Under the Giant Rock: The George Van Tassel Archive [Patreon Preview]

Summary

Otherworld Podcast Episode Summary: "Under the Giant Rock: The George Van Tassel Archive [Patreon Preview]"

Release Date: May 19, 2025
Host: Jack Wagner
Episode: Patreon Preview

---

Introduction: An Unexpected Mission

In this exclusive Patreon preview of the "Otherworld" podcast, host Jack Wagner shares an intriguing behind-the-scenes look into a unique mission undertaken by the team. The episode, titled "Under the Giant Rock: The George Van Tassel Archive," chronicles the journey of Jack, alongside contributors Theo Schaefer and Theo Krantz, as they meet Don McKinney in the desert to assist in digitizing and organizing George Van Tassel's extensive archive.

Jack opens the episode by expressing his desire to expand the show’s scope beyond storytelling to actively preserving paranormal history. “Ever since I first started the Patreon for Otherworld, I've always hoped that we could be doing more with this show than just telling spooky stories” (00:07), he states, setting the stage for the collaborative archival project.

Meeting Don McKinney: A Glimpse into Eccentricity

Upon arriving at Don McKinney’s desert residence, the team is immediately struck by Don's unique personality and his meticulously crafted home. Jack describes Don as a "true eccentric" and "super sick" (03:10), highlighting the vibrant atmosphere of his abode filled with ornate woodwork and intricate leather carvings.

Don’s wife, Dale, is introduced as an equally fascinating figure—a talented painter with a penchant for the paranormal. Jack recounts Dale's excitement upon hearing the name "Eddie Letihan," illustrating the deep connections within the community (03:30). Their interaction underscores the rich tapestry of individuals dedicated to preserving the legacy of George Van Tassel.

Exploring the George Van Tassel Archive

The core of the episode delves into the heart of Don McKinney's archive. Don generously offers a tour of the extensive collection, which includes hundreds of reel-to-reel tapes, photographs, original blueprints of the Integratron, and personal effects of George Van Tassel. At (06:00), Don showcases artifacts such as the Integratron model, Solganda's pocket symbols, and George’s artwork depicting the "house under the rock."

One of the standout moments is the display of George Van Tassel's original blueprints for the Integratron, which Don explains were funded by a significant donation from Howard Hughes. “[Howard Hughes] gave George Van Tassel … $55,000 cash donation in a paper bag,” Don reveals (07:15), emphasizing the notable support behind the Integratron project.

The Integratron: A Nexus of Mysticism and Technology

The Integratron itself is a pivotal subject of discussion. Theo Schaefer provides an insightful explanation: “This is the center of the Integratron, the hub to all them” (06:18), referring to its role in George Van Tassel's experiments with thought transmission and alien communication.

Don elaborates on the Integratron’s purpose, detailing how it was used to channel messages from extraterrestrial beings. “[George] was putting out like a newsletter… they got together… trying to make an ashtray move across the floor with their mind,” Theo explains (08:11), illustrating the initial metaphysical experiments that led to significant extraterrestrial interactions.

Preservation Efforts: Digitizing a Priceless Archive

A significant portion of the episode focuses on the urgent need to preserve the aging tapes and documents. Don stresses the importance of digitization: “The tapes are the treasure… absolutely” (11:34), highlighting the fragility and historical value of the recordings.

The team discusses the challenges involved in this preservation, noting that the tapes are now over 70 years old and vulnerable to deterioration. Jack adds humorously, “We don't bring the tapes up here because it gets too hot up here” (11:19), while Theo underscores the gravity of the task: “The tapes are now like 70 years old. So it's scary” (11:22).

Challenges and Resilience: Safeguarding the Archive

Don recounts past adversities, including a fire that threatened the archive: “They had to evacuate the house… took in George's RV” (12:25). This incident underscores the volatility and the continuous need for safeguarding the materials. The resilience of both Don and Dale is evident as they prioritize preserving the archive, even under extreme circumstances.

Theo shares a personal anecdote about the importance of saving the archive: “We saved it all” (13:29), emphasizing the collective effort required to protect this invaluable history.

Conclusion: Ongoing Preservation and Future Endeavors

As the preview wraps up, Jack reflects on the significance of the project and extends his gratitude to the Patreon supporters who make such endeavors possible: “I've always wanted to do more with Otherworld than just tell spooky stories, and I'm really so happy that we can use the resources of the show to help preserve this huge chunk of history like we're doing” (13:55).

He invites listeners to engage further by accessing the full episode and a mini-documentary on Patreon, promising ongoing updates on the preservation mission. The episode concludes with a nostalgic touch, sharing a musical piece from Don's archive—a composition by George Van Tassel titled "There I Am" (15:33), leaving listeners with a sense of the rich cultural legacy preserved through this project.

---

Notable Quotes

• Jack Wagner (00:07): “Ever since I first started the Patreon for Otherworld, I've always hoped that we could be doing more with this show than just telling spooky stories.”

• Jack Wagner (03:10): “Don is awesome. Like, first reaction is that Don, yeah, Is super sick. I love meeting a true eccentric.”

• Theo Schaefer (06:18): “This is the center of the Integratron, the hub to all them.”

• Don McKinney (07:15): “Howard Hughes gave George Van Tassel … $55,000 cash donation in a paper bag.”

• Theo Schaefer (11:22): “The tapes are now like 70 years old. So it's scary.”

• Jack Wagner (13:55): “I've always wanted to do more with Otherworld than just tell spooky stories, and I'm really so happy that we can use the resources of the show to help preserve this huge chunk of history like we're doing.”

---

Final Thoughts

"Under the Giant Rock: The George Van Tassel Archive [Patreon Preview]" offers a captivating glimpse into the dedication and passion required to preserve paranormal history. Through engaging storytelling and firsthand accounts, Jack Wagner and his team invite listeners to join them in safeguarding a significant cultural legacy. This preview not only highlights the fascinating world of George Van Tassel and the Integratron but also underscores the importance of collective effort in preserving the enigmatic and unexplained phenomena that "Otherworld" so eloquently explores.

For those intrigued by the mission to digitize and archive these historical treasures, the full episode and accompanying mini-documentary are available exclusively to Patreon supporters at patreon.com/otherworld.

---

Note: This summary is based on a preview transcript and aims to provide a comprehensive overview for those who have not listened to the full episode.

Transcript

[Jack Wagner]

Welcome to the Otherworld Patreon. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. As you heard at the end of the recent episode, my interest in the Integratron ended up sending myself, Theo Schaefer, and Theo Krantz on an unexpected mission to meet this guy, Don McKinney, out in the desert and help him out digitizing and organizing his archive of George Van Tassel's belongings. Ever since I first started the Patreon for Otherworld, I've always hoped that we could be doing more with this show than just telling spooky stories. And when I first met Don, I thought that maybe this could be a great way that we could use the resources of the show to not only help out Don, but also help preserve this incredible history. I just really didn't like the idea of all this history sitting out there in the desert without it being fully backed up. So I flew out both of the Theos. We rented some equipment to professionally scan the negatives and photos, as well as what we needed to digitize the reel to reel tapes, and we headed out to meet Don. This was really something we were just doing for the sake of it, but we recorded an episode right after we got back about the experiences we had out in the desert. We also play some clips from Don's archive in this episode. Additionally, I'll be posting a little mini documentary that I filmed with Don while I was out there, if you're interested. So in this episode, you'll be hearing myself, Theo Schaeffer, and Theo Krantz discuss our experience going out to meet Don. I want to thank all of you for being patrons of the show and enabling us to do stuff like this. I also want to thank Theo and Theo for coming out with me on the strange journey. This is our experience with Don McKinney, the George Van Tassel archive, hundreds of reel to reel tapes, and many, many stray desert cats. This is a short preview of a full Patreon episode. If you want to hear the entire thing, it's available at patreon.com otherworld. You're listening to the Otherworld Patreon, by the way. Like, I should just say right away, Don is awesome. Like, first reaction is that Don, yeah, Is super sick. I love meeting a true eccentric. Yeah, like a real eccentric guy. And he definitely is. Like, he took us around his house. He has many crafts and hobbies that he participates in. And it's very evident in the home. Like, his house is decorated with, like, really ornate woodwork that I think he did, and also leather work. He does both of those, like, kind of carving Celtic designs into leather work belts, things like that. But he has, like, ceiling support beams that he carved in his home.

[Don McKinney]

Yeah.

[Jack Wagner]

It did look like a boat to some extent. And then his. His wife Dale, who you will eventually meet in the recording, is like this amazing painter, but also into spooky stuff. She showed us a photo of a leprechaun she took. I think it was a painting. A painting of a photo of a leprechaun.

[Don McKinney]

Yeah.

[Jack Wagner]

And she got really excited when we mentioned Eddie. Oh, yeah. She knew who Eddie Lenahan was. Yeah, yeah. I name dropped Eddie Letahan on her. And I think she. I earned a lot of respect.

[Don McKinney]

Yeah.

[Jack Wagner]

In that moment, which was really cool to be able to name drop Eddie Letihan.

[Don McKinney]

Yeah.

[Jack Wagner]

Yeah. Dale was great. Dawn's memory is not super strong. All the things that dawn couldn't remember, she would remember. So anyway, we recorded most of our interaction there. Go ahead and listen to that. Right now. This is us pulling up to the house and meeting Don for the very first time. Hey, how's it going?

[Don McKinney]

Good.

[Jack Wagner]

I'm Jack. Nice to officially meet you. We've been talking.

[Don McKinney]

And who's this? Oh, that's Theo. Theo. Yeah. And is that short for Theodore?

[Jack Wagner]

It is for me.

[Don McKinney]

I'm a Don and my dad was Don, too, so I. I know how that feels.

[Jack Wagner]

Yeah.

[Don McKinney]

Come on in. Cool. What I'm going to do is close this gate.

[Jack Wagner]

Sure.

[Don McKinney]

Because there's stray dogs out here.

[Jack Wagner]

Oh, wow.

[Don McKinney]

And the. And they might chase the cat.

[Jack Wagner]

Thanks for letting us come by.

[Theo Schaefer]

Oh, yeah.

[Don McKinney]

I'm telling you that I. I could use this help that you guys have happening here.

[Jack Wagner]

Wow. What a beautiful home.

[Don McKinney]

Thank you. Thank you. Holy cow. Right here. This is. Hi.

[Jack Wagner]

Nice to meet you.

[Don McKinney]

I'm Jack. Theo.

[Theo Schaefer]

Nice to meet you. Jack.

[Don McKinney]

We gotta show you the items first. And close that door because we keep the cats out of this room.

[Jack Wagner]

Wow.

[Don McKinney]

This is the Integratron model used to solicit donations by George. This is the ball and cross that Solganda had on his pocket. Frequency equals one over time. George's artwork. The house under the rock. The antenna on the rock to intercept thought transmissions from aliens. And radio transmissions from airplanes. And George Van Tassel. And so Gonda, the other symbols are the universal language, sole ex maul of George Van Tassel's interpretations from the space beings. And here's George here. Somebody did a painting of him. Lefrae was one of his friends.

[Theo Schaefer]

This is the center of the Integratron, the hub to all them.

[Don McKinney]

All the rafters.

[Theo Schaefer]

Rafters hooked to.

[Don McKinney]

And these are various photographs of in.

[Theo Schaefer]

Progress when he was first building it.

[Don McKinney]

And here's George Van Tassel right here. And this is the Integratron during construction. This is an as built that they used to actually build the Integratron.

[Jack Wagner]

The original blueprints.

[Theo Schaefer]

Yes.

[Don McKinney]

Actually this is why they're called blueprints, because they were actually blue and they were actually prints. Howard HESS College OF Universal Wisdom Los Angeles, CA so we need archival plexiglass and frames for these to display these properly.

[Theo Schaefer]

So Howard Hughes was the one who footed the bill for a lot of.

[Don McKinney]

That $55,000 cash donation in a paper bag. He gave George Van Tassel as startup money for the building of the Integratron.

[Theo Schaefer]

He would fly out to have pie, Eva's pie to come on in.

[Don McKinney]

This is the kind of people I saw there in 1969 when I went there at a convention. And these were all regular people, working class people and working class cars.

[Theo Schaefer]

These are the people and promoting it.

[Don McKinney]

As Palomar recording it during a recording. And there's George Van Tassel. And these were people under the rock as a. As witnesses to the re. Transcribing thought transference.

[Theo Schaefer]

So before the channeling would take place under the rock, these people would sing hymns. They did something that made that channeling possible. And it was always 12 people. And it actually started. They got together. They didn't know anything about aliens at all. They were practicing different sort of metaphysical ideas and experiments and they were trying to make an ashtray move across the floor with their mind. And the alien being under the rock, I guess the UFO people thought, okay, these people are ready. We have something to tell them.

[Don McKinney]

We have papers and effects.

[Theo Schaefer]

That's an unpublished manuscript of his in there.

[Don McKinney]

See, this is filled with so many photos that it's just incredible. These are George Van Tassel's. A lot of his personal effects. And here's his wife, who was a major part of his whole operation. And the cook for the. Come on in. We have these first edition books that George gave to donators.

[Theo Schaefer]

Yeah, so he put out the proceedings. So everything that he was channeling, he was putting out like a newsletter. So everybody that subscribed to the newsletter and helped pay for things, they got one of the messages from the golden density. So all of the other channelings were from individual space people except the golden density. And that's like, I don't know.

[Don McKinney]

He explains how the Integratron works in this proceedings. And he kept a Newsletter going for how many years, Dale? Oh, there's, there's the Solex Mall. See, Solex Mall. I didn't know it had it in here.

[Theo Schaefer]

So we have the little slips of the original channeled. The date on everything is like January 1952 or something. Where he channeled that language.

[Don McKinney]

George said if you don't believe in UFOs, come with me and I'll go with you. On a hot rock hurtling around the sun with enough air to breathe and food to eat and sustain us life. And I'll bring you right back here in one year, exactly one year from today. And the moral of the story is we are on a hot rock. We're hurtling around the sun. If you believe the official narrative, each one of us are space creatures.

[Theo Schaefer]

Show them how many tapes there are.

[Jack Wagner]

The tape show us that stuff too.

[Theo Schaefer]

We don't. Didn't bring the tapes up here because it gets too hot up here.

[Jack Wagner]

Oh yeah.

[Theo Schaefer]

The tapes are now like 70 years old.

[Jack Wagner]

Yeah.

[Theo Schaefer]

So it's scary.

[Don McKinney]

Well that they'll get. So that's why we want to digitize them and archive them.

[Theo Schaefer]

Are the treasure.

[Jack Wagner]

Yep.

[Don McKinney]

The tapes are the treasure. Absolutely. There are so many over 75 voices recordings on each side of the. Of each tape.

[Jack Wagner]

And all these too.

[Don McKinney]

We have these out for to show you guys but we normally have them in a room controlled temperature archival vault room.

[Jack Wagner]

The moon people. It's crazy how. How has this been as a project? Has it been an overwhelming task trying.

[Don McKinney]

To keep this stuff overwhelming? Even when there was a hundred foot flames on these very mountains nearby. Dale and George Riddle had to was forced to evacuate the house. And they took in George's RV that he lived in here then. The last CEO of the College of Universal Wisdom they just took their.

[Theo Schaefer]

Just took this. It's all we could get out. Left all my artwork behind.

[Don McKinney]

And she has 3 or 400. She has 3 or 400 fine art paintings that are here in the house and she left them behind. And I was doing a pool deck work for a hotel in La Mirada, called home and just got a dial tone. And so I was fearful. So the next day I finished the job. I worked so hard that the people said they'd never seen anybody work so hard.

[Theo Schaefer]

I do want to come home, see if his house burned down before. Cell phones. We didn't have a cell phone. George didn't have a cell phone. So you had no idea what was going on. But we saved it all.

[Don McKinney]

So that's how important it was to her and me. Too. That's why we keep it all together in one place, so we can evacuate if we have to.

[Jack Wagner]

All right, that brings us to the end of this preview. If you want to hear the full episode about our adventure into the desert and the ongoing mission to help don and Dale McKinney preserve their archive, the episode is out now on Patreon. I also filmed a short little documentary of Don giving a tour of his collection and his house that is also available on Patreon right now. I also want to give a major thank you to our patrons for enabling us to do this type of thing. I've always wanted to do more with Otherworld than just tell spooky stories, and I'm really so happy that we can use the resources of the show to help preserve this huge chunk of history like we're doing. So thank you to all the patrons who contribute to the show. If you want to show us your support as well, you could [e-mail] Otherworld I'm going to play you out with a song that we found on one of the tapes. Don's archive is really so huge, we're just barely scratching the surface of it still. But this recording is apparently a composition written by George Van Tassel and performed by a full band led by Arthur Mancini. I also found the original sheet music that was written by George. The song is called There I am. Once again, patreon.com otherworld I'll be keeping everyone posted as we get updates on this ongoing project.

[Don McKinney]

Within the heart of you.

[Jack Wagner]

There I.

[Don McKinney]

Am within the morning dew who there I am within the stars above within the arms of love within the coup of every dove that I am within the soul of you there I am Where.