The True Story of MK-Ultra and the CIA Mad Scientist
In its search for the perfect mind-control technique, the CIA carried out horrifying tests on unwitting humans. The story of programs like MK-Ultra is a chilling look at how the US government turned its own citizens into guinea pigs — and destroyed lives in the process.
The seal of the Central Intelligence Agency at its headquarters in Langley, Virginia. (David Burnett / Newsmakers)
On November 28, 1953, Frank Olson, a scientist researching biological warfare for the US army, fell to his death from the tenth floor of the Manhattan Statler hotel. Did he jump or was he pushed? Nine days before his death, Olson — who talked about leaving his job and told his wife he had made “a terrible mistake” — had been secretly dosed with LSD by a CIA operative.
Over twenty years later, US president Gerald Ford personally met with Olson’s family to offer his apologies. Olson’s sons are convinced that their father’s death was not the result of a nervous breakdown, possibly triggered by the secret dosage of LSD; rather, they believe that he was murdered to prevent him from exposing secrets.
The story of Frank Olson inspired a Netflix TV series by Errol Morris but his death is still surrounded by mysteries. Olson’s work had brought him into contact with the man who would secretly drug him: Sidney Gottlieb, head of one of the most infamous projects in CIA history, MK-Ultra.
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