A recently declassified CIA document suggests the U.S. government may have located the legendary Ark of the Covenant in 1988 — if a controversial psychic program is to be believed.
The document, part of the CIA’s “Project Sun Streak,” details how an individual known as “Remote Viewer No. 032” — a psychic hired by the CIA — claimed to locate the biblical artifact during a December 5, 1988 training exercise.
“The target is a container. This container has another container inside of it,” the document states according to a report by The Daily Mail. “The target is fashioned of wood, gold and silver…. and it is decorated with [a six-winged angel].”
According to Biblical accounts, the Ark of the Covenant was a golden chest constructed around 1445 BC to hold the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God. Historians believe it was kept in Jerusalem’s ancient temple before disappearing from history during the Babylonian conquest in 586 BC.
The psychic reportedly described a coffin-shaped object “located somewhere in the Middle East” where people spoke Arabic. The psychic reported the artifact was hidden “underground, dark and wet” and “protected by entities” who would “destroy” unauthorized individuals attempting to open it.
“The purpose of the target is to bring a people together. It has something to do with ceremony, memory, homage, the resurrection,” the psychic reportedly told the CIA. “There is an aspect of spirituality, information, lessons and historical knowledge far beyond what we now know.”
Project Sun Streak, operational in the 1970s and 1980s, employed individuals with claimed paranormal abilities to gather intelligence. These “remote viewers” supposedly could project their consciousness to observe distant locations.
“This target is located somewhere in the Middle East as the language spoken by individuals present seemed to be Arabic,” the psychic wrote, describing people “clothed in virtually all white” near buildings resembling mosque domes.
Some theories suggest the Ark resides in Ethiopia. A religious legend claims it was brought there by Menelik, purportedly the son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. Most historians believe it was destroyed and stripped for it’s valuable metals a millennia ago, however.
British scholar Edward Ullendorff claimed to have seen the Ark in Ethiopia’s Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion during World War II. However, historian Tudor Parfitt later revealed that Ullendorff had only seen a replica common in Ethiopian churches.
The CIA document recently gained renewed attention after being featured on the “Ninjas are Butterflies” podcast, where host Josh Hooper talked about finding the official government document on the CIA website.