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There’s an entire non-fiction book about it called The Men Who Stare at Goats. Regarding your point, I definitely don’t rule it out, but I would think if they were going to do that they would pick a less ridiculous cover explanation.
Doesn't sound significantly more ridiculous to me than "eating lots of carrots enables you to spot fighter jets from miles away, at night".
The other possible explanation is that after the A-Bomb, both the US and the USSR were willing to throw a lot of money at things that sound like bunk on the small off-chance that they’re not. A lot of Nazi German higher ups thought that nuclear weapons were fanciful sci-fi bullshit or intentional misinformation planted by Jewish physicists, and they got screwed out of a potential war-winner as a result. And magic might be especially tempting in that regard, since you don’t need a gigantic, Manhattan Project-tier investment to give it a try.
Yes, I think is is precisely what happened.
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