About Wilhelm Reich Museum
A wooded property outside Rangeley contains one of Maine’s strangest preserved laboratories. Wilhelm Reich named the place Orgonon and used it to pursue his theory of “orgone,” an energy he believed existed throughout living things and the atmosphere. Today his former observatory is a museum where visitors can encounter the boxes, instruments, rooms, and experimental equipment built around those ideas.
Reich purchased the Maine property in the 1940s and constructed the Orgone Energy Observatory, a striking stone and wood building overlooking the surrounding landscape. Inside, his study and library have been preserved with original furnishings and equipment. The museum also displays what Reich called orgone energy accumulators. The current visitor information even lists sitting inside two authentic accumulators as part of the experience.
The most spectacular piece of the story is the cloudbuster. Reich developed this pipe-filled apparatus as part of experiments he believed could alter atmospheric conditions. The Maine Atlas Project records a 1953 episode in which local blueberry growers asked Reich to use the device during a drought. Rain followed and local newspapers credited the operation. That sequence is part of the site’s history, but timing alone does not demonstrate that the machine controlled the weather.
Reich died in 1957 and directed that his property become a museum. It opened to the public in 1960. The museum building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and trails cross the surrounding property. Museum access is seasonal, while the trails have broader availability. Check the official website before traveling to Rangeley for current hours and tour information.