17. Psychedelic Nightmare Pt. 1: Fucked Up Set & Setting

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  DARK HISTORY: MKULTRA, Intro/History

In our second series, we explore our first ever conspiracy theory, that is absolutely wild & incredibly true. Project MKULTRA was a secret CIA project that took place between the early 1950s to the early 1970s, in which hundreds of tortuous experiments were conducted on (mostly) unsuspecting human subjects. The project, Sidney Gottlieb, aimed to develop strategies and identify drugs (such as LSD), that could be used for the purposes of “mind-control” (read: how can we psychologically torture, force confessions and manipulate the consciousness of the human mind?). In the first part of this multi-part series, we dig in to Allan Memorial, one of the many institutions where these experiments took place & set the stage for MKUltra. Learn about how the Cold War and the Red Scare motivated the creation of this project, the discovery of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide and its unique characteristics and  of course, the project’s lead “Poisoner in Chief”, Sidney Gottlieb.

content warning: gun violence, torture, homophobia, racism, drugs 

Uvalde/Buffalo Shooting Resources & References

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P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!