In the hippie era, the United States government decided to commit federal funds to an official organization to study new age developments, both as an olive branch to transcendental thinkers in that country and out of fear that the Soviets had a similar program. The result was the National Auranotics and Spaced Out Administration (NASOA), which was authorized in 1968 and began operations in 1970.

As the name suggests, NASOA started with studies on the colored halo or “aura” that many new age practitioners claimed that they could see around people, either innately or with the assistance of crystals. The Head and Deputy Head of NASOA, Dr. J. Smithers Coby and Cascade Liberation II (“CL2”), could not agree on whether to study the auras for military or civilian purposes, so as a compromise, both were studied. Dr. Coby, with half of the NASOA staff, began an Aura Survey of top government officials, major players in entertainment and religion, and—with the aid of crystalloscopes provided by the CIA—key people behind the Iron Curtain. CL2, with the other half of the team, conducted an Aura Census, trying to measure the auras of as many people on the street as possible. Both agreed to compare their findings after a study period of 24 months.

In 1972, NASOA presented its findings to a joint panel of military officers, government functionaries, and key representatives from the counterculture movement. Dr. Coby’s Aura Survey had received inconsistent findings, as many of the people who claimed to see auras had reported contradictory colors for the same people. But they were able to provide some consensus, with President Nixon displaying a sickly puce aura, Vice President Agnew either midnight black or navy blue, and Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin a sickly yellow. When pressed to quantify those colors, Dr. Coby was forced to admit that there was no consensus there either.

CL2’s Aura Census had measured the auras of 18,126 people across 23 states in the 24 months of the project, employing a staff of 30 who could reportedly see auras and a further 45 who used crystals to aid in the process. CL2 reported that 27% of those surveyed had blue auras, 18% had green, red and purple were tied at 13% each, followed by orange and black at roughly 7.5% each, with all other colors splitting the remaining 14%. When asked by the panels what the aura colors meant, SL2 claimed that that had been beyond the scope of the study, and that Dr. Coby had been expected to provide the necessary data for interpretation. He could not, however, explain how the distribution of auras from his census almost exactly matched the distribution of people’s favorite colors from the 1967 Heintz-Dolorre Color Survey.

These results were largely seen as dissatisfying, though the political benefits of keeping NASOA alive meant that it continued to operate until 1981, when it was defunded at the federal level and shut down, with all remaining project files destroyed.

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!