Conspiracies are Part of the American Fabric

The United States is still young when compared to many other countries in the world, but in its short history, the nation has gained a reputation for mysteries and conspiracies.

Beginning as early as 1790, Jedediah Morse, a Massachusetts minister, gained national attention after making claims about a group he called the Bavarian Illuminati. According to Morse, the Illuminati was a secret group working to “Abolish Christianity, and overturn all civil government.”

Unlike many modern day conspiracy theories, this proposal was not completely inaccurate. There was a group known as the Bavarian Illuminati, which held beliefs similar to those described by Morse. The only issue, they were based out of Germany. This real secret society became the groundwork for countless modern conspiracies, which claim that other Illuminati-adjacent groups still secretly control our world to this day.

While today many can look back upon people like Morse and think to themselves, “Why did he believe that?” we have progressed much less than it may appear. Even now, with an entire world of information at our fingertips, people will still choose to believe outlandish theories with little evidence. One current example is the infamous Q-Anon, the conspiracy theory that morphed into a Far-Right political movement. The cult-like following of the theory is due in large part to misinformation from the Internet, and the radical passion of the modern political-sphere.

Platforms like Facebook and Twitter can radicalize regular people into tinfoil-hat wearing maniacs, to no fault of their own. Fake News and disinformation has become a plague on the internet, and these sites do little to combat it. Many older individuals struggle to determine fact from fiction, which leads to things like anti-5G theories or the use of Ivermectin to treat Covid. However, the presence of false theories does not change the existence of real life conspiracies and their impact on our history.

The MKUltra project was a series of top secret experiments performed and funded by the CIA, assisted by several other organizations with varying levels of knowledge regarding the project's true nature. Taking place in the midst of the Cold War, MKUltra’s main goal was to test and develop different methods of mind-control before the Soviets could do the same. The experiments took on a sense of urgency thanks to the ongoing cold conflict with the USSR, and the belief that the Soviets were ahead of them in this psionic arms-race.

The MKUltra researchers spent years testing numerous illegal drugs, torture methods, and more on unsuspecting citizens. Victims of the testing were dosed with drugs ranging from psilocybin and LSD to ecstasy and methamphetamine, subjected to electroshock therapy, or even placed in medically induced comas for extended periods of time.

It was widely believed by the men behind MK Ultra that psychedelic drugs could be the key to unlocking mind-control and other psychic abilities. The researchers tested any number of different variations to try and achieve this effect.

One tactic adopted by the CIA was demonstrated in Operation Midnight Climax (yes, that’s the actual name.) Under this project, the researchers had free rein to test illicit substances on unsuspecting citizens. Their method of drawing in targets employed prostitutes on CIA payroll, who’d bring men back to a safe house. At said house, subjects were secretly dosed with drugs while being observed through one-way glass by CIA operatives. The experiment’s intended purpose was to study the effects of sexual behavior and drugging to extract information from targets. However, the project ended up becoming an excuse for federal agents to indulge in prostitutes and drugs using taxpayer money.

The projects taking place under the MKUltra umbrella weren’t just hazardous to the test subjects, even the researchers weren’t safe from danger during the experiments. One example was Frank Olson, an American bacteriologist working for the Army and CIA on biological weapon technology. In November 1953, Olson attended a work retreat with colleagues from Fort Derrick and the CIA. Another attendee of the semi-monthly retreat was Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA chemist who is now seen as the father of MKUltra. Upon arrival at the retreat, Gottlieb dosed Olson and some of his coworkers with LSD in their liquor.

In the days following his dose of the “potential truth serum,” Olson was reported to be acting distant, erratic and refusing to eat. The experience caused him enough distress to try and resign from his job, allegedly stating to his wife, “I’ve made a terrible mistake.” Olson returned home early from work on November 24, Frank told his wife, “They’re afraid I might hurt you,” before informing her that he would be undergoing psychiatric treatment. Accompanied by two coworkers, Frank flew to New York City the same day. Less than a week later, Olson would plummet from the window of his hotel room. The death was ruled a suicide by investigators, who ignored any information that pointed towards something more sinister.

Following the investigation, Frank’s relatives had a second autopsy conducted, which found evidence of injuries on his body that appeared to have been inflicted before he plummeted from the window. In spite of the mysterious circumstances, the Olson family eventually reached a settlement with the government, receiving an apology from then-president Gerald Ford and CIA director William Colby. Along with the apology, the estate accepted a $750,000 payout from the Government in exchange to drop their charges.

Though MKUltra had no reported success with its human experiments, beyond giving them agonizing trauma, there was one horrifying experiment that seemingly went according to plan. According to a letter released through a FOIA request, six dogs were operated on by scientists. The animals had electrodes surgically implanted into their skulls and affixed to their brains. This allowed the researchers to “remote control” the animals over a 100-200 meter radius, commanding the dog’s movement to walk around a field and run in circles.

News of MKUltra did not reach public attention until 1975, two years after experiments were reported to have ceased. The Rockefeller Commission, a congressional committee established to investigate CIA activities, originally shed light on the experiments. However, this effort was hindered by CIA director Richard Helms’ order to burn all documents pertaining to the project. Following this purge of documents, all that survives are scraps of evidence, eyewitness testimonies, and the scars of the victims of these tests.

While the CIA and other organizations will claim MKUltra ended decades ago, we have no way to know for sure. The declassification of hundreds of the experiments and documents may point to the project being finished, but the public had no idea about these experiments as they happened. There is a chance that many of these experiments and tactics could still be in use today by our own government. Our general understanding of MKUltra is almost definitely incomplete. The purge of experiment records should already suggest that fact, but it’s made even more definitive by the nature of the project. It serves the government little benefit to reveal all the details of the clandestine, inhumane experiments they allowed to be conducted.