Integratron

The Integratron is a 38-foot-tall (12 m) cupola structure with a diameter of 55 feet (17 m) designed by ufologist and contactee George Van Tassel. Van Tassel claimed the Integratron was capable of rejuvenation, anti-gravity and time travel. He built the structure in Landers, California (near Joshua Tree), following instructions that Van Tassel vehemently claimed were provided directly to him by visitors from the planet Venus. The Integratron machine was started in 1957, the structure erected in 1959. It was financed predominantly by donations, including funds from Howard Hughes. After Van Tassel's death in 1978, the building had a series of owners (and was left in various states of disrepair) before sisters Joanne, Nancy, and Patty Karl bought it in the early 2000s. The sisters promote the Integratron as an "acoustically perfect structure", and offer "sound baths" they describe as "...meditation-like sessions accompanied by tones from 22 quartz crystal bowls, creating binaural beats for relaxation and rejuvenation". The building is now a part of the National Historic Register, and continues to be stewarded by the Karl sisters and their adult children.