 Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. On April 10, 1953, Alan Dulles, the newly appointed director of the CIA, delivered a speech to a gathering of Princeton alumni. Though the event was mundane, global tensions were running high. The Korean War was coming to an end, and earlier that week, The New York Times had published a startling story asserting that American POWs returning from the country may have been converted by communist brainwashers. Some GIs were confessing to war crimes like carrying out germ warfare against the communists, a charge the U.S. categorically denied. Others were reportedly so brainwashed that they had refused to return to the United States at all. As if that weren't enough, the U.S. was weeks away from secretly sponsoring the overthrow of a democratically elected leader in Iran. Dulles had just become the first civilian director of an agency growing more powerful by the day, and the speech provided an early glimpse into his priorities for the CIA. In the past few years, we have become accustomed to hearing much about the battle for men's minds, the war of ideologies, he told the attendees. I wonder, however, whether we clearly perceive the magnitude of the problem, whether we realize how sinister the battle for men's minds has become in the Soviet hands. He continued, we have, I call it in its new form, brain warfare. What the public could not have known is the secret brain warfare that would be launched by our government under the CIA. MKUltra, Mind Control, Remote Viewing, it was wading into the occult and mind-altering drug use that would go down in history as some of the most controversial actions ever taken by the U.S. government, and we probably still don't know most of what was discovered in the experiments. I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome, Weirdos, this is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved, and unexplained. Coming up in this episode, it was kept secret for years that the U.S. government spent millions of dollars and decades of research and experiments looking into the paranormal, trying to weaponize psychic powers like remote viewing and mind control. We were told they didn't find much success, but could that be part of an ongoing secret? What if they did succeed, but don't want us to know due to national security reasons? And what if they aren't just spying on our enemies but also on us, the country's citizens? And if they can do that, can they also control our minds to make us think and even do whatever they wish? It's a disturbing journey. If you're new here, welcome to the show. While you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for merchandise, to visit sponsors you hear about during the show, sign up for my newsletter and our contests. Connect with me on social media. Plus, you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression or dark thoughts. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness. In 1952, the U.S. Army asked Duke University to help them develop a program to determine if dogs were psychic. Specifically, they wondered could dogs use extrasensory perception, ESP. To this end, researchers carried out a series of 48 tests on a beach in Northern California to see if dogs could locate underwater explosives. At first, the results pleased the scientists who concluded that there was no known way in which the dogs could have located the underwater mines except by extrasensory perception. Let us pause for a minute before going further. A dog's olfactory capabilities are 40 to 50 times greater than those of a human. Its hearing is four times stronger. Judging them by human metrics, dogs literally have extrasensory perception. This does not mean, however, that they are psychic or paranormal. And sure enough, further tests failed to deliver any supernatural results. A follow-up program was deemed an utter failure, and researchers noted a rather conspicuous refusal of the dogs to alert. This experiment is only one of the string stories many of them recently declassified in Annie Jacobson's book Phenomena, The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis, which I will link to in the show notes. It begins with the fallout of World War II and the extreme measures the military-industrial complex took to unlock and weaponize psychic abilities in the early days of the Cold War. Spanning over 50 years, Jacobson's tale takes us from the immediate post-war years to the CIA's experiments in the 1960s and 70s. The Defense Department, she tells us, began its own experiments in the 1980s and 90s before their final incarnation, Project Stargate, was finally decommissioned in 1995. Although Jacobson's book demonstrates an alarming pattern of government activity, the Phenomena themselves are what makes her book so fascinating and often troubling. My intention for this book, she writes, was not to prove or disprove any one or any concept, but to report objectively on the government's long-standing interest in ESP and PK Phenomena. The quest for extrasensory perception and outgrowth of the 19th and early 20th century spiritualist movement had begun in the 1930s, mainly with Duke University's parapsychology experiments conducted by J.B. Rine. But in the wake of World War II, the U.S. government began looking for ways to influence and control human behavior and, in addition to traditional psychological tactics, attention increasingly turned to parapsychology as well. In the early 1950s, the Defense Department tasked Henry and Dria Puharic with locating mushrooms that they believed might unlock psychic powers. A project the CIA was also working on under the codename Project MKUltra. During his time, Puharic was also researching faith healers, though much of his early research is still classified by the Atomic Energy Commission. Eventually, Puharic began exploring ESP and psychokinesis, or PK, the ability to move objects with one's mind, and began researching test subjects who appeared to have psychic potential. Already well underway in the period immediately after World War II, his paranormal research was greatly accelerated after a woman named Nile Kulagina appeared on Russian TV, beginning in the 1960s, moving objects with her mind. Kulagina's feats may well have been staged, U.S. analysts couldn't tell for sure, but she spooked them nonetheless, leading to a joint intelligence assessment by the Defense Department on the Soviet Psycho-energetic threat. Because much of this still remains declassified, it's not always clear how high up these directives went, or who exactly was aware in all cases of how much energy was being spent on this nonsense. The picture that does emerge, though, is a Cold War government terrified that the Soviet Union was developing an edge in any technology, be it normal or paranormal, and one willing to throw money just about anywhere so long as it meant staying ahead of the Russians. That of an ESP gap led to a staggering number of bizarre programs in the ensuing years. In addition to the mind-sniffing dogs and mushroom research, there were lengthy and repeated attempts to prove that humans could communicate telepathically. When the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus became the first vessel to reach the North Pole by traveling under the polar ice caps, a sailor on board was attempting to send ESP messages using Zener cards, the ubiquitous black-and-white cards with simple images, a square, a circle, a plus, a star, and a set of wavy lines, to a receiver at the Westinghouse facility in Friendship, Maryland. One report stated a success rate of 75%. Once it hit the press, though, the Navy claimed it was all a hoax. One of the most popular and long-running experiments concerned remote viewing. Individuals would sit in locked rooms and attempt to see events from far away. Sometimes, these individuals were natural psychics, but as the program grew, the Defense Department attempted to prove that ability could be developed in otherwise normal individuals. Much of this was focused on military intelligence gathering, but one researcher, Ed Dames, used taxpayer money to direct supposed psychics to look for evidence of UFOs, to locate the lost city of Atlantis and the Ark of the Covenant, and to watch gladiator games in ancient Rome. When Marine Lieutenant Colonel William Higgins was kidnapped by Hezbollah in 1988, the Defense Department brought in Dames, along with psychics Angela de la Fiora and Paul Smith, to see if they could remotely locate where he was being held. While other agencies were working through traditional surveillance and intelligence gathering mechanisms, de la Fiora told her handlers that Higgins was still alive and confidently pointed to a bare patch of desert on a map of Lebanon where she said he was being held. She then said that he was being moved, constantly, that he was being held on water and that something about his feet would be a clue to investigators. Subsequent reports would reveal that Higgins was already dead. Hezbollah would later release a video of Higgins' corpse with a noose around his neck, though investigators determined that he'd been killed much earlier, his body kept on ice for months. De la Fiora's claims are typical of the kind of evidence that runs through the book, Femamina. She provided no actionable intelligence and was wrong about the most salient question of whether or not Higgins was still alive. But researchers determined he had not been hanged because of the position of his feet in the video, pointing outwards rather than down, as would have been the case had he been hanged, and her reference to Higgins being on water could be taken to refer to the ice his body was kept on. So all of this could somehow be taken as a sign of success. For decades, research used half successes like this to justify their attempts to prove individuals could see events far away and provide useful intelligence. Jacobson offers a few cases of surprising success, which might lead one to believe there is something to remote viewing. But without any sense of how many failures accompanied these successes, judging by the length of the programs they must have numbered in the thousands, it's hard to gauge whether or not these were just random luck. Unlike dogs sniffing for landmines, humans see only what they want to see. Reading through Jacobson's cavalcade of experimenters and government officials, the recurrent theme is one of longing, a longing for something greater, something beyond the everyday, something more wonderful. Their stories are of ordinary individuals with promising careers who fell to the siren song of pseudoscience, men like Dale Graf, who had an out-of-body experience while saving his wife from drowning in Hawaii in 1969. The experience led him to give up his Ph.D. in aeronautical engineering because, quote, he believed there were pursuits beyond the confines of orthodox science that had greater significance and should be taken on, unquote. Graf would go on to be a leading researcher of the remote viewing projects at the Air Force, chasing false positives and statistical noise in search of proof that psychic powers existed. Or even more dismaying, Edgar Mitchell, the sixth astronaut to set foot on the moon, a man who saw magisterial vistas the rest of us can only dream of, and yet during his first night aboard Apollo 14, while he was supposed to be getting necessary sleep, he was obsessing about ESP, attempting to transmit Zenercard images to a friend at a Chicago apartment. While the Apollo 14 mission was a success, the Zenercard experiment was a failure. That didn't stop Mitchell from choosing ESP over NASA. He quit the agency and set out to prove to the world that ESP was real. Mitchell's time on the moon is the kind of thing that millions of school kids dream of doing someday. It's a dream that spurs young men and women to study science and go into STEM careers. That someone with such a rare and fantastic opportunity would walk away from it to promote nonsense of charlatans is staggering and speaks for the strange psychological desperation in so many of Jacobson's subjects. Ultimately, Jacobson herself shares this longing. Her first book, Area 51, an uncensored history of America's top military base also linked in the show notes, hinged on a revelation that the aliens at Roswell were in fact genetically altered humans created by Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele at the behest of Joseph Stalin in order to trigger a war of the world's style panic. She based this claim on one anonymous source whose account has never been corroborated or substantiated elsewhere. As with Area 51, one should proceed with caution in the book phenomena before accepting any of the evidence for the supernatural presented here. Her discussion of the spoon bending parties of Jack Hauke is a good case in point. Hauke was an aerospace engineer who believed that the ability to bend metal had something to do with one's belief system. Perhaps psychokinesis was not a so-called paranormal superpower but an ability to harness the energy force the Chinese called Qi that was latent in all people. Hauke held parties at his house with a high-energy environment of excitement, with people holding spoons and shouting, Bend! According to Hauke, in one 1981 party, 19 out of the 21 spoons bent, a careful use of the passive verb tense to suggest that they did this somehow of their own accord. Jacobson goes on to write that Hauke watched hundreds, then thousands of average Americans suspend their disbelief and bend metal without physical force. Yes, it's likely some percentage of the guests cheated, but hundreds of them bent hacksaw blades, silver-plated serving spoons, and five sixteenth-inch steel rods that are physically impossible to bend by hand. Perhaps. A YouTube video of one of Hauke's parties shows a tent revival-esque atmosphere and a lot of people physically bending spoons by hand while shouting Bend! I'll place a link to that video in the show notes for you, but if you Google spoon bending, you'll yield far more tutorials from magicians and sleight-of-hand experts on how to do this simple stage trick than you will videos purporting to capture the real thing. As for the hacksaw blades and steel rods, well, any stage magician will tell you a few audience plants can go a long way. After all, Hauke was out to make money from this stick. Women and teller are among many magicians who've debunked Hauke's spoon bending, though they're not mentioned in the book. And then there's Yuri Geller, who looms large in these pages. A former Israeli paratrooper, Geller rose to fame in the late 1960s, performing stage shows that he insisted were not staged and that demonstrated, instead, a real magic that he himself did not fully understand. After becoming famous for the same spoon bending sham that Hauke favored, Geller was approached by Andrija Puharic in the summer of 1971 with an offer to come to the United States to further test his powers in a laboratory setting. Geller worked with Puharic, the astronaut Edgar Mitchell and others in the development of the Defense Department's remote viewing labs, before going on to make millions dousing for oil corporations in the 1980s. While magicians like James Randy repeatedly demonstrated the ways in which Geller's supposed feats could be easily staged, he continued to dazzle his government handlers. Some of this material, including Geller's antics, was already covered in John Ronson's 2004 book, The Men Who Stared Goats. And though phenomena is far more comprehensive and detailed, in many ways Ronson remains the better book. I'll put a link to that in the show notes as well. This is in part because Ronson's bull detector is more finely tuned and he better captures the simultaneously hilarious and deeply horrific nature of his material. Ronson also recognizes that the ultimate aim of much of this government research was to harm and kill people. His lighthearted tone takes a deep nosedive in the book's final chapters as he discusses Project Artichoke, a mind control program in the CIA that used, among other techniques, hypnosis, isolation and forced drug dependency followed by rapid withdrawal and the death of Frank Olson. Olson was a bacteriologist who became involved in Project Artichoke and, in 1953, was dozed with LSD against his knowledge. A few days later, he fell out of a 13-story Manhattan hotel window. The CIA has maintained it was suicide, though his family has spent decades arguing it was murder. In contrast to Ronson though, Jacobson tends to treat the CIA and the Department of Defense as wacky and endlessly intriguing bureaucracies and not two agencies who have as one of their primary purposes the killing of human beings. Reading Jacobson's book today makes one wonder if her hands-off reportage of obvious bull is not only irresponsible but actively harmful. As skeptic Martin Gardner told Time magazine in 1973, ''Believe that occultism provides a climate for the rise of a demagogue. I think this is precisely what happened in Nazi Germany before the rise of Hitler.'' It's one thing to describe the stupid nonsense government researchers believed, but quite another to give the reader the impression that any of it has merit. Or maybe something else is at work here. When ARPA, Advanced Research Projects Agency, which eventually became DARPA, the same agency Jacobson profiled in her Pulitzer-nominated Pentagon's Brain, link in the show notes, researchers evaluated Geller's supposed feats. They found loose laboratory controls, skewing of data, and bias of researchers influencing the outcomes. There is serious doubt, concluded the ARPA report, that Geller's accomplishment transcends the range of activities that a skillful magician can perform. The CIA, on the other hand, was not interested in whether or not Geller was genuinely paranormal, but rather whether his capabilities are exploitable by the CIA. Which is to say, the odds of the government harnessing psychic phenomena may be slim, but it may be in the government's interest to continue to promote this belief, as the idea itself may have powerful psychological impacts on America's enemies, or even its own populace. Perhaps Jacobson's sources add reasons for helping her believe in the impossible. We've come from the skeptics point of view, but what about the view of believers? We touched briefly on remote viewing just now, and we'll look more seriously and deeply into how the CIA tried to make it work, not just to spy on our enemies, but to spy on other planets, when Weird Darkness returns. If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, dark thoughts, or addiction, please visit the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com. There, I've gathered numerous resources to find hope and solutions. For those suffering from thoughts of suicide or self-harm, there is the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, as well as the Crisis Text Line. Both have trained counselors at all hours to help those in need, and the page even includes text numbers for those in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, and Ireland. Those struggling with depression can get help through the Seven Cups website and app, and there's information for anyone to read more about what depression truly is and how to identify it through our friends at ifred.org. There are resources for those who battle addictions, be it drugs, alcohol, or self-destructive behavior, along with help for those related to addicts. The page has links to help you find a therapist or counselor, to find help for those who have a family member with Alzheimer's or dementia, help for those in a crisis pregnancy, and more. These resources are always there when you or someone you love needs them on the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com. The talents of psychics, mystics, or any of the other of the tags that are placed on those who can see beyond the limits of the majority of us are embraced by some and equally ridiculed by others. Perhaps it's surprising then that many government agencies in the United States and elsewhere around the world would seemingly be in the former category. The CIA took a particular interest in the abilities of people who claimed to be able to leave their body and travel to destinations hundreds, even thousands of miles away, completely undetected to boot. The possibilities for espionage were seemingly limitless with such a weapon at their disposal. In January 2017, the CIA released a huge amount of data files, some of which spoke of such remote viewing programs, essentially confirming what people in conspiracy circles had long suspected as fact. They really happened. And what's more, it seems they really worked. As well as the CIA, many other intelligence agencies around the world have investigated the possibilities of remote viewing. Most notable of these is the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. One of the people initially employed by the United States to remote view and spy on the activities of the Soviets was Ingo Swan, who was regarded as one of the best in his field. He had repeatedly proven his skills and his success rate in terms of key espionage information was very high. In February 1975, Swan was instructed by a shadowy gentleman who worked out of Washington, D.C. that he would be required to work on a top secret mission and that a Mr. Axelrod would be contacting him very soon to instruct him further. Almost a month went by before the mysterious Mr. Axelrod made contact with Swan. It was a quick, one-way conversation and he was told to meet Axelrod at the National Museum of Natural History. Once there, a man representing Mr. Axelrod greeted him before hustling him into a car. They were driven to an unknown destination where a helicopter stood waiting. Already feeling rattled, Swan's anxiety went up a little more when he was blindfolded once he was in the helicopter. Such was the secrecy of their destination. When he finally arrived, still blindfolded, he was led to an elevator. The doors slid shut and he could feel it descending. It seemed to do so for some time, suggesting to Swan that he was being led into one of the rumored underground bases said to be under the U.S. military's control. The elevator finally came to a stop and Swan was led into a room where the blindfold was removed. In front of him, there stood Mr. Axelrod. Mr. Axelrod quickly introduced himself to Swan, whose mind was reeling with everything that happened since arriving at the museum that afternoon. He also volunteered that Axelrod was indeed a pseudonym and not his real identity. He began to grill Swan on the ins and outs of remote viewing and how he achieved his results. He also stated he was prepared to offer him an extremely large amount of money for his services, as if he needed reminding the work would be of a top secret nature. Tentatively accepting the offer, not feeling as if he had much of a choice, Axelrod then began to ask Swan as to the extent of his knowledge regarding the moon. He then presented him with coordinates and asked him to remote view what was there. Apprehensively, Swan did so. He found himself leaving the earth and heading towards the moon, the dark side of the moon to be precise. He claimed he could see buildings and glass dome-like structures. His spiritual body entered this moon city. It was then that he noticed living beings. He described what he was seeing to Axelrod, including that these beings appeared to notice his presence. This prompted Axelrod to bring the session to an immediate end, calling to Swan urgently, come away from there right now. Swan, extremely shaken by the experience, rushed back to his physical body and after gathering himself, asked Axelrod what he had just seen. Was there really a colony on the moon? Axelrod remained quiet. Swan asked again, indirectly insinuating that the beings might not be human. To which Axelrod was said to reply, isn't that something, huh? Two years previously, in 1973, Swan was involved in another CIA remote viewing experiment, one that took his astral consciousness to the planet of Jupiter, at least according to the official records of the experiment that also included the NSA and Stanford University in California. A detailed timeline of the experiment reproduced from the official records showed that the session began at 6 p.m. It was three minutes before Swan indicated that he was there, in front of the biggest planet in our solar system, Jupiter. A journey that it seems, at least in the astral form, takes only minutes. He made several interesting statements about the planet, including that a ring was present around the celestial body. When the Pioneer 10 probe completed its flyby mission shortly after Swan's claims, sending back its valuable data to NASA scientists, his statement was confirmed as absolute fact. Swan was extremely unlikely to have known this information without him having seen it for himself with his own eyes, astral or otherwise. Not even the top scientists and astronomers of the day were aware of the ring around Jupiter until the Pioneer 10 flyby. If Swan then was right about the ring around Jupiter, then might he also have been correct when he claimed to have seen cities and buildings on the moon? And if he is correct about those, then does that imply that all those crazy whistleblowers who have claimed to have been to these cities might also have been telling the truth? The CIA certainly appeared to have enough faith in Swan's ability and the phenomenon of remote viewing in general to continue their sessions. In 1978, Project Stargate was initiated, basically the continuation of the experiments they had been conducting already for several years. Swan states he saw secret space armies under the control of the U.S. military and financed by black budgets, including the presence of colonies and cities on the moon. Various whistleblowers have come forward claiming to have been involved in such secret space projects, and one of the strangest to these perhaps is the claims of Randy Kramer. In 1987, when Kramer was 17 years old, he claims to have been awoken by a bright doorway that appeared to be a portal of some kind suddenly opening in his bedroom. In the doorway stood two strange men, similar to descriptions of the men in black. One of the men reached out to him, beckoning him to come with them. Confused and believing it to be an intense dream, Kramer rose from his bed and stepped into the bright portal-like door. He further claims that he and up to 50 other teenagers found themselves in a huge hangar. In the center of the gigantic room was a black triangular craft, seemingly floating several feet from the ground. The group were told to enter the craft, which they did, half in awe and half in fear of the bizarre and surreal experience. The next thing they knew, one of the military-type men stepped forward and asked them to direct their attention to above their heads. According to Kramer, the roof then transformed into a huge glass window. Through it, they could see the earth as they were moving away from it and out into space. They were told to take a good, long look at the planet. Not only would they not see it for some time, but everything they were about to undertake was to defend it. Kramer claimed that the group were then flown to the moon, where, like Swan had claimed to see remotely, they witnessed a huge city of tall buildings and glass domes. As if Kramer's account could not get even stranger, he then claimed they were transferred to a different spacecraft, where they left the moon and went further out into space. The next time they landed, they stepped from the ship and were greeted by another military person who announced to matter of factly when he greeted them, welcome to Mars. In short, Kramer stated he spent 20 years serving in a specialized off-planet military unit. He further claimed that he and others like him were specifically selected due to them being genetically equipped to withstand the mission. Following his two-decade tour, Kramer researched that he was returned to his bed back in 1987 and was a teenager again. He had been age-reversed and then sent back in time. Although he remembered being brought back through the door portal, only 15 minutes had passed on his bedside clock from when he first left. He told himself that the experience, what very little he remembered of it, was simply a dream. According to Kramer, it was a decade or so before he even began to experience an unlocking of his repressed memories. Whether Kramer's account and experience is true to any degree is obviously up for discussion. He did make a report of his memories to MUFON widely regarded as a very credible independent UFO research network. What's interesting is that some of the finer details mirror those of alleged whistleblowers. Al Bielek was allegedly involved in the Philadelphia experiment and part of his claims involved being age-reversed and sent back and indeed forward in time. Corey Goode has also made very similar claims of carrying out missions like Kramer described, including that he was sent to Mars and that he spent 20 years there before being sent back in time and age-reversed. In fact, Michael Relf and Dr. Andrew D. Busiago also claimed to have been involved in such projects and what's more, they claimed they were happening as far back as the late 1960s. Like Kramer and Goode, Relf claimed to have spent 20 years on Mars after being recruited for the project in 1976. He claimed his missions revolved around the building of two separate colonies on the red planet. Also like Kramer and Goode, he stated after his 20-year service was complete, he was age-reversed and his memories of the mission suppressed. Dr. Busiago, on the other hand, claimed to have been fully aware of these projects, claiming that as well as colonizing Mars and the Moon, that the time travel capabilities were even utilized for political advantage. According to Dr. Busiago, he was shown images brought back from the future that showed him the carnage of the Twin Towers following the 9-11 attacks. What is perhaps interesting is that the U.S. intelligence agency's interest in what would eventually be termed remote viewing largely began from apparent breakthroughs in this field by the Soviet Union. For example, in the book Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain, which I will link to in the show notes, authors Sheila Ostrander and Lynne Schroeder claimed that this psychic research was usually ignored by Western science. These assertions alerted the intelligence agencies in the United States that they very well could be left behind in a field they knew little about. Shortly after the release of the book, the Defense Intelligence Agency, DIA, would warn that the Soviet Union's apparent breakthrough in psychic phenomena, PSI, might ultimately prove to be a national security risk, potentially giving them access to secret documents, American military personnel positions and movements, NASA's space vehicles, and perhaps even mold the thoughts of those in positions of power in the United States' political and military positions. The warning even went as far as to suggest the real possibility of the instant death of any U.S. official caused by such remote psychic experts who would perform such bizarre assassinations from the safety of the Soviet Union. It was after these warnings that the previously mentioned team at the Stanford Research Institute began their research into such matters as detailed previously. Differing from clairvoyance, the research in remote viewing concentrated on a more specific, controlled mobile form of clairvoyance. In fact, research suggests that this type of skill is utilized through out-of-body experiences or astral projection. Although the CIA officially abandoned the Stargate project in the late 1970s, at least officially, we will return to this shortly, the Defense Intelligence Agency would very discreetly take over the program in the years that followed, continuing it until the mid-1990s, and for the most part, using the cloak of national security to do so secretly. As well as the experiments mentioned previously, the Stargate program would also rent out its remote viewers to other departments, including local and federal investigators. Perhaps an intriguing case to look at would be that of Charlie Jordan, who was, according to some, located via the use of just such a remote viewer. According to an account relayed in the book The Mystery Chronicles, More Real Life X-Files by Joe Nicol, linked to the book in the show notes, Jordan has once been employed by the Drug Enforcement Agency in South Florida and a key agent in the fight against the rife drug smuggling in the region. However, by the late 1980s, he had seemingly become a rotten apple, discovered to be essentially turning a blind eye to certain drug smuggling operations in return for bribes or hush money. He would soon flee once he discovered his employers were on to him. Not long after this, with Jordan having seemingly vanished off the face of the planet, it is claimed that the DEA sought the help of the remote viewing team of the DIA. There were several attempts made to locate Jordan in this way. However, it was Angela Delafioria, a previous employee of the Army's Intelligence and Security Command who would seemingly manage to provide information that would lead to his capture. In fact, Delafioria's methods of remote viewing are perhaps interesting in themselves. Rather than use standard techniques of focusing on a picture or an object as taught by intelligence agencies, she preferred to use communication with what she would essentially understand as spirits, which did not sit well with intelligence agencies who wished to distance themselves from the mystical element of remote viewing. Ultimately, although there is debate as to how accurate Delafioria's remote viewing details were, Jordan was apprehended in the state of Wyoming following her claiming that he was in the cowboy state, possibly in a town called Lowell, near to a Native American burial ground. Although there is not a town called Lowell, investigators soon zeroed in on a town named Lovell. What's more, a Native American burial was relatively close by. Jordan was arrested after having been spotted and recognized by a Yellowstone National Park Ranger around 50 miles from the town of Lovell. However, his movements suggested that he was in the town at the time the remote viewing was conducted. We should note, however, there are many different versions of exactly what happened in the capture of Charles Jordan, perhaps speculatively speaking, suggesting a suppressing of the role that the remote viewing information played. Another book I'll link to in the show notes is The Seventh Sense, the secrets of remote viewing as told by a psychic spy for the military by Lynn Buchanan, in which she relays several military operations that had remote viewing at their core, some of which are certainly worthy of our examination here. Perhaps one of the most intriguing of these involves the Chernobyl disaster in April 1986. Buchanan tells of a scene she witnessed during a training exercise in the days before the nuclear explosion in Pripyat in what is now modern-day Ukraine. The exercise revolved in an attempt to reveal a particular news story that would appear in international newspapers that coming weekend. Ultimately, as Buchanan states herself, she failed the specifics of the actual test. However, she would perhaps reveal some potentially intriguing information. She would claim that she had envisioned a man wearing a white lab coat who was stood in front of a huge wall of dials and gauges in a building that appeared to be a power plant. As she scanned the room, she noticed a Wilson cloud chamber, a device used in nuclear research which led her to further conclude the man was a nuclear scientist and the power plant likely to be nuclear. Buchanan then moved back to the man and began assessing him mentally. She claimed the man was thinking of a recent visit to his home by two mystery men. She noticed that while one of these men remained in the car, the other stood outside the passenger side, speaking to the man in the white lab coat. She picked up that this man had been promising him new possessions, a new car, and a new place to live, a place far away. Even more remarkable, she sensed that they had come to an agreement where the lab worker would create a distraction of sorts so that the mystery man he was speaking to could obtain something from the plant. Suddenly, she was back out of the man's thoughts and was watching him once more, stood in front of the gauges and dials. At that point, he reached out and manipulated a piece of equipment before walking out of the room, seemingly looking to ensure he was not being watched. Then, she was back in the room in the United States. She would report what she had seen, stating it was her belief that a nuclear disaster would occur that weekend. However, as this disaster was merely her own conclusion, her official findings were that a nuclear power plant would be in the news over the coming days. As the weekend came and went, however, there was no such report. However, only two days into the following week, things changed. Increased radiation levels had been picked up by sensors in Iceland. Further investigation would reveal the disaster at the Chernobyl plant several days later. Although a nuclear power plant disaster would indeed be in international newspapers the following weekend, Buchanan's remote viewing assignment was still classed as a miss, not least due to the two mystery men who appeared to have had nothing to do with what was almost universally agreed was a tragic accident. However, several years later, new information would come to Buchanan as she conducted online research, specifically information about missing fuel from the power plant that she discovered on the official Chernobyl website. According to the website, anywhere between 10 and 50 tons of reactor fuel remains missing, which causes a significant amount of concern and anxiety, not only to the Russians, but to governments around the world. If the fuel is buried somewhere under the ruins of the power plant, then there is every chance that water could reach it and cause a reaction. Indeed, investigators do appear to have located a likely location for the missing fuel, if this proved to be the case. However, what if it isn't still on site? What if Buchanan's remote viewing session was more accurate than even she believed? As she writes, there remains a question, at least in her mind, as to whether the Chernobyl disaster was purely an accident. Further asking whether it might have been a diversion tactic that got out of hand. Whether officially recognized or not, Buchanan goes on to write of the fact that remote viewing is often used in hostage or even terrorist situations. In fact, CIA documents since declassified state that intelligence agencies had conducted over 700 missions using remote viewers, sometimes referred to in files as psychics. What's more, it would appear that the results are accurate around 80% of the time. For example, during the Iranian hostage crisis, remote viewers were asked to use their skills to locate where the hostages were, and more importantly, if they were still alive and in relative good health. According to Lynn Buchanan, they were also tasked with assessing the mindset and possible intentions of the Iranian government. Furthermore, following these remote viewing sessions and the apparent information they yielded, the U.S. government launched the ill-fated Operation Eagle Claw, a daring attempt to rescue the hostages. The plan was to launch eight rescue helicopters from the U.S. Nimitz, where they would land in a region dubbed Desert One, where six transport planes were waiting for them. From this location, the now enlarged units would head to a location tagged Desert Two, where the plan was to use rescue trucks to discreetly storm Tehran and the U.S. embassy. And what's more, the unit had orders to kill anyone who showed resistance to their rescue efforts. The mission, though, would run into several mechanical problems with vehicles, as well as a sudden sandstorm, and was ultimately abandoned. Even worse, during refueling for the return journey, the sandstorm caused further problems with vehicles, causing a helicopter and transport plane to crash into each other and explode. According to Buchanan, President Carter was informed of the crash by information from remote viewers ten minutes before he was informed from official channels. Buchanan also speaks of the incident that saw General Dozier taken hostage by Red Brigade terrorists in Padua, Italy in 1981. According to Buchanan's information, intelligence agencies were kept informed of Dozier's location and general health throughout the situation. Perhaps one of the most harrowing accounts of remote viewing, though, at least according to Buchanan, is the sessions conducted in order to discover the details of the Lockerbie bombing. Not so much for the information it revealed, but for the insight into how it must be to be able to remote view in such a way and just what is experienced by those who do so. Buchanan states that following the explosion of the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie in Scotland, quote, within seconds of the explosion, there were spirits of people walking the aisles, wondering what had happened, unquote. She would describe how the burning tongues of fire mixed with the blasts of icy cold wind coming from all sides, which would cause every sense organ to be in a state of total confusion and panic. She would recall that although the team of remote viewers did manage to provide information regarding the location of the bomb, the sessions were ones that would take many months to get over. The CIA loves to experiment with the human mind. Remote viewing was just the tip of the iceberg. Up next, we look at their MK Ultra Program and attempts at mind control. Are you a member of the Darkness Syndicate? 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Although many people do not like to admit it, mind control for want of a better phrase is a very real concept. So much so that such agencies as the CIA have spent considerable time, money, and resources over the years researching and experimenting with such notions. Although the seeds of mind control were in all probability sown during Operation Paperclip, it was United States soldiers' experiences in the Korean prison of war camps in the Korean War that seemed to directly influence the secret programs that followed. The US military found evidence that a lot of their captured soldiers had been brainwashed by the Korean regime, so much so that they would confess to crimes that there is no way they could possibly have committed. It appeared the communist regime had achieved this state of mind in their prisoners by the repeated threat and random implementation of violence. The CIA began to research achieving this state of mind control shortly after, but not through the use of extreme violence. Instead, they used drugs, in particular LSD and heroin, combined with hypnosis and fear. The patient would be put into a near coma-like state by the use of LSD, while at the same time a constant white noise interspersed with commands and repetitive speech was played to them. These commands included key words or triggers that would be used to have the patient carry out whatever assignment was programmed into them. The final stage to breaking down the patient's mind and gaining control over their behavior was through the use of electric shock treatment. MKUltra was earmarked to receive 6% of the overall CIA budget in the early 1950s. Make no mistake about it, that might not sound very high, but that is a lot of funding in absolute dollars, particularly when most might think the concept to be nothing more than science fiction. For their part, the CIA claimed that although they did conduct research into such concepts as mind control of the 1950s and 1960s, they found no evidence to justify continuing beyond that point. Even this admission only came about by the New York Times forcing the program into the public arena following their investigations in the mid-70s. Who incidentally or not, it was around this time that many of the records of the project were destroyed by the department themselves in an effort to cure the burgeoning paper problem. In an even darker turn, the body of Dr. Frank Olson, a CIA researcher who was outspoken in his opposition to the MKUltra program, was exhumed for investigation in the early 1990s because of his death had been ruled suicide. However, when his body was reexamined, scarring was discovered on his skull that suggested he had been attacked by someone using an instrument of sorts to the head. Essentially, there was good evidence that he had been murdered. Stranger still was the death of former CIA director William Colby, who had accidentally drowned in 1993, only days after being subpoenaed to testify in the investigation into Dr. Olson's death. Perhaps more concerning, as we will examine shortly, this activity doesn't appear to be limited to the political spectrum. As soon as you begin to speak of such things as mind control, mental conditioning, and low frequency programming, most people shut off in their minds while smiling and nodding politely. Perhaps this is a sign of how the collective human mind rejects such notions that normal people quote-unquote know our science fiction. The fact is, however, not only are there well-documented experiments with successful results on record to boot, there are also a wealth of credible claims of the implementation of this knowledge and technology on the world's population in general. Just for one moment, think how easy it is for a hypnotist to control the actions and perceptions of people. Many of us know someone who has been hypnotized, all attest to the strange notion that they are not in control of themselves, their thoughts, or even their actions. If this takes place for entertainment purposes, imagine what takes place at military and intelligence levels, in private and away from the public eye no less. Indeed, it evokes the question how many of our thoughts are truly our own and how many are subliminal implants. As chilling a thought as it may be, is there ever really a way for us to truly ever know? Dr. Jose Delgado would arrive at Yale University in 1950 to take a faculty position. It was here where Delgado would be one of the first people to theorize and then put into practice ways of utilizing transistor and electrical technology for the human body. Many were wary of Delgado and his Frankenstein-like approach to science, particularly so when they discovered his main body of work centered around electrical stimulation of the brain. Inspired by basic research on cats in Switzerland, Delgado was rightly convinced that by manipulating and controlling electrical stimuli in the brain, you could control the brain and its responses. Indeed, Delgado's desires were perhaps noble, citing as he often did how brutal the alternative of the time was, lobotomies. Managing to isolate which parts of the brain were responsible for which actions and responses, Delgado could send extra stimuli to specific areas and so essentially control the response. Initial experiments would concentrate on the forced moving of limbs of test patients through electrical stimulation. They would prove successful. By the mid-1950s, he would begin working with schizophrenic patients, people who would otherwise have been subject to lobotomies. In part, due to the increased risk of violent attacks, Delgado would invent the stemosever. This piece of equipment featured small wires inserted directly into the patient's skull. Electrical stimulation would then go directly to the desired area of the brain, dependent on the desired response via the safety of a remote control. Again, these tests proved successful. Unwittingly or not, Delgado would just created the technology and know-how for remote controlling a person's mind and in turn, their actions. Delgado would go on to evoke emotions at will through electrical stimulation. These would range from fear, happiness and joy to rage and even intense sexual attraction. While Delgado had originally set out to help mentally ill patients, he increasingly found himself down the path of all-out mind control. Perhaps ironically, it was one of the other of the world's rightly or wrongly perceived evils, the development of medical drugs or big pharma that finally derailed his initial intentions completely. As treatment with drugs made lobotomies a thing of the past and in turn, Delgado's electrical stimulation research no longer required, he sought to use his knowledge of such matters to control the brain and in so doing, controlling the person. Something that intelligence agencies openly or not would have had a great interest in. Perhaps in a way to humanize his ideas, Delgado would cite a need to control violent prisoners. His research could show exactly how to do this by the use of small implants in precise areas of the brain. These implants would then be under remote control. Delgado himself had already demonstrated their function in front of a live and angry bull. As the beast charged, Delgado stopped it dead in its tracks by remote control. Some public light-hearted mind control experiments occurred throughout the late 50s and 60s. Perhaps the most famous of these is the one with microsecond flashes of Coca-Cola products on cinema screens. The audience would not be aware they had seen the image, however, results would show sales of Coca-Cola increased during the next interval. These types of experiments would take place again many times. Surely though, knowing what we know about how the world's governments have at times conducted themselves over the years, it would be naive to think these harmless experiments to increase the purchase of soft drinks were all that went ahead. In fact, it is quite conceivable many worse experiments continue even today. Research even exists to show that subliminal audio messages sent out under typical piping music in shopping centers urging people not to steal resulted in a huge drop in shoplifting cases. Again, while the intention is undoubtedly a good one, the potential as extreme as it is for an instruction of don't steal to become kill everyone is surely a matter of simple technical alterations. After the Oklahoma City bombing, their perpetrator Timothy McVeigh claimed that he was microchipped while in the military. Is it possible this microchip, in the same way as the experiments run by Delgado controlled patients behavior, have the same effect on the apparent perpetrator? Particularly if they had access to McVeigh privately as they would to perhaps implant such technological devices? Given we know that such subliminal audio instructions were hidden under the sound of pipe music in shopping centers, then we also know that the technology exists for this covert way of programming. As a further example, just think of your television, radio, or even wireless broadband connections. These are basically waves that are converted to images and sound, but they are still frequency waves nonetheless. So what's to say that waves broadcast through television if only on occasion at such a low frequency we are not even aware we've heard it? In the summer of 1993, journalist Susan Bryce wrote of such technologies. Perhaps more importantly, the knowledge of how the human mind responded to it in an article for Exposure Magazine. She suggested that sound waves timed to the rhythm of the human heartbeat of 72 pulses per minute can have controlling effects on human behavior. She went on to detail experiments done in public theaters with random audiences using such a formula. The experiment would show that one in six people went on to develop the desired result. If a person exposes themselves to these low frequency waves, in a matter of minutes, they will, for want of a better phrase, be under their spell. If this was the information entering the public arena, how much further were they in reality and how much further are they likely to be now? As we've established then, many dismiss the idea of mind control, but each of us is subject to manipulation of the mind every time we watch advertising on television, for instance. As a more physical example, think of a hypnotist who can put people completely under their control. Speak to someone who's been hypnotized and more often than not, they'll tell you they had absolutely no control over their actions or perhaps, more worryingly, of their perception. If someone that any one of us can hire right out of the phone book for entertainment or for minor medical reasons can take over our minds, imagine what intelligence agencies with unlimited budgets, confidential information, and advanced technologies can achieve. More chillingly, imagine their motivations. In April 2018, an apparent leaking of information regarding such concepts and research found its way to Muckrock, who have since made the information widely available. It's not clear if this leak was purposeful or accidental, or indeed if it is merely a hoax or disinformation. Some of the ideas expressed in it, however, have been long discussed with conspiracy communities and within the pages of the works of respected researchers. Furthermore, it's widely accepted that intelligence agencies have researched these ideas. How far this research went, if it continues, and its possible inflammation is open to debate. In a world of increasing disinformation and secret agendas, it would be perhaps naive to not take such claims with a pinch of salt. It would also, however, be rather foolish to ignore such information completely. The website who received the information specialized in Freedom of Information acts and regularly seek and publish information that might otherwise be glossed over in the public arena. One of the journalists working for the site, Curtis Waltman, had recently requested information from Washington State Fusion Center, WSFC, who processed data on terrorism and extremists. Waltman was looking for information relating to both white supremacist groups as well as the anti-fascist group Antifa. His request was approved and the information he sought arrived electronically shortly after. He also received another zip file, which didn't appear to be relevant to his request, but it would still catch his attention. It was called EM Effects on the Human Body. The three documents featured a breakdown of effects on the human body from psychoelectronic weapons as well as ways to project this energy. According to the documents, communication vans would carry and utilize psychotronic weapons covertly for individual remote mind control while black helicopters would do so from the air. Phone and communication towers would send out such signals so as to achieve mass mind control over whole communities at a time. As well as mind control, these include reading and broadcasting thoughts, controlled dreaming, hearing voices and commands inside a person's head, and forced waking visions. Some of the more physical effects included sudden racing of the heart, artificial tinnitus, sudden and persistent itching and general pain in joints and muscles. The documents also speak of making communications with any object emitting energy due to the human body emitting low electronic signals or vibrational frequencies. It is certainly an interesting incident and the documents looked to have been in existence for some time. In 1992, Australian magazine Nexus used similar images in an article they covered regarding John St. Clair Akiwi, who during a lawsuit against the NSA would claim the agency has the ability to covertly murder U.S. citizens and conduct psychological control operations to cause certain individuals to be diagnosed as insane. The details of the case and the claims made it read like a science fiction novel. You have to ask, given the immense power the NSA would have to act legally to such accusations, what would anyone have to gain from making such statements in a U.S. court? Akiwi would state that the NSA had blanket coverage of electronic communications in the U.S. and the world in the name of security. Furthermore, this dated back to the 1940s with some of the most advanced computers in the world operating out of Fort Meade since the early 1960s. Of more interest though are the claims that the NSA had the ability to decode electromagnetic frequency EMF waves projected by electric currents of the magnetic flux which surrounds each person. Further still, in a joint program with the Department of Defense, the technology exists to remotely analyze all objects whether man-made or organic that have electrical activity. According to the case, the NSA had in excess over 50,000 agents, each of whom had advanced permission to spy on any person they deemed to be of interest. The Electronic Surveillance Network stretched the entire United States and could focus on entire groups or concentrate on one individual. Much of what Akiwi would claim back in the early 1990s is proving to be true, if only in part. He would state that the NSA has nanotechnology computers that are 15 years ahead of what the public knows. Furthermore, due to the blanket coverage enjoyed by the agency, artificial intelligence would screen all communications for key words which it then flagged to agents. We know this is exactly what happens today in the name of security and not just in the U.S. Perhaps of more concern is the ability of the technology to be able to tune in to the remote frequency of individual personal computers. This can then change the data of the circuit board. In effect, this gave such agencies remote control of the computer. This allowed them to monitor as well as plant data onto the computer itself. Even more chilling still are the claims of the ability to tap into the electrical signals in the brain and then decode them through computer technology, even projecting images and words of such decoded signals, essentially the ability to read any subjects' thoughts at will. It is interesting that more and more stories appear on our newsfeeds about cars driving through brain power or computers that carry out commands at the power of a person's thoughts. In the early 1990s at the time of this case was claims of the utilization of EMF brain stimulation by the U.S. military. This allowed for brain-to-computer links for flying military aircraft remotely. It is not an unreasonable stretch of the imagination to think the technology available to such secret agencies today is far beyond what most of us could imagine possible. Through this remote neural monitoring, RNM, the agency also has the ability to send encoded signals. These go to the auditory cortex area of an individual's brain. This, according to the claim, would allow audio communication direct to the brain. The individual, however, would not hear it or even be aware their brain had heard it. To them, any reaction to this invisible voice would, at best, merely seem to be their own thoughts. At worst, however, the symptoms of auditory hallucinations would likely be diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia. All of this is done without any contact whatsoever with the individual. The RNM also maps out the electrical signals from the visual cortex of an individual's brain. Once these are decoded, they project images onto a computer screen. This allows the operative to see what the subject's eyes are seeing, as well as images through thoughts and dreams. Also, in the same way that voices can be sent into the brain and bypass the ears, so can images enter directly into an individual's visual cortex and bypass the eyes and optic nerves. It would give complete control over any individual. As well as altering perceptions and moods, these signals could even induce death should the mission require it. It is a thought that should be very sobering to many of us, for many reasons, at least of which how in control of our actions are we. For example, and just to play devil's advocate for a moment, how many times have we heard a vicious killer state they heard voices telling them to kill? One theory, mind control was used to assassinate Robert Kennedy. Was the man convicted of the murder controlled by some external voice to do it? Weird darkness returns in just a moment. It is the dark and lonely road. You drive, you're tired, and falling asleep behind the wheel. The windows are down, the cool air blowing through your hair as you crank up the stereo. AC DC blurs on the radio, and you're screaming out the chorus. Then a set of headlights emerges from the darkness, and your night has become a nightmare. Welcome to Last Exit, an anthology of 17 horrific tales where life on the road can sometimes take a dark and unexpected turn. Last Exit by Jason R. Davis, narrated by Weird Darkness host Darren Marlar. Here are free samples on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com. These methods, according to details of the case, were extremely cost effective to implement. They could also achieve this whole hiding in plain sight in the already expansive communications network throughout the country. As a further aid to remote mind control projects was the access the agency had to the residential tap water and air ducts of the homes of potential subjects, one would imagine apartment blocks and the like would make ideal targets for this. This allowed for the delivery of drugs to unaware residents, which would make them more receptive to programming. Remember, there were similar methods of utilizing LSD by the CIA in the MK Ultra projects. John St. Clairacuey would also claim to have been a victim of two-way R&M communications in an effort to incapacitate the plaintiff and prevent the lawsuit coming to court. By having access to each individual's brain waves, agencies could then send covert signals to the brain. They would then monitor the responses to various stimuli. Each person has a different bioelectric frequency, so this monitoring must occur in order to penetrate individuals with precise commands. Despite the efforts of Acuey, there were no charges against any agents of the NSA, nor against the NSA as a whole. Although Nexus Magazine would attempt to follow up the details, Acuey would refuse to speak any further about the matter. He has since seemingly left the public eye. The details do leave us a lot to think about, though, as do the recent files sent to the aforementioned Waltman. And we know the intelligence agencies have a collective interest in this area. It would appear there will prove to be a certain amount of truth in such claims. Although we will examine the possible reasons the recently leaked file may have come to light and how events unfolding might relate to it in a moment, we have to ask why would agencies have such an interest in the thoughts of each and every individual? And perhaps more importantly, why would they influence their own citizens in such a way? The reasons likely stem from the mundane, by more beer, to the extremely concerning, go out and kill people. Further to that, if such events are predetermined, 9-11, for a sake of argument, but are to be sold to the public as a tragic incident, such electronic messages are invaluable. The conscious person has no idea their brain has received these, and they only serve to back up the angles and projections of the various media and news outlets. The vast majority of which incidentally get their news from the official source, which is usually the respective country's government. Whether it is how we spend our money, how we conduct ourselves, or what we believe as right and wrong, all it seems are subject to mental hijacking at any given moment, and all of them hand control over to those with the technology to carry out such operations. We often say, for example, that there is something in the air when referring to people in a bad mood, or that there is an atmosphere in certain situations, that something or atmosphere as outlandish as it sounds might very well be electrical waves influencing emotion and mood. Perhaps the most high-profile murder connected to mind control is that of Robert Kennedy. Only months before, at least according to most opinion polls at the time, he would become President of the United States. After speaking at an event at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California, to accept being made the Democratic candidate for the upcoming 1968 election, and a parent crazed and lone gunman stepped from the crowd of supporters and shot Kennedy several times at point-blank range. The gunman named Sirhan Sirhan was caught in the seconds following the shots he had fired. The gun wrestled out of his hand by those that tackled him to the ground. By the time he appeared in court, charged with Robert Kennedy's murder, it seemed the evidence against him was overwhelming. He admitted to the killing, claiming he had carried out the act due to Kennedy's proposal to send the U.S. Air Force on missions that targeted Palestine. Notebooks of Sirhan's appeared to back this up, as his writings spoke extensively about his desire to kill Kennedy and why. A witness was even found by the prosecution, Alvin Clark, Sirhan's garbage collector, who said that Sirhan had confided in him of his plans to kill the Democratic nominee. While the defense pleaded with the jury that the killing was carried out by a mentally ill man, he was predictably convicted of Kennedy's murder. He was sentenced to life in prison after his original death sentence was commuted on appeal. However, since then, apparent new evidence has come to light, not least of which statements made by Sirhan himself. Although he accepts that he did physically pull the trigger that evening, he has no memory of doing it. In fact, not only does Sirhan claim not to remember the shooting, he claims not to remember his trial either. The reason he and others believe is because he had been programmed to carry out the killing. Sirhan soon claimed that he had no memory of his actions that evening. What's more, there began to be a suspicion among the investigators and researchers that the young Palestinian was the victim of mind control. Many cited a strange woman in a polka dot dress who was clearly seen in photos and video footage of that evening, before seemingly disappearing in the moments following Sirhan discharging the weapon into the would-be president's chest. During questioning, under hypnosis, Sirhan responded when asked who he was with when he shot Kennedy. Girl, the girl, the girl! Was this mystery lady Sirhan's handler, in charge of activating him into a pre-determined action by a key word or signal, one that his brain had no choice but to obey? There were also claims that there was a strong CIA presence at the Ambassador Hotel that evening, despite the fact that the agency had no jurisdiction or reason to be there. One of these agents was named on the BBC News Night Show in 2006 as David Morales. It is claimed that Morales was known to have hated the Kennedy brothers due to what he saw as the betrayal of John Kennedy over the planned Bay of Pigs operation. The former attorney of Morales, Robert Walton, spoke on the show, claiming his one-time client had admitted to him that he had indeed been present at both of the brothers' deaths. Given that the CIA are known to have conducted extensive research, at the very least, into the concept of mind control, it is at least a little suspicious that they are now known to have been present at two of the most controversial assassinations of the 20th century. When the conspiracies that surround John Kennedy's death are taken into account, particularly that a lot of those are all but proven to be true, it is not at all beyond the realms of possibility that the claims and conspiracies surrounding his younger brother Robert are not also grounded in truth. In January 2017, a gunman entered Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Florida and opened fire, killing five people. He had apparently taken a gun that was in his packed luggage and calmly began firing a weapon. One of the first reports that seemed a surface about the gunman, once his identity had been released to the media as 26-year-old Esteban Santiago, was that he had complained to the FBI only two months earlier that he had been a victim of mind control at the hands of the CIA. Santiago, who had recently served as a National Guardsman, made the announcement after arriving at the Alaskan FBI offices in Anchorage, according to witnesses in a state of distress. Not only did he inform agents who spoke with him that his mind had been infiltrated somewhat, but that the agency had seemingly urged him to fight for terror organizations against the United States. They did this, he said, by way of subjecting him to constant propaganda-type footage, something that is a known mind control technique. The FBI, at least officially, determined that Santiago was essentially crying out for help and medical attention and did not put any stock in his claims. He was soon transferred to a nearby medical facility for treatment. Whether Santiago's claims have any truth to them, or whether he was another victim of the time he spent in the war in Iraq, time that perhaps weakened an already troubled mind to breaking point, is something that will be debated for some time yet. Perhaps one of the most intriguing conspiracies surrounding apparent mind control and secret experiments of the intelligence agencies are those that surround the Polybius arcade game, not least as no one is quite sure if the apparent intelligence gathering, mind-altering arcade ever even existed. Legend has it they disappeared as quickly as they appeared. I did an episode on Polybius more in-depth than we'll go into here and I'll link to that episode in the show notes. The apparent origins of the Polybius conspiracy appear to stretch back to some time in the early 1980s in Portland, Oregon, a state sandwiched between the state of Washington to the north and California and Nevada to the south on the western coast of the United States. Perhaps this location then, if there is a conspiracy here to examine, would be ideally quieter and much more low-key than its apparently other better-known neighbors, particularly their southern ones. According to the urban legends of the Polybius conspiracy, in early 1981 a new and suddenly popular arcade game began appearing in arcade halls around various areas of Portland. In fact, so popular was the new Polybius game that many players became seemingly addicted to playing. Furthermore, huge crowds of onlookers would form around such players, as well as large lines of players waiting their turn to insert their coins and take control of the apparently simple one joystick and button setup with far advanced hypnotic graphics. If the legends are to be believed and according to some researchers who have tracked down gamers of that era, many serious fights would often break out regarding whose game or turn was next. Even more bizarre were the tales of several strange side effects of the game. According to the accounts, some players would become extremely sick following long-term exposure to the game. Some would even experience unsettling nightmares while others couldn't sleep at all despite feeling desperately tired. Then there were the men in black. According to many accounts and pretty central to the legend were the visits and quiet monitoring of the arcade halls that housed the Polybius game by the men in black. It's not entirely clear if these men in black are the men in black associated with UFO and alien sightings or if it is simply a reference to dark-suited men in general. Indeed, it would appear if we assume there is at least partial truth in the claims for a moment that these mystery dark-suited watchers were likely from one intelligence agency or another. Not only would they monitor the premises and seemingly keep check of who went in and out of such establishments, they would regularly replace components in the back of the games according to some removing collected data for analysis. What was particularly strange, at least according to one arcade owner, it was only the information they took, apparently having no interest in the plethora of quarters inside. They also seemingly had a strange interest in those who played the Polybius games, particularly the ones who got sick. Rumors began to spread that the makers of the game had links to military technology, particularly in behavior modification algorithms. Many people who claim to have either played the Polybius game or of seeing it played recall many strange attention-getting sounds, but more specifically very hypnotic colors and patterns combined with puzzle-solving elements that truly engage the mind. Then, after a little over a month, the Polybius games seemingly overnight just disappeared. None have been seen since. What should we make of the Polybius conspiracy? There are several explanations available, as well as several theories as to their purpose. One explanation points to an apparent world record attempt where two players became ill on the same day at the same arcade where they had been playing Tempest and Asteroid for over 24 hours. Furthermore, and apparently by pure coincidence, an FBI investigation into apparent illegal gambling resulted in several suited agents witnessed by gamers in the days leading up to a sting operation that saw several arcades raided just after a week following the aforementioned world record arcade playing attempts. Further still, it wasn't at all unusual for game companies to select certain arcade stores to test out new games. Sometimes these machines might be there several months, others, however, only a matter of weeks. Might this have been the case with the Polybius game? Indeed, there could well be some merit in this. After all, many legends, urban or otherwise, have twisted retellings from unclear memories of an actual event. But an actual event, nonetheless. However, it wouldn't explain why no apparent records of a game have come to light. Perhaps then there is something to be revealed regarding the apparently mind-altering arcade game of the early 1980s. Others, on the other hand, state that Polybius conspiracy to be nothing more than an outright hoax of the Internet age. Of course, such perspectives, if we assume intelligence agencies were behind such secret programs, would suit them and their agenda perfectly. Today, almost four decades later, the Polybius conspiracy remains a topic for debate. If there was any truth, even in the notion of such mind-altering research taking place right under the public's nose, then what should we make of such over-the-counter entertainment for games consoles and the plethora of television stations that equally captivated audiences day and night? Indeed, looking back to the Polybius conspiracy for just a moment, just what messages, instructions, or thoughts subliminally or otherwise remembered or stored in a person's subconscious were being communicated? And more importantly, for what aim or end goal? It would be hard to imagine, for example, that such an experiment was some kind of marketing to influence purchasing or spending. So what then was the purpose? Let's look at the apparent regular reading of information and data from this most mysterious machine for a moment. What influence on the mind and the data it would provide would be of interest to intelligence agencies. We know that such use of computer simulation, straight out of the arcade and games industry, is widespread in training soldiers today. However, we would imagine that such tests, if they were to take place, would do so in military campuses away from the public. If there was some kind of secret operation taking place in the Portland region in 1981, it would appear this field experiment, open to several variables, was likely monitoring the results of some kind of influence on a mass or relatively widespread audience. And, as we have seen before, in both conspiracy circles and in the UFO community, one of the best ways to discredit something is to surround it with disinformation and false claims. It is certainly an element of the Mind Control experiments worth keeping on our mental backburners. Is Mind Control being used to control Hollywood and the media by the CIA using MKUltra? Some believe so, up next. I've already ordered it, waiting for this thing to arrive. I can't believe they're coming out with it before the holidays. This candy cane brownie bar, you'd think that would be a Christmas thing. Maybe it's left over from Christmas in July. I don't know, but it's there at the moment, so I'm grabbing it. But they've got a lot of limited flavors that are in there right now, and they'll disappear soon. That's why they're limited. They've got a very vanilla bar, they've got a strawberry cheesecake. I also ordered a double peanut butter puff, which has the marshmallow fluff on the inside. Still, only 150 calories, 17 grams of protein. Amazing. If you want to check it out yourself, go to WeirdDarkness.com slash Built, and you can try them for yourself. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash Built. And if you use the promo code WeirdDarkness, all one word, you can get 10% off your entire order. WeirdDarkness.com slash Built Weird Darkness is your promo code. There have been numerous claims that Hollywood is run by dark powers, possibly connected to the Illuminati, and that various forms of mind control are exercised. Roseanne Barr's claims that such CIA programs as MKUltra ruling Hollywood is also one shared by many. And it has more weight than many might think. The CIA, for example, has a dedicated department whose sole purpose is to monitor and oversee the entertainment industry. Although the entertainment industry liaison office acts purely in an advisory manner, many argue its purpose is to ensure certain slants, angles, and messages are put across in blockbuster films and big productions. The fact that they offer monetary assistance in this capacity should be warning enough. Journalist Carl Bernstein wrote extensively about how the CIA has influence in media outlets and used this to sway public opinion on a whole range of social and political matters. There is a project codenamed Mockingbird and was arguably at its most active during the Cold War years, although it is still very much alive today. Remember, the most basic form of mind control is simply repetition. The constant barrage of advertising, marketing backed up by popular public and social opinion is enough to coerce many to act, purchase, and believe in a certain way. As far-fetched as it might seem, it is perhaps important to remember that the owners of Hollywood companies, which include many major record labels, also own huge corporations in the food, health, and energy industries referred to as big food, big pharma, and big oil. For many, the stars that we are encouraged to idolize and want to emulate are simply programmed tools of such huge companies. Although it can be argued that she has a personal gripe with those concerned, Roseanne Barr is just one of many industry insiders who claim Hollywood is littered with evidence of MK Ultra infiltration, and you can counter-argue that the reason she might have a personal gripe is that she dared to speak up about the inner workings of Hollywood in the first place. Barr spoke to RT News in 2018 where she stated that mind control is used in Hollywood and that people are controlled through other mediums, primarily fear, saying, this is a culture of fear and nobody is more fearful than people in Hollywood. Hollywood are the ones who keep all this culture of racism and sexism and classism and genderism and all of that in place. They continually feed it and make a lot of money doing it, and they do it at the behest of their masters who run everything. The use of the phrase, their masters, is an interesting choice of words. Many who subscribe to New World Order theories often use this term. Controversial author and researcher David Ike also uses this term a lot in his works and theories regarding the inner workings of those in power. Barr goes on to claim that many people in Hollywood quietly approach her and thank her for speaking out, something she acknowledges she is lucky to be able to do. You don't really want to put yourself at odds with people who decide your future and pay for your work, she said, but sometimes you have to. I was very lucky that I had a successful show that made me a lot of money, and so I can do that, speak out, and feel I owe that to the people I came from who can't do that because they're afraid they'll be fired, or they're afraid even that they will be put in jail. MK Ultra rules in Hollywood, there is a danger if you don't toe the line that you'll never work again, and people know it. Everyone has friends that it has happened to. Maybe you said too much or maybe you were too vocal on popular issues. Barr went on to state that even if those popular issues become mainstream acceptance, they, Hollywood, still don't forgive the first person that does it. This is also an interesting assertion by Barr. Perhaps a good example of this recently would be Benedict Cumberbatch, who after making critical remarks about how the governments of Europe and indeed much of the general public had handled the ongoing refugee crisis, quietly backtracked from his stance and expressed regret for his comments. Before we look at some of those dark sides of mind control though, one recent episode involving another celebrity melting down in full view of the public is just too strange to ignore. Wakanya West is a circus unto himself for the most part. When he began to enter into strange rambling rants on stage in November 2016, it was bizarre even for him. Not least due to the content of these ramblings, in particular he was an alien star seed who was on a mission to help the earth. He was quickly hospitalized, said to be suffering from sleep deprivation. He entered the facility handcuffed to a gurney which was quickly seized upon by conspiracy theorists and celebrity culture writers alike. Perhaps not surprisingly then, some believed his admittance for medical attention was likely more in line with him being reprogrammed, possibly for attempting to speak out on certain issues or even just to repair a mind ravaged from past programming. Indeed, when he appeared with the President-elect Donald Trump shortly after his release from hospital in December 2016, he seemed to be a little removed from reality around him. He appeared more than dazed and the appearance itself was questionable if only for its apparent randomness. While it is known that Trump likes to surround himself with well-known people and celebrities such as West, and despite as his claims that they were old friends and spoke about life, the meeting did come across as staged purely for the world to see. While it is likely the pop star simply lost his mind for a little while and was in desperate need of treatment, the similarities of other breakdowns of suspected celebrity victims of MKUltra is interesting at the very least. Some theorists who've researched and studied MKUltra and its victims state that around the age of 30, the brain begins to go into a meltdown of sorts. This is due to the constant programming and breaking down of the mind, often since a very young age. Supporters of this theory often look to Britney Spears and her infamous meltdown in 2007 as proof of their claims. Following supposed stints in rehab, footage of Spears surfaced on the internet of her with a clean shaven head, apparently an act she had done to herself. When asked why she had done this, a witness stated she replied she was tired of people touching her and she didn't want them plugging things into her. To some, this statement was an obvious reference to mind control procedures. These theories intensified when in January 2008 it was reported that Spears had multiple personalities after she began addressing people in a full British accent. This was, according to sources close to her, referred to as the British girl and is just one of many personalities she has. Even actor, writer, director and ufologist Dan Aykroyd told in 2008 of how he noticed strange men in black listening and monitoring phone calls he made to Spears in the run-up up to an interview they were due to film for TV, an interview which incidentally didn't run and was suddenly shut down. Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes has exhibited remarkably similar behavior to that of Spears, leading many to believe she is simply another in a long list of controlled media stars. Just one of her tweets read, I will not be manipulated or brainwashed by anyone anymore. The claims of electrical frequencies matching those of brain waves is also an interesting assertion. Particularly when the Tetra terrestrial trunked radio masks began to appear in locations around the UK, the US and Europe. These new communications systems are officially to aid the police and emergency services in times of crisis. Some people however are more than suspicious. They claim that the frequency Tetra operates on is almost identical to brainwave frequency. This means signals can project directly to the brain and so influence behavior. As a side note to an already grim notion is that these electrical frequencies are close to the frequencies of the human body in general. This could cause cell division and ultimately serious health problems. Research scientist Barry Trower is just one of many who suspects government's non-public research allows them to hoodwink the public. They also dismiss any cases that might prove this notion as not providing conclusive proof. This is virtually impossible to give in any situation. It is also interesting regarding the claims for a QA of the two-way RNM communications, essentially that intelligence agencies were attempting to control his mind so he would decide not to pursue the case. Given how it fizzled out and his ultimate reluctance to speak about it, maybe they eventually succeeded. Other conspiracy theorists and researchers however have made similar assertions, although their perception of it was much different. Max Spears for example would state on several occasions he was subject to astral attacks of those in lofty positions. David Ike is another who states the elite even do this among themselves, jockeying for positions of influence and power. While it is unclear of the intention behind the recent file, perhaps there is a connection to Waltman's original request. Steadily, there appears specifically in the West to be increasing amounts of people taking more and more definite and inflexible positions. There was less middle ground to negotiate and increasing tribal attitudes of you are either with us or against us. In short, there is more division among the people than apparently anytime in recent history. Might it be that these files arrived with Waltman following his requests on such apparently opposing groups purposely? To have him make the connection that this current division is also purposeful. Perhaps these files illustrate why this change is occurring throughout the West. A middle ground allows people with different viewpoints to compromise and find a solution that is inclusive and mutually beneficial. Left against right, us against them and other such nonsense stops this progress. This makes all of us far easier to control, preoccupied as we are arguing and battling with each other. And as grim and speculative as it is, the more divided we are, the more the need for state solutions. Are we dividing and ultimately weakening ourselves without even realizing it? Maybe we should collectively ask ourselves, in a world of convenient echo chambers and cries of fake news as a protective measure against inconvenient truths, are our thoughts, feelings and even our motivations truly our own? This has been a very chilling episode. If you don't believe so, then who knows? Maybe you have been programmed to dismiss what you've just heard. The words question everything would appear to have never been more appropriate. Thanks for listening. If you liked the show, please share it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters or unsolved mysteries like you do. You can email me anytime with your questions or comments at darron at weirddarkness.com. Darron is D-A-R-R-E-N. Weirddarkness.com is also where you can find information on any of the sponsors you've heard about during the show, find all of my social media, listen to audio books I've narrated, sign up for the email newsletter, find other podcasts that I host, including Church of the Undead, visit the store for Weirddarkness merchandise and more. Weirddarkness.com is also where you can find the Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts. Also on the website, if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell, you can click on Tell Your Story. You can find all of that and more at Weirddarkness.com. All stories on Weird Darkness are reported to be true unless stated otherwise and you can find links to the stories or the authors in the show notes. The U.S. government dabbles in the occult was written by Colin Dickey for the New Republic. Remote viewing in the CIA and Mind Control and MKUltra was written by Marcus Louth for UFO Insight. I also have links to all of the books and videos mentioned in this episode which are quite a few. You can find them in the show notes. Weirddarkness is a registered trademark. Copyright, Weirddarkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Romans 12 verse 2. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, is good, pleasing and perfect will. In a final thought, one believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them. Aldous Huxley from Brave New World. And a final, final thought. Until you realize how easy it is for your mind to be manipulated, you remain the puppet of someone else's game, Avita O'Shell. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weirddarkness.