(puzzling music) - Hi, friends. I hope you're having
a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian, and this is the Dark History Podcast. Welcome. If you're a curious cat like myself, then let's go on a journey and let's learn something new, shall we? Today's story, kinda wild, but let's start with a question. What do Charles Manson, Allen Ginsberg, the Unabomber, and my Uncle Bob who lives off of the grid all have in common? They all claim that
they were test subjects of the government's secret
mind control experiments. I didn't say it, they did, okay? Now, if you know me, if
you know anything about me, you know I love a good conspiracy theory. Like, we never went to the moon, the earth is flat, Avril Lavigne died and was
replaced by a body double. Now, do I believe these
conspiracy theories? No. But I enjoy a good bedtime story with like a side of paranoia. And why not? Life is short, have some fun. It's just fun to imagine that
this might be true, you know? Why not? So if you're interested in
conspiracy theories like myself, then you are probably familiar with the big, old daddy
conspiracy himself, MKUltra. Well, to make it clear,
this is no theory, friends. What if I told you the
government was testing on thousands of unwilling
patients all over the country in the hopes to achieve mind control? Oh, yes. Or, what if I told you that
the CIA was cutting up cats and putting microphones in them to create like little adorable spies? (meows) It's so cute, but like weird. What if I told you there was a CIA agent whose job it was to sit
on a toilet pants down, sippin' a martini,
watching people have sex all in the name of national security? Would you believe me? Well, by the end of this, you will. Now, I know what you're thinking. This couldn't sound any more
like a conspiracy theory. Like, "Okay, Bailey, let
me go get my tin foil hat." But let me tell you,
listeners and viewers at home, the CIA's documents on
this issue were released and the story we're telling
you today, it really happened. Okay, like this actually
happened here in America, land of the free, allegedly. Well, not even allegedly,
it really did happen. So let's go on a journey and talk about some juicy government goss. And maybe understand how the
hell we got to that point. Shall we? Let me open up my book of secrets to a blank page with nothing on it. (gasps) Right here, page one. Let's get into it, shall we? Let's do it. Let's start with a guy named Frank Olson. Now, Frank was a little smarty-pants, he was a biological warfare scientist. And then in 1953, the
CIA reached out to him in hopes to work together and develop some kind of new technology
they wanted to use. Frank agrees, and the CIA tells him that they really wanna develop some, like kinda mind control technology, and Frank will be the best one to do that. I know, already I can tell I'm losing you. But they really did
hire someone to develop actual mind control technology. I'm not just saying that. At this time, the CIA was wondering, "Hey, can we get control of an individual to the point where they will
do like whatever we want, and then they won't remember any of it?" And Frank was like, "Yeah, I'm sure I could
like help you out with that. Let me get started." Now, Frank was passionate
about his new project. He wanted to help the CIA
and keep America strong. But as time went on, Frank was noticing something a little suspicious going on. Day after day, he would come into work and see that the CIA was, you know, maybe abusing their power. There was one instance
where Frank witnessed a few interrogations that
were a little inhumane. Then there was another
time when he started to see the test subjects being tortured
extensively and brutally. Frank read over his job description. He's like, "Um, yeah, I
don't see anything in here about like having to kill test subjects or participating in anything inhumane." So he's feeling like a little guilty. He was really affected by
this and he was very upset. So, Frank, he put his foot down and decided to say something. He's like, "Hey, you guys, you guys, I don't think
this is a good idea, what you're doing." So then he gets invited
to a men's retreat, and he's like, "Oh my God, cool." Men's retreat, bonding with
the coworkers, love that. So Frank gets to the retreat,
and he's handed a drink. And they're like, "Here,
are you thirsty, Frankie?" And he's like, "Oh my
God, yeah, so thirsty." (makes sipping sound) So he's taken a drink as you
do. (makes sipping sound) Some time goes by, and Frank notices that
he's feeling a little, he's feeling a little funky, you know? The walls all of a sudden
just start melting, the piano in the corner
is speaking Mandarin, he can smell the color purple. And he's like, "Somethin'
ain't right here, something ain't right." And that's when it was announced
to everyone in the room, like, an announcement was made,
"Pay attention, everybody." And they're like, "Hey, so your drinks were
actually laced with LSD." It was their turn to be the test subjects. They told 'em after they consumed it. Was it a good time at least? No, no, it wasn't. Frank was in a new setting surrounded by people he's
not even sure he can trust. Well, obviously, he can't because he just was given a drug against his will that he has seen being
used to torture people. So with this mindset, it led to Frank having a very bad trip. Oh, yeah. Luckily for him, he makes it out. And once he leaves the men's retreat, he has this feeling of
great sadness, regret. What has he gotten himself into? He doesn't even know anymore. How could these people
he trusted and worked for turn the tables and now treat
him like a test subject? He went to a coworker
and he confided in them about how unhappy he was in the position and that he didn't like
where all this was going. So days go by, Frank was
just feeling worse and worse. He couldn't sleep, he
couldn't concentrate, and he was having trouble spelling words. Now, these were things he could easily do before this little men's retreat. Now, was this all because
of the LSD he was given, question mark? It was suggested to him
that he be hospitalized, which Frank agrees to. And the hospital, the hospital that was recommended to him, it was out of town and they only checked patients
in during the morning. So Frank, his doctor, and a CIA coworker who were there to like assist Frank and make sure he gets checked into the hotel the night before and then take him to the doctor's, the hospital the next day. So all there, there's the three of them. They go to the hotel. The three of them that night have dinner. And Frank told the CIA agent that he was looking forward
to his hospitalization because it was gonna
give him time to regroup, read some books that he's
been putting off forever, maybe watch some TV. So the night comes to an end, Frank goes back to his hotel room, and what happens next, my friends, well, it's different
depending on who you ask. So Frank never made it to
the hospital the next day because he allegedly jumped
out of the hotel window and fell to his death, which was then labeled a suicide. But here's what many
think really happened. You see, the night before
Frank's quote, unquote suicide, a phone call was made from his hotel room. Now, this phone call was made
to somebody within the CIA, and allegedly this caller
wanted to let them know Frank had died. Now, that's very unusual
because Frank hadn't died yet. Unless that person making the call was a wizard or something, it just really doesn't make any sense. Another thing that was very
unusual was that Frank's son asked for a second autopsy to be performed because he, too, was like
feeling a little unsure about this suicide situation. So when the second autopsy came through, it found out that Frank
had no facial scarring or cuts associated with
jumping out of a window. In fact, there were signs he had damage suggesting he had been
hit directly in the head. Now, I don't know about you, but when you jump out of a window, it's gonna look like you
jumped out of a window. Like, the type of damage that comes with jumping out of a window, it would be way more severe, and it wasn't just lining up with this head trauma that he had. So what does it all mean? Well, that's the big question. Because isn't it a little odd that shortly after confiding
in his coworkers at the CIA about how unhappy he was and how cruel these experiments were, he just mysteriously died? Huh? And the wounds didn't line up? Hmm? Hmm? What did Frank see that was so bad that it broke him the way it did? Did he know something
much bigger was going on? Well, let's dive into these experiments and try to figure out what Frank saw. And the only way we can do so
is to dig a little bit deeper into these cruel mind control experiments that were being run and funded by the CIA. Hmm. But, first, a word from our sponsor. There are things in life that
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Americans are scared shitless of Russia and Korea. Now, Americans were watching Russia, who at this time they
were economically strong and also they had a very big military. They also see they're successfully
testing nuclear bombs. So America is thinking to themselves like, "Shit, that should've been us. We should be making these bombs." They're feeling threatened. Like, "Why aren't we
number one, we're America? We're supposed to be number one." Then there's Korea. In 1950, America and Korea go to war. Russia and Korea had similar beliefs in like how to run a country. And these beliefs did not
vibe with America's idea of where we should be at in the world. And since we're so competitive with them, everything they did felt
like a threat to America. For some reason, Russia really
gets under America's skin. It sounds like a very personal problem. Like, what to do? Like, what, did Russia
sleep with America's mom or something? I mean, that's how it feels. Lady Liberty is low key a MILF. So now American soldiers who
were captured by the Koreans, because, remember, we're in war with them, they returned to America
and they were like, "Hey, the bad guys really aren't that bad. They're running a pretty
cool show over there." So the CIA is listening
to these guys like, "What? This isn't very American of them. You can't think or say
that about our enemies. They must have been brainwashed." Obviously, jump into wild conclusions, but that's exactly what
they were thinking. "How dare you feel bad for the bad guys? You're not supposed to have feelings." Kinda like when you're dating a new guy and he doesn't respond
to your text messages and you're like, "Oh my God, it's over. He's probably talking
to a bunch of chicks, like, this was all a
game, everyone was right." And then you start planning your revenge, Instagram hot girl posts
to make 'em jealous. You know, just jump into
wild ass conclusions. That's exactly what the CIA was doing, and they were planning
their hot girl revenge. And at this moment, the CIA decided, "If they're gonna do mind control, we're gonna do my control,
but 10 times better." Mm-hmm. So, mind control is a very broad concept and it can mean so many different things. And I don't think the CIA knew
what they were looking for. They just wanted to see what was possible. From their perspective, they could get America's own soldiers to be like killing machines
who would forget their mission as soon as they get captured to keep secrets safe from the enemy, or like, "If we captured an
enemy, we could use mind control to make them tell us their secrets." Or, what if they could like put some serum into
the city's water supply and make them all turn
on their own government? That'd be cool. So they saw their own
soldiers come back from Korea with nothing but nice things to say. And they were totally convinced
that everyone else had mind control abilities and we were behind, we needed to catch up. When the CIA had stumbled upon LSD, they were sure, they were sure, they had found their mind control answer. Now, when you think of LSD, I know you're thinking
about your Uncle Bob watching the Grateful Dead concert. Uncle Bob calls it acid, but the scientists, they call it LSD. It's the same thing. So if you hear me call it acid, LSD, it's the same thing, okay? Anyway, the CIA was betting on LSD being the answer to
control people's minds. And they were betting millions on it. Now, if you're unfamiliar with LSD, it's a synthetic drug that causes shit to just start meltin', okay? You start losing grip of time and space. Some people experience like
their third eye opening up and like you see crazy pictures
in your mind, crazy shapes, and just all the colors that ever existed. And best of all, you can't
really overdose on it. That's great! And these effects, they can last anywhere from 8 to 10 hours. Now, there are some people
who have experienced negative side effects. Again, you can't overdose on LSD, but it can cause psychological damage and leave you with a
distorted sense of reality, which in some cases may
or can lead to self-harm. So, pros and cons, pros and cons. LSD was invented by a
scientist in Switzerland who discovered it by accident. Yeah, he just like mixed
a few chemicals together and was like, "Whoops, made LSD." Now, he was trying to make
something completely different. It was basically an early
form of like an EpiPen, just a stimulant that counteracted a respiratory
failure or something. It doesn't really matter
because that's not what he made. When he touched this new drug he created, it was absorbed through his skin. And he began to feel some
very interesting side effects. The scientists said
that he was experiencing like an extremely stimulated imagination. Kinda like he was in a dreamlike state and he was seeing fantastic pictures and extraordinary shapes. He literally had to stop
work in the middle of the day and go home. His wife was probably like,
"Babe, what's wrong with you? Barely touched your cheese." And he's like, "Honestly, babe, babe, I'm trippin' balls, okay? I don't know who's talkin' to me. You look like a pterodactyl
that's melting." Like, it's kinda funny. Now this is a little bit of a side story and it's also kind of funny, so I'm gonna share it anyways. But three days after his accidental trip, the scientists, he wanted to do more. I think he was still like
experimenting, you know? So then he went on to take
250 micrograms of LSD. Now, this trip though, he got really high. So his assistant's like,
"Hey, let me take you home. Let me take you home, like
you're not doing good." And he's like, "Okay, but
I only have my bicycle." So he hopped on his bike
(bike bell dinging) and he like, he's riding home just high as a kite on his bike. Like freakin' Dorothy or something. Oh my God, wait a minute, is
"The Wizard of Oz" about acid? I mean, she was sucked
into a damn tornado. She talked to a freakin' scarecrow. Her slippers were a time machine and a lady from a bubble
told her what to do. The more I think about it, the more I'm certain
she was probably high. Good for her. Good for her, live your life, girl, work. Now, we're gonna pause
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I love your designs. Now let's get back to today's story. Okay, so I've gotten off track. Okay, I'm talking about
"The Wizard of Oz," and I (indistinct). So let's go back to the scientist. He accidentally made LSD, okay? He was a true believer,
if you know what I mean. And he thought this was cool. He thought he can make a lot of money off of this new invention. And he started calling
it a new miracle drug that could produce a model psychosis. Basically, meaning a way
to study crazy people without actually having to be around them. They instead could create
crazy people with this drug for a short period of time and then use it for their studies. Word of this new drug got
back to the CIA in America, who, again, they were looking for ways to control people's minds. Oh, they were interested. They were very interested. On top of that, they didn't
want Russia or any other country to get their hands on this
magic drug before they could. So they decide, the CIA, to like, "Hey, what if we
just bought all of the drugs? I'm not talking most of it,
I'm talking about all of it." And that's exactly what they did. The CIA bought 100 million doses of LSD from the Swiss lab. The man behind this large
drug transaction, you ask? Well, his name was Sidney Gottlieb. I think I said that right. You were actually introduced
to this mastermind earlier in our story, and you didn't even know it. Remember that little men's
retreat I mentioned earlier with Frank Olson, you know, where he got his
drink spiked with LSD? (scoffs) Well, it was spiked by none
other than Sidney himself. Oh, yes. You see, Sidney had some big plans for how LSD could be used, and he was willing to do whatever it took to get what he wanted. Sidney was born August
3rd, 1918, so he was a Leo, and he would go on to spend
a huge chunk of his life looking for some kind of
purpose, as we all do. He jumped around from
a religion to religion, just looking for a sense of
community or just meaning. Now, Sid, he was deeply patriotic. He freakin' loved America, all right? He was like, "Fuck yeah, America." And when World War II came around, he was first in line to
sign up for that ride. Now, unfortunately for him, he had a bit of a birth defect that made his foot a little funky. So you couldn't really walk straight. And the army was like,
"Sorry, man, like hard pass." Now, this was disappointing. Because like, what was he supposed to do? He wants to go to war, he wants
to fight for this country. He just wants to be there, so
he is just so disappointed. Well, he ends up going to college and he gets his PhD in chemistry in 1940. And then in 1953, Sid joined in on the fun over with the CIA, taking a position as a poison expert. Now, literally months
after taking the position, Sid was put in charge of a
new project called MKUltra. (hums mysterious tune) You know, yeah, you get it. Anyways, the goal was to find the answer, again, to mind control. The whole thing was actually
a lot of smaller like projects underneath the MKUltra umbrella. Now, Sid was excited about
this new opportunity. I mean, he couldn't go fight
for America in the war, but he could fight for
America within the CIA. So this was like his new
purpose, his calling, and he was so passionate about it. So when LSD came onto the market, Sidney jumped at that
opportunity and bought all of it, in the name of liberty, of course. Now, Sidney would be in charge
of approving and distributing LSD across the country to
different colleges and hospitals in hopes to find volunteers
to test the drug on. Now, there's a lot of holes in the story at this point, honestly. That's because a lot of the documents and records regarding
the program, MKUltra, they were destroyed later on. But what we do know is that the experiments were
performed all over the country that were also financed by the CIA. Hmm, let's pause for an ad break. If you're carrying a credit
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provided in your application. Go to upstart.com/darkhistory. A big thank you to Upstart for partnering with me on today's episode. And now we shall get back to the story. So, just a few miles away
from the CIA headquarters is a place called Georgetown University, filled with many students who
I'm sure they could test on. So the CIA tried to establish a secret mind control research
center within the university, all low key, of course. Like, they weren't gonna
say anything about it, but they were like
thinking about doing it. So during one of these mini projects, the CIA told the test subjects that they were just trying to make a drug that would help them not get drunk, but also like give you a permanent high for the rest of your life. This was their cover. And they're like, "Hey, college kids, go ahead and booze it up 'cause we wanna help you get
back to studying faster." That's how they're presenting it to them. So, of course, what college student wouldn't
jump at this opportunity? Hello? So, many participated in these trials without the full understanding
of what it was for, who it was for, and why they were even
doing it in the first place. The goal of these tests was
just to see if it was possible to control their impulses
and their thoughts. There really wasn't like
a conclusive ending. They just kinda like, again, wanted to see what would happen. And all that really did happen was that LSD became a huge
hit in colleges everywhere. Now, the project, again, it was huge and involved stuff other than LSD. I mean, yes, LSD was like
the star of the show, but there were also things
like a knockout pill which, it would just make you forget stuff. And this pill could be put in anything. They also were trying another
substance that would basically make you paralyzed in
your legs for some time. Also, substances that would
alter people's personalities where they would become
dependent on another person, or even lower their ambition and general drive of working men. I don't know, I mean, the list goes on. But they were trying many
different techniques, mixtures, dosages, all in
the hopes of mind control. The CIA was willing to
let anyone try anything if it meant they could have
more super secret agent drugs. Another example that
was financed by the CIA was a project led by a world-famous and well-respected doctor and psychiatrist named Dr. Ewen Cameron. Now, Dr. Cameron, he was very interested in
something called de-patterning. It has nothing to do with quilts. But, instead, he believed
it would allow him to erase a person's mind and replace it with whatever
type of behavior you wanted. For example, maybe you want
your mom to stop asking you when you're gonna have kids. So you can like erase
the urge from her brain. And, instead, she asks you like, what you want from your Amazon wishlist, or you wanna train someone
to kill a world's leader. You can just erase rationality
and replace it with murder. Easy, this is what science is for. Dr. Cameron already worked
with a wide variety of patients that suffered from things
like postpartum depression or psychological issues. So he thinks they are the perfect test dummies to give LSD to and see like, if it could break down their behavioral patterns. Kind of like in our lobotomy story, this is just like another version of a doctor trying to
find another solution to mental illness. And people with mental illness
were willing to try anything. But this time, instead of holes
in the head, they have LSD. So I mean, that's a lot easier, you know? At least I think so. But now remember, his goal was to break down
your behavioral patterns, and the way he did this was by trying extremely experimental tactics. One of them being electroshock therapy where they literally
electrocute your brain. Yeah. You're not supposed to do this more than a couple of
times a week at most, okay? And this doctor was doing it
to people multiple times a day, which is, hello, very, very dangerous. He also used something
called a sleep room, which, I know, you're probably
thinking, "Ooh, a sleep room, like, that sounds so
nice, where do I sign up?" My version of a sleep room is like just laying in bed, watching
"Designing Women" in my jammies and just not thinking about work. But this was not that. A sleep room was where they put patients in a drug-induced coma, but in a room with no
lights and no windows. So over the speaker, there
would be an endless recording repeating the same messages
over and over and over again. Just speaking to the
patient's subconscious, attempting to reprogram new
behaviors deep into the brain. Yes, bitch, cut your bangs. You'll look amazing. Do it right now, you want bangs, yeah." Now, the goal, the goal was to eventually
be able to control people by implanting new motivations
and skills into their brain. I know, which is actually
kinda cool, like, I wish they could make me
just like do really cool shit, like be smarter or something. But, instead, they're ruining people. Great, okay, anyways. I mean, obviously, we know now that it's
ridiculous and it never worked, but I love the optimism they had. Beautiful. I can't believe they could
get funding for their shit. Trying to get millions of dollars for mind control experiments
is a very big ask. And where do you even start? So in a couple of cases,
this went on for months, with the longest sessions
being anywhere between 39 and 65 days. Yeah. Could you imagine being locked in a room with voices telling you
to do shit for 65 days? No, no, I don't think any of us can. I mean, I imagine that's
maybe what a sorority is like. Maybe? I don't know. Anyways, one of Dr. Cameron's patients was a woman named Velma Orlikow. She was a patient of his
at the Allan Institute after a friend suggested that she go and like receive some treatment for her postpartum depression. So she's looking to receive treatment, and she instead was turned
into a guinea pig by Cameron who injected her with LSD
and forced her to participate in one of his sleep room studies. Velma in later interviews
remembers being dosed with LSD, but at the time she had
no idea what it was. After she received treatment, she would say she couldn't
do simple things anymore like read or write. She also had huge blank
spots in her memory where she literally had no
idea what the fuck like went on for periods of time. Honestly, this kinda sounds like an alien abduction story. right? It's kinda similar, kinda. But Velma first learned
that she was a test subject from the media who reported on what took
place at the Allan Institute. This had a lasting effect on her, and at one point she was so
devastated from the treatment and overall power abuse that she was on the brink
of walking into traffic and just ending it all. Luckily, she didn't go through with it, but she did battle these thoughts up until her death in 1990. Now, Dr. Cameron would retire
at some point in the 1960s, and the person who replaced
him concluded that, nothing was concluded. The only takeaway they got
from the follow-up study was that 60% of Cameron's
patients experienced amnesia for anywhere from 6 months to 10 years. That's called blacking out from trauma. Thanks, Dr. Cameron, thanks, CIA, you really came through with some groundbreaking information. Later on when the media
questioned the Allan Institute on like why in the hell they were running these experiments in the first place, they were like, "Well, really,
we're the victims here. We're the real victims. The treatment wasn't that bad, it was actually much harder on the staff. I mean, they had to
work really long hours, feeding everyone and wiping their ass. The staff suffered, not the patients." Eye freakin' roll! Yeah, of course. Once again another large organization not taking responsibility
for their actions. The AlLan Institute's project
turned out to be a total flop. But that didn't mean Sidney from the CIA was going to give up easy. He still had lots of ideas up his sleeve to achieve the overall
goal of mind control. Now, Sidney had another idea
in mind, another project, one that he would call Midnight Climax. Now, this one's fun. I mean, it kinda sounds like
the name of an 80s porno. Maybe it was. Let me check my phone, BRB. Where is my phone? Oh, oh, ad break, while I check if this was a porno. If you've been dreaming
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it's truly calming. They really nailed it with the name, Calm, 'cause the stories are so calming. Great name. (laughs) It makes sense. Anyways, if you go to calm,
C-A-L-M, .com/darkhistory, you'll get a limited time 40% off a Calm premium subscription. Now, this includes hundreds
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like I'm saying Calm, but I'm not saying Calm, C-A-L-M. (laughs) Anyways, that's calm.com/darkhistory. Sleep more, stress less, live better with Calm. Anyways, thank you, Calm, for working with me on today's episode. Now let's get back to the story. Not a porno. And we're back. Operation Midnight Climax, this, too, was a series of experiments funded and conducted by the CIA, organized by our guy, Sidney, again, with the goal of finding out if LSD can
control people's minds. You get it. So they would like set up
these places called safe houses in New York and San Francisco, and Sidney couldn't do it
all alone, he needed help. That's when he brought in
a former narcotics agent and a bigwig CIA guy
named George Hunter White, and this guy was gonna
help facilitate the study. Now, let me tell you, this
study was all sorts of freaky. The CAA bought a bunch
of little apartments, they furnished them, and then they would set up a
two-way mirror in the room. And then they would bring
in local sex workers to help with this project. They wanted these rooms
to look super normal, but secretly were designed
to allow for experimentation and observation. So they paid the sex workers
to lure johns into these rooms, then offered them something to drink. "Here, you want something to drink?" And the johns, they had
no idea that these drinks were laced with LSD. Hmm, now this might not make much sense, but the thought process here
was that these johns may involuntarily reveal secrets
when they were intoxicated. And the victims were sometimes
fed subliminal messages in hopes to essentially brainwash them into committing criminal activity, like robbery, assaults, and assassination. The reason they were doing this with sex workers and johns was because, you know, since sex work
is technically illegal, they would probably never
say anything about it. And even if they did
say something about it, nobody would believe them because they would just sound crazy
to their friends and family. It was the perfect set-up, like
who would believe the story? No one. The part where this gets even more freaky is that behind the two-way mirror, there was someone watching the whole time. Yeah, the whole time. Mr. George Hunter White. He wasn't just watching
like your classic voyer, this sweaty monster was on the other side of the two-way mirror observing. For science, for science. He's just over there breathing heavily, he's sippin' a martini, and he's also sittin' on
a toilet he had installed so he didn't have to like
get up and leave the room. He didn't wanna miss any of
these like salacious moments. That's a true story, he
literally had a toilet installed and he was like sittin' on it and stuff, like, this guy's full-blown just creep. Again, it was all in the
name of science, I guess. And, of course, if a CIA agent
is invited to a pizza party, they're gonna have a few
slices of pizza, right? In other words, what I'm getting at essentially is that they took some of the LSD and they enjoyed the
services of the sex workers. You know, normal pizza party stuff. Well, this study, it concluded
that men will talk after sex with or without drugs. Something I'm sure I could've
told them for free literally. No serious results ever
came out of this experiment. It honestly sounded
like a personal interest just funded by the CIA, if you ask me. But no one's asking me right now. Okay, so America's tax dollars, yeah, they were not just
used to buy all of the LSD, but also to pay for a
brothel run by the CIA. So the thing is no one
really knows when MKUltra came to an end, but, officially, quote,
unquote, it ended in 1973. But it could still be going
on now for all we know. And nobody really knows
the full extent of it. So if your Uncle Bob starts
rambling about men in suits shoving him into the back of a truck, or that like the government
is watching him or something, I guess maybe like actually believe him. MKUltra actually ended
up accomplishing nothing other than ruining people's
lives and wasting tax dollars. Because, remember, their original goal was to master the art of mind control, to create super soldiers. And they thought LSD was
going to be their answer. So let's go back to Sidney Gottlieb. After Frank Olson's death, you know the guy from the beginning? He attended his funeral and came extremely, extremely close to admitting just how
bad MKUltra really was. Sid went on to tell Frank's son that maybe they went a little too far and maybe they did things that, yeah, they shouldn't have done. I think that's the closest
we will get to him admitting the truth at all, but he kinda admitted. You know? Sidney would continue doing the CIA's work and running MKUltra projects for years. In later years, he started this thing, oh, this one's kinda funny. It's not funny, but it's kinda funny. It's kinda funny. Because in later years, he started this thing called
Operation Acoustic Kitty, which I wanna start a band just so I can call it
Operation Acoustic Kitty. This is a real thing, I swear. But it was where they basically
turned a cat into a robot. They performed surgery on the cat, and they sewed a microphone
into the cat's body in hopes to spy on people. So they put the microphone in there and then they stitched
the cat up, cat wakes up, he doesn't even know he's a secret spy. And they send them out there to spy. The only problem was that
they forgot to train the cat. Yeah, literally. They put this cat in a
park to spy on someone, and it just like ran away. And this is also true, it ran
away and it got hit by a taxi. I know, it's sad, but honestly, that's kinda funny. That's kinda funny, come on. That's kinda funny. It's not funny, but it's kinda funny. It's something out of a movie. It's kinda funny. It's kinda funny, we can
laugh, but it's not funny. It just got to a point
where it seemed like they were just trying
whatever the hell they wanted, honestly. I mean, who thinks of putting
a microphone in a cat? It's kinda creative. There was nobody to
even check up on Sidney. The only person who was above him was like the actual director of the CIA. So Sidney just had a
green light for anything. So later in life, Sidney moved to India and he opened a hospital for those who are struggling with leprosy. Yeah, super random, you know? I think he just wanted to, which is nice. It was like a part of
his late life attempt to feel like he was maybe doing
something good in the world. Yeah. Sidney was honestly a weirdo, but he tried to do some good, great. And then he would eventually
retire and then die in 1999. The CIA, on the other hand, they created (scoffs) their own monster. They jumped to a wild conclusion, assuming that mind control
was the new hot thing and they like needed to get behind it. And all in the name of
protecting the people. But it backfired because in the 1960s, the hippie movement was on the rise. And one thing that kept
the hippie movement strong, babe, it was drugs. Drugs, you know what I'm sayin'? The only thing MKUltra
did at the end of the day was introduce LSD to a
bunch of college kids. They were having a good time, they were telling their friends about it. I mean, it was just a big party. I wish I was there, honestly. So their big secret mind control mission ended up being the spark to a
whole free thought movement. Whoops. The worst of these experiments
were not even recorded for a few reasons. Number one, the CIA, they have a lot
of secret detention centers that don't have to follow
like any U.S. laws. So they can detain enemies,
I'm using air quotes, and practice like weird shit on them. It shouldn't be a surprise
that that type of stuff doesn't really come out too often. Yeah. Number two, the CIA director
was at risk of being fired, which would blow the roof
off the whole MKUltra thing. So they panicked and
they literally destroyed all of the documents. And then number three, because the majority of the
documents were destroyed, nobody really knows like the full extent as to what was going
on in these experiments or for how long. I mean, how many people
were affected by this? Just imagine how many
other experiments were run and freakin' eaten by the
government paper shredders. (makes babbling sound) That's what you get (indistinct)
a shredder noise. (laughs) (makes babbling sound) Well, in 1974, documents
relating to MKUltra were released to the public. Whatever documents were left, mind you. Now, it's weird because you would think, you would think it would be
trending, hot news, you know? But it wasn't. The story seemed to just
kinda get pushed aside and nobody was really
talking about it that much. I think it's because during this time the Nixon Watergate
scandal was going down. Mm-hmm, yeah. So maybe that was done on purpose. Maybe not. But many to this day consider MKUltra just a silly conspiracy theory, even though it's literally not. It's literally not a conspiracy theory. So when word got out to the public what was really going
down in these experiments, people, they freakin'
wanted answers, okay? There were several lawsuits from victims, some receiving settlements from the CIA. Like Frank Olson's family, they got a settlement
and also a public apology from the president himself. Oh, thanks. You know, whatever. Velma's family fought hard
to go after the government and hold them accountable
for what they did. But in the end, the government
prevented her family from being compensated in any way, and they succeeded at that. For what? Jeez. And then eventually
the Supreme Court ruled that it was absolutely unacceptable for the CIA to ever conduct
experiments on Americans without knowledge or consent. Which, hey, that's kinda cool, I guess. I'm rolling my eyes, if you
can't see, I'm rolling my eyes. I'm rolling my eyes because I believe that's probably not true. Mm-mm. When you look at the
bigger scale of things, nobody was really punished
or held accountable for what took place under MKUltra. Mm-mm. After all, it's kinda hard
to hold someone accountable when a ton of documents were destroyed and there's literally no
proof of what was done. You know? But throughout the years,
there have been many people who have come forward saying
that they were for sure drugged at some point in the 50s. And their stories tick off
all the boxes of MKUltra shit. But since they couldn't improve it, many were labeled as crazy or kooky. So, I mean, that sucks. I'm sure you can think of some
people who get labeled crazy. Anyways. In conclusion, what the hell
is going on with the CIA? They were trying so hard
to learn mind control, but Steve Jobs came in and
accomplished that in 2007. Mm-hmm. It's cute to think that MKUltra was just a one-and-done deal. "Well, that didn't work. Oh, well." No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm sure the CIA has adjusted their approach to the situation as to how they can control
our minds, I'm sure. But isn't that the point of all this? The government is kind of inept. In trying to control minds, they created a culture of free thought. It's sort of like when you're a kid and you think like adults
just know everything. They have all the answers. And then you grow up and you learn, well, once you become an adult, you're like, "Oh shit, we sure do not, we sure do not have the answers." We don't know what the hell we're doing, we're just like trying to figure it out. Well, the government
is kinda the same way. Just because they're big and have money, we think they're gonna
make some sound decisions. But they don't. I don't know what the hell they're doing. They put microphones
in cats for God's sake. Robo cats? Jesus. And in the end, the CIA's ego is, it's too big to lose. So they probably walked away
from MKUltra thinking they won. I mean, they got laid
and did a bunch of acid. And that's a win if you ask me. Anyways, I would love
to hear your thoughts. Do you know more about this? Let's continue the conversation
over on social media using the hashtag #darkhistory. And don't forget to join
me over on my YouTube where you can watch these
episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs and also catch my Murder Mystery & Makeup which drops on Mondays. I hope you have a
wonderful rest of your day. You make good choices, and I'll be talking to you next week. Bye. Don't get brainwashed. Dark History is an AudioBoom original. This podcast is executive produced by me, Bailey Sarian, Chelsea Durgin from Slash MGMT, and Fanny Baudry from Wheelhouse DNA. Produced by Lexxi Kiven, Derrial Christon, and Spencer Strasmore. Research provided by Ramona Kivett. Writers, Jed Bookout, Michael
Oberst, and Joey Scavuzzo, and me, Bailey Sarian. Historical consultant, Maia Szalavitz, author of "Undoing Drugs: The
Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction," Martin A. Lee, author of "Acid Dreams," the complete social history of LSD, the CIA, the 60s, and beyond. What a great name. And, also, I'm your host, hello, hi, how's it going, princess, princess of the dark, Bailey Sarian.
Awesome! When I first started listening to her, MK Ultra was one of the first things I looked to see if she had done one already. Can't wait to get home and dive in.