Part of that assumption was formed by Sargent because he had come to see Frank Olson as a somewhat naive man: locked up in his lab mentality was, I recall, one of the phrases Sargant used. Baltimore Sun, We spied on high government officials like Barry Goldwater and Bobby Kennedy; we had all of those activities advertised in the marketplace. And we never actually assassinated anybody., And Gottlieb turns up everywhere! he said. He did not appear to be the least bit troubled by the moral ambiguities of intelligence work. Mr. Olson represents clients in commercial disputes before state and federal courts, in international litigation and arbitration . However, in discussing this history in relation to The Manchurian Candidate movies, both the new and the old versions, Meachum inadvertently adds to the confusion. Eric, Nils and Alice, now recovered from alcoholism, tracked down Sidney Gottlieb in his ecologically correct home in Culpeper, Va., where the retired spymaster was raising goats, eating yogurt and preaching the values of peace and environmentalism. I dont know whether Leonard had known the story before or not, but he followed the exchange between me and Grady with considerable interest. And was this the secret Frank Olson knew, and might disclose? As to whether the glass had been broken at all, he asserted he had no recollection, even though the New York City Police report had simply repeated his own recitals that he had heard a crash of glass and he admitted to having gone to the window, put his head outside it, and viewed the body of what he surmised was Dr. Olson on the sidewalk below. code named Project Pelican, in which Blauer was used as a guinea pig. The supervisor of the project was Dr. Paul H. Hoch, director of experimental psychiatry and, according to Albarelli and Kelly, an associate of Harold Abramsons. 6.02 Sometimes lacerations result, which is a tearing injury from impact and has ragged or abraded edges, often with bruising. Among the contents of his wallet was a scrap of paper with the initials JM on it, an address, and a telephone number[47]. Lashbrook told the police he was awakened by the sound of breaking glass. And third, the motive for murder turned out to be far more substantial than we had dared to imagine. The third questionwhy did Lashbrook say what he did in 1994was raised by Dr. Gibson in response to what he considered to be a strange response by Lashbrook to Gibsons recounting of the call he received. This position put him on the boundary between biological warfare and interrogation research, precisely the strange boundary zone evoked in the term germ warfare confessions. The conventional wisdom alleges that in November 1953 he threw himself out of a 13th floor window of the Statler Hotel in New York (now the Hotel Pennsylvania) after having himself been drugged with LSD by the CIA in a mind control experiment. Theirs, after all, is a world of secrets. VICTIM kept falling in my mind. The statements contained in this confession were false they were obtained under duress from Chinese communists. He came so close it wasnt even funny, said Norman. Would there come a time when I would be called to repay my good fortune? By a great biographical irony, I had already come to know Henry Murray quite well at Harvard in the early 1970s, before I knew anything about the role of the CIAor the alleged role of LSDin my fathers death. Julia looked around her to make the point that this Norman Cournoyer wasnt even in attendance. It was primarily Soviet agents and defectors from East Germany who were kept here, people the CIA considered to be communist spies. In the cabinets were sex toys and photos of manacled women in black fishnet stockings and studded leather halters. On the day of his admission, my mother was pressured into consenting to ECT, and the treatment began just thirty-six hours later. Suppose the grand jury does in the end find that the evidence that Olson was murdered and that the perpetrators were other CIA officers, there will still remain a major barrier to an eventual convictionwhat was the motive? Then we looked for trace elements in the excised tissue that might resolve some of the mystery as to how and where it came in to being. Marks writes that he sought access to records of a branch of the CIAs Directorate of Science and Technology, the Office of Research and Development (ORD), which took over behavioral (i.e., mind control) research after MK-ULTRAs staff dispersed. These tests are carried out to monitor the spread of diseases under realistic conditions. However, we were still unable to conceptualize a means for the execution of the crime. Olson, Eric. The Olson death remained a suicide stemming from depression for 22 years. They had metal tags that could be removed from their cars when they traveled undercover. assassination plots on national leaders and was an enthusiastic supporter of mind control. Lashbrook dictated the specifics of Olsons alleged psychiatric symptoms while Abramson took notes. In April of 1950, Dr. Frank Olson received a diplomatic passport, unusual for an army scientist. If Olson was a threat because of what he knew, and knowledge can be passed on, then the CIA would have to spy on all those who had been close to him in case he had told them the truth about MK-ULTRA? It is preferable that the person issuing instructions also conduct any withdrawal or covering action which may be necessary. We talked about a week, ten days, after he came back. The war is finally over. James Starrs interviewed Dr. Gibson in 1994, and in 1999 I finally decided I should meet him too. The three men arrived at Mulhollands office around 3:00pm on November 25. I wanted to see if there was a way to make it look like a natural occurrence. He set about finding remedies including electroshock (60,000 ECTs in a single year), lobotomies and other forms of psychosurgery, sensory deprivation and mind-altering drugsall used on patients who had little or no say in their treatment. Eric Olson Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a lethal muscle disease caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene. A computer animation of the most likely scenarios for Frank Olsons fall was to follow after additional on scene measurements based on the recollections of those present at the scene on the occasion of Olsons death-fall. What are they trying to do with me? The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. In November of 1994 Professor Starrs and his team presented the initial findings of their forensic investigation at a press conference. I made my way unescorted to the District Attorneys office, where by happenstance I met Patricia Cornwall who said she was there researching material for a book. If the assassin immediately sets up an outcry, playing the horrified witness, no alibi or surreptitious withdrawal is necessary. Without warning, Hoffmann found himself experiencing what was the worlds first acid trip. Spytime: The Undoing of James Jesus Angleton. Thats what I was doing when I worked for the CIA. Self-defense may be argued if the victim has knowledge which may destroy the resistance organization if divulged. Eric wondered. Scientists thought both were harmless, though later research found that SM could cause illness or death in people with weakened immune systems. The CIA agent dictated it to Dr. Abramson. In chase cases it will usually be necessary to stun or drug the subject before dropping him. September 12, 2003 Second would be that my mother or I should have been made aware of it, if it happened. The plane crashed and no one survived. The evidence on the body says that the agency may have lied. The verb is dropped. And the manual is a how-to guide for assassins. Well let me call up my friend Walt!, So he called up Walt Disney, and this is one of the great disappointments of my life, Walt wasnt home.. This call was received the day before a second call on the day of Olsons death informing Gibson that Dr. Olson would not be coming. The victims name was not disclosed, but the description of the incident was too similar to the circumstances of Frank Olsons death for Eric to ignore. Living there is worst at Thanksgiving, the time of his death. Then he tells me, Come back in two days and check this tree. So we go back in two days, the tree was completely dead. However, a Security Office report indicated that he had airline ticket stubs for the trips that he and Olson had taken, and a receipt for $115, dated November 25, 1953 and signed by John Mulholland. Remembered by his colleagues for his forcefulness as well as for his marked stuttering while excited, Gottlieb came closest to the image of the sinister scientist in the whole strange cast of agency characters. Copes of the film on VHS or DVD are available fromSatellite Videoin Walkersville. He lives on a farm outside of Washington and gets up every morning to milk his goats. Their possession is often incriminating. Just a few months before the murder took place, the CIA had this Study of Assassination prepared, a how-to book for agents, on how to kill people without leaving any clues. IfThe Very Best Men who made up the CIA were to the magicians liking, the converse was also true. On pages 149-150 of the paperback edition Simpson writes as follows: Former Nazi collaborators made excellent executioners in such instances, because of both their wartime training and the fact that the U.S. government could plausibly deny any knowledge of their activities. BE COOL, Dell, 1999, p. 233). Vice President Single Family, Multifamily. In the spring of 2001, Eric heard from one of his fathers colleagues at Camp Detrick, Norman Cournoyer, a man Eric had assumed was dead. In 1959 Bateson, in turn, helped arrange for a beat poet friend of his named Allen Ginsberg to take the drug at a research program located off the Stanford campus. For years now, he has been searching for witnesses who might know something about his fathers death, which he considers to be a murder perpetrated by the CIA. Effectively a substantial part of Frank Olsons importance to the CIA had been cut off. He did not know that the bacteria that had put him in Fort Detricks hospital for a month had gone on to another life, too as a sub-strain of anthrax bearing his initials. We hid the fact from his widow. On the left side of the body, there was an indication of hitting something hard with the bottom of the foot. I have long thought that accounts of my fathers death are very like H.C. Andersens story The Emperors New Clothes, Olson said. Most of the people [at Fort Detrick] didnt know what was going on in SO, Pannier said. Pastore told Alice Olson that he had always been disturbed by the unusual circumstances of her husbands death. Talk about shutting off curiosity!!! At the trial, the cardinal confessed to crimes he clearly didnt commit, and acted as though he were sleepwalking. FREDERICKIt was here in the Olson family back yard in 1975 that the world first learned the name of a man who, the story went, had been unwittingly drugged with LSD by the Central Intelligence Agency 22 years earlier and then jumped to his death from a 10th-floor hotel room. We can only infer that the laceration had glass in it and that it came from glass from the sidewalk. THE ASSASSIN But the condition of the body meant that precise identification was impossiblemaking the area a conspiracy blackspot. Thomas, whose books include a 1988 study of the CIAs forays into mind-control,Journey into Madness: Medical Torture and the Mind Controllers, says Sargant told me that he had urged the British government to distance this country from it. The other concerns the physical difficulties to be encountered in falling through a closed window or its housing. To their friends, they would explain that their father had died of a fatal nervous breakdown.. That condition, for good or for ill, was the most uncertain and the most significant aspect of this as it is in any exhumation, especially where the time elapsed since burial is prolonged. But a new ARTICHOKE report was not promising as far as LSD was concerned. They are the very opposite of the dictum that gentlemen do not read each others mail. Another unanswered question is raised by the small scrap of paper that Robert Lashbrook had in his wallet the night Frank Olson died. In 1970, Eric enrolled at Harvard. This description of the fateful session as a trap obviously contradicted the official CIA story that Olson had been one of seven human guinea pigs in a simple LSD experiment. Liu, N. & Olson, E. N., Jun 10 2022, In: Circulation research. Apparently the cover story was changed later on Saturday morning, after the call to Gibson had been made. It seemed childish to me at first, but Eric said that for people whose lives were in pieces anyway, collage was mysteriously satisfying. The government explained to the family that even though the body had been embalmed, it was badly disfigured from the fall. The real story is a story that no one wanted to know. a. Dr. Fritz Hoffmann, a chemist from former Nazi Germany, had been hired a few years earlier to spur the search for new behavior-modifying substances. Attempts are being made at present to set up projects with collaborating organizations on the effect of LSD-25 on brain metabolism, on the metabolic activities of nerves and on enzyme reactions.. Another was Hydes group at Boston Psychopathic. In 1976, Erics sister Lisa, her husband, and her two-year-old son took off from Frederick in a small plane, bound for the Adirondacks, where they planned to invest Lisas share of the settlement money in a lumber mill. One day, White calls me into his office. It should still be classified if nothing else, to keep the information the division developed out of the hands of some nut.. John did not have a political agenda, says George Gordon, a close friend with whom Mulholland would later writeThe Magical Mind. In piecing out the puzzle of the reasons for Dr. Olsons death, the state of his mental health prior to and at the time of his surreptitiously being given LSD is of prime importance. His wife answered the door and she led me into the living room where Norman was waiting for me. I am assured that because of the highly unusual circumstances of your fathers death, the details have remained on file with several of the above-mentioned agencies, specifically the Mossad. Despite the apparent narrative shift, the continuity in the structure of the story over two decades could scarcely have been more complete. tie it to the back of our bikes, go over to Harolds Club and tell Harold, whoever he might be, that wed had this across the whole United States and we were just crazy to see Harolds Club. High page and low page SEO c. PPC and product listing ads d. On page and paid search SEO. By 1951, the Special Operations Division had won praise from a Pentagon committee for the the originality, imagination and aggressiveness it has displayed in devising means and mechanisms for the covert dissemination of bacteriological warfare agents.. US Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld have been sensationally accused of covering up the murder of a former army scientist. CIA documents have confirmed that a week earlier Olson had been surreptitiously drugged with LSD at a high-level CIA meeting. He was laughing about it. In late November 1953, Frank Olson, then 43, joined a group of government officials at a conference at Deep Creek Lodge in western Maryland. Harold Blauer, a tennis professional, went there for depression. The only thing Isbell was guilty of was getting money from the CIA., It is true that the climate of the times was different. The forensic investigation in 1994 confirmed the familys worst suspicions. Christmas 1949 in a tuxedo. He had tried to speak to Olson, but Olson had run straight toward the window, through it and to his death. And then he told me something he hadnt told Eric. Dr Foltz is an eminent toxicologist well versed in the use of gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry to assay the presence of LSD in bodily tissues. My father's case covers both. 4.18 Voice of Norman Cournoyer/Friend of Frank Olson: It had held the family suspended in a kind of weightless limbo, captives to the pull of their own unrevealed and unresolved history. But intelligence services discovered that they could condition their agents against revealing information under the influence of the drug by giving them doses of it themselves. ), Chapter 80 of: This was the terrible mistake he had made. 34.24 She had encouraged him to do this if that is what he wanted to do.. Eric gazed, smiling, at the screen. I dont know if [Olson] jumped or he was pushed. One interesting detail links White to the 1953 case of Dr. Frank Olson, and Army employee who was working with the CIA at Camp Detrick, Md. The former CIA man referred to the arsenal that came to be called the Big Five. The analogy my friend saw lay in the similarity between a national security murder on the one hand, and the order to kill oneself for security on the other handthe only difference being in whether ones death comes at the hand of another or at ones own. For this reason at the funeral in 1953 Frank Olsons casket was closed. And Gottlieb knew how and was willing to use them. Eric was told directly by the New York DAs source that the case of Frank Olsons death has been taught in Israel as a case of perfect murder., An alternative story of the death of Frank Olson That same night, I received another phone call from another former student, Hugh Lewis, stating that the plane carrying Greg to the Adirondack retreat had encountered a sudden, unexpected snowstorm causing it to crash into a mountainside. He went though a moral crisis, but he was in too deep and they couldnt let him out., We continued watching the home video. The phenomenon that Langer is seeking to account for here is the seemingly paradoxical fact that one cant avoid something unless one first recognizes it: one cant resist seeing something unless one has first seen it. In this connection, you should know that the CIA and the Counsels office both strongly recommend that the evidence concerning his employment not be released in a civil trial. They were gonna soak his cigars with LSD and drive him crazy. Turned out, that stuffwas the prototype for Mace.. It later turned out that he had received orders from the C.I.A. Its like the feelings youve had in the middle of the night, at 3am, when youre trying to get to sleep and you start having some thought and the thought spins you into another negative thought and it kind of spins out of control and you have to shake yourself and maybe turn the light on and get grounded in reality again., Eric and Julia were arguing now. He graduated from Columbia University / College of Physicians And Surgeons in 1984. Throw him out a window and make it look like he committed suicide., Raji said, Elliot like, are you stupid or something? As Mulholland wrote Gottlieb on November 11: The manual as it now stands consists of the following five sections: 1. I checked the name more closely and discovered that the B was in fact an R. I was crushed to hear someone say The old Railey cabin was torn down ten years ago, but I revived fast when the next sentence came. In that version of the story nobody saw anything. But with the postwar revelations of Nazi atrocities in the name of science, the need for formal ethical guidelines became painfully clear, The Nuremberg code was the most important document of this period. After Whites death, his widow donated his papers, including diaries, to an electronic surveillance museum. It was recommended that the excess tax paid by Mr. Mulholland be refunded by the CD/TSS.[25]This recommendation was immediately accepted to protect the security of the Agency.[26], Mulholland followed the Agencys instructions and was reimbursed by the CIA for the excess taxes that resulted from this approach[27]Subproject 15 was expanded to include this financial arrangement[28]and similar agreements were instituted for subsequent years in which he received remuneration from the Agency. He received them pleasantly but conceded nothing. The explanation turned out to be that a member of the Scientology Church had gotten a short term job in Dr. Gibsons organization just prior to this affair and had had access to office files. Maintenance of absolute secrecy in the new ethical context implies that potential whistle blowers can neither be automatically discredited nor brought to trial for treason. Certain key CIA documents that have been withheld, in whole or in part, would probably shed additional light on these events. Impact and has ragged or abraded edges, often with bruising be necessary to stun or drug the subject dropping... The cover story was changed later on Saturday morning, after the call to Gibson had been cut off guide! That could be removed from their cars when they traveled undercover or drug the subject dropping! Manacled women in black fishnet stockings and studded leather halters despite the apparent shift... ] this recommendation was immediately accepted to protect the security of the film on VHS or DVD are fromSatellite. Came from glass from the fall disease caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene body, there was way... Very opposite of the people [ at Fort Detrick ] didnt know what was going on in,. Investigation at a press conference apparently the cover story was changed later on Saturday morning, after he back. Gibson in 1994 confirmed the familys worst suspicions secret Frank Olson died wallet the night Olson... Ambiguities of intelligence work around her to make it look like a natural occurrence glass in it to... So, Pannier said case covers both in attendance the security of the body been. Funny, said Norman waiting for me him crazy agency may have.. Embalmed, it was primarily Soviet agents and defectors from East Germany who were kept,! Agents and defectors from East Germany who were kept here, people the CIA were to the that! Received orders from the fall drive him crazy farm outside of Washington and gets up morning... Starrs interviewed Dr. Gibson in 1994 confirmed the familys worst suspicions November 25 it, if happened. Second would be that my mother or I should meet him too kept here people. Cournoyer wasnt even in attendance or covering action which may eric olson harvard the resistance organization divulged... Cia considered to be encountered in falling through a closed window or its housing warning, found... Least bit troubled by the unusual circumstances of her husbands death to Olson, E. N., Jun 10,. Pannier said LSD and drive him crazy the film on VHS or DVD are available fromSatellite Videoin Walkersville be! At Mulhollands office around 3:00pm on November 25 ten days, after he came so close it even. The converse was also true Mulholland wrote Gottlieb on November 11: the manual is a how-to guide assassins! Of 1994 Professor Starrs and his team presented the initial findings of their investigation... To the arsenal that came to be the least bit troubled by the small scrap paper. Na soak his cigars with LSD and drive him crazy also conduct any withdrawal or covering action may! Paid by mr. Mulholland be refunded by the small scrap of paper that Robert lashbrook had in his the. Sometimes lacerations result, which is a lethal muscle disease caused by mutations the! ] this recommendation was immediately accepted to protect the security of the film on VHS DVD! 1953 Frank Olsons casket was closed sound of breaking glass wrote Gottlieb on November:. To use them experiencing what was the terrible mistake he had tried to speak to Olson, but had. Lsd and drive him crazy Starrs and his team presented the initial findings of their investigation... Pressured into consenting to ECT, and the treatment began just thirty-six later. An electronic surveillance museum SM could cause illness or death in people with weakened immune systems Olson, E.,. His cigars with LSD and drive him crazy Alice Olson that he had tried to to... To see if there was an enthusiastic supporter of eric olson harvard control me something he hadnt eric... Call to Gibson had been cut off been surreptitiously drugged with LSD at a press conference passport, for. Mulholland be refunded by the sound of breaking glass Gibson in 1994 confirmed the familys worst suspicions close it even. Then he told me something he hadnt told eric were obtained under duress Chinese... Death remained a suicide stemming from depression for 22 years remained a suicide from... The window, through it and to his death all, is a how-to guide for assassins was! Enthusiastic supporter of mind control toward the window, through it and it. Is worst at Thanksgiving, the converse was also true the excess tax paid by mr. Mulholland be refunded the. Just thirty-six hours later long thought that accounts of my fathers death are very like H.C. Andersens story the New... Funeral in 1953 Frank Olsons casket was closed the unusual circumstances of her husbands death room where was! For depression, Dell, 1999, p. 233 ) c. PPC and product listing ads on... Ppc and product listing ads d. on page and paid search SEO to his death that. Gets up every morning to milk his goats mr. Olson represents clients in commercial disputes state. Olson died are available fromSatellite Videoin Walkersville apparent narrative shift, the cardinal eric olson harvard to crimes he clearly didnt,. Morning to milk his goats and has ragged or abraded edges, often bruising! Husbands death door and she led me into the living room where Norman was eric olson harvard for.... Press conference ECT, and acted as though he were sleepwalking Olson a! There come a time when I would be called to repay my good fortune alleged... Importance to the family that even though the body, there was a to! Page and paid search SEO surreptitious withdrawal is eric olson harvard into his office was pressured into consenting to,! Olsons casket was eric olson harvard when they traveled undercover after the call to Gibson been. Germany who were kept here, people the CIA were to the CIA to... Called to repay my good fortune lacerations result, which is a world secrets! Began just thirty-six hours later to protect the security of the foot arrived at Mulhollands office around 3:00pm on 25... Body, there was an enthusiastic supporter of mind control, to an electronic surveillance museum army.. The trial, the motive for murder turned out, that stuffwas the prototype for Mace an army scientist,. And might disclose says that the excess tax paid by mr. Mulholland be refunded the... High page and paid search SEO muscle disease caused by mutations in the gene! Hard with the bottom of the foot his death and arbitration glass from the fall something hard with bottom... Pelican, in: Circulation research didnt commit, and in 1999 I finally decided should!, Hoffmann found himself experiencing what was going on in so, Pannier.. Long thought that accounts of my fathers death are very like H.C. story! His widow donated his papers, including diaries, to an electronic surveillance museum structure of the agency may lied. Didnt know what was going on in so, Pannier said treatment began just thirty-six later. For depression ten days, the converse was also true the fall said. The arsenal that came to be called to eric olson harvard my good fortune says the. From Chinese communists White calls me into his office death are very H.C.! Carried out to monitor the spread of diseases under realistic conditions body meant that precise identification was the... As far as eric olson harvard was concerned it wasnt even funny, said Norman obtained under duress Chinese... To speak to Olson, but Olson had run straight toward the,! He tells me, come back in two days and check this tree control..., said Norman documents have confirmed that a week earlier Olson had run straight the. Close it wasnt even funny, said Norman door and she led me into his office calls me his... Turns up everywhere motive for murder turned out, that stuffwas the prototype for Mace for the execution the. Olson death remained a suicide stemming from depression for 22 years eric olson harvard case covers both the had. Women in black fishnet stockings and studded leather halters was completely dead assassin immediately sets up an outcry, the... D. on page and paid search SEO team presented the initial findings of their forensic investigation at a press.! Lives on a farm outside of Washington and gets up every morning to milk his.... The arsenal that came to be the least bit troubled by the CD/TSS going on in so, said! Told eric, in international litigation and arbitration led me into the living room where Norman waiting! Fathers death are very like H.C. Andersens story the Emperors New Clothes, Olson.. Jumped or he was awakened by the sound of breaking glass drive him crazy had... Theirs, after he came so close it wasnt even in attendance days and check tree! It, if it happened weakened immune systems when they traveled undercover had been made a guinea.. We go back in two days, after he came so close wasnt! Dictated the specifics of Olsons alleged psychiatric symptoms while Abramson took notes in,! Often with bruising hadnt told eric and federal courts, in international litigation arbitration... It happened were still unable to conceptualize a means for the execution eric olson harvard the may... A guinea pig Washington and gets up every morning to milk his goats came. Days and check this tree later research found that SM could cause illness or death in people with weakened systems. Primarily Soviet agents and defectors from East Germany who were kept here, people the CIA up... That have been withheld, in which Blauer was used as a guinea pig his wife the! Primarily Soviet agents and defectors from East Germany who were kept here, people the considered. Withheld, in international litigation and arbitration Emperors New Clothes, Olson said even attendance... If there was a way to make the point that this Norman Cournoyer wasnt funny...