a GM counter allowed to soak for several months in an orgone-charged atmosphere could
register very high counts when in or near orgone accumulators with no subjective ill
effects^5. In this instance, however, the background count diminished but the subjective sen-
sations continued, even growing more intense as the days passed. Reich paid close attention
to the sensations he and many of his co-workers experienced, such as a salty taste on the
tongue; a severe pressure in the depth of the cheekbone; nausea; loss of appetite; sensations
of weakness; a ringlike pressure around the forehead; sensitivity in the diaphragmatic seg-
ment; pallor; and feelings of cold shivers alternating with hot flashes.
I was assisting Reich in various tasks connected with the Oranur experiment. He
was tremendously excited as the Geiger-Miiller count increased after the radium was put in
the laboratory. I remember his excitement, concern, and curiosity about the subjective reac-
tions. He would ask his assistants repeatedly: “What do you feel now?”
Reich rapidly conceptualized the first surprising results of the Oranur experiment:
Contrary to expectations, orgone energy had not counteracted nuclear energy but rather
nuclear energy had altered orgone energy. The signs of this transformation were the high
background count even after the radium had been removed and the unpleasant subjective
sensations. The first day’s effects were so great that all but the most necessary work in the
building was stopped immediately.
Not long after January 5, Reich gave two names to orgone energy that had been
altered by nuclear radiation. One was DOR (Deadly ORgone); the other was simply
“Oranur,” derived from the experiment itself but now emphasizing the effects of nuclear
energy on orgone energy rather than the other way around as expected. Reich would use
both terms interchangeably.
Despite the various subjective reactions of his assistants, Reich with his usual dar-
ing continued the experiment. For the next six days he placed the experimental radium in
the twenty-fold accumulator for an hour each day. On January 12, it remained there for only
half an hour. Soon after the radium was deposited, Reich and several persons with him
noted that the atmosphere in the laboratory had become clouded. It showed a blue to pur-
plish color through the glass windows. Reich felt sick to his stomach and dizzy. Dr. Tropp
had similar reactions.
At this point the experiment was interrupted although, as we shall see, many aspects
Reich was to note about the interaction between orgone energy and nuclear energy contin-
ue today in the interaction between orgone energy and diverse forms of pollution. The
orgone-treated radium was placed a half mile away from the laboratory, buried in the ground
of an unused field.
After describing his own and Tropp’s intense reactions, Reich’s main report touched
on a variety of reactions and interpretations of events that occurred in the aftermath of the
experiment. Unlike many of his writings, it was completed swiftly, most of it by the end of
April 1951, and published that October. The points made below are drawn largely from this
report:
Workers who were in contact with Oranur reacted in a highly specific manner, each
26 : The Oranur Experiment: 1950-1953 347