Bohemian Grove: The Cremation of Care Ceremony, the Owl Shrine, and Alex Jones’ Footage

On this episode of The 99th Meridian, we explore the Bohemian Grove’s opening-night “Cremation of Care” ceremony in a private Northern California redwood forest, outlining its repeated structure: robed men with torches escort a human-shaped “Dull Care” effigy in a coffin, ferry it across a lake, address a forty-foot concrete owl shrine that “answers” via recorded voice, then burn the effigy using a flame from the “Lamp of Fellowship.” We'll trace the Bohemian Club’s history from its 1872 San Francisco founding among journalists, its owl totem and motto “Weaving spiders come not here,” the development of annual outdoor retreats, the Grove’s land acquisitions near Monte Rio, and the owl shrine built in the late 1920s. This episode argues that the rite’s sy ...