Bohemian Grove membership leak: 2,200 names, high-profile figures and a long history of secrecy
An independent journalist has published what he says is the full 2023 camp membership list for the bohemian grove, a development that matters because the document names roughly 2, 200 people and includes widely known public figures alongside lesser-known wealthy attendees. A club member confirmed the list is a real 2023 camp membership roll, and the disclosure has reignited scrutiny of a site long associated with secrecy, ritual and elite networking.
Bohemian Grove membership leak: who appears on the 2023 list
The published 2023 camp membership list contains around 2, 200 people, with many names unfamiliar to the public and a subset of high-profile figures. Individuals identified on the list include Paul Pelosi, Jimmy Buffett, Conan O’Brien, Michael, Eric Schmidt, Ken Burns, Jim Belushi, Henry Kissinger, Mike and Charles Koch. The list is described as extensive and more than 2, 000 names in total, and entries are arranged in groupings known within the club as "camps, " which are compared to fraternities and are said to reflect concentrations of business, tech and finance leadership.
Other long-noted names and rumors tied to the site include Henry Kissinger as a longtime member, and figures who are described as frequent guests such as Clint Eastwood and Clarence Thomas. The disclosure emphasizes that while some entries are household names, the majority are wealthy or politically connected people the public does not routinely encounter.
How the list was obtained and why the publishing path matters
The list was obtained by an independent journalist, Daniel Boguslaw, and published Wednesday on his newsletter. Boguslaw said he obtained the 2023 camp membership list after weeks of pestering a Bay Area-based club member. His account of the acquisition includes traveling to the Bay Area from Massachusetts after previously obtaining a 2017 attendance list, spending time in a Tenderloin single-room-occupancy hotel while pressing the local member, later finding longer-term lodging in West Oakland, and ultimately receiving the list when a courier handed two manila envelopes to him one night at Eli’s Mile High Club.
Boguslaw said the list was expected to run with a different outlet originally but that the outlet declined to publish. He has stated confidence in his reporting and has challenged potential attempts to intimidate or block publication. The club’s public-facing representative, Sam Singer, said the organization is private and does not disclose its list of members or guests; the published camp list does not necessarily represent the club’s full membership, which also meets at a building in San Francisco.
The campground, rituals and the club’s profile
The organization centers on a private, 2, 700-acre campground in Sonoma County that hosts an annual two-week retreat and maintains a clubhouse in San Francisco. The retreat location is in Monte Rio and includes a compound beach along the Russian River. The camp is famous for ceremonies such as the Cremation of Care and for high-level networking among attendees, which has long generated rumors that the site functions as a social hub for powerful people.
Attempts by journalists to gain entry date back to the 1980s, often involving masquerade tactics such as posing as waiters, lost hikers and guests. A San Francisco-based magazine succeeded in getting inside and published an inside account in 1981. Other notable intrusions and confrontations include a figure who filmed a ceremony that later spurred conspiracy theories, a reporter named Alex Shoumatoff who was arrested after posing as a member in 2008, and a 2018 incident in which reporter Chris Colin was threatened by security after kayaking to the high-water line of the compound’s beach along the Russian River.
Public interest, podcast coverage and the larger debate
Interest in the site extends into popular culture and audio journalism. In Season 2, Episode 4 of a podcast series, hosts Rizz and Tim examined the enclave, treating it as a secluded Northern California retreat long rumored to host secret meetings of powerful men. That episode framed the location as more complicated and historically significant than commonly assumed, examining origins as a private club for influential figures, a strict culture of secrecy and ritual, and questions about who attends and what happens behind the gates.
The podcast segment emphasized separating documented history from speculation and considered how power, privacy and myth intersect, suggesting that one of the most consequential moments of the 20th century may have quietly taken shape away from public view.
What the leak does — and does not — resolve
The published camp list names many individuals and provides an unprecedented public look at attendees identified with the 2023 retreat, but it is not presented as a definitive full roster of club membership. The club’s position is that membership rolls are private and not disclosed publicly. Elements of the cat-and-mouse history around entry, prior arrests and threats to reporters, and the pathway this particular list took to publication underscore ongoing tensions between secrecy and public scrutiny.
Finally, part of the original coverage from which these details were drawn ends mid-sentence and is unclear in the provided context; that fragment is noted here rather than filled in by assumption.
