George H. Estabrooks is an interesting item in the history of hypnosis . . . he was a prominent psychologist who farmed out his work to the Central Intelligence Agency (prior to that, working with intelligence during more than one war). In the 1940's he wrote:
“I can hypnotize a man — without his knowledge or consent — into committing treason against the United States."
His theory of how to build a super spy was tested in World War Two and was part of a trail of hypnotic inquiry that we try to pretend never happened but most definately did, beginning as early as 1905 and continuing through to MK Ultra into the 1970s and even later. Most reputable hypnotists dismiss the claims of many in this stream of research - certainly far less effective than claimed and much more expensive and troublesome than simple money and sex have turned out to be when it comes to gaining double agents or creating so-called super spys.
However, there is strong documentation that Estabrooks did indeed have a program for "hypnotic couriers" in place with volunteers who were highly suggestible. Folks who were hypnotized to deliver oral messages and then given suggestions to forget their mission with the consicous mind only to deliver the message on the hearing of a key phrase at the other end ot the loop.
In his 1943 book, Estabrooks freely admitted that he had a keen interest in military applications of hypnosis. Later, during the Cold War, he opted for more invasive methods:
"everyone could be thrown into the deepest state of hypnotism by the use of what [I] termed the Russian method - no holds barred, deliberate disintegration of the personality by psychic torture ... The subject might easily be left a mental wreck but war is a grim business." Also noted is that children make especially good subjects, given that they "are notoriously easy to hypnotize." Which is to say, children are particularly vulnerable to abuse and have more of a tendency to dissociate traumatic experiences, thereby creating alter identities that can be later exploited and controlled.
The following essay, Hypnosis Comes of Age, is an excerpt in which Estabrooks described some of his early work with military applications of hypnosis. The essay appeared in Science Digest, April 1971, pp. 44-50, and is an indication of an early manifestation of what will become MK Ultra and more.
Abstract:
This psychologist reminisces about his long career as a hypnotist: how he "programmed" American spies with hypnosis: how he helped businessmen and students with his skills. Dr. Estabrooks is a Rhodes Scholar. He took his Doctorate at Harvard ('26), and has authored many articles and books on clinical hypnosis and human behavior. This excerpt details Dr. Estabrooks work with Military intelligence during and after WWII.
One of the most fascinating but dangerous applications of hypnosis is its use in military intelligence. This is a field with which I am familiar though formulating guide lines for the techniques used by the United States in two world wars.
Communication in war is always a headache. Codes can be broken. A professional spy may or may not stay bought. Your own man may have unquestionable loyalty, but his judgment is always open to question.
The "hypnotic courier," on the other hand, provides a unique solution. I was involved in preparing many subjects for this work during World War II. One successful case involved an Army Service Corps Captain whom we''l call George Smith.
Captain Smith had undergone months of training. He was an excellent subject but did not realize it. I had removed from him, by post-hypnotic suggestion, all recollection of ever having been hypnotized.
First I had the Service Corps call the captain to Washington and tell him they needed a report of the mechanical equipment of Division X headquartered in Tokyo. Smith was ordered to leave by jet next morning, pick up the report and return at once. Consciously, that was all he knew, and it was the story he gave to his wife and friends.
Then I put him under deep hypnosis, and gave him -- orally -- a vital message to be delivered directly on his arrival in Japan to a certain colonel -- let's say his name was Brown -- of military intelligence. Outside of myself, Colonel Brown was the only person who could hypnotize Captain Smith. This is "locking." I performed it by saying to the hypnotized Captain: "Until further orders from me, only Colonel Brown and I can hypnotize you. We will use a signal phrase 'the moon is clear.' Whenever you hear this phrase from Brown or myself you will pass instantly into deep hypnosis." When Captain Smith re-awakened, he had no conscious memory or what happened in trance. All that he was aware of was that he must head for Tokyo to pick up a division report.
On arrival there, Smith reported to Brown, who hypnotized him with the signal phrase. Under hypnosis, Smith delivered my message and received one to bring back. Awakened, he was given the division report and returned home by jet. There I hypnotized him once more with the signal phrase, and he spieled off Brown's answer that had been dutifully tucked away in his unconscious mind.
The system is virtually foolproof. As exemplified by this case, the information was "locked" in Smith's unconscious for retrieval by the only two people who knew the combination. The subject had no conscious memory of what happened, so could not spill the beans. No one else could hypnotize him even iv they might know the signal phrase.
Not all applications of hypnotism to military intelligence are a tidy as that. Perhaps you have read _The Three Faces of Eve.__ The book was based on a case reported in 1905 by Dr. Morton Prince of Massachusetts general Hospital and Harvard. he startled everyone in the field by announcing that he had cured a woman named Beauchamp of a split personality problem. Using post-hypnotic suggestion to submerge an incompatible, childlike facet of the patient, he'd been able to make two other sides of Mrs. Beauchamp compatible, and lump them together in a single cohesive personality. Clinical hypnotists throughout the world jumped on the multiple personality bandwagon as a fascinating frontier. By the 1920's, not only had they learned to apply post-hypnotic suggestion to deal with this weird problem, but also had learned how to split certain complex individuals into multiple personalities like Jeckyl-Hydes.
The potential for military intelligence has been nightmarish. During World War II, I worked this technique with a vulnerable Marine lieutenant I'll call Jones. Under the watchful eye of Marine Intelligence I spilt his personality into Jones A and Jones B. Jones A, once a "normal" working Marine, became entirely different. He talked communist doctrine and meant it. He was welcomed enthusiastically by communist cells, was deliberately given a dishonorable discharge by the Corps (which was in on the plot) and became a car-carrying party member.
The joker was Jones B, the second personality, formerly apparent in the conscious Marine. Under hypnosis, this Jones had been carefully coached by suggestion. Jones B was the deeper personality, knew all the thoughts of Jones A, was a loyal American, and was "imprinted" to say nothing during conscious phases.
All I had to do was hypnotize the whole man, get in touch with Jones B, the loyal American, and I had a pipeline straight into the Communist camp. It worked beautifully for months with this subject, but the technique backfired. While there was no way for an enemy to expose Jones' dual personality, they suspected it and played the same trick on us later.
The use of "waking hypnosis" in counter intelligence during World War II occasionally became so involved that it taxed even my credulity. Among the most complicated ploys used was the practice of sending perfectly normal, wide awake agent into enemy camp, after he'd been carefully coached in waking hypnosis to _act_ the part of a potential hypnotism subject. Trained in auto-suggestion, or self-hypnosis, such a subject can pass every test used to spot a hypnotized person. Using it, he can control the rate of his heartbeat, anesthetize himself to a degree against pain of electric shock or torture.
In the case of an officer we'll call Cox, this carefully prepared counterspy was given a title to indicate he had access to top priority information. He was planted in an international cafe in a border country where it was certain there would be enemy agents. He talked too much, drank a lot, made friends with local girls, and pretended a childish interest in hypnotism. The hope was that he would blunder into a situation where enemy agents would kidnap him and try to hypnotize him, in order to extract information from him.
Cox worked so well that they fell for the trick. he never allowed himself to be hypnotized during seances. While pretending to be a hypnotized subject of the foe, he was gathering and feeding back information.
Eventually, Cox did get caught, when he was followed to an information "drop." And this international group plays rough. The enemy offered him a "ride" at gunpoint. There were four men in the vehicle. Cox watched for a chance, and found it when the car skirted a ravine. he leaped for the wheel, twisted it, and over the edge they went. Two of his guards were killed in the crash. In the ensuing scramble, he got hold of another man's gun, liquidated the remaining two, then hobbled across the border with nothing worse than a broken leg.
So much for the dark side.....
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