Hypnotism in Warfare

Hypnosis is a form of mind control that has been studied for over two hundred years and practiced for several thousand years. It was used by priests in Egypt and Greece in “sleep temples” hundreds of years before Chirst.¹

Perhaps because it is not clearly understood how or why a state of consciousness known as hypnosis should exist, the concept tends to arouse strong reactions, ranging from fear and curiosity to disbelief, in very many people.² Professor Clark Hull (pic) of Yale…linked hypnotism closely to the so-called conditioned reflex. [Ivan] Pavlov (pic), the Russian, was, of course, the world’s greatest authority on this unique device.³ [John Broadus (J.B.) Watson (pic) expanded on Pavlov’s ideas and went so far as to suggest stimulating the “sex organs” of children in order to countercondition phobias (See “Conditioned Emotional Reactions” by Watson & Rayner).] Call this brainwashing technique a form of hypnotism, of a conditioned reflex, of reflexology: the terms don’t matter. Clark Hull, were he alive, would say that we were using different terms for the same thing.⁴

Dr. George H. Estabrooks (1895-1973), speaking as the chairman of the Department of Psychology of Colgate University, said, “I can hypnotize a man without his knowledge or consent into committing treason against the United States.” At the time he made that statement Dr. Estabrooks was one of this nation’s most authoritative voices in the field of hypnotism.^5, i

This whole subject of brainwashing,ⁱⁱ including those fantastic confessions at the Russian trials and from our own [prisoners] in Korea, also equally fantastic conversions of our men to the communist cause, is a fascinating study in and of itself. We have definate ideas as to how these ends are attained and undoubtedly could do just as well in this matter of brainwashing as our communist friends, if we so wished.⁶

The possible uses of hypnotism in warfare cover a wide field.… The use of hypnotism in warfare represents the cloak and dagger idea at its best—or worst.… [A person’s personality can be hidden in their subconscious and replaced by another personality.^iii, iv If] we deliberately set up this condition of multiple personality to further the ends of military intelligence,…the proper training of a person…would be long and tedious,^v but once he was trained, you would have a super spy.… Such a subject prepared for use as a super spy would be a nightmare to any intelligence department:…a synthetic hypnotic spy with a dual personality is extremely hard to detect.… Under the conditions of warfare they would be a constant source of danger.…

First, there is no danger of the agent’s selling out. More important would be the conviction of innocence which the man himself had, and this is a great aid in many situations.… Finally, it would be impossible to “third degree” him.^vi…

If we care to translate that into the field of crime,^vii we can see the ease with which we could prepare a watertight alibi.… Hypnotism in crime is very close to hypnotism in warfare.… A nation fighting with its back to the wall is not worried over the niceties of ethics. If hypnotism can be used to advantage, we can rest assured that it will be so employed.^7, viii

ⁱ [Estabrooks] worked hard to inform the public that creating an unknowing, robotically obedient, hypnotic subject was possible — even easy.
— Carla Emery, Secret, Don’t Tell: The Encyclopedia of Hypnotism (MI: Acorn Hill Publ. Co., 1998), p. 84.

ⁱⁱ The term brainwashing made its début in print in an article published by the Miami News in September 1950. The author, Edward Hunter, coined the word as a rather downmarket translation of the Chinese hsi-nao, which meant ‘to cleanse the mind’, and used the article to claim that post-revolution China was using insidious never-before-known psychological techniques to force Chinese into the Communist party.
— Denise Winn, The Manipulated Mind: Brainwashing, Conditioning and Indoctrination (London: Octagon Press, 1983), p. 1.

ⁱⁱⁱ The perfect deep-cover agent…is the one who doesn’t know he or she is an agent.
— Walter Wager, Telefon (New York: Macmillan Publ. Co., Inc., 1975), p. 23.

^iv One human brain can have two different personalities dwelling in it, according to a new imaging study — and each personality seems to use its own network of nerves to help recall or suppress memories.
— Reinders, A.A.T.S. et al., “One brain, two selves,” NeuroImage, 2003, 20, pp. 2119-2125, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/psnews/message/1388.

^v MK-ULTRA consultant Dr. Milton Kline, a former president of the the American Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, stated he could create a Manchurian Candidate in six months.
— Mack White, “Dead Silence in the Brain; The CIA Assassination of John Lennon,” at http://www.mackwhite.com/lennon.html.

^vi Estabrooks proposed, over and over, that superspies with one-way amnesia should be created by deliberate personality splitting. An absolutely dependable, unbreakable amnesia for all events under hypnosis is the most essential single element to create an unknowing, authority-controlled hypnotic subject. A split personality is a very hard form of amnesia to overcome.
— Emery, Secret, Don’t Tell, p. 128.

^vii I'll make it a thief, a gunman or a dope fiend. The possibilities of shaping in any direction are almost endless.^*
— J.B. Watson, quoted in Walter Bowart, Operation Mind Control (New York: Dell Paperback, 1977), in Jim Keith, Mind Control, World Control (Kempton, IL: Adventures Unlimited Press, 1998), p. 31.

^* Studies show the teen criminals of tomorrow are “literally being manufactured, programmed, hardwired to behave in a certain way.”
— Lori Montgomery, “Young lawbreakers likely to become older criminals,” Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 10 April 1996; See also Killology Research Group, “Teaching Kids To Kill,” at http://www.killology.com/article_teachkid.htm.

^viii The power potential of the hypnotiser encouraged the CIA to spend some years investigating hypnosis as a means for programming assassins or for sending top secret messages that would be forgotten the instant after delivery.
— Winn, Manipulated Mind, p. 138.

Endnotes

¹ Margaret O. Hyde, Brainwashing and Other Forms of Mind Control (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1977), p. 82.

² Denise Winn, The Manipulated Mind: Brainwashing, Conditioning and Indoctrination (London: Octagon Press, 1983), p. 138.

³ G.H. Estabrooks, Hypnotism (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1957, 1943), p. 211.

⁴ Op. cit.

⁵ Jerry E. Smith, HAARP: The Ultimate Weapon of the Conspiracy (Kempton, IL: Adventures Unlimited Press, 1999), p. 128; See also George H. Estabrooks & Nancy E. Gross, The Future of the Human Mind (London: Museum Press Ltd., 1961), p. 216.

⁶ Estabrooks, Hypnotism, p. 211.

⁷ Ibidem, pp. 175, 179, 193, 194, 198, 200, 201, 204, 205, 206.

Movies

Manchurian Candidate (2004 w/ Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber & Meryl Streep)
Manchurian Candidate (1962 w/ Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey & Angela Lansbury)
Manchurian Candidate (1959)
Telefon (1977 w/ Charles Bronson & Lee Remick)
Telefon (1975)

Groups

misc. keywords: behaviour behavior modification