# The Wilhelm Reich Archives **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 10, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wilhelm-reich-archives/440899 "2008-03-10T22:34:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wilhelm-reich-archives/440899/1 "2008-03-10T22:34:23Z")
Wilhelm Reich was the crackpot who concocted the notion of Orgone Energy. In his last will and testament, Reich stipulated that his unpublished writings: > [@](#): > > … should be put away and stored for 50 years to secure their safety from destruction and falsification by anyone interested in the falsification and destruction of historical truth. This basically meant that very few people could get access to the information in the Reich Archives, and those few people were basically forbidden to tell anybody about the information they _did_ retrieve from them. Wilhelm Reich died on November 3, 1957. This means that November 3, 2007, was the date when the 50-year ban on public disclosure should have been lifted. So … how come I can’t find Reich’s instructions for how to build an orgone motor online anywhere yet, huh?! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wilhelm-reich-archives/440899/2 "2008-03-10T23:10:05Z")
Because the FBI trashed his lab when they arrested him, & the notes likely do not exist. The Master SPEAKS!! [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_073.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_073.html) > [@](#): > > Loony though Reich was, he did not deserve the shameful treatment he received at the hands of the government. From the early 1950s onward he was hounded by federal agents. His laboratory in Maine was raided, his equipment destroyed, and his books confiscated and burned. Reich did make exaggerated claims for the medicinal powers of his orgone boxes but he was hardly a major threat to the republic and there was no excuse for the ferocity of the campaign that was raised against him. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wilhelm-reich-archives/440899/3 "2008-03-10T23:22:36Z")
The accounts usually given about Reich’s treatment by the Feds are usually … exaggerated … by folks who are out to turn the man into a martyr. (Said folks included Reich himself, which is why such exaggeration is so prevalent.) The Federal courts did order a lot of Reich’s materials to be destroyed, but this destruction took place **long** before Reich was arrested. Furthermore, the destruction centered around items that Reich could have used to sell his services, such as orgone accumulator boxes, salable softcover works that describe how to build an orgone box, order forms, etc… I started at one point to write a couple of articles about this affair, but never finished them. My unfinished articles are here: > **[THE FDA INJUCTION AGAINST REICH: A Skeptical Scrutiny of the Works and...](http://www.rogermwilcox.com/Reich/fda.html)** > > Critiques the merits of the FDA's injunction against Wilhelm Reich > **[THE BOOK BURNING: A Skeptical Scrutiny of the Works and Theories of Wilhelm...](http://www.rogermwilcox.com/Reich/book_burning.html)** > > Critiques the merits of the burning of Wilhelm Reich's books and pamphlets The notes **DO** exist – the Feds weren’t out to destroy any of his originals, just the salable copies – and they’ve been preserved by the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust Fund in conjunction with the Wilhelm Reich Museum. Supposedly, they’re now part of the rare books collection at one of Harvard’s medical libraries.