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RANGELEY — Orgonon, the Wilhelm Reich Museum, 19 Dodge Pond Road, will open for the season Saturday, July 1. Few places in the world combine the intellectual fascination and raw natural beauty of Orgonon, home of one of the 20th century’s most controversial figures — Austrian born physician-scientist Wilhelm Reich. The museum represents the life and work of this physician-scientist (1897-1957) and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The collections of the Wilhelm Reich Museum contain period furnishings, scientific instruments, paintings and works of art on paper, photographic materials, personal items, textiles and library materials. The library contains several thousand published volumes, journals and reports. Forty-six original paintings by Reich, several original drawings, a Kaethe Kollwitz woodcut, scientific charts and an original blueprint are also within the museum collections.
A visit the museum will explain all about this brilliant scientist and his experiments. Did you know he made a “cloud buster,” claiming it could hold off rain or make it rain? The tour of the museum starts off with a film titled “Man’s Right to Know: The Story of Wilhelm Reich,” which explains in animation how the cloud buster functions, as well as his many other inventions and experiments. Knowledgeable guides will answer any questions.
Children can explore a hands-on Discovery Room, and the observatory roof provides spectacular vistas of the region’s open skies, lakes and surrounding countryside. Reich’s tomb, with its dramatic bronze portrait bust, is in a forest clearing nearby. A bookstore/gift shop gives access to all Reich’s published work.
The observatory is open July and August, Wednesday through Sunday, from 1 to 5 p.m.; Saturdays only in September, 1 to 5 p.m. Special tours are available year-round by appointment.
For more information, call (207-864-3443), e-mail wreich@rangeley.org, or visit the website, www.wilhelmreichtrust.org.
