The Why Files: Operation Podcast - 507: DEEP DIVE: MK Ultra Exposed: We Name the Names behind the CIA's Sinister Mind Control Projects

Episode Date: November 15, 2023

MK Ultra, the infamous CIA program shrouded in mystery and controversy. Uncover the chilling truths and unanswered questions that linger around this clandestine project. Was it a mere Cold War strategy or something far more sinister?  Navigate through a labyrinth of mind control experiments, secret government operations, and ethical quandaries. This journey into the unknown promises to challenge your perceptions and leave you questioning what lies beneath the surface of historical narratives. MK Ultra – a tale of intrigue, power, and secrecy.

You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. November 28th, 1953, New York City. At 2.30 a.m., the body hit the sidewalk. A few seconds later, a shower of glass. The doorman of the Statler Hotel yelled to the lobby

that there was a jumper. The night manager rushed out and saw him, a man about 40 years old lying on the pavement. He was on his back wearing only his underwear as blood started to pool around him. Thirteen stories up, a single window was open, its curtain flapping through broken glass. The night manager knelt beside the man, whose eyes were open and was somehow still alive. He desperately tried to speak, but was choking on blood and couldn't be understood. After a minute or two of trying to communicate, the man took a final deep breath and was gone. Nobody knows for sure what he was trying to say before he died, but one thing is for certain, it was something about the CIA.

In 1947, the National Security Act was signed into law. It called for a complete overhaul of all foreign policy. Less than two months later, the Central Intelligence Agency was formed. Their mission was, quote, to gather and share intelligence to protect our nation from threats. In December of that year, they were sanctioned to perform covert operations. They immediately started taking action all across the world, overthrowing dictators and organizing coups. But by 1953, the CIA had become the threat. Not to criminals, not to foreign leaders or corrupt politicians, but to its own citizens. On the CIA website, you can find a timeline noting its major achievements. What you won't find on this list is a project called MKUltra. MKUltra was a CIA human experimentation program aimed at developing procedures and drugs to use in interrogations.

The goal was to break the subject's mind and force them to confess. Guilty or innocent, it didn't matter. All that mattered was get the confession. Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, was used by the CIA to deliver controlled shocks to the subject's head. They used hypnosis to reduce peripheral awareness and increase the capacity for suggestion. A process called psychic driving was used. A person was subjected to a repeated phrase over and over again, hundreds of thousands of times, until the sounds became meaningless. Sensory deprivation, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, and torture were all methods used in MKUltra. Project MKUltra also included a chemical or pharmacological component.

The CIA tested powerful psychoactive drugs on citizens. These drugs affect a person's mental processes, consciousness, cognition, and mood. Their favorite drug to use was LSD. LSD can cause intense emotions and heighten sensory perception. In high enough doses, LSD can create powerful visual and auditory hallucinations, often lasting up to 20 hours.

These experiments were often carried out without the subject's consent or knowledge it was even happening. The scope of activities MKUltra carried out was massive and still isn't fully known. MKUltra operated out of more than 80 facilities. It posed as a scientific research program in colleges, in hospitals, and in prisons. It was even inside pharmaceutical companies. The true purpose of the research presence at these places was unknown to most people working there, but not unknown to all people. Many of the facilities top officials were aware of and some even complicit with the CIA's involvement. MKUltra had 149 subprojects,

some of which are still unknown and others very little is known. For 32 years, MKUltra operated without interference, without oversight and without repercussions. But all of that was about to change. In 1975, a committee was established to investigate CIA operations, the Church Committee. The Church Committee's goal was to determine to what degree the CIA was engaging in illegal activities. Much about MKUltra is still unknown and will likely never be known. In 1973, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, and when the Church Committee was first suggested,

all MKUltra files were ordered destroyed. All the committee had to go on was the sworn testimony of individuals who had willingly participated in the program. Not exactly a trustworthy source. The CIA primarily used drugs and aggressive methods to help with interrogations. But they also deployed them for harassment, discrediting, and disabling threats to the project and to the agency. In 1977, a Freedom of Information Act request into MKUltra found 20,000 documents had survived the purge. This led to the Senate reopening its investigation into MKUltra in the form of congressional hearings.

And many of these hearings were televised. Many former members of the CIA were brought in to be questioned. Who had oversight of the programs? How were they selecting subjects? Are any of the programs still active? These hearings shed light on some pretty nasty details about the program.

However, many of the men being questioned were suffering from, let's call it, selective amnesia. They just couldn't seem to recall details about the human experiments or who was involved. The CIA, operating for the U.S. government, had committed some of the most heinous crimes imaginable for years, and they experiments similar to MKUltra. Nazis used depressants and barbiturates. They used psychedelics and hallucinogens.

They used morphine and other opioid derivatives. The purpose of the research and experimentation was to create a truth serum. This drug was designed to eliminate the will of the person examined, all of their will, and make them fully and completely compliant. That was Nazi Germany. The United States government's interest in similar drug-related research started in 1943. Before the CIA was formed, American intelligence operations were managed by the OSS, the Office of Special Services. The OSS tried to create a truth serum of its own to aid with

interrogations. Despite this, many believe the CIA's MKUltra and subprojects were just a continuation of Nazi research through Operation Paperclip. After World War II, the United States recruited Nazi scientists and engineers. This was Operation Paperclip. At the time, it was highly kept secret because many of the scientists recruited by the Americans committed war crimes. But those war crimes would be forgiven if you agreed to work for the Americans. For most Nazi scientists, this wasn't a hard choice to make. Dr. Werner von Braun was a Nazi designing weapons of mass destruction during the war. He designed the V-2 rocket, the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile. About 3,000 V-2 rockets were

used in combat, resulting in thousands of deaths. V-2 rockets leveled parts of London and Paris. This was von Braun's project. All that death and destruction is because of him. But thanks to Operation Paperclip, not only did he avoid prison or execution, he went on to become the first director of NASA. Of course, von Braun also helped usher in space exploration, and he deserves the credit for that.

But I also think it's important to know the full picture. Eric Traub was a Nazi scientist who experimented with unique forms of biological warfare. He specialized in biting and stinging insects. He discovered that if you infect beetles and ticks with a deadly disease, you can drop them on enemy troops and their food supplies. You can devastate an entire army without firing a single shot. Traub's bioweapons were used against Russian troops, their livestock, and possibly even civilians. But like so many others, the Americans gave him a choice.

Work for us or take your chances with the Hague. And of course, the United States recruited plenty of Nazi chemists. Chemists working on diabolical and highly illegal projects. Again, all is forgiven, says the U.S. government, if you work for us. They said yes, and the American military was eager to put them right to work. You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth, while curled up on the

couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible.

You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen.

Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding

thrillers on Audible. In 1947, the United States Navy initiated Project Chatter. This was an enhanced interrogation program using LSD on human subjects for the first time. By 1950, the CIA began interrogation projects involving human subjects, one of which was Project Bluebird. And boy, that was a nasty one. Project Bluebird was initiated by the CIA in 1951 and was later renamed Project Artichoke. And Project Artichoke used a wide array of techniques,

including psychological torture. The hope was to manipulate individuals to carry out acts against their will, ideally to program someone to be an assassin without knowing it. Sidney Gottlieb was a chemist assigned to the project in 1951. His job was to create a truth serum or some kind of mind control drug. Soon, Gottlieb became frustrated with the lack of progress in interrogation research under Project Artichoke. After months of testing on himself, other agents, and American prisoners,

he decided LSD was the way forward. He proposed his idea to the CIA director and was given full control of all mind-control projects in the CIA. This is when the CIA's love affair with LSD was born. On April 13th, 1953, Project Artichoke and all related drug and mind control projects were reformed into MKUltra. Of the 149 known sub-projects, Sidney Gottlieb's name was on 60 of them. So the CIA funded research into substances like LSD and gave grants to academics across the country. Many grant recipients had no idea their research was being used by the CIA.

But it was. All that data from doctors, scientists, and researchers from across the country, all of it was being funneled to the CIA. So the more the church committee dug into MKUltra and CIA, the darker the story became. MKUltra's subprojects covered a wide area of different kinds of research and experiments. Human testing of LSD, depressants,

mixing alcohol and LSD, stockpiling toxic chemicals and bioweapons. There were under-the-table slush funds Oh yeah, the CIA did not act alone. The CIA and the Department of Defense created a joint project called Project MKNAOMI. Details about MKNAOMI are scarce. Much of the information is still classified and only limited records have been released. MK Naomi acted as a catch-all for the CIA's arsenal of lethal and incapacitating weapons used for global operations. It also provided surveillance, testing, and upgrades to special materials and items used in those operations, including biological agents and their delivery systems. and upgrades to special materials and items used in those operations,

including biological agents and their delivery systems. Poison pills and modified firearms capable of firing darts coded in these biological agents. These also fell under the responsibilities of MK Naomi. Now, there is an internationally recognized set of ethical principles when it comes to human experimentation. It's called the Nuremberg Code. Now, bear with me. This is important. It's 10 simple guidelines. One, the voluntary consent to the human subject is absolutely essential. OK, the human agrees to the experiment should be such as to yield fruitful

results for the good of society. Fine. Three, the experiment should be such as to yield fruitful results for the good of society. Fine. Three. The experiment should be based off the results of animal testing first. Four. The experiment should avoid all unnecessary physical and mental suffering and injury. Five. The experiment should not be conducted if there is a risk of death or disabling injury. Six. The experiment should not be conducted if there is a risk of death or disabling injury. 6. The degree of risk should never exceed the humanitarian importance of the problem it aims to solve.

7. Proper preparations should be made and adequate facilities provided to protect the experimental subject against even remote possibilities of injury, disability, or death. 8. Experiments should only be conducted by qualified persons. 9. The human subject should always be at liberty to end the experiment. And 10. During the course of the experiment, those in charge must be ready to terminate it if continuation is likely to result in injury or death. Now, when you read this code of ethics, you'd think it was specifically referring to MKUltra. The Nuremberg Code was written as a result of the military tribunal of a Nazi scientist six years before MKUltra was even created. As we said earlier, the research institutes the CIA funded were a wide group,

mostly hospitals, prisons, and colleges. Cornell University in Ithaca had the most MKUltra subprojects. Its College of Human Ecology was primarily funded by the CIA. Now, in the 1970s, when word broke that the CIA was behind the research funding for these more than 80 facilities, the reactions from administrators varied. Many, like the University of Illinois, made no mention of their involvement. They didn't deny it, but the administration wasn't very forthcoming. Others, like Stanford University, immediately made all data they received from the CIA available to the committee. Some organizations use HIPAA laws

to keep their records and information private for as long as possible. MKUltra was sanctioned by the U.S. government, which alone is terrifying. But worse, the CIA was able to find doctors not only willing, but in some cases, excited to carry out these experiments. Turns out that if you're an actual mad scientist, you could find plenty of work at the CIA.

There is a long list of mad scientists who work for the CIA. Let's go over a few of my favorites. Dr. Donald Ewan Cameron was a Scottish psychiatrist. He was the president of the American Psychiatric Association and the World Psychiatric Association. In the 50s and 60s, he wasn't just a psychiatrist. He was the psychiatrist. We're talking rock star psychiatrist. But Cameron had radical ideas about mental illness being contagious. He thought the mentally ill were dangerous and should be quarantined to protect the healthy population.

He believed he could cure schizophrenia by completely wiping the subject's mind to a blank slate. He was absolutely insane and the CIA loved him for it. He commuted from Lake Placid, New York to Montreal to conduct his research for MKUltra Subproject 68. Now he was paid $69,000 a year for his research, 69 grand in 1951. In today's dollars, he'd be bringing in over $800,000 every year. Yep, if you're a mad genius, the CIA will pay you very well indeed. Dr. Cameron's research included uses of LSD, paralytics, and electroshock therapy operating at, well, let's just say higher than medical standards. He developed a technique called psychic driving. Psychic driving involved putting patients under heavy sedation or in a coma

and then playing taped messages repeatedly. The messages could include simple repeated statements or more complex sets of statements. These were intended to influence the patient's thinking and behavior. The underlying theory was that these messages, by being constantly and consistently replayed, could write over existing memory and personality traits, effectively reprogramming the individual. If the human brain is a hard drive, this is how to reformat it. According to available documents, Dr. Cameron completed over 100 cases for MKUltra. His work for the CIA ended in 1964, earning him over $5 million in just seven years.

Louis Jolion West was an American psychiatrist and chair of psychiatry at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. During the Korean War, he served on a discovery panel investigating 36 airmen captured during the war. They had falsely confessed and cooperated with North Korean allegations against the United States. It was believed that brainwashing or drug use was to blame. West concluded the only foul play involved had been sleep deprivation. As a result, he was able to prevent the airmen from facing treason charges, a noble act which unfortunately attracted the attention of the Central Intelligence Agency. West became a contractor for MKUltra subproject 43. He researched the psychology of

disassociated states, hypnosis, and of course, the effects of LSD. Albert Hoffman discovered LSD in Switzerland in 1938. For the next few years, it was just a research chemical local to Switzerland that Hoffman tinkered with. But in 1949, German refugee and psychiatrist Max Rinkle brought LSD into the U.S. for the first time. It was only manufactured in Switzerland, so he took a trip there and returned with more than enough. He believed he could use the drug to trigger schizophrenic episodes in normal functioning brains.

He and his colleague Robert Hyde tested the theory and published the results in the APA Journal, a publication for the American Psychological Association. It was a big deal. And it didn't take long for the CIA to approach Hyde and Rinkle about their research. They offered to fund $40,000 if Hyde and Rinkle continued their research. They offered to fund $40,000 if Hyde and Rinkle continued their research for MKUltra. Again, at this time, that's a ton of money. Now, it's unclear if Rinkle and Hyde were even aware they were working for the CIA. The money came from one of the CIA's many cover organizations. Still, Rinkle and Hyde's research went on to be used in several MKUltra projects. In 1953, Harold Abramson proposed an $85,000 research project to

the CIA. He wanted to test the effects of LSD on hospital patients without telling them. During his time at the CIA, Abramson was involved in four MKUltra sub-projects related to LSD-based therapy. Dr. Henry Murray was an American psychologist working at Harvard University. In the 1930s, he developed a process called the Thematic Apperception Test. The TAT consists of a series of ambiguous images depicting various people and scenarios. The subject is asked to tell a story based on each image, like what led to the event, what was happening in the event, what the characters are feeling and thinking, and how the story ended. The subject's responses would show Mary their underlying concerns or motives.

This technique allows access to a subject's psyche that may not be accessible through other, more direct testing methods. Murray served as a lieutenant colonel for the OSS, using his technique to create a situation test. After the war, Murray returned to Harvard and took the position of chief researcher. From 1959 to 1962, he conducted experiments using Harvard students as test subjects. He tested their responses against extreme stress.

He inflicted attacks against the students that was called, quote, behemoth, sweeping, and personally abusive. He targeted their egos, beliefs, and ideologies, causing high levels of both stress and distress. And he made recordings of these sessions. And then he made the subjects listen to and watch the recordings of the attacks over and over and over. One of these test subjects was a 17-year-old mathematician named Theodore John Kaczynski, more commonly known as the Unabomber. Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski engaged in a nationwide bombing campaign against people involved with modern technology, resulting in the deaths of three people and the injury of 23 others. Some have speculated that participating in Henry Murray's study

may have had a lasting impact on his psychological state. Many believe Murray was either in MKUltra or a program connected to CIA psychological research. There are no documents to confirm this, but there are many researchers connected with MKUltra whose names are redacted from documents or whose names were on documents that were destroyed. We'll never know for sure. Possibly the strangest entry on the list of CIA contractors is George White. George is notorious

as the CIA's version of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But before that, he was a cop. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. Excuse me.

Why are you walking so close behind me? Well, you're a tall guy. You throw a decent shadow when I'm walking in it to keep out of this bright sun. It hurts my eyes. Okay, well, you know what? Specsavers, you can get two pairs of glasses from $149. And, oh, you'll like this. One can be a pair of prescription sunglasses. Sounds great.

Where's the nearest store? Not far. Come on. Let's hurry then. To my count. One, two, one, two, one, two. Visit specsavers.ca for details. You sailed beyond the horizon

in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen.

Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. George White was a narcotics agent in New York, but he always had dreams of being a spy. He applied to the FBI several times, but didn't meet the Bureau's qualifications. But that wouldn't stop him from trying to live his dream. As a narcotics agent, he took dangerous and high-profile cases. He became known as a dedicated, no-nonsense cop who could get things done. He also wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty.

Anything to solve the case. At one point, he spent two years deep undercover in a drug trafficking ring. His work led to the arrest of 30 high-ranking drug dealers and suppliers. In the 1950s, White was approached by the CIA and asked to be a special contractor for the MKUltra program. Of course, George White jumped at the chance. White took his assignment very seriously. He would even dose guests with LSD at his own apartment just to see what happened.

One day, George White approached the CIA with a proposal, and the appropriately named Operation Midnight Climax was created. While most subprojects of MKUltra were clinical, White's operation was different. Very different. White built safe houses in San Francisco and New York, equipped with secret observation posts behind two-way mirrors. Drug-addicted sex workers would bring unsuspecting men back to these houses. The men would secretly be dosed with LSD,

and the sex workers would, well, do the sex work. And George White watched the whole thing from behind the mirror, usually pounding liquor the whole time. White was often drunk during this research. He would also use the drugs that were part of the program. This project went on until at least 1965, when George White retired from both the Bureau of Narcotics and the CIA. But he wrote a letter to his FBN boss, Harry Aslinger, about his time working for MKUltra.

I was a very minor missionary, actually a heretic. But I toiled wholeheartedly in the vineyards because it was fun, fun, fun. Where else could a red-blooded American boy lie, kill, cheat, steal, rape, and pillage with the sanction and blessing of the all-highest? In 1975, White died of cirrhosis of the liver, and his family opted not to have a funeral for him.

Robert Lashbrook was a chemistry professor at Ventura College. He earned his doctorate in biochemistry after serving with the 15th Weather Corps in World War II. He was also one of the most prolific CIA operatives working under MKUltra. Lashbrook oversaw more than 40 subprojects, second in number only to Sidney Gottlieb. He was Gottlieb's second in command. There are many records with his name on them, but not much other information can be found.

His name can be found on subproject records from 1953 all the way up to 1964, but otherwise, he's a ghost. Even for a spook, that's unusual in a case this widely investigated, especially being that Lashbrook was so senior and involved in so many projects. Lashbrook was also the only known MKUltra scientist to live to see the 21st century. Lashbrook would also be connected to one of the most mysterious deaths in CIA history. By 1960, Sidney Gottlieb's CIA projects were providing support for coups and assassination attempts all over the world. There were plans to assassinate Fidel Castro

using a poison fountain pen or an exploding pen. Other plans for Castro were to saturate his shoes with thallium or poison one of his cigars. None of these schemes worked. Castro was too well protected, too high profile. But MKUltra still had plenty of victims. Unfortunately, most of those are American citizens. Most of the victims of MKUltra are unknown and will likely never be known. The CIA targeted people who couldn't speak up or fight back.

Soldiers, prisoners, prostitutes, the mentally ill or drug addicted, and occasionally students who didn't realize what they signed up for. The CIA made no effort to keep track of their victims once they served their purpose. In fact, the CIA didn't document much at all. And if they did, most of that documentation was destroyed or covered up. And while the CIA was good at covering their tracks

and hiding their research in America, it wasn't as easy to do in Canada. A lot of what we do know is from medical records from the Allen Memorial Institute, a hospital in Canada. A lot of what we do know is from medical records from the Allen Memorial Institute, a hospital in Montreal. These records were made available to the church committee as soon as the investigations began. Here are some of the accounts of the victims we know about, but brace yourself, this isn't pretty. Charles Taney was suffering from excruciating pain in his jaw, but doctors were unable to diagnose any physical cause. Despite not having any evidence of any psychiatric

conditions, the doctors thought Charles's pain might have been psychosomatic. He was instructed to see a therapist who recommended him for a program at Allen Memorial. The program was actually a subproject of MKUltra. Once in the program, Charles was immediately put into a coma. Then he was subjected to electric shock treatment and psychic driving, which is hearing a phrase repeated over and over nonstop. His recorded phrase is not known,

but phrases used were things like, you hate your children, or you want to kill your mother. Things like that. Very dark stuff. By the time Charles was released from the program, he had changed into a completely different person. Charles even forgot he had children. Before the program, Charles spent his weekends taking his kids to amusement parks. He would build ice skating rinks for his kids in the backyard. But that man was gone. In his place was a cold and emotionless man

who would beat his children for no reason. Two decades later, Charles' family finally learned that the hospital was part of an investigation into the CIA. They demanded his medical records from the hospital the very next day. His oldest daughter was only five years old when Charles returned from the program,

and she can remember how caring he used to be with her and her siblings. Now she finally understood why he had suddenly changed into someone else. She desperately wanted to tell him that she knew what happened and it wasn't his fault. But it was too late. A year earlier, Charles had a massive stroke, leaving him unable to communicate. He died as the changed man, whose family blamed him for what had been done to him by the CIA. Sadly, Charles' situation was not unique. It was actually quite common. Victims often suffered disassociative amnesia as a result of the trauma that they endured from their treatments.

Many had to relearn how to perform basic motor skills. Some had to relearn bladder control. Many were left childlike, emotionally unstable, and unable to live anything resembling a normal life. And in some cases, MKUltra would take everything you have, everything you love, and leave you with nothing. Not even your own mind. Esther Schreier came from a tragic background. Her father died when she was only four years old. About a year later, her mother was lobotomized to treat a brain tumor.

Esther bounced around between relatives and foster care, never finding a stable home. All Esther wanted was to be a part of a family again. In her teens, she began training and working as a nurse for the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. She became pregnant two years later and welcomed her baby daughter, Lynn Carroll, into the world. Esther was finally going to have the family she had always hoped for. But it was not to be. After only three weeks, she lost

her baby to a staph infection. Esther was crippled with sadness and guilt. She felt responsible for the loss of her child. But after two more years, she was ready to try again and became pregnant. But she still hadn't fully come to terms with the loss of her first child. She had severe anxiety over the possibility of losing her

family all over again. To help her deal with her guilt and anxiety, Esther spoke to a psychiatrist at Allen Memorial Hospital. That doctor was the now infamous CIA mad scientist, Dr. Ewan Cameron. Esther had just stepped out of the frying pan and right into the CIA's fire. She was placed into a drug-induced coma for 30 days. They woke her long enough to quickly eat, just a few minutes, then she was sedated again. This was three times a day. She lost 13 pounds, approaching dangerous territory for the health of both her and her baby. After two months, Dr. Cameron, according to his research notes,

was not satisfied with her progress. She is disoriented as to time only and is probably in her second stage of depatterning. There is no incontinence, there is no mutism, and we are continuing this intense treatment of her until we get complete depatterning. In August, Esther had been in the program for six months. She had undergone 29 electroshock treatments at extreme voltages. Not only was this unsafe, it was illegal. The shock treatments only stopped because, by some miracle, Esther was still eight months pregnant. She was kept in a constant state of substance intoxication.

She was forced to take a mixture of as many as five barbiturates and amphetamines at the same time. Despite a constant disregard for Esther and her child's well-being, she completed the program. Cameron declared her fully de-patterned. Now Esther was unable to stand, barely able to swallow, and had no control of her bowels. She needed to be seen by an obstetrician to treat severe bleeding. Esther was far from healed. She gave birth to her son Lloyd, but didn't know the first thing about how to take care of him. She didn't know how to hold him or what to do when he would cry. She was helpless. Esther was a nurse, but now after being de-patterned, she needed a nurse to take care of her baby for her. Whenever the nurse couldn't be there, she referred to a book on how to care for an infant son.

Once again, Esther was robbed of her family, and this time it was taken by MKUltra. Jean Steele met her husband Garnet in the 40s while he was serving in the army. They had made their home and life together in the eastern townships just south of Montreal. They had a baby, but sadly, like with Esther, the baby only lived for a short time. In 1952, Jean and Garnet had a second child,

a girl named Allison. Jean had never fully escaped the sadness and depression from the loss of her first child. With Allison's birth, it only got worse. The couple decided it was time for Jean to find help. Her parents had been searching for treatment centers in Montreal. They found a doctor at a hospital called the Allen Memorial Institute. This doctor had a reputation for being the best. This doctor was Ewan Cameron. Jean was admitted into AMI for treatment at the beginning of May 1957. And like Esther, Jean was forced to take experimental drugs and given electroshock treatments. She was subjected to long drug-induced comas lasting up to 29 days. She was put through psychic driving, which put her into fits of rage.

She fought the de-patterning process every way she could. She would threaten to kill herself and beg the scientists to stop playing the messages. According to her file, she would complain of burning in her ears and feet. She would scream like she felt

like she was being nailed to a cross. 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, That December, after six months of treatment, Jean was discharged. The woman that went in was gone. All that was left of Jean was a broken shell. She spent hours sitting alone in the dark.

When she drove, she would leave her turn signal on, always on, no matter what. When someone asked why, she said the signal was keeping her company. She continued to exhibit odd behavior. One day she spray painted her toilet silver and the ceiling red for no reason. She was never able to develop a relationship

with her daughter, Allison. Allison ended up taking care of her mother in many ways. Jean passed away in 2002, robbed of her chance to be the warm and loving mother Allison deserved. People seeking help for depression were the ideal candidates for MKUltra. They desperately needed help and would do anything they were told, anything to escape the pain.

Harold Blauer was a professional tennis player who was going through a rough divorce. This left him in a state of deep depression. He checked himself into the New York State Psychiatric Institute for treatment under the care of Dr. Sidney Mallitz. The program, however, was not intended to treat depression. It was run

by the Army Chemical Corps, testing the effects of potential chemical warfare agents. These experiments were also part of MKUltra. Harold was injected with liquid derivatives of mescaline, which is a powerful psychedelic. They started with low doses of a substance called MDA.

Then they switched to another called DMA, then another called MDPEA, and then back to MDA. Harold didn't respond well to the treatment. According to his records, he asked to stop the program. He was scheduled to be released in just a few more weeks, and despite his pending release, they continued their experiments. On January 8th, 1953, Harold was injected with 450 milligrams of MDA. The injection caused sweating, tremors, and epileptic seizures. 30 minutes later, Harold was dead.

For 22 years, the state of New York and the CIA covered up Harold's murder, saying that he had a heart attack. Dr. Malice's notes said Harold developed difficulty breathing and heart irregularities and suddenly stopped breathing and expired. In 1987, the United States District Court judge awarded Blauer's estate over $700,000 in a ruling that described Blauer as a guinea pig whose medical records had been altered

to disguise the actual cause of death. There are plenty of other victims, but little information is known about them. There are people who claim to be victims but have no documentation or evidence to back their claims up. This isn't surprising considering most of the records of MKUltra were destroyed.

We don't know how many other victims exist and how many will be discovered in the future. But this last victim's story is different. He was a very unlikely victim of MKUltra because he was a part of it. November 28th, 1953, New York City. The night manager of the Statler Hotel was kneeling next to a man who either jumped or fell from his hotel window 13 stories up. Room 1018-A was registered to Robert Lashbrook and Frank Olson. The police burst in, guns raised, but the room was empty.

Cold November air was blowing through the broken window. In the bathroom was a man sitting on the toilet, resting his head in his hands. He told the police he'd been sleeping, heard a noise, and woke up. One officer asked the name of the man who went out the window. The man in the bathroom said Olsen, Frank Olsen. The responding officers figured

this was an open and shut case. A middle-aged man is depressed or distraught and ends it all by jumping just another night in the big city. But the night manager, Armin Pastore, wasn't convinced. He said it didn't make sense that someone would get up in the middle of the night, run across a dark room in his underwear, avoid two beds, and dive through a closed window that had the shade and curtains closed. Pastore checked with the hotel operator to see if any calls were

made from the room that night. The operator said yes, a call was just made a few minutes ago. And because it ran through a switchboard, she heard the whole thing. The caller, Robert Lashbrook, who was the man in the bathroom, called a number on Long Island. That number belonged to Dr. Harold Abramson. If you recall, Abramson was on the CIA's payroll. The call lasted only a few seconds. Well, he's gone, Lashbrook said. Well, that's too bad, was Abramson's reply.

A few hours later, Frank Olson's family was notified. They were told there was an accident. Frank had either fallen or jumped from his 10th floor window. Frank's body was so badly damaged that the funeral had a closed casket, and the Olsen family tried to move on. Having trouble coping with losing his father, Eric Olsen would ask his mother about Frank from time to time. She would always say the same thing.

You are never going to know what happened in the room that night. But 20 years later, that would change. In 1975, information was finally released to the public about the congressional investigations into CIA activities. One of the reports released was from the Rockefeller Commission, which was part of the church committee's broader investigation. The report mentioned a civilian scientist working for the Department of the Army. He was given LSD without his knowledge as part of a CIA experiment.

That scientist experienced side effects and was sent to New York for psychiatric care. A few days later, he jumped from a 10th floor window of his hotel and died. This report was in the New York Times and Washington Post and made its way to the Olson family. The government confirmed the scientist was Frank Olson. Just 10 days later, the family was invited to the White House and President Ford gave them a formal apology.

The director of the CIA also apologized. The United States government agreed that this was a wrongful death and offered the family a $750,000 settlement if they agreed to not sue. The Olson family agreed to the terms. Alice Olson never wanted to talk about Frank's death or his job. Frank's children, now in their 20s and 30s, always knew their father was a scientist. But what scientist's family gets a personal invitation to the Oval Office? Alice Olson only knew a few things about her husband's job. She knew he was a scientist doing important work for the U.S. government. She knew he traveled for work all the time, and she knew he was unhappy. One of the last things Frank said to his wife

was that he had made a terrible mistake. But for Frank's children, this information was entirely new. And because of the investigations and media coverage, they now learned for the first time what their father actually did for a living. And he was no ordinary scientist. During World War II, Frank Olson was one of the first Army scientists assigned to the top-secret biological warfare lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

Frank's specialty was aerosolizing living biological agents and munitions. In other words, he created biological weapons of mass destruction, germs, viruses, and toxins that could be transmitted through the air. At this time, the CIA was still the OSS and was part of the army. After becoming a civilian, Frank continued his research in bioweapons for the CIA. He was a lead scientist for Operation Harness, where animals in the Caribbean were exposed to anthrax, tularemia, and brucella. Then he went to Operation Sea Spray. Different strains of bacteria were sprayed over the city of San Francisco. This was to test the city's vulnerability to a bioweapon attack. As Olson moved up the ranks of the CIA, he spent a lot of time at Fort Terry,

which was a secret installation on Plum Island in the Long Island Sound. Plum Island is only reachable by boat or air. The toxins tested there are considered too dangerous to be on the mainland. Olson developed delivery devices for these bioweapons, canisters disguised as shaving cream cans that could disperse anthrax in a concentrated area, a cigarette lighter that emitted a deadly gas,

lipstick that killed instantly. In early 1953, the same year he died, Frank Olson stepped down as chief of the Special Operations Division. He said the job was too stressful and was causing his ulcers to flare up. So Frank stepped down, but he stayed with the CIA. And that's when he met Sidney Gottlieb and Robert Lashbrook. Then Frank Olson became a top scientist for MKUltra. Over time, the experiments Frank Olson conducted and witnessed started to weigh on him. During one study, Frank Olson observed interrogations at CIA black sites in Germany. Detainees were called expendables. They were mostly suspected spies and security leaks.

The expendables were subject to drug experiments, hypnosis, electric shocks, isolation, sexual abuse, and other types of torture. This was an effort to study not just the effects of extreme torture, but also brainwashing techniques and memory deletion. Many of these people were interrogated to death. In other instances, Frank Olson saw the results of his own weapons that were used on expendables. Some people died slowly in agony. Even though Frank's wife didn't know any of the specifics, it was clear that Frank's work was becoming too much for him to bear.

In November 1953, Frank Olson was invited to a pre-Thanksgiving retreat at a cabin on Deep Creek Lake. Gottlieb ran these retreats for scientists and staff pretty often. Deep Creek was a convenient place for Gottlieb. This was one of the locations where Americans were subjected to MKUltra techniques against their will. For years. Frank Olson was there with about 10 other scientists. The first day of the gathering was fine. On the second day after dinner, the men kicked back for a post-meal drink. Lashbrook, Gottlieb's second-in-command, pulled a bunch of glasses and poured everyone a drink.

Twenty minutes later, Gottlieb asked if anyone was feeling odd. A few of the men said they were. That's when Gottlieb sprang a little surprise on his colleagues. He told them their drinks were spiked with a heavy dose of LSD. Frank Olson was aware the CIA had dosed entire villages in Europe to observe the results. Many innocent people died from these experiments, but he was surprised that he would be the unwitting subject of an experiment. Frank did not react well.

A few days later, he submitted his resignation, but he was talked into staying. It was suggested that he see a psychiatrist to help him cope with the effects of the experiment and the stress of his work, and Frank agreed. Lashbrook drove Frank Olson to New York to meet with Dr. Harold Abramson. Frank didn't know Abramson was CIA. Most CIA operatives and contractors didn't know each other. Only senior people like Gottlieb and Lashbrook knew

everybody. After a couple of sessions, Dr. Abramson convinced Frank to check himself into a Maryland sanatorium so he could recover from stress and exhaustion. Frank was actually fine with this. He was looking forward to the time off and was already picking out what books to bring with him. That night, he and Lashbrook checked into the Statler Hotel, room 1018-A. Frank had a nice conversation with his wife. She remembered him sounding more peaceful

than he'd been in a long time. He watched a little TV and went to bed. But at 2.30 a.m., he was dead on the street below the window. Over the next 12 hours, a cleanup and a cover-up by the CIA ensued. The police investigation was quickly closed. Frank Olson's family was told he died from jumping or falling out his window. About 20 years later, more details about MKUltra emerged, and the Olsen family received a settlement. And almost 20 years after that, the case would take another turn. Frank Olsen's wife Alice passed away in 1993. Their children decided to have Frank's body

exhumed and reburied next to his wife. But Frank's children had an additional plan. They had James Starr, a medical examiner professor, conduct a second autopsy. Starr said there were no cuts on Frank's body and no shards of glass, which would have been expected by jumping through a window. And even though Frank landed on his back, his skull above his left eye had a blunt force trauma injury. He had another serious wound on his chest. This was Dr. Starr's final assessment.

I think Frank Olson was intentionally, deliberately, with malice aforethought, thrown out of the window. Frank's sons sued the CIA again. But because of the agreement they signed in 1975, the judge dismissed the case. But the judge did say, even though the case couldn't proceed as a matter of law, the allegations made by the family against the CIA, though they sounded far-fetched,

appeared to be the truth. Since the lawsuit couldn't proceed, Frank Olson's sons went to the press. They flat out said the CIA murdered their father and covered it up. They also produced interesting documents. In 1954, just a few months after Frank Olson's death, the CIA executed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Justice that gave the CIA the authority to grant CIA employees immunity from any crime, including murder. In other words, a license to kill. There's a handbook released in 1953, the year of Frank's death, called the CIA Study of Assassination. It describes that the

best way to assassinate a target is to drop them from at least 75 feet onto a hard surface. The manual says when successfully executed, it causes little excitement and is only casually investigated. In fact, Mossad, the Israeli intelligence organization, used Frank Olson's death as an example of a perfect murder due to the skill with which it was executed. While there still is no official report or admission of guilt from the CIA, I think it's pretty clear what happened. Frank Olson was one of only a few scientists who could confirm that the United States used chemical weapons in the Korean War. This is something that is still only alleged, but there is a lot of evidence that it happened.

Korean and Chinese soldiers were suddenly coming down with cases of cholera, meningitis, and even plague. It's possible Frank Olson was directly involved in deploying these illegal weapons. Frank Olson was one of only a dozen or so people on earth who knew the extent of the MKUltra project and other secret and illegal CIA operations. Frank Olson was a man who committed, or at least was part of projects that committed atrocities around the world. He was dealing with a moral crisis and started voicing his concerns. He even quit, but the CIA wouldn't allow it. When he was dosed with LSD that night in November, it was a loyalty test to see what scientists would say if they were exposed to the drug.

Frank Olson failed that test and paid the ultimate price. But because of his death and the diligence of the family, many illegal CIA activities were exposed, and MKUltra was almost destroyed. Almost. It continued for another 20 years before finally shutting down in 1973. At least, as far as we know, all the records were illegally destroyed. And not Sidney Gottlieb, Robert Lashbrook, or any of the senior scientists from MKUltra were ever brought to justice. In fact, they all lived out their lives on fat pensions

paid for by you and me. The CIA promises that MKUltra was the last time drug experiments were done on people against their will. And such atrocities absolutely could not and would not happen today. Why would they lie? things for you. And like most topics I cover on the Y-Files, today's was recommended by you. So

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