In the 1950s the CIA started to conduct mind
control experiments.
These experiments were not abstract think-tanks but intensive human experimentation.
The code given to these experiments was MK Ultra.
MK Ultra combined several government projects such as Project Chatter, Blue Bird,
and Artichoke.
Chatter had tested drugs during interrogations, Blue Bird been studying hypnosis and Artichoke
had tried to answer - Can we get control of an individual to the point where he will
do our bidding against his will and even against fundamental laws of nature, such as self-preservation?
These projects were driven out of a climate of fear with genuine concern that the Chinese
and Russians may have developed brain washing techniques that could be used against American
agents and POWs.
It was out of this fear that the CIA partnered with Army and Naval intelligence to start to
fund these projects.
They used front organisations to approach over 80 institutions and scientists.
The testing was conducted in a number of sites across the USA, Canada and the UK.
There was extreme secrecy around MK Ultra with then CIA Director Allen Dulles exempting
it from financial controls which effectively removed any real accountability.
The CIA finance office was simply given instructions to pay any cost blindly that
is associated with this project.
A lot of what we know about MK Ultra came from the work of John Marks.
In 1977 he managed to get the CIA to release 20,000 pages of documents confirming that
they had spent 20 years conducting mind control experiments using electric shocks, hallucinogenic
drugs and other techniques.
Often these experiments were done without the victim's knowledge.
John published a book about his investigations.
Allan Memorial Institute in Canada was one of the locations used.
It was run by Dr Cameron who believed that the mind was like a computer.
He believed that memories could be reprogramed or wiped.
One patient was Linda MacDonald who was just 26 when, suffering from depression, her family
took her to Dr Cameron.
She was introduced to Dr Cameron and treated with LSD and electric shock therapy.
At the end of her treatment she had no memory of the procedures or anything before she was
admitted.
She had lost 26 years of memories.
Dr Cameron's approach was to regress patients to an infant state and then reprogram.
He would regress patients using massive amounts of electric shock, much greater in strength
and frequency then every before, and then combined with different drugs like LSD, PCP
and others.
He would then try to reprogram them using "Psychic Driving" where they would be
forced to listen to recorded messages designed to make them think and act differently.
Some messages were simple like "Pick up this piece of paper" while others were more complex
like "You need to think differently about your parents".
Patients were forced listen to these messages for days and sometimes for weeks on end.
Loui Winestin was a dynamic, able man who was social, loved to music, ran a business
and was a father of 3.
He started to suffer from panic attacks in the mid-1950s and he believed that Dr Cameron
was the best person to help.
At the end of his treatment he emerged a shadow of his forma self.
He was regressed to the state of an infant.
He was now suffering from server organic brain syndrome and had very little ability to cope
with the world.
He never worked again.
During the treatment Loui's family continued to trust the doctors.
Beyond electric shock therapy and drug treatment Loui was also subjected to Sensory deprivation.
He would be put in a cell, with his hands would be encased in something so he couldn't
feel, the cell was dark so he couldn't see, there was consistent noise so he couldn't
hear - essentially he was being cut off from all normal senses.
On one occasion Luie was kept in this situation for 2 whole months.
After learning the truth, Luie's family filed a law suit for him and 7 others Canadians
against the CIA and the Canadian government.
The case was settled 8 years later.
The CIA paid 760,000 for all 8 victims to share ~ an average of just 95,000 each
The MK Ultra program was scaled down 1964 but not stopped until 1973.
Beyond the actual experiments, what I find so shocking here, is that these projects
started essentially straight after the Nuremberg trials of 1940s where the Nazis were prosecuted
for actions during WWII.
Actions like human experimentation.
We are capable of such terrible hypocrity!
I love quote "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing." What a different world it would be if all the good men and women stood against
evils that they knew or saw happening.
Think about the impact this would have upon those who are helpless.
Refugees, People who are trafficked, the homeless, those with mental illness.
I encourage you, go out and stand up for those you know in such situations.
I hope you found this thought provocation.
Give me a thumbs up and subscribe below.
Thanks for watching.