MKUltra: The Real CIA Mind Control Conspiracy

Some conspiracy theories turn out to be true

Conspiracy theorists are currently living in a golden age. The September 11, 2001, attacks were an inside job by US officials, the war in Ukraine is staged, COVID-19 is a pure lie, global warming does not exist, and victims of mass casualties are merely crisis actors. This is what many people today who distrust the government and the media believe.

For conspiracy theorists, almost any event can become the grandest plot orchestrated by the world's elite, which, of course, only they can see, understand, and stop. On the other hand, we have long left behind the days when conspiracy theories were a niche interest; today, they are as popular as the information appearing in mainstream media channels.

However, some conspiracy theories actually contain elements of truth. They have been validated by time, backed by decades of evidence, or ultimately admitted by government officials themselves. This article is part of a series on conspiracy theories that were ultimately recognized as entirely real. Among them are both webs of state machinations and claims about science that were previously considered unrealistic but were eventually confirmed and acknowledged.

The CIA mind control program MKUltra even inspired the hit series "Stranger Things"

Many have heard of the popular sci-fi series "Stranger Things," which blends 1980s nostalgia, a plot about a missing child, a monster, and a strange parallel dimension called the Upside Down. As the show's plot unfolds, more details emerge, such as the revelation of a secret government mind control program aimed at fighting the Soviet Union.

The most interesting part is that such a program actually existed, involving the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which is mentioned in many of the most famous conspiracy theories.

Documents released in the 1970s revealed that this secret service was indeed engaged in mind control experiments under the name Project MKUltra [1].

The MKUltra experiment was a top-secret and illegal research program conducted in the United States by the CIA during the Cold War. The goal of the program was to investigate various mind control and behavior modification techniques, including the use of drugs, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, and other psychological methods.

From 1953 to 1964, over 150 human experiments were conducted in which US citizens were administered drugs without their knowledge or consent, and without any medical supervision. The aim of these studies was to develop methods and substances that could be used against the Soviet Union and its allies.

Indeed, this program emerged as a response to rumors about mind control techniques used on prisoners of war by the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea. The CIA wanted to develop its own mind-controlling drugs to use against Soviet bloc and other captives, and even planned poisoning schemes against Cuban President Fidel Castro.

In 1973, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of all documents related to MKUltra, leaving little evidence of the intelligence agency's dirty work today. However, data about MKUltra was eventually made public by the US government itself, though we will likely never fully know what truly happened during these horrific tests.

The CIA aimed to create spies with extraordinary abilities

The CIA conducted a wide variety of experiments to find ways to gain control of individuals' minds, extract information from unwilling subjects, and create spies who would be resistant to interrogation or forced disclosure of classified information. Researchers tested various psychoactive substances, including LSD, mescaline, and other mind-altering drugs, on both willing and unwilling participants to observe their effects on behavior and consciousness [2].

One of the most infamous MKUltra subprojects was known as Operation Midnight Climax, during which safe houses functioning as brothels were established in San Francisco and New York to observe the effects of LSD on unwitting clients and gather information for potential blackmail purposes.

Hypnosis was studied as a means to alter individuals' thought processes and behavior. To investigate psychological effects and mind control capabilities, participants were subjected to prolonged sensory deprivation.

Some scientists explored the use of electromagnetic waves and other radio frequency technologies for mind control and behavioral manipulation. The program investigated the use of electroconvulsive therapy to erase memories or alter a subject's personality.

Certain experiments utilized psychological torture methods, such as prolonged isolation and verbal abuse.

The MKUltra experiments were highly controversial and raised massive ethical issues. Many subjects were unaware of their participation, and the program caused significant psychological and emotional harm to many of them.

The experiments were funded through the academic community

MKUltra was created and directed by chemist Sidney Gottlieb. Gottlieb's experiments were secretly funded at universities and research centers, and some were conducted in American prisons and short-term detention centers in Japan, Germany, and the Philippines.

Some experiments were even conducted on the infamous US mob boss Whitey Bulger: the official paperwork claimed the trials were aimed at finding a cure for schizophrenia [3].

In reality, during this experiment, he was given LSD every day for over a year. He later realized it had nothing to do with schizophrenia, and that he was a guinea pig in a government experiment designed to determine the long-term human reaction to LSD: essentially, the goal was to find out if you could make a person lose their mind by feeding them LSD every day for that long.

Bulger later wrote about his experiences, describing them as horrific. He wrote: "I was in prison for committing a crime, but they committed a greater crime on me."

It is now believed that Sidney Gottlieb wanted to create a way to take over people's minds and realized it was a two-part process: the existing mind had to be destroyed, and a way had to be found to insert a new mind into the resulting void.

The true toll of Gottlieb's work is impossible to assess: it remains unclear exactly how many people died or were permanently injured for the rest of their lives.

Ultimately, however, Gottlieb concluded that mind control was impossible. When MKUltra was shut down, he went on to direct a CIA program developing poisons and high-tech gadgets for spies to use.

The Watergate scandal helped expose the program

In 1973, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, some government agencies began to panic. This happened at the CIA, where Director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of all MKUltra files. Despite this, about 20,000 documents survived [4].

In December 1974, The New York Times published an investigation alleging that the CIA had conducted illegal domestic activities in the 1960s, including experiments on citizens.

This prompted the United States Congress to launch investigations involving the Church Committee and the Rockefeller Commission, which examined the activities of the CIA, the FBI, and intelligence-related military agencies. Reports in 1975 revealed that the CIA and the Department of Defense had conducted experiments on both unwitting and willing human subjects as part of a program to discover how to influence and control human behavior using psychoactive drugs and other chemical, biological, and psychological means.

In light of these revelations, President Gerald Ford issued the first executive order on intelligence activities in 1976, banning experimentation on human subjects except when each individual is informed and has given written consent witnessed by a disinterested party. Eventually, some surviving victims of the experiments managed to receive government compensation, though it is widely acknowledged that this could never truly make up for the trauma they endured.