The Ark of the Covenant is one of the most captivating treasures in the realm of biblical riddles and historical intrigue. For more than 2,500 years, the gold-covered chest that is thought to contain the Ten Commandments has been lost. It has influenced numerous expeditions as well as Indiana Jones films. However, what if the CIA and the U.S. government actually made an effort to locate it? What if they accomplished this by using psychic spies? This is not the storyline of a brand-new movie. The account is taken from government papers that have been declassified. There are covert operations with code names like “Project Sun Streak,” psychic espionage from the Cold War, and a congressman who wishes to personally look into the results. Let’s disentangle the truth from the hype in Hollywood.
What Is the Ark of the Covenant?
Before diving into the spy files, it helps to understand what the Ark actually is. According to the Bible, the Ark of the Covenant was a sacred chest constructed by the Israelites around the 13th century BC at Mount Sinai, shortly after their exodus from Egypt .
The chest was made of acacia wood and covered in gold. It contained the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments that Moses brought down from the mountain. The Ark was housed in the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem, where only the High Priest could enter, and only on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism .
Then, during the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC, the Ark vanished. For centuries, its fate has remained one of history’s greatest unsolved mysteries. Some believe it was destroyed. Others believe it was hidden. A popular theory suggests it was taken to Ethiopia, where it is now allegedly guarded at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum .
Now, declassified CIA documents suggest that U.S. intelligence agencies might have an answer.
The CIA’s Secret Psychic Program: Project Sun Streak
During the 1970s and 1980s, the Cold War was at its peak. The United States was desperate for any advantage over the Soviet Union. This desperation led to some unconventional experiments. The CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) began exploring “remote viewing”—a form of clairvoyance where individuals claimed they could perceive distant people, places, or events using only their minds .
This program went by several names, including Project Sun Streak (a successor to the more famous Project Stargate). The idea was to train “remote viewers” to gather intelligence on targets they couldn’t physically access . They would be given only geographic coordinates and would describe what they “saw.”
The U.S. government spent millions on these programs. While the results were often considered scientifically dubious, the documents detailing them were declassified in 2000 and are now publicly available on the CIA’s website .
The December 5, 1988, Session: Remote Viewer No. 032
The specific document that has sparked recent controversy is dated December 5, 1988. In this session, a remote viewer identified only as No. 032 was given a target .
They were not told they were looking for the Ark of the Covenant. In fact, the standard protocol was that the viewer knew nothing about the target. The information they provided was recorded in handwritten notes and sketches that are now part of the declassified record.
According to the document, Remote Viewer No. 032 described:
“The target is a container. This container has another container inside of it. The target is fashioned of wood, gold and silver… and it is decorated with [a six-winged angel].”
The six-winged angel is likely a reference to a seraphim, a celestial being described in the Bible. The notes also describe the object as “similar in shape to a coffin” .
The viewer then placed this object in a specific geographical context. They described:
“This target is located somewhere in the Middle East as the language spoken by individuals present seemed to be Arabic.”
The viewer noted visuals of buildings with “mosque domes” and individuals “clothed in virtually all white” . They described the Ark as hidden “underground, dark and wet” .
Perhaps the most chilling parts of the declassified notes describe the Ark’s purpose and its protectors. The viewer claimed:
“The purpose of the target is to bring a people together. It has something to do with ceremony, memory, homage, the resurrection. There is an aspect of spirituality, information, lessons and historical knowledge far beyond what we now know.”
Regarding access to the Ark, the notes contain a stark warning:
“The target is protected by entities and can only be opened (now) by those who are authorized to do so — this container will not/cannot be opened until the time is deemed correct.”
“Individuals opening the container by prying or striking are destroyed by the container’s protectors through the use of a power unknown to us.”
The document also includes several hand-drawn sketches. One sketch depicts a domed building resembling a mosque. Another shows what appears to be eight mummies lined up. There are also drawings of winged creatures labeled “seraphim” .
The Skeptic’s View: What the Experts Say
This all sounds like the plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark. But before you plan an expedition, it’s worth noting that even the pioneers of remote viewing are skeptical of this particular session.
Joe McMoneagle, known as Remote Viewer No. 1, was one of the first individuals recruited for these psychic experiments. He was awarded the Legion of Merit for using remote viewing to identify a secret Russian warship during the Cold War . But when asked about the 1988 Ark session, McMoneagle dismissed it.
He told the New York Post that this specific exercise was likely a “training target done on a whim” . He criticized the methodology, noting that no one attempted to verify the information.
“I would challenge the entire practice session as bogus,” McMoneagle said. “No one attempted to ascertain the ground truth of the material, and everything said was accepted on its unknown and unverified merit.”
McMoneagle also warned against using remote viewing to “prove” the existence of unverified historical objects.
“If someone claims that remote viewing proves the existence of something, such as the Ark of the Covenant, they must produce the Ark to substantiate their claim.”
Why Is This Story Trending Now?
Declassified documents have been publicly available on the CIA’s website for years. But the 1988 Ark of the Covenant file has recently resurfaced in a major way, driven by two key factors.
First, the documents were discussed on the “Ninjas Are Butterflies” podcast. Host Josh Hooper said he initially doubted the story until he located the documents himself on the official CIA.gov website .
Second, the story gained massive traction when Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna discussed it on The Joe Rogan Experience, one of the world’s most popular podcasts . Luna described the revelation as an “Indiana Jones moment” and said she plans to personally investigate the claims.
“I was like, I need to pay for this myself,” Luna said, explaining she would not use taxpayer dollars for her inquiry. “We’re not using taxpayer dollars, but just go check it out.”
Where Is the Ark Now? Theories and Speculation
The remote viewing session placed the Ark somewhere in the Middle East, in a location with Arabic speakers and mosque domes. That description is too broad to pinpoint one spot, but it aligns with several long-standing theories.
- Ethiopia: The most popular theory holds that the Ark was taken to Ethiopia, where it now resides in the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum. British researcher Graham Hancock has popularized this theory, noting that guardians of the church reportedly suffer from cataracts—which some have speculated could be from radiation poisoning . Luna noted that she consulted an Ethiopian Orthodox pastor who was “very optimistic” about the Ark’s presence there .
- Undiscovered Location in Israel: Some scholars believe the Ark was hidden in a cave or underground chamber before the Babylonian invasion. The “dark and wet” underground location described by Remote Viewer No. 032 could fit this theory.
- The Vatican: A more fringe theory suggests the Ark, along with other treasures from the Second Temple, was taken to Rome and now sits in the Vatican’s vaults .
- Destroyed: Of course, the simplest explanation is that the Ark was destroyed when the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem in 586 BC.
The CIA document itself offers a theological twist: the Ark “cannot be opened until the time is deemed correct” .
Conclusion: A Mystery That Won’t Stay Buried
So, did the CIA actually find the Ark of the Covenant? The declassified documents prove that the agency tried to find it using unconventional methods. They prove that a trained remote viewer described an object that closely matches the biblical description of the Ark. They prove that these findings were documented and preserved by the U.S. government.
But the documents do not prove the Ark’s location. They are a record of what one psychic claimed to see nearly 40 years ago. As McMoneagle and other experts have noted, without physical evidence or independent verification, the information is unsubstantiated.
What these documents truly reveal is how desperate the Cold War-era intelligence community was for any edge, even if that meant turning to psychics and mystics. They also show how the boundaries between faith, history, and government secrecy can blur in fascinating ways.
For now, the Ark of the Covenant remains one of history’s great unsolved mysteries. Whether you believe it is hidden in Ethiopia, buried in the Middle East, or waiting to be rediscovered in the sands of time, the CIA files ensure that the search for this legendary artifact will continue to capture our collective imagination.
And as for Congresswoman Luna’s personal investigation? We’ll have to wait and see if she unearths anything more than the government already has.
Watch the skies—and maybe the archives.
For those interested in viewing the original documents, the files are publicly available on the CIA’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) electronic reading room.