Bohemian Grove - conservative summer camp or Satan worshippers?

Here is a piece from a site about historical sites of Sonoma County, CA:

The Bohemian Grove (Monte Rio)

The Bohemian Club was established in 1872 in San Francisco as an exclusive club of political and intellectual figures who wished to spend a certain amount of time each year relaxing and interacting in a non-business environment. They began camping on the site of the present Bohemian Grove, located 3 miles east of Monte Rio and 1 mile from the end of the Northwest Pacific Railroad Company, in 1891 but didn't officially acquire the land until 1901. The grove itself is a total of 2437 acres of uncut redwoods, including some that are 2000-3000 years old. The land is occupied by approximately 1500 men -- most of them political and business dignitaries -- for two weeks around Midsummer. The encampment is marked by rituals, talks and entertainment meant to revolve around the relaxation and friendship of the members, rather than their political and economic alliances.

On the first Saturday of the camp, an elaborate ritual called the Cremation of Care is held just after dinner. It begins with the procession of a group of men, dressed in red pointed hoods and red robes, some of whom play a funeral dirge while others carry torches. These men also carry a rough, open coffin containing a body made of a black muslin-covered wooden skeleton. According to Domhoff, "this is the body of Care, symbolizing the concerns and woes that important men supposedly must bear in their daily lives. It is Dull Care which must be cremated."

The men of the grove join the procession, following it the to the lake. While the robed men continue to a green meadow on the far side of the lake, where a 40-foot owl-shaped altar resides, the club members seat themselves on the lawn on the opposite side of the lake. Several unseen voices begin to sing, and a hamadryad appears from the branches of a tree near the Owl. The dryad sings as well, reminding the members that as long as these trees are strong and beautiful, so will the men who come here. It then suggests that the men of the camp need to "burn away the sorrows of yesterday" and "cast [their] grief to the fires and be strong with the holy trees and the spirit of the Grove."

Next the High Priest enters the scene, speaking of the reverence members must have for the Owl. The priest warns, "weaving spiders, enter not here" -- a Shakespearean quote to remind these men that they should not discuss business or worldly concerns during the encampment. The robed men take the coffin and lift it to the pyre which is set up in front of the Owl. "Care" tries to discourage the robed men out of burning him, but to no avail. Care is torched and everyone rejoices. After the fire dies down, the men break into smaller groups to drink and tell stories.

Plays, known as High Jinks, are performed once during the two-week period, typically on the Friday night of the final weekend. This is the most formal occasion of the two-week encampment. The plays usually have a fantasy or mythical theme their morals run more to issues of human frailty rather than social injustice. The patron saint of Bohemia, Saint John of Nepomuck, appears in both plays. Legends of Saint John are a part of the oral tradition of the Bohemian Club, so it is important he appears in this entertainment. Low Jinks are also held. These are mainly low-brow plays poking fun at life; they are often bawdy and humorous. Other entertainment throughout the encampment can include performances from comedians, actors and singers.

Another central element to the Grove is the Lakeside talk. Held each day at 12:30pm, each talk or briefing is given by a popular political or intellectual figure. Some politicians, Nixon among them, have used these talks as a chance to test-drive political speeches before delivering them to the public. In fact, Nixon was going to give a Lakeside talk in 1971, until the media found out he planned to go to the Grove and deliver an off-the-record speech. After much controversy, the club asked Nixon not to speak, so as not to risk the sanctitude of future talks. Many important decisions are made at the Grove, some as a result of these talks. It was at the Bohemian Grove, for instance, that Harry Truman resolved to build the atom bomb via the Manhattan Project, then to drop it on Hiroshima during World War II. Reagan also decided, while at the Bohemian Grove, to allow Nixon to run as an unopposed Republican in 1968. Though the Lakeside talks would seem to violate the ban on political discussions, they are allowed since they are seen as informal chats given by a "member of the family."

As if other activities weren't dubious enough, many members also entertain themselves by crossing the Russian River and visiting prostitutes who work in Monte Rio or Guerneville. Though this practice has subsided since the 1970s when a new sheriff threatened to clean up the towns and arrest all the prostitutes, it has not died out completely. According to Dumhoff, the subject is still a popular one for conversation, "outranked... only by remarks about drinking enormous quantities of alcohol and urinating on redwoods."

One thing that's very clear about the activities at the Bohemian Grove is how starkly masculine they are, in the most stereotypical form of the word. It seems the comments about "weaving spiders" can be taken to have a double-meaning barring women (who are often associated with spiders in Native American mythology, let alone the concept of the weaving Fates) from the camp. Not even prostitutes -- let alone female politicians -- are allowed past the gates of the grove. Although members might claim they don't discuss business or political issues during their encampment, we've witnessed the results of the decisions made during those secretive two weeks. This is an interesting twist, that so much masculine energy could thrive in a region so steeped in yin energy, from the murky fogs and the serpentine river to the mysterious, shadowy redwoods. In this day, when feminists are pushing for the equal representation of women in all forms of government, the Bohemian Club is working as hard as it can to ensure that the highest levels of office remain available only to the Old Boys' Network.

 

What shouldn't be allowed is derailing every thread with your stupid antics.

 

Most schticks get old after a while...

 

No problem. This description of the "Cremation of Care" is consitent with the idea that the ritual is a burning of the "collective conscience" of these powerful men. Most articles describe the ritual as a time for the men absolve themselves of the guilt they feel about their actions and power (so they can focus on things that really matter--not "dull care").

The Bohemian Club is a pretty well-known clandestine group. The Bohemian Club has been flexing its muscle in the California Recall election. From the July 23, 2003 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle:

Some prominent members:

George HW Bush
Dick Cheney
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Malcolm Forbes
Gerald Ford
Newt Gingrich
Alan Greenspan
Alexander Haig
Herbert Hoover
Jack Kemp
Henry Kissinger
Richard M. Nixon
Colin Powell
Ronald Reagan
George Schultz
Caspar Weinberger
Art Linkletter
William Randolph Hearst, Jr.
Charles Scripps, of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain
Jack Howard, also of Scripps-Howard
David M. Kennedy, history professor from Stanford Univeristy
Nathan Myhrvold, Former Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft.
Seth Shustak, astronomer, SETI Institute
Jesse H. Choper, law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren
John Major, former Prime Minister of U.K.
John Keegan, military historian
William Davidow, author & "Venture Capitalist"
James R. Lilley, former ambassador to China and Korea
John M. Barry, writer & scholar
William Casey, former CIA director
John Lehman, former Navy Secretary (delivered speech that claimed 200,000 Iraqis were killed in first Gulf War)
Tom Johnson, president of CNN and former publisher of the Los Angeles Times
David Gergen (although he is reportedly no longer an attendee)
A.W. Clausen of the World Bank

 

Did anyone see the making of Alex Jones the FREAK sneaking in the BG to get his video footage on Trio? I will kind of stick up for the Satan worshipping conservatives on this one. Jerks? Probably. Devil worhippers? Nah. Jones totally took things out of context and twisted them.

One person who has attended one of these meetings is Harry Shearer. Harry does many voices on the Simpsons (Flanders, Burns). He also might know a thing or two about Satan worshippin' as he is also the bass player for Spinal Tap (Derek Smalls). He says the Grove meeting is really just a bunch of really powerful rich guys hanging out, partying like frat-men.

Quotes taken from here

"Some world manipulation does take place whenever these people get together, and these guys like spending time with each other as opposed to spending time with people who don't have power," Shearer says. "But what's really surprising is the extent to which the gathering resembles an overbudgeted, overblown frat party gone wild.

"Part of the weirdness and the charm is that at this stage what these men really want the most in the world is to recapitulate their sophomore year in college."

"In this country, we like to think that we are without a class system," Shearer says. "But actually, we are obsessed with class and power."

"And that is one of the many reasons people like to talk about what is happening under the redwoods. "The most efficient way of disproving the wild talk is to allow reporters up there," Shearer says. "But they don't, and to an extent, they encourage the lurid speculation. And I think they like all the rumors to a degree. They must get some kind of perverse pleasure in it."

He also has a film out that spoofs the Bohemian Grove titled Teddy Bears' Picnic

 

Ok, no proof of devil worship. Looks like a pagan ritual, but is probably just horsing around, a boyscout type of thing to break the ice. The homosexual allegations are interesting as maybe it allow(s) some of the members the elit to blackmail others. The allegations of a ritual to expiate guilt at jacking people around is interesting, too.

The big point is that it is a two week get together for the elite, largely conservative to hatch long term plans in private.

They have the right to meet , of course. More importantly the American Public should be informed that the elite does this, instead of such lies as there is no collusion by the elite, they just subject themselves to the market, Econ 101 style like others are supposed to do. The lack of objectivity and distance of big media from these folks is an issue also.

The existence of the Bohemian Grove is a widely commented on in sociology as meeting of an elite group bringing togther various groups in American society. It is considered one of the primary indications that the elite meet to plan society across many different industries, insitutions and perhaps the two major political parties. The Bushs', of course have long been members of this strata of society.

 

It's gutsy of you to put this thread here though I dont care if some of these men near the owl effigy are conservative or liberal or fascist commies, the fact is a lot of these very powerful "Americans" are heavily involved in ritual sacrifice to an owl. it's right there on tape. what it means, I dont know.

if i recall right, they do this yearly ritual thing to turn away the dull mind, to turn away the neophyte, you know, the part of the mind that is married to political ideologies or relgiuous beliefs, the opium of the masses, as one recent thread was titled.

 

Very intriguing reading.
It occured to me that the idea for the book "Traumnovelle", the novel by Arthur Schnitzler (1926), and the inspiration for Stanley Kubrick"s movie "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999) could have been in part inspired by Bohemian Grove.

I also think the recently deceased Bob Hope would have quite possibly been a member, based on what I've read here. I'm sure most of us could think of many past and current prominent members of society that might have been invited to join... including several Democrats.

Interesting stuff, Friendly Fan. Thanks for the thread.
Different from most of our summer doldrums here.

 

trader_jorge, get over it. This is some sort of bizare sort of "liberal plot" to discredit conservatives and polute your bodily fluids with flouride. This is typical paranoid world control club theory that typically is reserved for liberal groups and supposed liberal groups. SeeThe Bilderbergers, The Trilateral Commission, and The United Nations, all of which are trying to corrupt our free american way, and create a new world government. Case in point: Timmothy McVeigh.

 

Hey, what a coincidence... Stanley Kubrick, who directed, produced and co-wrote the screenplay... first put "precious bodily fluids" in the public conciciousness with, "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964). Now everything makes sense!

 

So true however every time someone posts a poll regarding political affiliation it almost always comes up even despite whatever trend the board is showing in regard to the posts.

 

Well, that makes sense... only you are still suggesting who some of those people are without any certain proof.

Too National Enquirer.

 

aah, but then there is participation.

We should take those polls and divide by a number of posts to get an approximate impact statement.