by Joël van der Reijden
December 25, 2005
from
ExposureOfHiddenInstitutions
Website
The Bohemian Grove is one of the more
important places in the United States where businessmen,
politicians, army officers, and scientists can sit around with each
other and talk about anything they're interested in. Although
networking is officially not allowed, some business deals can always
be made behind a couple of trees. The quote "makes it easier to pick
up the phone" has been mentioned more than once. Politics can be
discussed openly and whether a particular candidate is liked by
the Bohemians or not can make
or break his career. About 85% of the Bohemian Grove members are
from California.
If you are interested in my thoughts on the symbolism surrounding
the Cremation of Care and the Bohemian Grove in
general you can take a look here. Nothing of that is discussed in
this article.
On this page you can find a short timeline of the history
of the Bohemian Grove, a list of some of the relatively recent
visitors of camp Mandalay, an analysis of the British
visitors, and the layout and location of the Bohemian Grove itself.
The
membership list included with this
article has 564 names on it, together with extensive biographies.
There's a separate
list of 104 camps which are located
within the Bohemian Grove. At the bottom of this article
you'll find many cached references.
All these are topics I generally missed in all the other articles
about the Bohemian Grove, so I guess most of you will find
this a useful expansion.
Timeline
of the Bohemian Club and the Bohemian Grove
1872 |
The Bohemian
Club is organized in San Francisco as a
gathering place for men who like the arts and
literature. The clubhouse is located in the
Astor Hotel on Sacramento Street and the owl is
chosen as the club's symbol. |
1874 |
The Club has 182
members. |
1875 |
The Bohemian
Club's motto, "Weaving spiders, come not here",
first appears on a Club announcement. It was
taken from Shakespeare's "A midsummer Night's
Dream". |
1877 |
The Club has
outgrown the Astor Hotel and moves to 430 Pine
Street in San Francisco. |
1878 |
In 1878 several
dozen Bohemians hold a Jinks in the forest in
Sonoma County near what is now known as Camp
Taylor (California Historical Society, Bohemian
Club 1947). This was the start of a long
Bohemian tradition of trekking to the Sonoma
County redwoods during July and August of each
year for camping and self entertainment. |
1882 |
The Club's
patron saint becomes John of Nepomuk. The legend
says that St. John was killed in 1393 at the
orders of Wenceslaus IV, King of the Bohemians &
King of the Holy Roman Empire, because he didn't
want to disclose the confessional secrets of
Queen Johanna of Bohemia. Today, St. John
symbolizes the right to privacy of the
Bohemians. An interesting, but seemingly
unconnected detail is that Wenceslaus IV
struggled with his half-brother Sigismund I
(same father) for the title of Holy Roman
Emperor. King Sigismund was the one who
reinstituted the ancient Dragon Court (Ordo
Draconis), which still exists today (The British
Queen and the Lord Mayor of London are involved
with it). |
1885 |
The extremely
successful Joseph D. Redding is elected
president of the Bohemian Club and in 8 years he
will devise the Cremation of Care. Redding is a
very successful attorney for the Southern
Pacific Railroad Company (Harriman & Harkness
owned) and considered a musical genius
[Reference 2 on this page; more details in the
article on the BG symbolism and in the
membership list]. |
1887 |
The Club has 561
members, which is a combination of literary
figures and San Francisco businessmen. Among
them are 4 members of the Crocker banking
family, 3 Spreckles, William Randolph Hearst,
Bay Area shipbuilder Arthur W. Moore, columnist
and writer Ambrose Bierce, writer Henry George,
and 14 officers from the Army and Navy. Other
Bohemian Club writers are Charles K. Field, Ina
Coolbrith, Bret Harte, Daniel O'Connell, and
Mark Twain. |
1892 |
The 70 ft. high
Buddha statue is built within the Sequoia
Valley, now known as the Bohemian Grove. It is
modeled after the Daibutsu of Kamakura, the
Great Buddha from Japan. The statue used to be
part of the Cremation of Care. |
1893 |
Joseph D.
Redding creates the Cremation of Care and serves
as High Priest of Bohemia during this ceremony.
Within a couple of years he will move his
business to New York where he again becomes part
of 'high society'. The Bohemian Club starts
renting a piece of land in the Sequoia Valley
from the Sonoma Lumber Company. They will do
this until 1899 when they make their first land
purchase. |
1899 |
The Bohemian
Club buys a 160 acre piece of land in the
Sequoia Valley, today known as the Bohemian
Grove. The Club will make twenty-eight purchases
of land over a 67 year period. Today it owns
2,712 acres. The New York Times writes two
articles about the Cremation of Care and how
impressive it is. |
1905 |
The Washington
Post reads: "The Taft party to-day visited
the Bohemian grove of redwoods...", which
is the first reference I have seen to presidents
visiting the Bohemian Grove. |
1913 |
The Cremation of
Care ceremony is moved to the first weekend of
the encampment. |
1914 |
The Bohemian
Club has 1259 members, of which 787 resident
members, 241 non-resident members, 19 Navy
officers, 49 Army officers, 29 faculty members,
114 associate members, and 20 honorary members. |
mid 1920's |
The Lake is
built. It is about 100 feet wide and 400 feet
long. Or for everybody outside of the United
States: 30 meters wide and 124 meters long.
|
1929 |
The concrete owl
is built and there are 169 camps in the Bohemian
Grove. |
summer 1933
|
The Club takes
up residence at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel when
the dismantling of the old clubhouse begins. The
club has grown to about 2000 members. A large
new Club House is opened the following year.
|
1941 |
Membership drops
to 1643 due to World War II. |
1981 |
The Lake is
relined with earth and concrete. It has an
artificial waterfall tumbling into it, and water
lilies are kept in natural-looking patterns by
water jets embedded in the lake bottom. The only
natural aspect to the lake is the early morning
mist rising off of it every morning.
|
1994 |
There are
124 camps in the Bohemian
Grove. |
|
Members
of Camp Mandalay
Many camps in the Bohemian Grove
contain very prestigious visitors. You have camps like Cave Man,
Hideaway, Hill Billies, Hillside, Isle of Aves, Lost Angels,
Mandalay, Midway, Owl's Nest, Sempervirens, Silverado Squatters, and
Stowaway. Mandalay seems to be the camp for international relations
and consists of many members officially or otherwise connected to
the intelligence agencies.
Mandalay is the only camp you
cannot just walk into and before you are allowed on the compound
someone will ask you who you have an appointment with. If you're
cleared for access, you are taken up the hill with a
Bechtel-designed electric pulley. Many members of camps like Hill
Billies or Stowaway (Rockefellers and Morgans) have been to Mandalay
at one time or another.
Visitors of Mandalay
|
They primarily
represent |
Armacost, Samuel Haydan |
Bank of America;
Merrill Lynch; Weiss, Peck & Greer L.L.C.;
Stanford Research Institute (SRI) International;
CFR. |
Atwater, H. Brewster, Jr. |
General Mills. |
Bailey, Ralph E. |
J.P. Morgan;
Morgan Guarantee Trust; Du Pont; Conoco; Clean
Diesel Technologies, Inc.; Fuel Tech. |
Bechtels (3) |
Bechtel Company;
Trilateral Commission; Heritage Foundation
(primary funder); CFR. |
Brady, Nicholas F. |
Dillon Read &
Co.; Rockefeller University; SMOM; CFR.
|
Brandi, Frederic H. |
Dillon, Read &
Co.; Father German Steel Trust; Pilgrims
Society. |
Brandi, James H. |
UBS Warburg;
ThyssenKrupp. |
Bush, George H.W. |
CIA; U.S.
president; Trilateral Commission; CFR; Atlantic
Council of the United States; Father was SMOM. |
Casey, William J. |
SEC; CIA;
Bechtel; Wackenhut; Export-Import Bank;
Iran-Contra; CFR; Atlantic Council of the United
States; SMOM; Associate of Armand Hammer. |
Cooley, Richard P. |
Wells Fargo;
Seafirst Bank; RAND; CFR. |
Ducommun, Charles E. |
Stanford
psychology and education. |
Ehrlichman, John D. |
Top adviser to
Nixon. Convicted for Watergate. |
Firestone, Leonard K. |
Firestone
empire; World Affairs Council of L.A. |
Flanigan, Peter M. |
Assistant to
Nixon; Dillon, Read, & Co.; UBS Warburg; SMOM;
CFR. |
Flanigan, John |
Relative of
Peter. |
Ford, Gerald |
United States
president 1974-1977. |
Ford, Henry |
Ford. Built
everything for the the nazis and bolsheviks.
antisemite. |
Hawley, Phillip M. |
Carter Hawley
Hale Stores; Trilateral Commission; Business
Roundtable. |
Houghton, Amory, Jr. |
Corning Glass
Works; CFR. |
Johnson, Charles B. |
Franklin
Resources. |
Kaisers (3) |
ICF Kaiser
Consulting Group, Kaiser Foundation.
|
Kearns, Henry |
Bechtel;
Export-Import Bank. |
Kennedy, David M. |
Continental
Illinois Bank; Trust Company; CFR. |
Kissinger, Henry |
Rockefeller and
Fritz Kraemer protege; Le Cercle; Pilgrims; 1001
Club; Bilderberg; CFR; Trilateral Commission;
Atlantic Council of the United States; Open
Russia Foundation; J.P. Morgan; Kissinger
Associates; Hollinger International; AIG. |
Knight, Andrew S. B. |
UK; The
Economist; Rothschild & Murdoch interests;
Reuters; Ditchley; Bilderberg; RIIA; Stanford
Hoover Institution. |
Lewis, Drew L. |
Union Pacific
Corp.; CFR. |
Littlefield, Edmund W. |
General
Electric; Bechtel Investment Co.; Stanford
Research Institute (SRI) International. |
Marting, Walter A. |
Hanna Mining
Company. |
McCone, John Alex |
Atomic Energy
commission; Bechtel; CIA; SMOM. |
McLean, John G. |
Continental Oil
Company. |
Mettler, Ruben F. |
TRW Inc.; Space
Technology Laboratories (STL); CFR. |
Morrow, Richard M. |
Amoco
Corporation; National Academy of Engineering;
Commercial Club; close to the Bechtels. |
Neylan, John Francis |
Republican party
leader; friend of Nixon. |
Nixon, Richard M. |
United States
president 1969-1974; Le Cercle; Pilgrims
Society. |
O´Reilly, David |
ChevronTexaco;
J.P. Morgan; Business Roundtable; Business
Council; Trilateral Commission; National
Petroleum Council; DAVOS. |
Peterson, Rudolph A. |
Bank of America;
CFR; Bilderberg. |
Powell, Colin Luther |
Four-Star
General; Joint Chiefs of Staff; US Secretary of
State; Pilgrims Society; Trilateral Commission;
CFR. |
Reichardt, Carl E. |
Wells Fargo;
Ford Motor Company. |
Rocard, Michel |
French socialist
prime minister. |
Sage, Andrew G. C. |
Lehman Brothers;
Sage Capital Corporation; Robertson Ceco
Corporation. |
Shultz, George P. |
Bechtel; J.P.
Morgan Chase; Washington Institute for Near East
Policy; Pilgrims Society; Trilateral Commission;
CFR. |
Smith, William French |
Attorney general
under Reagan. |
Darrell M. Trent |
Rollins
Environmental Services, Inc.; National Security
Council; NATO; Twice a deputy campaign manager
for Reagan; President’s Office of Emergency
Preparedness; hosted CIA director William Casey
in 1980. |
Volcker, Paul A. |
Chase Manhattan;
FED; CFR; Bilderberg; Group of Thirty;
Trilateral Commission; RAND; Le Cercle; Pilgrims
Society; Japan Society; Ditchley; J. Rothschild
Wolfensohn & Co.; Power Corporation; Hollinger
International. |
Watson, Thomas J., Jr. |
IBM; Pilgrims
Society; 1001 Club; CFR. |
Weinberger, Caspar Williard |
Federal Trade
Commission; Bechtel; Iran-Contra Affair; Forbes
magazine; Ditchley; CFR. |
|
The 51 gathered members of camp Mandalay represent the
following organizations:
CFR |
20 |
Bechtel |
9 |
Trilateral
Commission |
8 |
Pilgrims Society
|
6 |
Knights of Malta (SMOM)
|
5 |
Morgan banking
interests |
4 |
Atlantic Council of
the U.S. |
3 |
CIA directors
|
3 |
Ditchley |
3 |
RAND |
2 |
SRI International
(chairman) |
2 |
|
Note: Available membership lists of the
Pilgrims Society and the
Knights of Malta are very
incomplete. We have so little names of the
1001 Club I didn't bother counting
these members in camp Mandalay.
British
visitors
British visitors always seem to be closely connected to the British
Crown and the major banks in the City of London. If they stay more
than one day it is quite possible that all of these British
representatives spent the night in camp Mandalay. The individuals
below are the only ones I have found so far. Look for longer
biographies in the membership list.
Prince Philip |
Made
an off-season visit to the Bohemian Grove in
November 1962. |
Queen
Elizabeth |
According to
Texe Marrs the Queen visited the Bohemian Grove
in 1983. Would be interesting to confirm or
disprove. Normally women aren't allowed in the
Bohemian Grove. |
Andrew Knight |
Recent visitor
of camp Mandalay. Governor of the Ditchley
Foundations since 1981. Editor of The Economist
and expanded its offices to Brussels. Director
of Rothschild Investment Trust since 1997.
Important functions at News Corp. and BskyB.
Director of Reuters. Governor of the Atlantic
Institute for International Affairs. Governing
council of the Royal Institute of International
Affairs. Member of the Steering Committee of
Bilderberg. |
John Major
|
Recent visitor
who gave at least one speech at the Bohemian
Grove. Prime Minister of the U.K. 1990-1997.
Chairman of Carlyle Europe since 2001. Chairman
of the Ditchley Foundation since 2005 and a
member of the Queen's Privy Council. Le Cercle
members Robert Cecil and Norman Lamont were
running his election campaigns. Member of the
Pilgrims Society. |
Lord
Christopher F. Patten |
Held at least
one speech at the Bohemian Grove in 1998. Member
of the Privy Council since 1989. As the last
Governor of Hong Kong, he left the state on July
1, 1997, together with The Prince of Wales, on
board of the HM Yacht Britannia. |
Lord Peter
Levine |
Former advisor
to Margaret Thatcher. Became Lord Mayor of
London in 1998. Gave a speech at the Bohemian
Grove in 1999 called 'We Reinvented Government
Before You Did'. Chairman of Lloyd’s of London
in 2004. Patron of the Lloyd's Yacht Club. |
Sir John
Keegan |
An English
military historian specializing in 20th-century
wars. Lectured for 26 years at the Royal
Military Academy Sandhurst. Defense
Correspondent. Knighted in 2000. |
Sir Hubert
Brand |
Rear-Admiral in
the British navy, extra equerry to the King
(1922), principal naval aide to the King
(1931-1932), and a visitor of the Bohemian Grove
in the early part of the 20th century (at least
in 1929). One of his brothers, Lord Robert
Brand, was a major player in Milner's Round
Table. One of this brother's many positions was
as a financial adviser to Lord Robert Cecil,
chairman of the Supreme Economic Council of the
Versailles Peace Talks (1919). Other family
members also played a large role in the British
empire. |
|
Layout and
location
References
[1] 1892, Lewis Publishing Co.,
'San Francisco County Biographies'
[2] June 25, 1899, New York Times, '"Bohemia" in California'
[3] July 9, 1899, New York Times, 'An Entertainment in a
Forest Grove'
[4] April 22, 1906, New York Times, 'California's Women Here
are Going to Aid' (Redding in New York)
[5] August 12, 1929, Time Magazine, 'Revived Rails'
[6] November 22, 1932, New York Times, 'Joseph D. Redding,
Coast Attorney, Dies'
[7] August 7, 1933, Time Magazine, 'Bohemians'
[8] August 7, 1964, Time Magazine, 'Walden West'
[9] May 13, 1971, Nixon expresses his opinion about the
Bohemian Grove
[10] July 17, 1975, G. William Domhoff, 'Is There a Ruling
Class?'
[11] August 5, 1985, Fortune Magazine, 'The male manager's
last refuge'
[12] 1987, Kerry Richardson, 'The Bohemian Grove and The
Nuclear Weapons Industry: Some Connections'
[13] November 1989, Spy Magazine, 'Masters of the Universe
Go to Camp: Inside the Bohemian Grove'
[14] November/December 1991, Extra!, 'Inside Bohemian Grove:
The Story People Magazine Won't Let You Read'
[15] June 11, 1993, Washington Times, David Gergen comment
about running naked
[16] 1994, Peter Martin Phillips, 'A Relative Advantage:
Sociology of the San Francisco Bohemian Club'
[17] July 1997, Sonoma County Free Press, 'Supreme Court
Justice Antonin Scalia Speaks at the Grove'
[18] 1997, anonymous, 'A Summer Job at the Grove'
[19] August 2, 1999, The Sacramento Bee, Bohemian Grove
update
[20] July 2000, Alex Jones, 'Cremation of Care Transcript'
[21] July 2000, Don Eichelberger, 'Bohemian Club and the
Power "Crisis"'
[22] 2000, Alex Jones, 'Occult Activities at the Elite
Bohemian Grove in Northern California Exposed!'
[23] June 8, 2001, Peter Phillips, 'San Francisco Bohemian
Club: Power, Prestige and Globalism'
[24] June 19, 2001, Counterpunch, 'Meet the Secret Rulers of
the World'
[25] January 22, 2002, The Press Democrat, 'In jailhouse
interview, suspect says he sneaked into exclusive Monte Rio
club prepared to kill'
[26] June 18, 2003, SF Weekly, 'The World According to
Bechtel'
[27] July 23, 2003, SF Gate, 'Hallinan panned for giving
alleged Fajitagate victim a break Some say D.A. tries to
help credibility of his star witness'
[28] July 2003, Sonoma County Free Press, 'Bohemian Grove'
[29] September 10, 2003, Mike Davis, 'Cry California'
[30] July 2004, San Francisco Chronicle, 'Bohemian Grove
Gathers Again'
[31] July 22, 2004, New York Post, 'Gay Porn Star Services
Bohemian Grove Members'
[31] July 24, 2004, Indymedia, 'The Grateful Dead Play At
Bohemian Grove!'
[32] July 30, 2005, San Francisco Examiner, 'Bohemian Grove
endorses Roberts; 10 yrs in Iraq'
[33] 2005, G. William Domhoff, 'Social Cohesion & the
Bohemian Grove'
[34] September 6, 2005, Coast to Coast AM, Jon Ronson talks
about the fanaticism during the Cremation of Care. Alex
Jones and Ronson also talk about their tapes that got
erased.
|