Weird Claim of the Week: CIA found Ark of the Covenant using psychics

My title might indeed have invoked a few eye-rolls because of its mixture of cargo-cult pseudoscience, all carefully wrapped up with a religious woo bow tie, and then encapsulated with a mention of the CIA, but hold fire on that, because there is something real in play here.

So what have we got and where does it come from?

We have tabloid headlines like this (from late March) …

CIA found the Ark of the Covenant by using psychics, declassified files claim

‘Remote viewer #32’ allegedly uncovered the gold-plated chest believed to house the Ten Commandments

But wait, isn’t this the plot line from Spielberg’s 1981 Oscar-winning Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Yes it literally is, and yes it really did win 5 Oscars.

However, a more appropriate question to ponder over is to wonder why they would publish such an article. Well OK, beyond generating clicks, is there any actual substance to this?

The story claims …

Declassified CIA documents claim that the mystical Ark of the Covenant was located by a psychic decades ago in the Middle East as part of one of the intelligence agency’s experimental, secret projects in the 1980s.