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Syd: Hello, and welcome to the premier of the InsubordiNation podcast. I am Syd P. Eumon, InsubordiNation contributor and host, and we’re speaking with the managing-editor of InsubordiNation, Paul Smith. How are you this evening, Paul?
Paul: Doing quite well, Syd. How are you?
Syd: Not so bad. Well, if you’re wondering would that rather cryptic and bizarre intro was all about, it’s because the main topic of our first podcast is the mysterious Bohemian Grove, that secretive encampment out in a redwood forest of northern California where the rulers of the world come to perform mock human sacrifices and conduct strange rituals. Is that right, Paul?
Paul: Eh, something like that.
Syd: So, tell us about it, what is Bohemian Grove?
Paul: Yeah, okay well this is a subject that I have been researching for a number of years. And for those who are completely unfamiliar with it, the Bohemian Grove is basically this secretive club whose members include kind of the movers and shakers and powers-that-be in America and parts of the Western world, kind of the captains of industry and leaders of the business world and powerful politicians. I believe every Republican president since Hoover has been a member. And the club owns this 2,700 acre encampment out in Sonoma County in northern California. It’s in this redwood grove on the Russian River. And it’s about 90 miles north of San Francisco and it’s near the town of Monte Rio in northern California. And basically they have this, what the club calls the Midsummer Jinks, where every summer the powers-that-be in the world, the club’s most prominent members and their pre-approved guests come to this two week basically summer camp for the elite.
Well, that’s the general kind of official story of what Bohemian Grove is. Now the way that most people are familiar with Bohemian Grove you could really attribute to Alex Jones. And those who don’t know Alex Jones, he’s this kind of documentary filmmaker and radio host who, I don’t know, I guess he’s kind of a traditional right-wing libertarian kind of guy. You know, I believe who would consider himself a member of the Christian Patriots movement, and he’s basically a conspiracy theorist. And he makes these kind of low budget documentaries that are warning people against the police state and the United Nations and the New World Order and that sort of thing.
But in 2000 he made this documentary called Dark Secrets: Inside Bohemian Grove, where he managed to infiltrate the Grove and get the first footage that’s ever been released of the Cremation of Care ceremony. Now this is where the conspiracy theory of the occult ritual comes in. |
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The Cremation of Care Ceremony (from Alex Jones’ documentary Dark Secrets: Inside Bohemian Grove) |
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Part 1 |
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Part 2 |
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Well, and the fact that Alex Jones was able to obtain this footage of the Cremation of Care ceremony, it was kind of like this great “gotcha” moment for conspiracy theorists out there, who have always sort of really suspected that the rulers of the world were really just members of this underground Illuminati network. And when this footage was released in 2000, it was kind of like, “Ha! We knew it, we fucking knew it. We knew you guys were out there in the woods getting your jollies off by performing mock human sacrifices and conducting occult rituals. We knew it, and now you’re busted.”
Well, that’s what it is on its surface, but the reality is a bit more nuanced than that, and we’ll be getting more into the Cremation of Care ceremony as we go along.
Syd: Okay, well let’s talk some history. So, who started this club and when was it formed?
Paul: Well, the Grove was first created in 1872 and it sort of came out of the Gold Rush era, after gold was found in San Francisco and people started fleeing to California in 1849. In the decades that followed and a real community developed in San Francisco, it began attracted these well-to-do, upper crust members of America. And there was this bunch of artists and journalists and writers who wanted to create this club in San Francisco. And it was kind of fashioned after the Century Association or Century Club which was this prominent club for artists and painters in New York. And it was sort of based on that a little bit when it was first created. But it was always considered a club for the artistic community that was blossoming in San Francisco.
In fact, I actually managed in my research to get my hands on a copy of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Bohemian Club. And by the way, the name of the club is the Bohemian Club. And I found in my research if you call it the Bohemian Club rather than the Bohemian Grove, you will find a lot more pertinent information. Anyway, I managed to find from 1895 a copy of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Bohemian Club. And I’m going to read a little bit from it real quick. This is from “Article One” and it says:
“This organization shall be known as the Bohemian Club. It is instituted for the association of gentlemen connected professionally with literature, art, music, the drama and also those who, by reason of their love or appreciation of these objects, may be deemed eligible.” |
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Now, I read that because I want to stress a point, which is that since its inception the Bohemian Club always had a very deep, serious association with the literary, artistic community. I mean, that’s why it was called the Bohemian Club. The Bohemian culture, it was really a reference to artistic, literary crowds. Even later, in like the 50’s, in the Beat generation and the people from Greenwich Village in New York were considered Bohemians, that lead to the folk revival and the rock-and-rock of the 60’s generation, these were considered Bohemians as well. And that’s what the original members of the Bohemian Club considered themselves. And you will see that prominently figured throughout many of the practices and traditions of the club.
Now, the club started out in the Astor Hotel in San Francisco. And as its membership expanded they eventually outgrew their headquarters at the Astor Hotel and in 1899 they purchased 160 acres out in the Sequoia Valley. And that’s where the grove is to this day, and now they have 2,700 acres out there. But one of the reasons they bought this land was because starting in 1873, they started going out to the forest, to the Sequoia Valley, to perform what were known as the grove plays. |
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And one of the things that I found was interesting is that these plays were famous. They were extremely well renowned and appreciated in the artistic and opera communities. And they used to actually allow on certain occasions outsiders and non-members of the club to come in and attend the productions of these plays. I found an article in the New York Times from 1908, and this article is going to be available on the website as well, talking about how the grove plays were considered serious works of art. I mean, they were taken very seriously. And for good reason, because they were these really lavish stage productions. I mean hundreds of people in costumes involved in these productions. They would have full orchestras for musical accompaniment and the music was also written by members of the club. So, they really were just huge productions, lavish productions.
They were interesting because they were only performed one time each. And the plays were always written by members of the club. And you can actually still find copies of these plays because they were printed in book form. And you still find these books in rare book stores and on certain website that deal in rare book stores. And on the website we’re going to have available several of these plays that I’ve managed to track down in PDF form that you can download and read for yourself. |
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And I’ve read several of them. And, you know, they’re extremely well written, there’s no question about it. They’re written in kind of an archaic, flowery kind of language. They’re a little fruity, you know, but they’re definitely well written. They have kind of a flair of either Greek myths or sort of a Shakespearean aspect to them.
But one of the things we’re also going to have on the website is a bunch of old pictures from the early 1900’s, of some of these productions that they put on. And you’ll see for yourself what they entailed and you’ll see they were taken very seriously.
And some of the names of these plays were the Green Knight, the Cave Man, Gold, the Atonement of Pan, the Quest for Gorgon. And all of those I just mentioned are going to be available on our website.
And eventually the tradition started where they would do two plays. And they would be performed during what is called the Midsummer Jinks. Now this is this two week summer camp kind of thing. And the two plays were the Low Jinks and the High Jinks. And the Low Jinks is kind of traditionally a comedy or a more light hearted fare, and the High Jinks was usually a serious drama. And the High Jinks has always been considered the highlight of the midsummer camp that they have there. It’s the one where they just go all out, and they would spend a lot of money on these productions and you’ll be able to recognize that when you see the pictures on the website. I mean these were not cheap things. |
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But as the years went by eventually these plays became off-limits to non-members and their preapproved guests. This kind of started in the 1930’s, and the reason for this being that it became this retreat for Republican presidents of the day.
And I kind of have this theory that once they started letting in a more conservative crowd that perhaps the quality of the plays went down a little bit. Because, I don’t know, I hate to generalize here, but you tend to find that the most creative people are on the left. And it’s not that they didn’t still have members on the left in the club, they did. But it became more conservative as the years went by certainly. |
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Syd: Okay, and who exactly attends this summer retreat?
Paul: Well, as I said when the club was first formed in 1872, it was originally artists and painters and musicians and poets and journalists and writers and such. But very early on in the club they realized basically that they needed members with money. And they began attracting people from the business community as well. And it’s really not surprising at all that business men would be attracted to this club, because most of these guys went to Ivy League schools and were members of elite fraternities while they were at their colleges and universities. And they were into classic literature and mythology and famous paintings, and collecting paintings and antiquities and that sort of thing. So, they definitely had a lot in common with the artistic community that had created this club.
And in fact, every time I would find and download one these plays in print form, I would look up who wrote it and who were some of the main performers in the plays, and you would always find that a lot of people who wrote these plays were people who were owners or executives from railroad companies and oil companies. So, even some of these business men wanted to get their hands dirty in terms of actually producing art.
But these days it really sort of is a “who’s who” of American business men and politicians. And you will see some foreign dignitaries attend the midsummer camp, the Midsummer Jinks, as well. But today you’re going to find past members and attendees have included both George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, George H. W. Bush, their father, Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, Henry Kissinger is sort of a famous Bohemian, George Shultz who was an old Reaganite, former CIA director William Casey. |
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Ronald Reagan (left) and Richard Nixon (right) at the Grove |
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And then you know from the business world, you’ll see people like Philip Hawley was a past attendee who was from Bank of America, Ralph Bailey from DuPont, and people from IBM, that sort of thing.
And then you’ll see journalists, Walter Cronkite has always been a famous member of the club, and allegedly Chris Mathews and Charlie Rose have attended.
And then keeping in line with the artistic community to this day you will still see prominent actors attend the Midsummer Jinks, people such as strangely enough Danny Glover. I haven’t totally confirmed that, but I’ve seen that numerous places that Danny Glover has been an attendee, as well as Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charlton Hesston. |
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And then you’ll see musicians there like Steve Miller, strangely enough Mickey Hart, the drummer from the Grateful Dead I've heard has attended some of these things.
And the point is that this is a real eclectic mix. That’s really what I’m trying to illustrate here. And if the idea is that it is kind of this secret cult out in the woods, crafting policy and ruling the world, well these people don’t even really agree with each other on many policy matters. I mean I can’t imagine that Danny Glover, who’s way out there on the left, had anything in common with Ronald Reagan, but they both attended.
And these are members and attendees from the recent history of the club. Some of the more famous members of the club are people, as I've been describing, from the artistic and literary community. Probably the two most, kind of, legendary members of the club are George Sterling, who was a San Francisco poet. And I've read some of his poetry and it’s very good. And he actually committed suicide at the club, at the Grove, later in the 1920’s. But also Jack London, the famous author, he and George Sterling were apparently good friends, and you’ll see pictures of them together at the club. And we’ll have some of those pictures on the site. And jack London, was not a conservative at all, I mean he was on the socialist end of the ideological spectrum. But then you’ll see people like Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling had attended, and Oscar Wilde, all notorious Satanists, I know. But people from the literary world were very prominent members of the club. |
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George Sterling (far left) and Jack London (far right) at the Grove |
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And also one of the things you’ll see at the summer camp, is that the members will give these Lakeside Talks, where they will give these speeches and discuss certain things that are of interest to certain members of the Grove. For example, Philip Weiss, who wrote a great article for Spy Magazine in 1989, who infiltrated the Grove and attended the entire two weeks of the summer camp, didn’t just go the opening night like Alex Jones did. He got to actually see a couple of these Lakeside Talks. And he saw John Chain who was the commander of the Strategic Air Command speaking at one of these talks, and talking about how the country desperately needs the B2 Stealth Bomber, and then he also saw Louis Boccardi who was the president of the Associated Press at the time, who gave a speech and talked about how their Middle East correspondent Terry Anderson had been held hostage since 1985. And it was a call to arms to maybe help get the word out and help get him released.
The official motto of the club is “weaving spiders come not here,” which is actually a line from a Midsummer Night’s Dream, the play attributed to William Shakespeare. And what the motto really means is that you don’t conduct business at the club; you don’ talk shop. But that rule is often overlooked, and business is conducted at the club. And these Lakeside Talks are examples of that. Now whether specific policy matters are being crafted at the club is probably pretty unlikely. It’s kind of more of thing where you make your connections and if these Lakeside Talks have swayed your opinions, maybe once you get back into the real world, the business world, you will make some phone calls based on things you heard at the club. |
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There’s this old legend that the Manhattan Project, to build the atomic bomb, was conceived of at the Bohemian Grove, and whether that is actually true or an apocryphal story is very difficult to ascertain. I have not been able to verify that in my research, but it’s definitely a legend of the club.
And these Lakeside Talks are presented sporadically throughout the summer camp. The way it basically works is that it’s three weekends and two weeks. The opening night is the Cremation of Care ceremony, and the second weekend is the Low Jinks grove play, the one that’s usually a comedy, and then on the third weekend is the High Jinks, the dramatic play. And the High Jinks, since they’ve been doing this, has been considered the highlight of the Midsummer Jinks, the midsummer camp that they have there. |
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George W. Bush giving a Lakeside Talk |
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Podcast Transcript |