Ken Bell

Ken Bell was a U.S. Army captain and one of the original six remote viewers in the Stargate Project. He was recruited into the program, then codenamed Gondola Wish, in 1977 by Skip Atwater and Scotty Watt.¹

Bell had a background in counterintelligence and was known for his interest in meditation. He was described as short, wiry, and somewhat intense. He believed that psi could never be used to make money, as psychics who tried to get rich often failed, suggesting a connection between psi and human morality. He was among the six most promising members sent to Stanford Research Institute (SRI) for two weeks of outbound remote-viewing experiments, where SRI evaluated their talents and confirmed their suitability for operational remote viewing.¹

As a remote viewer, he had an extraordinary ability to "connect" with human targets, especially those who were distressed or missing, determining their concerns, intents, and even injuries. He was also known for his ability to enter a deep, trancelike state during remote viewing sessions, often using a "slowly spinning golden orb" as a cool-down technique.¹

One of his notable successes was locating a crashed U.S. Navy A-6 aircraft in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Bell picked up on the word "bald" several times during his session, which later correlated with the hill named "Bald Knob" where the aircraft was found. He also contributed to the remote viewing of a new Chinese nuclear device at Lop Nor.¹

Bell was involved in the attempt to locate a downed U.S. helicopter in Peru. During this session, he became explosively sensitive to the emotions evoked by the target, sobbing uncontrollably as he perceived the broken and roasted bodies of the pilot and copilot. This experience deeply affected him, leading to the session being stopped.¹

He was instrumental in the "telepathic interrogation" of a KGB agent in South Africa. By telepathically whispering about the agent's son and daughter, Bell was able to break through the agent's mental barriers, leading to the discovery of a hidden pocket calculator used for coding messages. This case was considered a significant success, helping to close an important counterintelligence operation.¹

During the Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981), Bell, along with other remote viewers, was tasked hundreds of times to provide information on the hostages. He experienced the intense pressure and monotony of these taskings, which contributed to mental burnout among the remote viewing team. He was present during the debriefing after the failed hostage rescue mission, and remained with the unit during the subsequent period of uncertainty.¹

Bell, along with Mel Riley and Joe McMoneagle, became one of the three full-time remote viewers when the unit was officially designated the Special Action Branch and the program was codenamed Grill Flame. He arranged to stay with the unit initially but left within a year to rejoin the regular Army career track, eventually retiring in the late 1980s as a lieutenant colonel.¹

The Documents

The released personnel file holds his Grill Flame volunteer security agreement, listing him as "INSCOM" with a position the scan renders as "Grill Flame Agent," his "Information About Remote Viewing for Participants" form of May 9, 1979, and his statement of consent of April 21, 1980, "as a participant in the INSCOM GRILL FLAME Project (IGFP)," to "the tape recording, monitoring and transcribing of all session interviews." From March 1980 to May 1981 he signed the unit's session reports, memoranda for record and transcript summaries from HQ INSCOM (IAFM-OPS-HU-SA) as "CPT, MI, Special Actions Branch" (March 19, 1980), "Project Analyst" (the summary of Project 8003, July 14, 1980) and "CPT, MI, Control Analyst" (sessions DC-68 of January 23, 1981, and DCC-45 of May 8, 1981), twenty-eight documents in all.²