# Dr. Wilhelm Reich - Perfect Crackpot?  Come on, no one is perfect.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-wilhelm-reich-perfect-crackpot-come-on-no-one-is-perfect/31119>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [August 29, 2000, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-wilhelm-reich-perfect-crackpot-come-on-no-one-is-perfect/31119 "2000-08-29T01:01:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-wilhelm-reich-perfect-crackpot-come-on-no-one-is-perfect/31119/21 "2000-09-13T15:48:41Z")

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I did meet up with one of the late dr. Reich’s adherents - this amn was CLEARLY mad! he was demonstrating an orgone machine-a “cloud buster”. This was an array of steel pipes, each of which were connected to metal sheathed hoses, the ends of which had to be immersed in some body of water (in that case the campus pond, of the University of Massachuisetts, Amherst).  
The claim was made that by pointing the array toward a cloud, storm, or hurricane, you could “bust” the storm by removing the “orgone” energy. Of course, the damn fool was a mad as a hatter, but he did a ttract a crowd of some proportion.  
Just shows you how ignorant manycollege students are-sad commentary on the lack of basic scientific knowledge in the US!

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**Author:** ![Mr\_Dependable\_4U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Mr\_Dependable\_4U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Dependable_4U)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-wilhelm-reich-perfect-crackpot-come-on-no-one-is-perfect/31119/22 "2000-09-13T17:36:54Z")

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It just so happens, that my brother who  
practices along bio-energetic theories  
(the science of orgone) LIVES in Amherst!

I sure hope he got to see the cloud buster  
in action!

In fact, this is the device that Dr. Reich  
said “drove away” UFO intruders.

But don’t leave us in suspense. Did the  
device obliterate the clouds?

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**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-wilhelm-reich-perfect-crackpot-come-on-no-one-is-perfect/31119/23 "2000-09-15T15:23:13Z")

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I was able to find a picture of the cloudbuster, at the UMASS , Amherst campus pond. The nut promoting this device had red hair and beard, and looked quite mad. I remember that while he was holding forth on the “cloudbuster”, I ran into a friend of mine, a professor of physics (Dr. Claude Shulz, who was a Berkeley Ph.D. in nuclear physics). Dr. Shulz proceeded to tear this nut apart.  
Of course, screwballs always have their adherents-one of whom turned out to be an english professor-which shows how ignorant some educated people can be.  
An no, the clod buster had no effect whatever on the clouds-it did firnish some free entertainment for a few days, however.

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