The 1978 Remote Viewing of Hella Hammid: Declassified CIA Records on Anomalous Cognition

Remote Viewing and Project Stargate

In the late 1970s, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) funded a series of experiments into 'anomalous cognition'—specifically remote viewing (RV)—at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). While much attention is given to viewers like Pat Price or Ingo Swann, the trials involving Hella Hammid, a professional photographer with no prior history of psychic claims, provided some of the most statistically significant data in the program's history. The 1978 trials were designed to test whether an individual could describe a remote location based only on a set of geographic coordinates or the presence of a 'target person' at the site.

The June 1978 Trials

Declassified documents within the CIA's Stargate Project archive detail a specific session on June 15, 1978. In this experiment, Hammid was asked to describe a location where a researcher was currently standing. Hammid's descriptions were remarkably precise, detailing a 'circular pool,' 'man-made structures with specific geometric shapes,' and even the ambient sounds of the environment. Independent judges, who were not aware of the target locations, were asked to match Hammid’s transcripts to a list of potential sites. Hammid achieved a hit rate that exceeded chance by a factor of 10 to 1, leading SRI researchers Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff to conclude that her abilities represented a genuine anomalous phenomenon.

Intelligence Evaluation

The CIA's internal evaluation of Hammid’s performance, found in the 'FOIA Reading Room' and preserved in full by The Black Vault, shows that the agency was both intrigued and cautious. A declassified memo dated late 1978 notes that the accuracy of Hammid’s 'remote perception' suggested a potential for intelligence applications, specifically in identifying concealed Soviet military installations. While the RV program was eventually shuttered in the mid-1990s, the Hammid files remain a critical piece of evidence for those studying the intersection of psychic phenomena and national security. The records provide a factual, clinical account of anomalous cognition testing under controlled laboratory conditions, far removed from the sensationalism usually associated with the topic.