What is Bohemian Grove? In this episode of What is Truth we take a look at Bohemian Grove, including a report from Bohemian Grove 2020 on July 11th, 2020. Also included are remarks and comments from Walter Bradley, Sean Ackley, Christian Coffins, Brendan O'Leary, and Manny Trev. With music from Sacred Owls and Eric Golub. Included in this special extended episode is DarkDox Digest #25 and HeartTalk with Walter Bradley #33.
Excerpt from my next book, New World Odor. This is part of the chapter titled, Dull Care: Bohemian Club. "Today the Bohemian Club is located at 624 Taylor Street in San Francisco, California. The 2,700-redwood forest encampment known as Bohemian Grove can be found at 20601 Bohemian Avenue in Monte Rio, California. The Bohemian Club has been through a few transformations and relocations over the years. The Club and the Grove are separated by 100 miles. The history of the Bohemian Club dates back to 1872, but the three-week encampment inside Bohemian Grove probably began in 1878, just before Henry Edwards, one of the founding members of the Bohemian Club, decided to relocate to New York. The gathering was called the Mid-Summer High Jinks and took place in the redwood forest of Marin County, where the Samuel P. Taylor State Park is today. Actor and head entomologist at the California Academy of Sciences, Henry Edwards moved to New York City after his send-off party on June 29th, 1878. A night of drinking, socializing, and sleeping in the redwoods of Marin and Sonoma County became the yearly tradition of Bohemian Club members, guests, and entertainers. Locations varied for the first few years, but the annual gatherings were usually held near the Russian River in Sonoma County, California. Part of the current Bohemian Grove location was rented out from 1893 until 1899, the year when it was purchased from Melvin Meeker. Meeker ran a booming logging business in the Monte Rio area. The Bohemian Grove property expanded over time until it became the 2,700-acre encampment it is today. Mark Twain and Jack London were both members of the Bohemian Club. Some of the attendees at Bohemian Grove included Charlie Chaplin, Bing Crosby, Barry Goldwater, Walt Disney, Nelson Rockefeller, Walter Cronkite, Henry Kissinger, and former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt. It is generally believed the Bohemian Club began as a fraternity among male journalists, artists, musicians, and others who enjoyed various arts and entertainments of the late 1800s. Membership dues are a necessity for the club’s existence and growth. To keep up with maintenance and expansion costs, the club began to extend its membership to some very powerful people. Soon journalists and art lovers were joined by industrialists, banking elitists and government officials. Also included as members or guests of the annual gathering were corporate CEOs, Federal Reserve Board members, military contractors, oil company executives, members of the media, and high-ranking foreign officials. Women need not apply for membership. In general, they are not welcome. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited the annual Bohemian Grove gathering in 1962 and apparently impressed a lot of the attendees that year. Once called “the greatest men’s party on earth” by President Herbert Hoover, the Bohemian Grove has also been described as a place where “all those rich republicans go up and stand naked against redwood trees,” according to former United States President Bill Clinton. In a private recording, President Richard Nixon vocalized his disgust for “the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine with that San Francisco crowd that goes there.” Although President Nixon stated he could not “shake hands with anybody from San Francisco” he still attended the “upper-class” gathering “from time to time.”
