Annie Jacobsen’s “Phenomena” reveals the U.S. government’s fascination with psychic abilities

• From the 1950s to the mid-1990s, the U.S. government invested millions in researching extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK) to gain a strategic edge over the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
• The U.S. was influenced by Nazi Germany’s interest in the occult, particularly the Ahnenerbe’s research into supernatural phenomena, which raised fears that the Soviets might also explore similar avenues.
• In the 1970s, the CIA collaborated with the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) to study ESP and PK, concluding there was credible evidence for ESP. The Navy, Army and Air Force launched their own programs, including telepathy for submarine communication and dowsing to locate enemy tunnels in Vietnam.
• Key figures like Andrija Puharich explored unconventional methods, including hallucinogenic drugs and psychotronic weapons, while the CIA also experimented with mind control using LSD and hypnosis.
• By the mid-1990s, with the Cold War’s end and advancements in technology, the U.S. government ceased its psychic research programs. However, modern defense research continues to explore enhanced human perception and cognition, reflecting the enduring influence of these Cold War experiments.

In the shadowy corridors of the Cold War, the United States government pursued a classified program that blurred the lines between science, espionage and the supernatural.

From the 1950s to the mid-1990s, American intelligence agencies and the military invested millions of dollars into researching extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK), phenomena long dismissed as pseudoscience. This initiative, chronicled in Annie Jacobsen’s book “Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government’s Investigations Into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis,” reveals a little-known chapter in American history where the government sought to harness the power of the human mind for military and intelligence purposes.

The story of the U.S. government’s fascination with psychic abilities begins in the aftermath of World War II, a period marked by the fear of nuclear annihilation and the onset of the Cold War. The U.S. government, eager to gain any strategic advantage over the Soviet Union, turned to unconventional methods, including the exploration of ESP and PK.

These efforts were heavily influenced by the discovery of Nazi Germany’s deep interest in the occult during the war. Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, had established the Ahnenerbe, a scientific organization that researched mystical and supernatural phenomena, and its findings were briefly in Allied hands after the war. While much of the Ahnenerbe’s work was later destroyed, the idea that the Soviet Union could also be exploring similar avenues loomed large in American minds.

In 1972, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) approached researchers at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) with a bold question: Could ESP and PK be proven to exist in a laboratory setting?

By 1975, the CIA had concluded that there was “a large body of reliable experimental evidence” supporting the existence of ESP, a finding that shocked the scientific and intelligence communities. The Navy, Air Force, Army and other agencies quickly followed suit, launching their own programs to explore the potential of psychic phenomena for military and intelligence purposes.

One of the most unconventional applications of ESP was the Navy’s interest in using telepathy as a communication method in the event of a nuclear strike. The idea was that telepathic messages could penetrate the depths of the ocean, where traditional radio signals could not reach.

Meanwhile, the Army conducted experiments in Vietnam, where a team led by Louis J. Matacia, a former Army topographical surveyor and self-proclaimed expert dowser, trained Marines to use divining rods to locate enemy tunnels. While the results were mixed, the program demonstrated the military’s willingness to explore unorthodox methods in the face of unconventional warfare.

The most intriguing figure in this story was Andrija Puharich, a neurobiologist and inventor who claimed to have discovered a mysterious energy force that fueled extrasensory perception. Puharich’s work caught the attention of the U.S. government, and he was soon recruited to conduct experiments for the CIA and Army. Puharich’s research took him to some of the strangest corners of the psychic world, including experiments with hallucinogenic mushrooms and collaborations with a Dutch sculptor who claimed to channel ancient Egyptian entities.

As the psychic research program at SRI gained momentum, the CIA expanded its efforts into even more controversial territory, experimenting with mind control using drugs like LSD and hypnosis. The agency also explored the potential of psychotronic weapons, which were said to use electromagnetic waves to disrupt the human mind and body. The Soviet Union, too, was deeply invested in psychic research, and rumors of Soviet psychotronic weapons capabilities fueled U.S. concerns.

The psychic arms race reached its peak in the 1970s and 1980s, but by the mid-1990s, the U.S. government’s interest in psychic phenomena began to wane. With the end of the Cold War and the rise of new technologies like satellite surveillance and cyber warfare, the idea of psychic spies seemed increasingly outdated. In 1995, the CIA officially shut down its psychic research program, bringing the era of government-sponsored psychic espionage to a close.

Today, the legacy of these programs lives on. While the U.S. government no longer funds investigations into ESP and PK, modern defense research has turned to the concept of “sensemaking,” or the ability to understand and anticipate events, as a potential tool for military and intelligence operations. The idea of using technology to enhance human perception and cognition continues to capture the imagination of scientists and policymakers alike.

Watch this video showcasing Annie Jacobsen’s research in “Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government’s Investigations Into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.”

This video is from the BrightLearn channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

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