Project MKUltra was a U.S. government program that began in 1953 and was ran by the Central
Intelligence Agency under chemist and spymaster Sidney Gottlieb. The goal of the program was to see
if a subject's resolve could be weakened, or their mind and body could be controlled without their
knowledge,
The methodology employed by agents and scientists of the program has been deemed as illegal
human experimentation, and included everything from hypnosis, indoctrination, and sensory
deprivation, to physical and mental torture, and the use of psychoactive drugs such as LSD.
The program often violated the individual rights of its subjects, including those of ordinary U.S.
and Canadian citizens, who were experimented on without their consent. The program was officially
dissolved in 1973.
In 1975, declassified information of Project MKUltra was revealed to the public by the
Church Committee, but due to CIA Director Richard Helms' order that all documents pertaining to
MKUltra be destroyed, details of the program can only be pieced together from witness testimonies
and the few remaining documents, leaving much of MKUltra shrouded in mystery.
In 1947, the U.S. Navy began Project Chatter: a program that would identify and test drugs for the
purpose of interrogation and recruitment.
On December 26, 1948, Cardinal József Mindszenty was imprisoned for speaking out against Hungary's
Communist regime. After being subjected to both physical and mental torture for 39 days, he
confessed to a number of fabricated crimes, to reestablish communism and undermine capitalism in
Hungary.
In 1950, the CIA initiated Project Bluebird: a program that delved into the effectiveness of
hypnosis and psychological manipulation in interrogations.
In 1951, Project Bluebird was folded into Project Artichoke: a program that took the findings of
Bluebird and expanded on them by incorporating the use of drugs and biological agents.
In the early 1950s, the CIA rolled out a number of other covert operations, such as Project MKDELTA
and Project MKNAOMI, that combined the experimentation of previous projects and used them in the
field, particularly overseas. This also marked a collaboration between the CIA and the Department
of Defense in developing mind control techniques.
On February 23, 1953, U.S. Marine Colonel Frank Schwable broadcast on Chinese radio that
the U.S. was using germ warfare during the Korean War. This claim was broadcast globally, and
though it was later attributed to psychological pressure rather than factual evidence, it suggested
that Chinese interrogation methods could break the will of U.S. military personnel.
That same year, as the Korean War came to an end, 21 American POWs chose to defect to China rather
than repatriate to the U.S. This proved to U.S. intelligence that the Chinese and Soviets were
successfully employing indoctrination techniques, highlighting a weakness in military personnel
that left the country open to infiltration.
On April 13, 1953, CIA Director Allen Dulles authorised the formation of Project MKUltra: a program
that would further develop behavioral manipulation techniques after absorbing Projects Bluebird and
Artichoke. MKUltra would focus on using a combination of drugs, hypnosis and physical trauma to
develop interrogation techniques and convert captives.
From 1953 to 1955, MKUltra developed further subdivisions at Stanford, McGill and Columbia
Universities. These institutes experimented with the administering of drugs to create a "truth
serum", the usage of hypnosis to implant suggestions, and the implementation of sensory deprivation
and electroshock to fracture the minds of test subjects.
MKUltra would go on to collaborate with MKNAOMI at Fort Detrick, adding biological agents
to its extensive mind controlling repertoire.
In 1954, The CIA launched Operation Midnight Climax: an experiment that saw the drugging of
unwitting civilians in an attempt to observe the effects of LSD in a real-world setting.
In 1957, CIA Inspector General Lyman B. Kirkpatrick conducted a review of CIA operations, including
MKUltra. His report pointed out a lack of oversight and accountability, ethical violations, and a
potential for exposure as just some of his concerns. Despite this, the program continued
undeterred.
That same year, MKUltra Subproject 68, also known as the Montreal Experiments, begin at the Allan
Memorial Institute of McGill University.
By the 1960s, MKUltra had further expanded its experimentation, adding radiation testing,
psychological torture, and lobotomisation of subjects to its studies. Subprojects of the project
saw the increased use of LSD on diverse populations.
On October 16, 1962, The Cuban Missile Crisis began, seeing a 13-day confrontation between the U.S.
and the Soviet Union. The tension highlighted the importance of MKUltra, pushing its budget to its
peak.
1964 saw MKUltra undergo a budget cut due to inconsistent results and growing scrutiny. The project
was restructured, with many of its subprojects transferring over to MKSEARCH.
As the 1960s continued on, MKSEARCH became recognised as MKUltra's successor, replacing unreliable
drugs with more potent compounds, and splitting drug testing and the acquisition of foreign drugs
between Project MKOFTEN and Project MKCHICKWIT.
Between 1965 to 1967, MKCHICKWIT gathered intelligence on European and Asian drug developments and
supplying them to MKOFTEN, which began conducting experiments on test subjects from Edgewood
Arsenal
and Holmesburg Prison.
In 1969, President Richard Nixon implemented a ban on the use and storage of biological weapons,
directly impacting MKNAOMI's experimentation with agents and toxins, and hampering its
collaboration with MKSEARCH.
1971 saw the funding for MKSEARCH dry up, though testing continued under other CIA budgets.
The Watergate Scandal of June 17, 1972, saw government activities come under heavy scrutiny,
leading to mounting pressure aimed at the CIA and the fear of discovery.
In January, 1973, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of classified records and
reports relating to MKUltra, MKSEARCH, MKOFTEN and MKCHICKWIT, to avoid exposure. In total, around
20,000 documents were destroyed.
Later that year, MKUltra and MKSEARCH are officially dissolved amid growing concern from the public
and congress.
In 1975, The Church Committee opened an investigation into abuses conducted by the CIA. Any
remaining documents exposed Project MKUltra, Project MKSEARCH, and any subsidary programs for their
unethical experimentation.
In 1977, additional documents were released, exposing the non-consensual experiments performed
by MKUltra. The public became outraged by the details of psychological and physical harm enacted
upon U.S. citizens, fuelling a distrust in government.
From 1977 to the 1990s, a slew of investigations took place, followed by lawsuits that sought
compensation from MKUltra victims. While the CIA went on to acknowledge ethical breaches,
disclosure was limited due to the destruction of the majority of classified documents.
As of the 2000s, the legacy of Project MKUltra has left a sour taste in the mouths and minds of
many, fuelling conspiracy theories, the most notable of which being Project Monarch: the supposed
latest iteration of MKUltra.
Project MKUltra was known to have a total of 149 subprojects, each with their own number designations. Many of these subprojects were conducted in seemingly innocuous settings, such as hospitals, universities and safehouses, all bankrolled by the CIA as a front for their illegal experimentations.
In 1954, Sidney Gottlieb oversaw the launch of Operation Midnight Climax: an experiment to see if a
combination of drugs (usually LSD) and sex could be used as effective mind control or interrogation
techniques.
Gottlieb took the interrogation methodology of Project Artichoke from laboratory experimentation
to field testing after being given permission to perform his tests on unsuspecting citizens.
The operation saw prostitutes on the CIA payroll luring unsuspecting clients to a network of
CIA-run safehouses across New York City and San Francisco. Once there, the clients would
be unwittingly drugged with numerous substances before having intercourse. Having been trained in
questioning techniques, the prostitutes would then attempt to extract secrets from their clients
while CIA operatives observed and recorded these tests through one-way glass.
Further experimentations would see the client subjected to subliminal messaging to manipulate them
into criminal actions, such as robbery, assault and assassination. Other clients were drugged and
imprisoned for long stretches of time, to see the efficacy of drugs combined with isolation.
When the operation expanded, the CIA began testing drugs on people in restaurants, bars and
beaches.
It was hinted in Stephen Kinzer's 2019 book, Poisoner in Chief; Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA
Search for Mind Control that a blatant disregard of professionalism may have been conducted
during the experiments by several of those involved in overseeing the operation:
"One project was 'Operation Midnight Climax.' Gottlieb himself took advantage of this 'ready access to prostitutes."
"In the early 1950s, Gottlieb hired this guy, George Hunter White, to run a safe house for him in New York City to which people would be lured off the street and then given LSD so CIA officers could watch them from an adjoining apartment through a one-way mirror. Later, White was moved to San Francisco, where he set up one of the craziest MKUltra projects that was known inside the agency as Operation Midnight Climax. This was an operation in which White would assemble a stable of prostitutes who would bring their men back to an apartment that the CIA hired and furnished, feed them LSD and George Hunter White would sit in an adjoining apartment sitting on a portable toilet, drinking pitchers of martinis while watching people having sex under the influence of LSD with the vague idea that this was somehow going to help the United States defeat communism."
- Stephen Kinzer,
Poisoner in Chief; Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA
Search for Mind Control,
Henry Holt and Co.,
2019
The project was so widespread, it has been attributed as a potential catalyst in forming the
counter-culture movement that took hold through the 1950s and 1960s.
After learning of the operation's nonvoluntary human subjects, the Inspector General insisted that
the CIA follow ethical research guidelines, ultimately bringing the operation to a close.
Starting in 1954, The Georgetown Experiments began when the CIA funnelled $375,000 in funding
through a philanthropic cut-out, the Geschickter Fund for Medical Research, led by Dr. Charles
Geschickter, to build an annex at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Named the Gorman Annex, one-sixth of the building was dedicated to illegal CIA experimentations
conducted on a host of unwitting test subjects. Due to the setup, the CIA would have been separated
enough to maintain plausible deniability in order to keep their hands clean.
Due to the 1973 destruction of classified documents, the specifics on experiments and subjects has
never been revealed.
A joint project between the CIA and U.S. Navy, the "Perfect Concussion" program sought to
experiment with erasing memories or disorienting subjects for interrogation purposes through the
use of sub-aural frequency blasts.
The proposed technique for the concussive blast involved using low-frequency sound waves (below 20
Hz) to create a vibrational impact on a subjects brain, causing amnesia or disorientation without
leaving physical evidence.
Though details are scarce due to the destruction of classified files in 1973, it is known that the
subproject was never fully enacted, being noted as a "non-starter" in declassified documents.
Whether this was due to technical limitations or ethical concerns is unknown.
The Montreal Experiments saw Canadian citizens becoming unwitting guineau pigs for mind
manipulation techniques at the Allan Memorial Institute of McGill University between 1957 and 1964.
Patients would check in to the institute for a mixture of ailments, ranging from post-partum
depression, alcoholicism, and even physical issues like arthritis. Nonetheless, these patients were
all considered viable test subjects for the program.
The CIA funded project was helmed by Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron, who would attempt to erase
his subject's minds and replace their memories using a combination of psychological and physical
torture methods he called "depatterning".
Among his methodology, Dr. Cameron employed everything from drug-induced comas using thorazine,
intensive electroshock therapy, sensory deprivation, and his self-made "psychic driving" technique
which saw subjects bombarded by recorded messages repeating a mix of positive and negative phrases
for up to 16 hours a day:
"The goal is to break down the patient's existing patterns of thought and behavior through intensive electroshock and drug therapy, followed by psychic driving to instill new patterns"
- Donald Ewen Cameron,
Poisoner in Chief; Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA
Search for Mind Control,
Henry Holt and Co.,
2019
Patients would exit the program with a myriad of psychological issues, such as amnesia, migraines,
anxiety, mood swings, and in extreme cases, would forget basic human functions and be reduced to
child-like states.
The experiments ended with the termination of Project MKUltra in 1973. Dr. Cameron died of a heart
attack in 1967.
The exact number of victims of the Montreal Experiments is unknown, but in 1988, a class action
lawsuit against the CIA and Canadian government saw nine victims of the experiments receive around
$67,000 each, while compensation of $100,000 was given to 77 individuals from the Canadian
government in 1992. Despite this, over 300 people applied for the compensation, but many were
denied, citing late applications, a lack of medical records, or simply not being tortured enough.
In 2017, Alison Steel, daughter of victim Jean Steel reached an out-of-court settlement with the
Canadian government, awarding her $100,000 in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.
Beginning in 1960 at UCLA's Brain Research Institute, Subproject 119 focused on the study of
bioelectric signals from the human brain and the possibility of controlling a subjects behaviour
using remote electronics.
Led by neuroscientists Dr. Mary Brazier and Dr. Ross Adey, the project involved a thorough analysis
of literature on EEG technologies and bioelectric signals. The duo explored the possibility of
manipulating extremely-low brainwaves through the use of electromagnetic fields.
The project was funded by the CIA for around $5,947, though it was hampered by the technological
limitations of the time, leaving the project to mostly produce research publications instead of
practical applications.
It is thought that the program may have seen involvement from Saul B. Sells, a professor of social
psychology at Texas Christian University, who proposed building an advanced EEG machine with
the ability to analyze brainwaves and decode thoughts, but the destruction of classified files in
1973 ensured any further information on Subproject 119 remained in the dark.
Born from fears of Cold War era brainwashing techniques purportedly utilised by the Soviets and Chinese during the Korean War, the U.S. Government went to great lengths, and depths, to conduct its own tests in mind control. While Project MKUltra is one of the more well-known government operations dealing with behavioral control, it wasn't the only one, or even the first.
Beginning in 1947, Project Chatter was an initiative conducted by the U.S. Navy that focused on
developing and testing "truth serums" for recruitment and interrogation purposes.
The goal of the project was to discover chemicals that could reliably extract truthful information
from captives, or make them more susceptible to manipulation without the use of physical coercion.
Unethical experiments were conducted on both animals and humans to test the viability of
psychoactive substances. Many participants were unwilling or non-voluntary, but were exposed to
drugs such as LSD, as well as plant-based drugs, such as anabasine, mescaline and scopolamine.
The project was terminated in 1953, with its records becoming declassified in 1970. Due to its
similarities in dealing with drug-induced mind control, it's likely that Project Chatter's findings
laid the groundwork for MKUltra.
Beginning in 1950, Project Bluebird was a CIA program that focused on using hypnosis and
psychological manipulation as useful interrogation techniques.
Among its many goals, Bluebird sought to induce amnesia, create false memories, implant
suggestions and ensure compliance without using physical coercion. Though the project leaned more
heavily on hypnosis, it also combined drug use, similar to Project Chatter, to enhance
suggestibility.
Experiments saw CIA operatives, military personnel, civilians and captives undergo interrogation
simulations and conditioning tests, all in an effort to counter enemy brainwashing techniques while
perfecting their own.
Project Bluebird was terminated and absorbed into Project Artichoke in 1951.
Beginning in 1951, Project Artichoke was a CIA program that continued where Project Bluebird left
off, but doing and employed more aggressive methods to obtain results.
Similar to its predecessors, Artichoke aimed to improve interrogation techniques and study
behavioral control through the use of hypnosis, drugs, and biological agents, but a further
emphasis was put on inducing people to commit espionage or assassinations.
While previous iterations sought compliance without the use of physical coercion, Artichoke
subjected its test subjects to torture-like techniques in an attempt to erode resistance.
Project Artichoke was terminated and absorbed into Project MKUltra in 1953.
Beginning in the 1950s, Project MKDELTA was a CIA program that served as a precursor to Project
MKUltra.
MKDELTA specialised in international clandestine operations, utilising a combination of
psychoactive drugs and biochemical agents to destabilise foreign governments, eliminate defectors,
and extract information from individual targets.
As opposed to laboratory experimentation, the program specialised in field testing, often in
dangerous situations that required secrecy.
The project was absorbed into MKUltra in the 1960s, with most of its records being destroyed by CIA
Director Richard Helms in 1973.
Beginning in the 1950s, Project MKNAOMI was a joint CIA / Department of Defense program that ran
alongside Project MKUltra, but has also been noted as its successor.
The program put a focus on increasing the biological and chemical warfare capabilities of the U.S.,
stockpiling and testing bacterias and toxins that could incapacitate or kill test subjects.
As part of its ongoing field tests, the project saw the usage of agents such as anthrax and
tularemia, as well as toxins such as shellfish toxin and botulinum to create an arsenal of
devastating weapons. Coated darts and aerosol cans became efficient delivery systems on covert
missions, while techniques were developed to poison crops, water and food supplies.
The project was dissolved in 1970 due to President Richard nixon's ban on the military use and
stockpiling of biological weapons and toxins.
Beginning around 1964, Project MKSEARCH was a CIA program that picked up where Project MKUltra left
off after its scope was reduced.
The program looked to take the findings of MKUltra and produce even more effective methods of
mind control through the use of psychoactive drugs and behavioral manipulation techniques.
MKSEARCH capitalised on the inconsistent findings of MKUltra due to the ineffectiveness of LSD in
behavioral control, and sought out more potent and reliable compounds, such as sodium pentothal,
temazepam and amphetamines.
The project was terminated in 1973 following increased scrutiny due to the Watergate Scandal.
Beginning around the late 1960s, Project MKOFTEN was a Department of Defense program and
a subdivision of MKSEARCH.
The program focused on the drug refinement portion of MKSEARCH by testing the toxicological effects
of drugs on animals and humans.
MKOFTEN used LSD, BZ and other compounds on unwitting subjects acquired from Holmesburg Prison and
Edgewood Arsenal. Though it hasn't be corroborated, some sources suggest the program also utilised
occult practices in its experimentation.
The project was dissolved in 1973 with the termination of Project MKSEARCH.
Beginning around the late 1960s, Project MKCHICKWIT was a joint CIA / Department of Defense
program and a subdivision of MKSEARCH.
The program's main objective was to identify and obtain drug samples from Europe and Asia that
could be used in interrogation techniques or incapacitating targets.
While most of the other projects focused on experimentation or implementation, MKCHICKWIT was
primarily an intelligence and resource gathering operation that would target foreign pharmaceutical
endeavours to advance the CIA and Department of Defense's own chemical capabilities.
The project was dissolved in 1973 with the termination of Project MKSEARCH.
Though no official records of Project Monarch exist, it is purported to be a CIA program that
started around the 1960s, shortly after Project MKUltra was dissolved.
The brainwashing techniques of Monarch are thought to have been taken directly from Nazi research
that was obtained after the U.S. initialised Operation Paperclip.
The program is said to specialise in trauma-based mind control techniques performed mostly on
children in an effort to create individuals with dissociative identities known as "alters".
Test subjects were said to have undergone extreme mental abuse, electroshock and a combination of
hypnosis and drugs to create an alter that would service one of five divisions:
Alters used for the Alpha division of Monarch were individuals designed with photographic memories.
Alters used for the Beta division of Monarch were individuals that underwent sexual programming.
Alters used for the Delta division of Monarch were individuals that were trained to perform assassinations.
Alters used for the Theta division of Monarch were individuals that showed the potential for using psychic abilities.
Alters used for the Gamma division of Monarch were individuals that were created for deception and espionage.
These alters would lay dormant until triggered by specific imagery, often portrayed as butterflies or satanic symbols.
Many people have claimed to have been victims of Project MKUltra or similar CIA mind control experiments. Some of these claims have been confirmed due to declassified documents, while others have no such evidence, and so are locked in books and online forums as pure speculation or conspiracy theories.
Frank Olson was a biological warfare scientist that worked for the United States Army Biological
Warfare Laboratories at Fort Detrick from 1942.
During his tenure working with the army, Olson helped establish the U.S. bioweapons program and
worked
alongside ex-Nazi scientists following
Operation Paperclip
before being discharged.
As a civilian, Olson remained at Detrick, participating in further projects, such as
Operation Harness
and
Operation Sea-Spray.
With the threats of Soviet progress looming, Olson became the acting chief of the newly formed
Special Operations Division at Detrick before becoming an employee of the CIA, where he was
appointed to the committee for Project Artichoke.
As time went on, Olson would participate in countless experiments involving the poisoning,
gassing
and torture of animals, leading to a feeling of disenfranchisement with the methods of the CIA.
After the Korean War came to an end and Operation Big Switch saw the repatriation of numerous
POWs,
the U.S. felt that the returning captives could prove to be a security risk. After residing over
intense debriefing investigations across Europe, Olson returned to the United States convinced
that
they had used biological weapons during the Korean War.
It is believed that Olson went on to confide in British psychiatrist William Sargant about his
growing concerns. Sargant subsequently reported that Olson had become a security risk due to his
high level access and deep knowledge of the Special Operations Division at Detrick.
While on a retreat at Deep Creek Lake in 1953 with some of the closest members of MKUltra, Olson
and some
of the other attendees were drugged with LSD. On his return, Olson seemed different to
those around him, including his family and colleagues. Olson's boss, Lt. Col. Vincent Ruwet
recalled Olson seeming disoriented on his return to Detrick.
Ruwet would go on to testify that Olson was "mixed up" about the work he had been doing and felt
"incompetent" in his field.
Olson's situation would worsen when he returned home early one day with a coworker, explaining
to
his wife that "They're afraid I might hurt you" and that he had agreed to undergo psychiatric
treatment. Accompanied by Ruwet and CIA chemist Robert Lashbrook, Olson flew to New York City to
meet with a CIA-linked doctor, Harold Abramson.
Four days later, Olson would fall to his death from his tenth-floor room at the Statler
Hotel. The night manager recalled rushing over to Olson, who was still alive, and was attempting
to "mumble something" before succumbing to his wounds. The night manager would later recount:
"In all my years in the hotel business... I never encountered a case where someone got up in the middle of the night, ran across a dark room in his underwear, avoiding two beds, and dove through a closed window with the shade and curtains drawn."
- Night Manager,
“From mind control to murder? How a deadly fall revealed the CIA's darkest secrets”
The Guardian,
2019
On entering room 1018A, where both Olson and Lashbrook had been staying, the police found
Lashbrook sat on the toilet with his head in his hands.
Investigations showed that a call had been made from room 1018A to a number listed as belonging
to Dr. Harold Abramson. The hotel switchboard operator, who overheard the brief call, recalled the
occupant of the room stating "Well, he's gone" and receiving a response of "Well, that's too
bad."
Police reports stated that Olson purposely threw himself out of the window of his room at the
Hotel Statler, which he had been sharing with Lashbrook, and died shortly afterwards. The medical
report indicated cuts and abrasions were present on the body.
In 1994, Olson's body was exhumed by his son, Eric Olson, and a second autopsy was agreed upon.
The second autopsy found there to be no cuts or abrasions, but it did reveal a hematoma on the
left side of Olson's head, as well as an injury on his chest. Most of the team performing the
autopsy
agreed that the wounds had likely occurred before the fall, suggesting homicide. Eric Olson
would spend many years attempting to clear his father's name, asserting that the forensic evidence
portrayed a method of murder found in the CIA manual "A Study of Assassination".
Harold Blauer was a professional tennis player who, in 1952, checked into the New York State
Psychiatric Institute following a devastating divorce. During his time at the institute, Blauer
was subjected to experiments conducted by the Army Chemical Corps, who had a working relationship
with the institute, allowing them to administer chemical compounds that could be used in warfare to
their patients.
The experiments saw Blauer injected with variations of mescaline, causing him to hallucinate and
request for a withdrawal from his treatment. On December 30, 1953, Blauer was given a lethal
dose of MDA, with the institute claiming that it was an accidental overdose.
Dr. James Cattell, a doctor who directed the CIA operation went on to tell investigators:
"We didn't know whether it was dog piss or what it was we were giving him."
- James Cattell,
"Bizarre CIA Human Mind Control Experiments"
Church of Scientology,
1979
Blauer's death was covered up by the state of New York and the CIA until details were made available through declassified records, revealing that the tests were undertaken as part of Project Artichoke.
In 1954, three year old Chere Jo Horton went missing from the parking lot of the Lazy A bar in San
Antonio, Texas. Horton's parents had left her to play outside late at night with her older brother
while they entered the bar.
As the night progressed, Horton's brother ran into the bar to tell his parents that Chere had
disappeared. A search party took place that night, uncovering a car with Horton's underwear hanging
from the window. Meanwhile, Jimmy Shaver, an airman from the nearby Lackland Air force Base,
emerged topless into a gravel pit. Shaver was reportedly covered in scratches and blood, and had no
recollection of how he got there or where he had been. Witnesses described him as "dazed". Further
searching revealed Horton's raped and murdered body nearby.
Shaver had been to the Lazy A bar that same night with a friend, but reported to the police that
neither were drunk, though Shaver seemed "high on something". It was noted that when Shaver's wife
came to see him at the county jail, he did not recognise her. He later gave a statement that he
recalled a blonde man with tattoos who was responsible for the murder, but later reasoned that he
himself must have done it.
During the trial, it was revealed that Shaver suffered from debilitating migraines which the
air force had recommended he seek treatment in a two-year experimental program for.
Jolyon Louis "Jolly" West, a scientist employed by the CIA and an expert in hypnosis, came
in to help Shaver recover his memory in aid of his defense. West used a combination of hypnotism
and sodium pentothal injections to put Shaver in a trance. While under, Shaver confessed to killing
Horton, who he claimed reminded him of "Beth Rainboat", a cousin that had sexually abused him as a
child.
Journalist Tom O'Neill wrote in his 2019 book, CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret
History of the Sixties that when he reached out to Lackland, there was no record of Shaver
being treated at the base hospital:
"Lackland officials told me there was no record of him in their master index of patients. But, curiously, all the records for patients in 1954 had been maintained, with one exception: the file for last names beginning with 'Sa' through 'St' had vanished."
- Tom O'Neill,
CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties
Little, Brown and Company,
2019
Additionally, Shaver's mental state in court was described by articles as West had described his experiments in letters to Sydney Gottlieb, the head of Project MKUltra:
"Amnesias and trance states, a man violating his moral code with no memory of doing so. And West had written that he planned to experiment on Lackland airmen for projects that 'must eventually be put to test in practical trials in the field.'"
- Tom O'Neill,
CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties
Little, Brown and Company,
2019
On reading the transcripts of West's hypno-trance sessions with Shaver, O'Neill discovered that West had used leading questions on Shaver, and the psychiatrists that worked with West and Shaver during the trial weren't aware that Shaver was under hypnosis:
"But [Gilbert] Rose was shocked when I told him that West had hypnotized Shaver in addition to giving him sodium pentothal. After I read Rose citations from articles, reports, and the transcript, he seemed to accept it, but he was adamant that West had never said anything— hypnotism was not part of the protocol."
- Tom O'Neill,
CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties
Little, Brown and Company,
2019
In 1958, Shaver was executed by electric chair.
In 1956, Velma Orlikow checked herself in to Montreal's Allan Memorial Institute, hoping they
could help her struggles against post-partum depression.
Orlikow would be an on-and-off patient for three years, her condition, however, only seemed to
worsen.
Sarah Anne Johnson, Orlikow's granddaughter, scoured through court documents and Orlikow's own
diary to look for details on the institute, discovering the horrific truth that lay within its
walls.
Johnson learned that her grandmother was subjected to high-voltage shock therapy, injected with
LSD, and forced into drug-induced comas. Patients of the facility would be reduced to child-like
states, unable to perform basic tasks, before being reprogrammed using psychic driving
techniques. Subjects would have football helmets strapped to their heads with speakers that
repeated a mixture of negative and positive recorded messages for up to 16 hours a day, before
resorting to more sinister tactics:
"They were going crazy banging their heads into walls, so he then figured he could put them in a drug induced coma and play the tapes as long as he needed."
- Sarah Anne Johnson,
"The toxic legacy of Canada's CIA brainwashing experiments: 'They strip you of your soul'"
The Guardian,
2018
Upon her release from the institute, Orlikow was forever changed, the experiments having done
irreperable damage to her brain; causing anxiety, panic attacks, sudden bouts of anger, and a
degrading ability to read.
Orlikow's husband, David Orlikow, went on to sue the CIA and Canadian government along with eight
other Canadian victims of the Allan Memorial Institute, receiving a total of around $67,000 in
exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.
A salesman by trade, Jean-Charles Pagé was a Canadian living in Quebec who sought help from
the Allan Memorial Institute to help him with his struggling bout with alcoholicism.
Pagé was exposed to thirty-six days of psychic driving, having to listen to messages repeating
over and over again:
"You do not trust women... you feel small and inferior. You are unable to compete with other men."
- Jean-Charles Pagé,
"Deception, brainwashing and a suit over suffering"
Philadelphia Inquirer,
1986
Pagé would struggle to find and hold on to a job following his time spent at the institute.
Pagé went on to sue the CIA and Canadian government along with eight other Canadian victims
of the Allan Memorial Institute, receiving a total of around $67,000 in
exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.
Robert Logie was 18-years-old when he checked in to the Allan Memorial Institute with an arthritic leg.
"I guess the doctors thought it might be psychosomatic."
- Robert Logie,
"Deception, brainwashing and a suit over suffering"
Philadelphia Inquirer,
1986
Logie was subjected to electroshock, placed in drug-induced comas and subjected to psychic driving over the course of five months split across two separate stays. Recounting his traumatic experience, Logie described the tape that was played to him repeatedly:
"I think I remember what was on the tape... 'You killed your mother'."
- Robert Logie,
"Deception, brainwashing and a suit over suffering"
Philadelphia Inquirer,
1986
After being released from the program, Logie experienced amnesia, insomnia, anxiety and
depression, as well as recurring nightmares of his time spent in the institute.
Logie went on to sue the CIA and Canadian government along with eight other Canadian victims
of the Allan Memorial Institute, receiving a total of around $67,000 in
exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.
In her early thirties, Jeanine Huard suffered from post-partum depression after the birth of her
fourth child. In turn, she sought out the Allan Memorial Institute to receive treatment.
During her time spent at the institute, Huard underwent sleep deprivation, electroshock
treatment, psychic driving, and the forced ingestion of drugs.
"I had massive convulsive electroshocks, and they used to give me pills, 40 pills a day"
- Jeanine Huard,
"Montreal woman seeks compensation in '50s brainwashing case"
CBC,
2007
On leaving the institute, Huard suffered from migraines, amnesia, and paralysis of the face.
"I came out of there so sick that my mother had to live with me for 10 years... I couldn't take care of my children any more."
- Jeanine Huard,
"Ex-patient to tell of pills, shocks, brainwashing"
The Globe and Mail,
2007
Huard went on to sue the CIA and Canadian government along with eight other Canadian victims of the Allan Memorial Institute, receiving a total of around $67,000 in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.
Florence Langleben was a Canadian citizen that was referred to the Allen Memorial Institute in 1957
by her personal physician to help her with her chest pains and anxiety.
On her first stay at the institute, Langleben would spend two months being dosed with LSD and other
drugs under the watchful eye of Dr. Cameron. On her readmittance, she would experience drug-induced
coma for 43 days, underwent electroshock therapy, and was subjected to psychic driving.
Canadian politician, Bill Attewell addressed Langleben's case in a speech in 1986, in which he
described her experience, the effect it had on her son, Wayne, and implores the Canadian government
to press the U.S. government to release any documentation it has on the incident:
"Full disclosure of all the facts surrounding this tragic episode is urgently required. Too much time has passed already for those seeking justice. It is too late for Florence Langleben, but for the other victims, and for Wayne Langleben, these questions require answers."
- Bill Attewell,
1986
Langleben went on to sue the CIA and Canadian government along with eight other Canadian victims of the Allan Memorial Institute, receiving a total of around $67,000 in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.
Not much is known of Lyvia Stadler's case, other than that she checked in to the Allan Memorial
Institute due to her depression. As a patient, she underwent prolonged drug-induced comas, was
exposed to copious amounts of nitrous oxide, and was subjected to hours of psychic driving.
Stadler went on to sue the CIA and Canadian government along with eight other Canadian victims
of the Allan Memorial Institute, receiving a total of around $67,000 in
exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.
Mary Morrow was a doctor that approached Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron during his time at the Allan
Memorial Institute, seeking a fellowship opportunity. Due to her "nervous" appearance during the
interview, she was enrolled as a patient.
Morrow spent 11 days being subjected to various drugs and electroshock treatment. Her story became
the basis for Paige Cooper's book, Conditions.
Morrow went on to sue the CIA and Canadian government along with eight other Canadian victims
of the Allan Memorial Institute, receiving a total of around $67,000 in
exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.
Not much is known of Rita Zimmerman's case, but according to pre-trial documentation, as a patient
at the Allan Memorial Institute, she was placed in 56 days of drug-induced sleep and underwent
intensive electroshocks, leaving her incontinent.
Zimmerman went on to sue the CIA and Canadian government along with eight other Canadian victims
of the Allan Memorial Institute, receiving a total of around $67,000 in
exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.
A successful businessman living in Montreal, according to legal documentation, Louis Weinstein
checked into the Allan Memorial Institute for "minor psychiatric ailments", upon which he was
subjected to a battery of mental and physical torture.
As a subject of experimentation, Weinstein underwent intensive electroshock, sensory isolation, was
drugged with LSD, was placed in a two-month-long drug-induced coma, and was exposed to psychic
driving.
By the time Weinstein was released from the institute, his ailments evolved into "massive
psychiatric problems".
Weinstein's son, Harvey Weinstein, became an associate professor of psychiatry to help understand
the horrors his father experienced at the hands of Cameron.
"I think it's important that people understand what was happening to these Canadians, and to my father in particular, because you hear words like "deep patterning" and "psychic driving", and those are the words that Dr. Cameron used in his papers and they sound very clinical, but don't give one a sense of the horror of this process"
- Harvey Weinstein,
The Fifth Estate
YouTube,
1985
Zimmerman went on to sue the CIA and Canadian government along with eight other Canadian victims of the Allan Memorial Institute, receiving a total of around $67,000 in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.
Jean Steel was a Canadian diagnosed with manic depression, thought to be caused by the loss of one
of her children. To help ease her struggles, she was recommended to Dr. Cameron at the Allan
Memorial Institute.
During her stay at the institute, Steel was kept in drug-induced comas, put through intense
electroshock therapy, and tested with experimental drugs, leaving her in a child-like state. It was
reported in documents obtained from the Candian Department of Justice that, during her stay, Steel
would show aggressive behaviour towards the staff at the institute, behaviour that Dr. Cameron felt
needed to be "broken up".
Steel would spend days at a time in what was dubbed the "sleep room", and on one occassion
threatened to kill herself. An excerpt of Steel's medical file written by Dr. Cameron was cited in
a CBC article:
"Patient walked about room this morning, out in the hall, appears more restless than previously, stared at the speaker and said, 'That thing up there, up on the wall, my ear is burning, my ear is not burning. But that tries to make up my mind. That's not my mind. Is that my mind?'"
- Donald Ewen Cameron,
"'What they did to my mother was torture': The daughter of a CIA brainwashing victim looks for
justice"
National Post,
2017
"She was never able to really function as a healthy human being because of what they did to her."
- Alison Steel,
"Federal government quietly compensates daughter of brainwashing experiments victim"
CBC,
2017
In 2015, Alison Steel took up a lawsuit against the Canadian government, who settled for $100,000, but in return, had Steel sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Linda MacDonald was a Canadian in the throes of post-partum depression following the birth of
her five children in the span of four years. Her family doctor recommended she visit Montreal's
Allan Memorial Institute for further examination.
As a patient at the institute, MacDonald was unwittingly subjected to electroshock therapy,
psychic driving, and drug-induced comas that lasted around 86 days.
After six months of mind manipulation torture, Macdonald was released from the institute,
having forgotten the first twenty-five years of her life. She didn't recognise her husband or
children, had forgotten how to read and write, and had to be toilet trained.
"I watched and copied people, trying to be a credible human being."
- Linda MacDonald,
"Paying for the past: A brainwashing victim seeks compensation"
Macleans,
1990
Macdonald subsequently separated from her husband and children, but would go on to sue the Canadian Government, receiving a settlement of $100,000 in exchange for the inability to sue the hospital. [6]
Wayne Ritchie was a deputy U.S. marshal who was unwittingly drugged when someone slipped LSD into
his drink at a Christmas party in 1957.
Ritchie claimed that he had four or five drinks before returning to the marshal's office, where he
was suddenly overcome with sadness and a sense that everyone had turned on him.
Following this, Ritchie dranks some more before driving to Fillmore District bar and attempted to
rob the place while brandishing his service revolver. Luckily, Ritchie got distracted and was
knocked unconscious.
Ritchie went on to plead guilty to attempted robbery, was fined $500, and was given
a suspended jail sentence. He spiralled from that point on, quitting his job in disgrace and
fighting off thoughts of suicide.
In 1999, Ritchie read the obituary of Project MKUltra director, Sidney Gottlieb, which led him to
believe he was drugged as part of the CIA testing, especially after finding out that a now-deceased
CIA agent may have attended the same Christmas party.
During a sworn deposition in 2003, an admission from former CIA operative, Ira Feldman was cited,
stating:
"I drugged guys involved... I didn't do any follow-up... You just back away and let them worry like this nitwit, Ritchie."
- Ira Feldman,
“SAN FRANCISCO / Enough evidence for trial of CIA drugging”
SFGate,
2004
Ritchie was unable to convince a federal appeals court, who felt that Feldman's statement may have been sarcasm or simply untruthful. Ultimately, the court ruled that Ritchie's actions were caused by an "undiagnosed organic condition", dismissing the suit.
James "Whitey" Bulger was an American crime boss that ran the notorious Winter hill Gang: an Irish
crime organisation based out of Somerville, Massachusetts.
In 1956, Bulger was arrested for armed robbery and hijacking. He was sent to serve his term in
federal prison at Atlanta Penitentiary. In a bid to reduce his sentence, Bulger, along with several
other inmates, volunteered to be used as a guinea pig in experiments for Project MKUltra.
Led by Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, the CIA-funded experiments saw the inmates drugged with LSD and a myriad
of other substances. Bulger would go on to write that he and the other inmates were "recruited by
deception" and were told their efforts were helping society:
"In 1957, while a prisoner at the Atlanta penitentiary, I was recruited by Dr. Carl Pfeiffer of Emory University to join a medical project that was researching a cure for schizophrenia. For our participation, we would receive three days of good time for each month on the project."
- James Bulger,
“Whitey Bulger: I was a guinea pig for CIA drug experiments”
OZY,
2017
Bulger also described how he suffered from violent nightmares, stating in his notes
that he heard voices and feared that if anyone found out he would be "committed for life".
In 2013, Bulger was found guilty in a racketeering case that involved 11 murders. One of the
jurors, Janet Uhlar, said she regretted voting to convict Bulger after she found out through letter
correspondence with him about what he went through with the MKUltra testing.
"He didn't murder prior to the LSD. His brain may have been altered, so how could you say he was really guilty?"
- Janet Uhlar,
“After learning Whitey Bulger was unwitting subject of CIA experiment, juror regrets murder
conviction”
Los Angeles Times,
2020
Considered to be something of a child prodigy, Ted Kaczynski was gifted enough to be accepted into
Harvard University in 1958 at the age of 16. A year after his enrollment, Kaczynski was noticed by
psychologist Henry A. Murray, who "pressured" him, along with 21 other students, to take part in a
study that aimed to better understand the effects of stress on the human psyche.
As part of the study, test subjects were instructed to write an essay about their life philosophy
with the intent of debating their ethos with a fellow student. Instead, the subjects were monitored
by wires and cameras, and made to defend their philosophies against trained lawyers who tore their
belief structures apart and humiliated them meticulously at an average of 200 hours across three
years.
Following his university years, Kaczynski isolated himself from others, becoming a hermit that
lived in the woods and harbouring strong technophobic beliefs. He would make a name for himself as
the "Unabomber": a domestic terrorist who sent homemade bombs through the mail, killing three
people and injuring a further 23. Kaczynski would state that the tests conducted on him at Harvard
would shape the man he became:
“The Harvard experiments were a turning point. I went in thinking I was contributing to science, but what I got was humiliation and a lesson in how power operates. They made me see the university, and by extension society, as a machine that crushes individuality. That experience didn't make me the Unabomber, but it planted a seed of anger and distrust that grew over time.”
- Ted Kaczynski,
Harvard and the Unabomber: The education of an American terrorist
W.W. Norton,
2003
While it has never been confirmed that the Harvard experiments under Murray were a subproject of MKUltra, released documents have proven that Harvard University was receiving funds for psychological research from the CIA between the 1950s and 1960s.
Pin-up girl and radio host, Candy Jones, helped release a book in 1976 titled The Control of
Candy Jones. In the book, Jones describes how she was recruited by the CIA in the 1960s,
becoming a guineau pig for their mind control experiments.
Jones details how she was sent to a CIA psychiatrist (named Jensen, but believed to be Dr. William
Kroger) who succeeded in splitting Jones' personality, with one part, named "Arlene Grant", used to
carry out covert courier operations without her conscience knowledge.
"I'm not Candy. She's too weak, too soft. I'm the one who does the real work, the one they trained for the missions. Dr. Jensen made me strong, made me Arlene, so I could carry the messages and never break."
- Candy Jones (as Arlene Grant),
The Control of Candy Jones
Playboy Press,
1976
It's at Camp Peary, known as "The Farm", that Jones claims she was trained by the CIA, being taught
to use poisoned lipstick, laced hatpins, acid and guns. She would be sent on missions that
coincided with her international trips to army bases to entertain troops as a cover story.
The book recounts a 1972 hypnosis session with her husband, radio personality Long John Nebel, she
unlocked her memories and recounted how her alter ego, Arlene Grant, planned to commit suicide
without Jones' knowledge.
"They told me about Omega, the final protocol. If I ever broke free or talked too much, I'd feel the urge to end it all. It's in my head, like a switch—Dr. Jensen put it there. Sometimes I feel it pulling me, telling me to jump off a bridge or take the pills, to make sure Candy never remembers."
- Candy Jones (as Arlene Grant),
The Control of Candy Jones
Playboy Press,
1976
in 1995, Author Cathy O'Brien released her book Trance Formation of America, in which she
claims she was a victim of the CIA's mind programming experiment, Project Monarch.
According to the book, O'Brien was sexually abused at a young age by child pornographers before
being forced into Project Monarch by the CIA. As a subject of the program, O'Brien underwent trauma
based mind control methods to turn her into a sex slave for international pedophile rings:
"Once the door closed behind me, Charm School meant I would be charmed, mesmerized (hypnotized), and programmed to be a high class prostitute for select politicians. I did learn their way to walk. I learned when to talk, how to dress, how to sit, stand, and all the rest. Table manners were not taught as they were not needed since slaves endured food and water deprivation when working. Above all, we were taught how to gratify any sexual perversion"
- Cathy O'Brien,
Trance Formation of America
Reality Marketing, Incorporated,
1995
Among the people involved, O'Brien lists government officials and religious figures as well as
music and sports idols.
O'Brien's book is believed to be the originator of theories regarding satanic rituals being linked
to Project MKUltra, as well as modern theories regarding the continued existence of such programs
through Project Monarch.
O'Briens claims have been met with much criticism, often citing a lack of supporting evidence and
declassified documentation containing no mention of Project Monarch.
Brice Taylor is a self-proclaimed survivor of trauma-based conditioning at the hands of the CIA as
part of their Project Monarch program. Using her pseudonym, "Brice Taylor", she released her book
Thanks for the Memories: The Memoirs of Bob Hope's and Henry Kissinger's Mind-Controlled Sex
Slave in 1999, which details the methods in which she was systematically deconstructed as a
human to be used by world elites.
Taylor (a pseudonym) details how she underwent artificially-induced dissociative identity disorder
in order to fracture her psyche into different personalities, one referred to as "Sharon". Each of
Taylor's personalities were made to perform a specific task, such as storing sensitive information,
serving as a courier, or performing as a sex-slave prostitute.
Taylor details how she was sold at a slave auction when she was a child to actor and comedian, Bob
Hope. She was later introduced to Henry Kissinger to be used as his personal computer filled with
classified files that he would access in meetings with NATO, the Trilateral Commission, the Energy
Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, and House Appropriations on Foreign Trade.
Taylor goes on to explain how she was prostituted out to presidents, governors and top politicians:
"They were encouraged to use these escorts to satify their sexual and emotional needs, instead of exposing themselves to outside individuals... As I later learned, Project Monarch Beta-trained sex slaves were called 'million dollar babies' referring to the large amount of money each slave would bring in from a very early age. In the 60s, the use of a Project Monarch presidential model sex slave cost around $1200 for an evening. Henry called me his "million dollar machine.'"
- Brice Taylor,
Thanks for the Memories: The Truth Has Set Me Free!
Brice Taylor Trust,
1999
Her time spent close to the elites gave Taylor further insight into their machinations, including
the inner workings of a "Council" that controlled global events from the shadows, much like the
Illuminati
, with the intention of securing power beyond that of their predecessors. Unfortunately, being
so close to the elites meant she was also forced to participate in "satanic rituals" where children
and animals were killed.
Taylor's own daughter, Kelly, was also mentioned as being subjected to a similar experience, having
her mind manipulated to become what the book refers to as a "Bush Baby": a child sex slave for then
vice president, George W. Bush.
After years of therapy and scouring through her journals, Taylor was able to piece together her
memories in order to produce the book. As with Candy Jones' and Candy O'Briens' books, critics
remained skeptic due to a lack of evidence.
Author and countercultural figure of the 1960s, Ken Kesey spent his graduate years as a student at Stanford University. During this time, Kesey would volunteer as a guinea pig for a study on psychedelic drugs at the Veterans Hospital in Menlo Park, unknowingly a part of the MKUltra program.
"I didnt believe it for a long time. Well, Allen Ginsberg says, you know who was paying for that? It was the CIA. I said aw, no Allen, you're just paranoid. But he finally got all the darn records, and it did turn out the CIA was doing this. And it wasnt being done to try to cure insane people, which is what we thought. It was being done to try to make people insane - to weaken people, and to be able to put them under the control of interrogators."
- Ken Kesey,
"Ken Kesey On Misconceptions Of Counterculture"
Fresh Air,
2011
Soon after, Kesey got a job as the night attendant at the Veterans Hospital psychatric ward,
allowing him access to a smorgasbord of psychedelics. His time around the patients, combined
with his excessive use of LSD, gave him the inspiration to create the 1962 novel One Flew Over
the Cuckoo's Nest.
Kesey's house on Perry Lane became a beacon to creatives, a melting pot of artists and
intellectuals who would all find a place beneath the haze of psychedelics.
With the success of his novel, Kesey would go on to purchase a house in San Francisco where he
would host drug-fuelled parties he called "Acid Tests". This, it is believed, is how Kesey
helped influence the psychedelic movement of the 60s.
Charles Milles Manson was the leader of the Manson Family, a California based doomsday cult that
committed
a series of murders in July and August of 1969, the most infamous of which was the Tate-LaBianca
murders.
As a youth, Manson would get himself in trouble with the law on a regular basis, finding himself in
and out of federal institutes from the age of
During the Summer of Love in 1967, Manson became a guru in the Haight-Ashbury District of San
Francisco. His philosophical preachings would attract wayward misfits and emerging hippies, helping
him amass a following of around 20 people, most of which were girls. These followers became what
would come to be known as the "Manson Family".
Throughout the year, Manson would get in trouble with the law many times, but despite these
incidents being a violation of his parole, his parole officer, Roger Smith, would ensure he
faced no severe repurcussions, going so far as to vouch for Manson. Smith held meetings with Manson
on a weekly basis at the Haight Ashbury Medical Clinic, an institute funded by the National
Institutes of Health, believed to be a front for the CIA. According to journalist Tom O'Neill,
Jolyon Louis "Jolly" West, a scientist and hypnotist employed by the CIA, was using the
clinic as a testing ground, supplying its young clientele with LSD to see the effects it had on
their psyche:
"This is what Jolly West had been doing for ten years. Learning how to induce insanity with someone without their knowledge. It was the CIA objective of MKUltra."
- Tom O'Neill,
Chaos: The Manson Murders
Netflix,
2025
In 1968, Manson moved The Family to Spahn Ranch in the California desert, where he would take away their possessions, change their names, and ply them with copious amounts of drugs, such as LSD. Beginning on August 8, 1969, the Manson Family would go on to commit a series of murders, targeting mostly upper-class white victims, and scrawling notes on the walls in blood in order to ignite Helter Skelter, all at the behest of Manson:
"Tex [Watson] and I had our own special little stash of cocaine. I mean, I think it was cocaine or methadrine, I'm not sure which. We both snorted some speed and got in the car. We were very, very wired. And we drove to the house with instructions to kill everyone in the house."
- Susan Atkins,
Susan Atkins Interview 1978
KCRA-TV,
1978
O'Neill admits that his research led to no evidence placing Manson with West, and no witness accounts of them ever interacting, despite their potential proximity at Haight Ashbury Medical Clinic, but he points out that the goal of West's studies line up with what The Family ultimately became:
"Manson emerged from the Haight at the end of 1967, the same time that West left, as exactly what they were trying to create. Well, it was his girls... people who would kill without remorse, who would do whatever they were told to do."
- Susan Atkins,
Susan Atkins Interview 1978
KCRA-TV,
1978
According to O'Neill's research, it seemed that despite the connections between each of the murders, and the uncanny similarities to the earlier murder of music teacher, Gary Hinman by Manson Family member Bobby Beausoleil, the LAPD weren't set on thoroughly investigating The Family for the murder:
"The Family left a trail of evidence everywhere... There's this huge raid where they're all picked up on a bunch of other charges. They had stolen guns, stolen vehicles, underage runaway girls. Charlie had stolen credit cards in his pocket. They were all released three days later. And Manson's parole wasn't violated. Somebody wanted this group out there."
- Tom O'Neill,
Chaos: The Manson Murders
Netflix,
2025
Eventually, Manson and a number of his Family members would be arrested and put on trial. As this happened, the story emerged of a cult comprised of youths who were indoctrinated by the drugs, sex and counter-culture nature of the 60s freedom movement, a narrative that suited both the FBI and CIA:
"If you want to get into COINTELPRO and CHAOS, it served their purposes to have the world finally turn against this left-wing anti-war movement which a lot of people conflated with hippies."
- Tom O'Neill,
Chaos: The Manson Murders
Netflix,
2025
At the conclusion of the trial, Manson and the accused Family members were all found guilty and
received prison sentences.
After the trial, prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi released his book in 1974, Helter Skelter,
which painted a narrative that Manson had convinced his followers that an apocalyptic race war
would take place, dubbed "Helter Skelter" after his inspiration from the Beatles White
Album. His cult were to lay low in a "bottomless pit", as described in the bible, and wait
for the Black population to eradicate the White population, with Manson ultimately ruling over
those that would be left.
In Errol Morris' 2025 documentary CHAOS: The Manson Murders, O'Neill questions how Manson
was able to manipulate The Family, into committing murder for him:
"How did he learn how to brainwash those kids, really in under a year? Yeah, he was a con artist, but everybody who knew him in prison and everybody who knew him prior to becoming Charlie Manson said he was a joke to everybody. He somehow got help. Where'd that come from?"
- Tom O'Neill,
Chaos: The Manson Murders
Netflix,
2025
The documentary explores how LSD has an ability to shift a persons behaviour and personality, and Manson used it to ensure that the effects were long lasting. Years after the murders and trials were over, the family members that had served sentences were still feeling the effects of Manson's programming:
"Susan Atkins, she said 'I still can't get him out of my head - I can't get him out of my head. His thoughts are my thoughts. I try so hard and I can't get Charlie out of my head.'"
- Tom O'Neill,
Chaos: The Manson Murders
Netflix,
2025
O'Neill admits to having West's report to the CIA that states his experiments were successful in replacing a subject's true memories with false memories using a mixture of LSD and hypnosis - the primary goal of Project MKUltra.
On November 22, 1963, president
John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas,
Texas while riding in a presidential motorcade. He was shot twice from a distance, with the
shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald shortly being apprehended.
Kennedy's death fuelled much speculation, with theories ranging from a magic bullet to additional
gunmen being involved. One theory was that Oswald may have been programmed by the CIA or The Soviet
Union to perform the task.
During the trial of businessman Clay Shaw, district attorney of New Orleans, Jim Garrison tried to prove that Shaw conspired with Lee Harvey Oswald, David Ferrie and others in the CIA to assassinate JFK. A New Orleans resident, Jack Martin, had reported to authorities that Jack Ferrie may have been involved in the assassination as Ferrie and Oswald knew one another from their time serving in the in the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol. Martin relayed to the FBI that Ferrie might have hypnotized Oswald into assassinating Kennedy. Two days after the assassination, Oswald was shot and killed at Dallas Police Headquarters by nightclub operator, Jack Ruby. Ruby refused to speak at his trial or to the public, but intended to speak at The Warren Commission about his motivation for killing Oswald. However, a visit from CIA scientist and hypnotist Louis "Jolly" West saw that a confession never happened:
"Jolly went to examine Ruby a few weeks before Ruby was going to testify as to why he shot Oswald... Jolly West flies to Dallas, goes to the county jail, spends a couple of hours speaking to Jack Ruby, and he comes out after his examination and says, in the preceding 24 hours, Jack Ruby has had a break with reality... So in other words, in the day of that meeting, Jack Ruby lost his mind."
- Tom O'Neill,
Chaos: The Manson Murders
Netflix,
2025
The 1975 declassification of sensitive documents by the Church Committee further amplified theories
about mind control and a potential false flag operation by the CIA.
The assassination has gone on to be one of the most talked about assassinations in history, with
conspiracy theories continuing deep into the modern day.
James Earl Ray was the convicted shooter in the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. On April 4,
1968.
Ray had rented a room across the street from the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, and shot
King as he stood on his balcony at the motel. Ray subsequently fled the scene, with his binoculars
and Remington rifle found abandoned close by. Once captured, Ray entered a guilty plea and was
sentenced to 99 years in prison.
In 1999, Loyd Jowers, the owner of Jim's Grill located close to the Lorraine Motel, confessed to
being part of a conspiracy involving the Mafia and U.S. government to assassinate King:
"Liberto done me a large favour, so I owed him a favour... he asked me to handle some money transaction, hire someone to assassinate Dr. Martin Luther King... [Liberto] said it would be set up where it looked like someone else done the killing... [Ray] was part of it, but I don't believe he was part of it."
- Loyd Jowers,
Prime Time Live
ABC News,
1993
King's family believe that Ray was innocent and a victim of conspiracy. Hosea Williams, a colleague of King's who was in the courtyard of the motel during the shooting, claimed the gunshot came from the ground floor as opposed to an elevated position like that of Ray's:
"I really think it came from the ground level... James Earl Ray was just a patsy, he was set up. Who in the world go shoot a gun and kill Dr. King, and run out the building and leave the gun on the sidewalk?"
- Hosea Williams,
Prime Time Live
ABC News,
1993
After Ray's death, his brother, John Larry Ray, released a book in 2008 titled Truth At Last: The Untold Story Behind James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., in which he details his brother's shooting of a black soldier as part of a mind control experiment by the U.S. government, leading to his assassination of King through hypnosis and manipulation.
On June 5, 1968, Sirhan Sirhan, a Jordanian man, was convicted of the assassination of senator
Robert F. Kennedy,
having fired a gun at him and the crowd while at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Kennedy died
at the hospital after receiving three bullets, one in the neck and two in the back,
while a fourth bullet passed through his jacket.
Like JFK, the assassination sparked a torrent of theories, some claiming that Sirhan was mind
controlled to eliminate the senator, while others suspect he may not have been the only shooter.
Since the assassination, Sirhan has claimed that he retains no memory of the murder, while
witnesses reported that he seemed to be in a trance-like state during the assassination.
Journalist Robert Blair Kaiser, who covered the subsequent trial of Sirhan, wrote in his 1970 book
R.F.K. Must Die! that Sirhan likely was under the influence of hypnosis, possibly even
self-hypnosis, the first to suggest so:
"During the trial, Dr. Diamond programmed Sirhan, under hypnosis, to climb the bars of his cell. Sirhan had no idea what he was doing up on the top of the bars. When he finally discovered that climbing was not his own idea, but Dr. Diamond's, he was struck with the plausibility of the idea that perhaps he had been programmed by someone else, in like manner, to kill Kennedy."
- Robert Blair Kaiser,
R.F.K. Must Die!
Dutton,
1970
Sirhan's lawyer, William F. Pepper, who represented Sirhan during his parole hearings, believed that Sirhan was hypnotised and set up as a diversion for the real RFK gunman:
"Sirhan was hypno-programmed to be the distractor in the murder of Senator Robert Kennedy, whilst the girl in the polka-dot dress served as a signal to trigger him and the professional assassin, who killed the Senator with close-range shots from behind, got away."
- William F. Pepper,
The Plot to Kill King
Skyhorse,
2011
Sirhan's legal team used acoustic expert, Philip Van Praag to analyse the "Pruszynski
recording" of Kennedy's assassination. Praag pointed out the sound of 13 gunshots, while Sirhan's
gun only held eight bullets, and he had no opportunity to reload, concluding that there was a
second gunman involved. Additionally, they believed that the bullet that caused RFK's death, found
in his neck, did not match Sirhan's gun.
Dr. Edward Simson-Kallas spent time psychoanalysing Sirhan while he was in prison directly after
the assassination, and Daniel Brown, an associate clinical professor in psychology at Harvard
Medical School, also interviewed Sirhan for 60 hours over the span of 3 years. Both concluded that
Sirhan was subject to hypno-programming.
"Mr. Sirhan is one of the most hypnotizable individuals I have ever met, and the magnitude of his amnesia for actions under hypnosis is extreme."
- Daniel Brown,
"The assassination of Bobby Kennedy: Was Sirhan Sirhan hypnotized to be the fall guy?"
The Washington Post,
2011
The prosecution attorney general, Kamala Harris, refuted the claim, stating that there was no
evidence of Sirhan being brainwashed, and even if there were a second gunman, he should still be
held responsible. In the end, Sirhan's plea was rejected.
Author and researcher, Lisa Pease has spoken many times about her research into Sirhan and the
possibility of his actions being committed under hypnosis:
"It's very obvious Sirhan was a hypnotized Patsy put in place to fire a gun of blanks... It's clear to me that he was programmed to fire at a target on command."
- Lisa Pease,
"Who Killed Bobby Kennedy?"
Lori Spencer,
2023
On December 8, 1980 Chapman became notorious for assassinating the Beatles frontman John Lennon.
Following his arrest and in the years since, theorists have speculated that Chapman may have been
subjected to MKUltra-style manipulation techniques in order to kill John Lennon at the behest of
the CIA.
In 1977, Mark David Chapman left the U.S. and relocated to Hawaii, where he was recruited as a
missionary by the local YMCA to help council Vietnamese refugees in Arkansas following the vietnam
War. He was then sent to Beirut, Lebanon to help refugees before returning to the U.S. due to
safety concerns. His struggles with depression led Chapman to attempt suicide by carbon monoxide
poisoning, but failing this, he got a job at the Castle Medical Center, the same hospital he
recovered in.
Theorists look towards key elements surrounding Chapman leading up to the murder, such as his
obsession with J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, which he had in his possession
at the time of the murder, may have been his "trigger" as a supposed programmed assassin. It was
reported that Chapman referred to himself as "Holden Caulfield", a character from the book, that
theorists believe may be a dissociative personality given to him through MKUltra methods.
Lennon had made his anti-Vietnam War beliefs well known leading up to the murder, and theorists
believe that his influence may have been seen as subversive enough to warrant drastic measures and
serve as the motive to have him assassinated. Released documents confirm that the CIA and FBI were
spying on Lennon due to the Nixon administration's concern over disrupting the 1972 Republican
convention.
In his 1989 book Who Killed John Lennon? Author Fenton Bresler floats the idea that
Chapman's ties with the YMCA may have been when he became compromised. The YMCA was part of a
larger organisation known as the United States Youth Council: a non-profit coalition
that served children, and whose profits it was revealed are mostly from the CIA. Bresler argues
that Chapman's work in Beirut and psychiatric history suggest a strong CIA influence.
New York police lieutenant Arthur O'Connor, who interrogated Chapman after his arrest, went on to
affirm Bresler's suspicions:
“As far as you are trying to build up some kind of conspiracy, I would support you in that line,”
- Arthur O'Connor,
Who Killed John Lennon?
St Martin's Press,
1989
On July 20, 2012, James Holmes was responsible for murdering 12 people and injuring a further 70 at
a movie theatre in Colorado, referred to as the 2012 Aurora theater shooting.
In 2006, Holmes worked as an intern at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, there, he was
supervised by John Jacobson, whom he referred to as a "mentor". Theorists point to Salk possibly
being a CIA funded institute along the lines of Harvard and Stanford, while Jacobson may have
served as a "handler" for the CIA as he was, at the time, a PhD candidate in philosophy
and cognitive sciences at UC San Diego.
In 2011, Holmes went on to study neuroscience as a PhD student at the University of Colorado, an
institute funded by the National Institutes of Health, which supposedly had CIA ties. Even
Holmes' father was thought to have loose ties to the CIA through his work at HNC Software, a
company theorists claim to be linked to DARPA.
Holmes' vacant demeanor during court proceedings, along with his claims of amnesia,
are thought to be sure signs of personality dissociation from experimentation.
Conspiracy theorist and author, Fritz Springmeier, made a number of comments pointing to Holmes
being a perfect candidate for MKUltra experimentation:
"James Holmes fits the profile of an MKUltra victim—bright, isolated, involved in neuroscience, and showing signs of dissociation in court. His time at the Salk Institute under Jacobson could have been the entry point for CIA programming, possibly using drugs or hypnosis to turn him into a shooter."
- Fritz Springmeier,
GodlikeProductions.com,
2013
Holmes' links to MKUltra or similar CIA operations lacks declassified evidence and is generally dismissed as a conspiracy.
On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza was responsible for killing 26 people at the
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
Lanza had no prior criminal record, but suffered from mental disorders, such as Asperger's
syndrome, depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Lanza's father, Peter Lanza,
suspected his son may have had undiagnosed schizophrenia.
Theorists believe that Lanza may have undergone mental manipulation akin to Project MKUltra,
pointing to his mental condition as a byproduct of CIA behavioral manipulation. The theory
elaborated that video games or social media played a part as his supposed "trigger", and that his
father's connection with General Electric, who collaborated with the CIA in 2009, may
indicate Lanza was experimented on as a child.
The crime brought scrutiny upon federal and state gun legislation in the U.S., with many wanting
a universal background check system and banning the sales of semi-automatic firearms.
Following the shooting, radio host Alex Jones made statements that he believed the shooting was a
staged false flag operation to tighten gun control:
“There is a reported school shooting in Connecticut - one of the states that has draconian restrictions on gun ownership… The media will hype the living daylights out of this. Why do governments stage these things? To get our guns!”
- Alex jones,
The Alex Jones Show
InfoWars,
2012
For his comments, Jones has faced several defamation lawsuits, racking up a sizeable debt in compensatory damage claims, and has since claimed he now believes the shooting to have been real.
