Guinea Pigs: Technologies of Control

Book Preface

Since the dawn of civilization man has turned his attention inward to harness the power of the mind and expand, explain and potentially control his environment. As early as the Paleolithic period, man turned to the shaman for explanations regarding fertility, the environment and healing. These shamans supposedly possessed the ability to connect to spiritual realms as well as the natural energies of the universe, allowing them to help with matters that may have been afflicting the entire tribe. One looks no further than writings about North American medicine men to see accurate illustrations of the power attributed to these Native American shamans. D.D Mitchell, superintendent of Indian Affairs in the 1800’s, documented his experience with the Bear Medicine Men of the Arikara tribe. Mitchell and several other white men were invited to take part in the Bear Medicine Men ceremony at the Arikara during which the medicine men, dressed like bears, would demonstrate their power to the non-believing white men. In his journal he detailed how the medicine men took clay and fashioned tiny horses, buffalo, and warriors, complete with tiny bows and arrows from the clay. The figurines were placed in a circle drawn into the dirt floor at the lodge. Upon the spoken command of one of the medicine men the clay figurines became animate, each warrior on horseback chasing down the buffalo and shooting arrows into them. After the clay figurines finished their hunt, they were further instructed to ride into the fire that was placed in the center of the circle. The baked clay figurines were then crushed into dust and the dust handed to D.D. Mitchell. After a careful search of the lodge and the medicine men, Mitchell could not identify any means by which the demonstration was accomplished. In his journal he attributed their ability to animate the clay figurines to some sort of witchcraft or demonic force. Many other actions performed by medicine men were recorded by other Indian Affairs employees and Jesuit priests. Perhaps the easiest explanation would be that the medicine men possessed a tremendous ability to successfully hypnotize the spectators. The term hypnosis was coined by a Scottish surgeon named James Braid who based his practice on the techniques developed by Franz Mesmer, the first to describe Animal Magnetism. According to Mesmer, there is a natural energetic transference that occurs between all animate and inanimate objects that results in energy movement through channels in the body. For those readers familiar with basic quantum physics, this theory should look very familiar. It is essentially an early, crude description of the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen Theory. Eventually hypnosis was taken seriously by psychological and parapsychological researchers and seen as more than a parlor trick.

As research into hypnosis and other forms of ESP took root in the scientific and medical communities, the government began to take notice. Nonconsensual medical experimentation was already rampant in most industrialized countries, including the United States. The secret of unlocking the human mind was irresistible to these doing military research for most governments. As Korean prisoners of war returned from China showing signs of brainwashing, the race for learning the techniques for controlling the human mind began. The creation of Manchurian Candidates, individuals who can be controlled in an altered personality state, was deemed a necessity by both the DOD and intelligence agencies. Unfortunately, the search for viable control technologies has resulted in a plethora of nonconsensual experimentation that has continued into current day.