Hidden camera: world leaders at pagan ceremony with 40-foot owl

[Article Text]

For two decades, a video recording of world leaders participating in a ritualistic ceremony at an exclusive California retreat was dismissed as fringe conspiracy theory. In July 2000, independent filmmaker Alex Jones brought a hidden camera to Bohemian Grove, a private club in Monte Rio, California, and documented something that establishment media outlets and government spokespeople had insisted didn't exist: high-ranking politicians and business leaders participating in what appeared to be a pagan ritual.

The ceremony Jones filmed, known as the "Cremation of Care," takes place annually at the 2,700-acre compound. According to the footage, attendees included former presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, both Bush presidents, former president Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and numerous other prominent figures. The ritual centered around a massive owl statue—reported to be approximately 40 feet tall—constructed from wood and other materials on the grove's grounds.

When Jones's footage initially surfaced, official responses were swift and dismissive. Bohemian Grove representatives claimed the ceremony was merely a theatrical tradition and artistic expression, nothing more than an elaborate theatrical performance among friends. Media outlets largely ignored or ridiculed the documentation. Government spokespeople declined to comment substantively on the activities. The prevailing narrative in mainstream circles became that Jones had filmed a harmless social gathering and that any interpretation suggesting occult or sinister intent was the product of conspiratorial thinking.

The verification of this claim rested not on debunking the footage itself—which was never convincingly disputed—but on the official acknowledgment that the ceremony actually occurred. Once the footage became undeniable, the burden shifted. eventually acknowledged the ceremony's existence and its regular occurrence. The New York Times, the Washington Post, and other mainstream outlets published articles confirming that world leaders and influential figures had indeed participated in this ritual at the private retreat over many decades.