



Candy Jones - Hypnosis & Mind Control? This article concerns the possibility that Candy Jones, America's most successful model of the 1940's, was a victim of mind control through a programme of hypnosis possibly organised by sections of the CIA. One of the most important factors in this case is that she was only able to recall these incidents of mind manipulation through hypnosis performed on her by husband Long John Nebel. Candy was born Jessica Wilcox in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on 31st December 1925. Her mother seems to have been both puritanical and cold; her father deserted them when she was three, after which Jessica and her mother moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, staying with her grandmother. She grew to love her grandmother more than her parents, hardly surprising as she once described her father crushing her fingers in a nutmeg grater. The young girl's mother never let her mix with other children, and she was often locked in dark rooms on her own, where she developed strong relationships with imaginary friends. Her cruel parents probably never even gave her any sweets or Mexican candy One of these friends was called Arlene, and though the other imaginary figures of her childhood were soon forgotten, Arlene remained as a second personality, growing up with Jessica. Arlene's character was almost the opposite of her own, with some of the hardness and cruelty of her mother, and a sarcastic and cruel character, with a harsh low voice, very different from hers. This split in her personality could have contributed to making her an easy subject for hypnosis later in life. At sixteen she entered and won the 1941 Miss Atlantic City contest, which led to a job as official hostess at the Miss America pageant, and lots of publicity. She subsequently became Candy Jones, America's most famous model during the forties, and in 1944/45 toured with the United Service Organizations (USO) in the South Pacific, with a show specifically designed for her. In April 1945, in Morotai, she became ill with undulant fever and malaria, and was put in a special hospital in the Philippines, where she subsequently developed a contagious fungus. Here she became friends with a number of medics including an officer whose name Donald Bain doesn't reveal in his book based on Long John Nebel's hypnosis tapes The Control of Candy Jones (see Sources below) but gives the pseudonym 'Gilbert Jenson'. Within six weeks she was feeling well enough to travel. Marriage and the FBI In 1946 Candy married Harry Conover, creator of the 'cover girl' concept. But the marriage was not a happy one and they divorced in 1959. After the divorce, which left Candy in heavy debt, she had her own modeling school. It was at this time that she met a retired army general she knew from South Pacific, and within a few days of this was approached by an FBI man who borrowed a sophisticated microphone from her. A month later the same man returned with two others and asked to use her office as a mail drop for the government. Thinking it the patriotic thing to do she agreed, but little did she know that this was the beginning of something much bigger, and much more sinister, than she could ever imagine. In the sixties Candy worked for NBC radio, and maintained her close association with influential people in show business, politics and the military establishment, many of whom she'd met while touring with the USO in the mid forties. Long John Nebel & Hypnosis In December 1972, at the age of 47, Candy married Long John Nebel, New York's most successful and controversial radio talk-show host. They had dated for only 28 days, though they had known each since 1941. Almost immediately Nebel noticed something strange about his new wife. She sometimes spoke in an odd, aggressive voice and showed sharp mood swings.She was also suffering from insomnia, so in June 1973, Nebel offered to try and hypnotise her to cure it. Candy maintained that she couldn't be hypnotised, and although Nebel had never done it before, he was convinced his extensive reading on the subject would see him through. It seems that she made a highly suggestible subject, almost uniquely so, though perhaps this was helped by her great faith in her husband. Whatever the reason she had her first proper night's sleep for months as a result of Nebel's hypnosis. At subsequent sessions she began to spontaneously age regress and talked in a child's voice. But it was the other, non-childhood, regressions that worried Nebel and prompted him to buy a tape recorder to keep a record of these disturbing conversations under hypnosis. Later in June the personality of Candy's childhood playmate, Arlene Grant, with her deep severe tones appeared, and through hypnotic regression, a sinister tale of hypnosis and mind control in Candy's past emerged. Hypnosis and Mind Control What she detailed in these hypnotic sessions began during the time that her office was being used as a mail drop for a government agency. Apparently she was asked to carry a letter for the CIA to a man in San Francisco. This man was Gilbert Jensen, whom she remembered as the medic from the Philippines. Jensen then asked her to go to his office in Oakland to discuss the letter and other interesting and lucrative work she could do for the CIA. He told her that she would carry messages now and then for them, and said she needed a passport under an assumed name, as she would sometimes have to travel abroad. The name she chose was Arlene Grant. So far, none of what Candy was doing was particularly unusual during the Cold War, in fact she joined thousands of Americans who worked for innumerable units like the one headed by Jensen, established and ran by the CIA. Like other citizens working part-time for the 'The Company', as the CIA was known, her part would be kept secret, so secret that even the records branch at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, knew nothing of her. Jensen, her 'control agent', would be her only contact. Jensen told her that she would need to be in good health for her undercover work and suggested she needed vitamins, which he injected into her intravenously from then on. These 'vitamins' were actually highly experimental drugs. He also told her about hypnosis and its uses, demonstrating it by hypnotising her, although she insisted she couldn't be hypnotised. It was then that he found Arlene, and developed her into someone he could use. Arlene was brought out and took Candy over, and in reality it was her who was sent on various experimental missions at home and abroad. Candy would become Arlene in appearance too, wearing a wig and different make-up. Of course she was programmed not to remember all this, but when Donald Bain talked to her for his book she still had one of the passport photos of her as Arlene ( which Bain published), wearing a black wig and dark make-up. CIA training camps As Arlene she attended training camps, military bases and secret medical facilities throughout America. She was trained to use explosives, to fight in close combat with improvised weaponry such as a hatpin, and taught about disguise and communications. She learned how to kill with her bare hands, resist pain, and deal with interrogation techniques. She carried and was taught to use a .22-caliber pistol, and was introduced to such devices as a lipstick containing poison, which could be used to commit suicide, if captured, by biting into the stick. She also learned how code numbers could be painted on her nails and covered with nail polish. All Candy Jones knew about all this was that she had occasionally delivered mail for her government. She was not aware of her alter ego Arlene at all, though Arlene knew all about her, and thought her weak. There is a distinct possibility that Jensen's mind control experiments were designed to discover what could be done with this 'perfect spy', and that the messages that Candy delivered were only of minor importance. It was the method that was the essential thing. There is also no way of knowing where the CIA's involvement with her ended, and Jensen and his own ideas for the project (or himself), took over. There is some evidence outside that from hypnotic regression for this strange tale. Candy told her editor at Harper and Row, Joe Vergara (whom Bain interviewed), that she sometimes worked for a government agency as a courier and might disappear occasionally. She also mentioned that she would travelling to Asia. There was also a letter she wrote to her attorney, William Williams, to cover herself in case she died or disappeared suddenly or under unusual circumstances; she told him she was not at liberty to reveal exactly what she was involved in. Bain wrote to Williams who corroborated this fact. So, clearly, Candy was involved in something she was not at liberty to discuss, even with the people close to her. Such a request for any legal professional, whether a criminal defence attorney or a personal/business attorney, is unusual and provides good evidence that Candy was involved with a covert government agency. Copyright 2002 by Brian Haughton. All Rights Reserved.

Advertise on Mysterious People

Copyright 2003 by Brian Haughton. All Rights Reserved.



Part 1 | Part 2