opened until the time is deemed correct," the summary continues. 

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"The purpose of the target is to bring a people together. It has something to do with ceremony, memory, homage, the resurrection. There is an aspect of spirituality, information, lessons and historical knowledge far beyond what we now know.

"Once it is time to open the container – the mechanics of the lock system will be found to be fairly simple. Individuals opening the container by prying or striking are destroyed by the container’s protectors, through the use of a power unknown to us."

What is the Ark of the Covenant? 

The backstory:

According to Penn State University, the Ark of the Covenant is a gold-covered wooden storage chest for the "stone blocks bearing the Ten Commandments … said to have been built at God's command."

Is the Ark of the Covenant real?

Dig deeper:

"Different people will give you different answers to that question," said Baruch Halpern, Penn State professor of ancient history and religious studies. "The Ark is a regular feature in the Old Testament, making several appearances in the first five books of the Bible. The various references to the Ark are pretty consistent and when you add it all up, it seems like the Ark was a real article."

Real or not, McMoneagle, the former Army officer who was the first person to do psychic experiments for the CIA, told The Post he’s not convinced by the information contained in the declassified Ark document. 

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"Using remote viewing against any target for which ground truth does not exist or is impossible to obtain, such as UFOs, UAPs, the surface of Mars, or the locations of historical relics, is a waste of time and resources," McGoneagle told The Post.

"If someone claims that remote viewing proves the existence of something, such as the Ark of the Covenant, they must produce the Ark to substantiate their claim."