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From the High Desert book cover

From the High Desert

A Cultural History of Art Bell

Thumbnail for June 8, 1994: Ouija Board Prophecies - Vance Davis

June 8, 1994: Ouija Board Prophecies - Vance Davis

Jun 8, 1994
2h 47m
0:00 / 0:00
Vance Davis, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst, reveals the bizarre true story of six military personnel who went AWOL from a top-secret listening post in Germany after receiving startling predictions through a Ouija board.

Davis describes how his team of analysts at Field Station Augsburg began parapsychology research in their off-hours, eventually contacting an entity named Sapphire through the board. The sessions produced predictions of a Tehran earthquake, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Los Angeles earthquake, and the Gulf War. Convinced of a domestic threat to constitutional rights, the group fled to the United States, where the FBI arrested them in Gulf Breeze, Florida. After just 21 days of interrogation, they received honorable discharges reportedly ordered by President Bush and Senator Dole. Davis shares predictions extending to 1996, including a catastrophic California earthquake and first contact with an alien race.

Art Bell presses Davis on the military's inexplicable leniency, raising the provocative possibility that government psychic programs had already confirmed the same predictions independently.

Key Moments

  1. Six intel analysts at Field Station Augsburg: Davis identifies himself as part of six military personnel doing off-hours parapsychology research at Field Station Augsburg, one of the largest listening posts in the free world, while working in highly sensitive intelligence; they ruled out about 70% of psychics they reviewed as charlatans before turning to a Ouija board in April 1990.

  2. Sapphire and the woman from Georgia: Davis describes the first session: after Christian prayers asking for protection, a perceived feminine energy entered the room, identifying itself as Sapphire and saying she was a woman from Georgia in another realm. Across eight sessions over many hours, not a single word was misspelled despite Davis and Beeson both being poor spellers.

  3. Tehran earthquake predicted by name and timeframe: Davis says the board predicted a major earthquake in Tehran within 30 days, intentionally chosen as something quickly verifiable in the newspaper; thousands would be killed. The June 1990 Iran earthquake (Manjil-Rudbar) actually occurred in May, and Davis cites a death toll above 300,000.

  4. 1993 World Trade Center bombing predicted on Sightings: Davis says one prediction recorded in their notes was an explosion in New York City in 1993, aired on Sightings two weeks before the February 26 World Trade Center bombing. He was watching live TV when it happened.

  5. 1996 California earthquake measuring 14.4 or higher: Davis relays the longest-range prediction the group recorded: a major California earthquake in 1996 that, if it could be measured, would register 14.4 or higher - tectonic plate separation rather than slip - well beyond any known instrumentation scale.