“While the court must limit its analysis to the four corners of the complaint, the skeptical reader may wish to know that the public record supports many of the allegations [in the family’s suit], farfetched as they may sound.” U.S. District Judge James Boasberg — Frank Olson Case

The Guardian just published the plot of season one of ‘Stranger Things’. Sometimes reality is truly stranger than fiction. The story of the CIA program MK-ULTRA is definitely one of these truly bizarre episodes of the cold war. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

UPDATE — The circumstances of the highly suspicious death of former CIA scientist Dr. Frank Olson should be better known to the Americans. I plan to write a post about this affair… Is this an old story? A recent MIT experiment shows that people’s mind — and therefore decisions –can be affected by electromagnetic waves. When exposed to GSM-like radiations, the subjects systematically display lower moral standards. Officially MK-ULTRA has been shut down. Not everyone is convinced.– END of UPDATE

With its blend of 1980s nostalgia, pesky kids on BMXs, Stephen King-style small town horror and pulsing synth soundtrack, Stranger Things has been one of the TV hits of the summer.

But just as strange as its plot about a missing child, a freaky Demogorgon monster, the bizarre Upside Down parallel dimension and Winona Ryder’s obsession with Christmas lights is the story behind Project MK-Ultra, the real-life inspiration for the show’s shadowy government research facility. From the walkie-talkies to Winona Ryder herself, the new Netflix show is fun, creepy – and couldn’t be more of a retro-fest if it had neon eyeshadow or a glowing fingertip When police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) uncovers a reference to MKUltra in the evil Dr Brenner’s past (thanks to a diligent search of microfiche newspaper cuttings), it’s a nod to viewers that series creators, the Duffer brothers, were drawing not just their love of Spielberg but also a moment when truth was as strange as fiction.

MK-ULTRA

Project MKUltra has gone down in the annals of conspiracy theory as one of the most bizarre footnotes in the clandestine history of the US secret services. A covert CIA programme started in the early 1950s, it expanded its remit to research everything from mind control to telepathy, ESP, psychic warfare and “remote viewing”.

Although the bulk of the programme’s records were destroyed after it was shut down in 1973 (further adding to the sense of mystery), a 1977 Senate select committee hearing (“Project MKUltra, the CIA’s Program of Research in Behavioral Modification”) confirmed the most notorious avenue of research – that agents “drugged American citizens without their knowledge”. Most notably by conducting illicit experiments with LSD in the hope that it would be the ultimate truth serum, capable of breaking down enemy agents.

Documentary

“Mind Control – America’s Secret War” is part of the popular series from the History Channel that investigates some of civilization’s unsolved mysteries and controversies. This episode goes deep inside the American government’s intelligence operations to investigate its secret studies and experiments in mind control. Much information was gleaned from documents accessed under the Freedom of Information Act. An interview with John Marks, author of In Search of the Manchurian Candidate, adds many facts that he believes the government does not want its citizens to know.

Major Frank Olson

Frank Rudolph Olson (July 17, 1910 – November 28, 1953) was an American bacteriologist, biological warfare scientist, and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee who worked at Camp Detrick (now Fort Detrick) in Maryland. In rural Maryland, he was covertly dosed with LSD by his CIA supervisor and, nine days later, plunged to his death from the window of a New York City hotel room. Some — including the U.S. government — term his death a suicide, while others allege murder. [Wikipedia]

A BBC documentary ‘CODE NAME Artichoke’ tells the story of his son — Eric — who spent most of his adult life trying to uncover the truth.

More than 40 years after his death, the body of former CIA scientist Dr. Frank Olson has been exhumed. Olson’s son Eric is convinced his father was murdered by agents of the American government because he wanted to leave the CIA. Dr. Frank Olson was an expert for anthrax and other biological weapons and had top security clearance. Forensic pathologists at George Washington University performed an autopsy and concluded that Olson probably was the victim of a violent crime. It has been eight years since the exhumation. Eric Olson is still searching for the reasons behind his father’s death in November of 1953. Eric was nine years old at the time. It’s a quest he inherited as the oldest of three children. To solve the mystery of their father’s death.

REFERENCES

The secret LSD-fuelled CIA experiment that inspired “Stranger Things” — The Guardian 15 August 2016

Project MK-Ultra — WIKIPEDIA

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MK-ULTRA in Popular Culture

One Year Ago — MK-ULTRA in Popular Culture