What is remote viewing? Practice comes under scrutiny in wake of declassified CIA files on The Ark of the Covenant

According to the declassified CIA documents from 1988, the Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, has allegedly been found. The remote viewer claimed the religious storage chest and relic was in the Middle East. According to The New York Post, the CIA files were declassified on August 8, 2000, and have recently resurfaced on social media.

According to the media outlet, the declassified CIA files stated that the relic was found through remote viewing, which is a form of extrasensory perception (ESP). On December 5, 1988, individuals who claimed to have powers such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition were selected for this project, which is titled Project Sun Streak.

In remote viewing, the desired object is written on a piece of paper and kept inside an envelope. The remote viewer tries to sense the location of the object without knowing what it really is.

In the aforementioned case, retired US Army Chief Warrant Joe McMoneagle stated that another person tried to guide the remote viewer.

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What did the remote viewers say about the Ark of the Covenant's location?

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According to The New York Post's report, the remote viewing session took place on December 5, 1988. The remote viewer #32, who reportedly didn't know anything about the Ark of the Covenant, had a vision and stated that the relic was allegedly somewhere in the Middle East. The declassified file stated:

"Target is a container. This container has another container inside of it. The target is fashioned of wood, gold and silver… similar in shape to a coffin and is decorated with seraphim. This target is located somewhere in the Middle East as the language spoken by individuals present seemed to be Arabic."

As per The Daily Mail, the Bible mentions that the Israelites built it in the 13th century BC before they fled Egypt. Moses then stored the Ten Commandments inside the relic.

Historians believed it was kept safe in the Holy of Holies, the ancient Temple of Jerusalem, before disappearing during the Babylonian conquest in 586 BC.

According to Live Science, some historians claim the Ark of the Covenant is allegedly hidden inside a cave in Mount Nebo, Jordan. Others believe it is secured in the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum, Ethiopia. The exact location of the Ark of the Covenant is uncertain.

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What did Joe McMoneagle say about the Ark of the Covenant and Project Sun Streak?

Retired US Army Chief Warrant Joe McMoneagle, who was remote viewer #1 back then, told the media outlet that using remote sensing to find an object whose existence is not confirmed is a "waste of time and resources." He said:

"Using remote viewing against any target for which ground truth does not exist or is impossible to obtain, such as UFOs, UAPs, the surface of Mars, or the locations of historical relics, is a waste of time and resources."

The media outlet reported McMoneagle received the Legion of Merit after his retirement for using remote viewing in the Stargate Project, which identified a secret Russian warship during the Cold War. Calling the Project Sun Streak bogus, McMoneagle stated it was done on a whim, and the results were accepted as unverified. He said:

"In this case, it is a training target done on a whim. I would challenge the entire practice session as bogus. No one attempted to ascertain the ground truth of the material, and everything said was accepted on its unknown and unverified merit. Currently, the Ark of the Covenant is a legendary tale."

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The 1988 declassified CIA documents are available on the CIA's official website.