An examination of files that the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has declassified under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act reveals that, in the Cold War environment of the 1970’s, the DIA spent considerable time researching the nature of, and potential uses of, of extra-sensory perception and psychic phenomena in a wartime setting. Not only that; the DIA was predominantly very troubled by one particularly nightmarish and nagging scenario: that the Soviets would succeed in using ESP as a tool of espionage, and that the secrets of the Pentagon, the CIA and just about everyone else would be blown wide open for psychic-penetration by the KGB and the Kremlin.

Acting on this deep concern, the DIA (along with elements of both the CIA and the U.S. Army) began to seriously address the issue of whether or not the powers of the mind would one day prove to be superior to – or at the very least, the equal of – more conventional and down to earth tools of espionage and warfare. And it was as a direct result of its intensive study of Soviet research into psychic powers for espionage purposes, that the DIA learned of some of the notable and extraordinary advances made by both Russian and Czechoslovakian scientists, whose attention was focused on the links between mental phenomena and the animal-kingdom.

Interestingly, one aspect of this research – detailed in-depth within the pages of a September 1975 document, Soviet and Czechoslovakian Parapsychology Research – reveals the DIA’s findings on this very issue in the former Soviet-Bloc countries.

As evidence of this, the file specifically addresses an intriguing, and grisly, Soviet Naval experiment that reportedly occurred in the mid 1950’s and that, at least a decade and a half later, was still considered to be highly classified in nature by Soviet authorities. Despite the overwhelming secrecy surrounding the event, the DIA was able to glean enough data suggesting that Soviet scientists were involved in research to determine what happens at the moment of death, the nature of death, and the possibility that animals experience some form of after-life.

The report carefully notes: “Dr. Pavel Naumov, conducted animal biocommunication studies between a submerged Soviet Navy submarine and a shore research station: these tests involved a mother rabbit and her newborn litter and occurred around 1956.”

The document continues: “According to Naumov, Soviet scientists placed the baby rabbits aboard the submarine. They kept the mother rabbit in a laboratory on shore where they implanted electrodes (EEG?) in her brain. When the submarine was submerged, assistants killed the rabbits one by one. At each precise moment of death, the mother rabbit’s brain produced detectable and recordable reactions.”

Demonstrating the sheer level of secrecy surrounding this particular affair, the DIA recorded that: “As late as 1970 the precise protocol and results of this test described by Naumov were believed to be classified. Many can be found in Soviet literature with dogs, bears, birds, insects and fish in conjunction with basic psychotronic research. The Pavlov Institute in Moscow may have been involved in animal telepathy until 1970.”

Did the Soviet Navy’s experiments of 1956 stumble upon the incredible secrets of life after death in the animal kingdom? That the mother rabbit’s brain produced, detected, and recorded significant reactions at the precise moment that her offspring were killed is both eye opening and not a little disturbing. One is also prompted to ask: were the results of this experiment indicative of evidence for the existence of some form of soul in the animal-kingdom?

We know nothing more as the Soviets immediately and effectively classified their findings in this area. Why they did so is, perhaps, as much a mystery as are the many and varied controversial issues pertaining to life beyond the confines of the physical body itself.