# Project MK ULTRA **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2017, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649 "2017-11-25T06:14:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/1 "2017-11-25T06:14:39Z")
Have there ever been any verified cases or this project working on individuals where they could be ‘activated’ by using simple phrases or completely brainwashed into being a ‘sleeper’? I was watching The Manchurian Candidate (Sinatra one) and it got me thinking about it. Any factual input about it is appreciated. Is the United States and/or USSR the only ones who experimented with this stuff? Any other countries? I may have asked in a previous post but cannot remember. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/2 "2017-11-25T08:17:04Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/3 "2017-11-25T12:18:39Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/4 "2017-11-25T13:02:20Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > Have there ever been any verified cases or this project working on individuals where they could be ‘activated’ by using simple phrases or completely brainwashed into being a ‘sleeper’? I was watching The Manchurian Candidate (Sinatra one) and it got me thinking about it. Any factual input about it is appreciated. Is the United States and/or USSR the only ones who experimented with this stuff? Any other countries? I may have asked in a previous post but cannot remember. > > Thanks! No. The term Brainwashing was termed during the Korean War, to describe the psychological torture of US prisoners by the communists. From the outset it was always more effective in the imaginations of the public, Hollywood, and intelligence communities in the west than it was in real life. In practice it just meant that if you mistreated prisoners enough they would eventually crack and say whatever you wanted (additionally [some prisoners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joseph_Dresnok) actually wanted to defect to the communists) MK Ultra was the response to those cases, and while horribly unethical, was no more successful than the more brutal communist efforts. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/5 "2017-11-25T13:07:39Z")
Mob boss Whitey Bulger was part of MK Ultra while he was in prison. He volunteered to get a lesser sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/6 "2017-11-25T13:41:03Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![I\_wasn\_t\_truly\_absent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4da419/32.png) [@I\_wasn\_t\_truly\_absent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_wasn_t_truly_absent)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/7 "2017-11-25T15:11:27Z")
A lot of criminal types use it as inspiration, for want of a better word, to torture people and to entertain themselves and others I presume the drugging, sexual degradation and mental abuse element appeals to a certain type of mind. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/8 "2017-11-25T15:18:11Z")
Not sure if it’s been posted yet but, no. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/9 "2017-11-25T15:23:59Z")
(Missed the edit window) Seriously, I think the idea (the movie idea) is predicated on hypnosis working in a manor in which it really doesn’t work. Whacky antics by stage hypnosis is fake. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/10 "2017-11-26T06:50:45Z")
Thanks for the input all! I figured it was some sort of quackery, just wanted to make sure. Appreciate the detailed responses too! ---
**Author:** ![Pickled](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@Pickled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pickled)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/11 "2017-11-26T11:37:53Z")
Yes. As one who has had a persistent attempt from others to do so during a big chunk of childhood. It has been really hard for suppressed memories to come back. I can tell you one thing, when I was really really young, I had no clue what sex was, I have a memory of going to the movies with someone I can not even remember the name of (or how I met them) and giving them hand while in the movies. This happened twise that i can recall This was before I ever even wanted to kiss someone!! I don’t feel comfortable talking about more details but it is defiantly happening. ---
**Author:** ![moes\_lotion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@moes\_lotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moes_lotion)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/12 "2017-11-27T06:26:10Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > (Missed the edit window) > > Seriously, I think the idea (the movie idea) is predicated on hypnosis working in a manor in which it really doesn’t work. Whacky antics by stage hypnosis is fake. Well, guv’, simply move over to the next manor and try it there… ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/13 "2017-11-27T20:46:27Z")
No, but there are [documented cases](http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cia-brainwashing-allanmemorial-mentalhealth-1.4373590) of MK Ultra experiments in “de-patterning” actually working, in a grotesque manner of speaking. Experimental subjects lost their memories, to the point of no longer being able to function. However, “re-patterning” was not successful and therefore these subjects were left disabled for the rest of their lives. Many of these subjects were women committed into treatment without their consent, for conditions as treatable as post-partum depression. To quote the CBC article linked above: “However, the de-patterning also wiped out much the patient’s memory and left them in a childlike state. In some cases, grown adults forgot basic skills such as how to use the bathroom, how to dress themselves or how to tie their shoes.” ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/14 "2017-11-27T20:57:23Z")
> [@xnylder](#): > > No, but there are [documented cases](http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cia-brainwashing-allanmemorial-mentalhealth-1.4373590) of MK Ultra experiments in “de-patterning” actually working, in a grotesque manner of speaking. Experimental subjects lost their memories, to the point of no longer being able to function. However, “re-patterning” was not successful and therefore these subjects were left disabled for the rest of their lives. Many of these subjects were women committed into treatment without their consent, for conditions as treatable as post-partum depression. > > To quote the CBC article linked above: “However, the de-patterning also wiped out much the patient’s memory and left them in a childlike state. In some cases, grown adults forgot basic skills such as how to use the bathroom, how to dress themselves or how to tie their shoes.” I would say that is proof the of (not very surprising) fact that if you keep someone “in a chemically induced sleep for weeks and subjected to rounds of electroshocks, experimental drugs and tape-recorded messages played non-stop.” You can really mess them up permanently. Not that anything like Hollywood brain washing was achieved. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/project-mk-ultra/802649/15 "2017-11-27T22:33:40Z")
[Sirhan Sirhan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirhan_Sirhan#Applications_for_parole)claims to have been programmed in such a way: > [@](#): > > At this parole hearing, Sirhan testified that he continues to have no memory of the assassination nor of any details of his 1969 trial and confession. Pepper also repeated the claim, which Sirhan’s lawyers had previously stated, that Sirhan was “hypno programmed” and his memory of being programmed was “wiped” by an unknown conspiracy behind the assassination which is why Sirhan has no recall of the murder. Pepper said he hired Dr. Daniel Brown of Harvard Medical School to spend more than sixty hours with Sirhan Sirhan in prison and recover his memory of both the shooting and having been put under hypnosis. His parole was denied on the grounds that Sirhan still does not understand the full ramifications of his crime. Of course he’s not a particularly credible source.