16. a simple mushroom rendered with spots on the cap: Ibid., 16. Puharich wrote: “‘The mushroom could take away a man’s suffering,’ Stump said. ‘Take the skin off its neck, and the white spots too [in order] to take people out of themselves when they [can not] bear their pain.’ He provided details about how to best use the potent painkiller to stimulate psychic abilities: ‘The ointment is to be rubbed on the skull, on the joints, for trance.’”
17. “that a human could [psychically] travel”: Ibid., 36.
18. given a higher security clearance: Author FOIA, CIA: “Henry (Andrija) Karl Puharich, Career Résumé,” n.p., n.d.
19. He was told: Puharich, Sacred Mushroom, 26.
20. Dr. Moore, posing as a deep-pocketed professor: Author FOIA, CIA: “Appendix E. Summary of Agency Records Retrieval, Central Intelligence Agency” n.p., n.d. See also Marks, The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate,” 117-122.
21. “maintains the fiction”: Marks, The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate,” 118.
22. “branded as a crackpot”: Puharich, Sacred Mushroom, 39.
23. Flournoy’s book: Flournoy, From India to the Planet Mars. “Fig. 21. Text No. 16; Seance of August 22, 1897. First Martian text written by Mlle. Smith (according to a visual hallucination).”
24. “Science has disclosed a hidden subliminal work”: Ibid., iii. Interestingly, Hélène Smith rejected this explanation, and after the book was published never spoke to Flournoy again. In the 1910s she was embraced by the French surrealists, who declared her “the muse of automatic writing” and showcased her paintings. Despite Flournoy’s intention to present a scientific alternative to psychic functioning, many of his readers decided that cryptomnesia was its own “mysterious psychic phenomena.” In the introduction to the English-language edition, Flournoy’s editor wrote, “An increasing number of thoughtful men are coming to believe that the hidden subliminal work within may point to an unseen spiritual world without, communication with which, if once established, could furnish us with the solution so ardently longed for.”
25. Helen Keller’s story: Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, Chapter XIV, can be read at the website of the American Foundation for the Blind.
26. the accused: Letters from Prevorst, written by Justinus Kerner. Kerner’s book, incidentally, was a compilation of reports of occult and unexplained phenomena; the unattributed passage was a ship’s log from 1686. The whole concept went around in a circle like an ouroboros.
27. He wrote to Nietzsche’s sister: Paul Bishop, The Dionysian Self: C. G. Jung’s Reception of Friederich Nietzsche, 83–84.
Chapter Four: Quasi Science
1. “The pungency of pine and spruce”: APS Records, Warren Sturgis McCullough Papers, B: M139, Series 1, “Puharich, Henry K.” Round Table Foundation, letters and invitations, n.d. These documents offer insight into Puharich’s elite circle of colleagues, which also included Henry Wallace, the former vice president of the United States. “Please plan a visit, you will be right at home,” Puharich wrote to Wallace, whose interest in astrology, agriculture, and Freemasonry had earned him the moniker “the corn-fed mystic.”
2. picnics in the blueberry fields: Andrija Puharich, Sacred Mushroom, 89.
3. Three chemicals: Muscarine stimulates the body’s parasympathetic, or rest-and-digest, nerve endings, inducing vomiting and diarrhea. Muscarine initially produces a stimulating effect and then acts as a poison, paralyzing the nerves it previously stimulated. Atropine, a naturally occurring stimulant, increases heart rate, dilates the pupils, reduces salivation, inhibits sweating, and causes convulsions. Bufotenin is a naturally occurring psychedelic present in many species of plant and also in venom from the Colorado River toad.
4. Puharich decided to try the hallucinogenic mushroom: Puharich, Sacred Mushroom, 89.
5. [Huxley] wrote several letters: James Sexton, ed., Aldous Huxley: Selected Letters, 461, 471. The letter referenced is dated August 9, 1955. The concept of psi, which refers to the unknown element in ESP and other anomalous mental phenomena, derives from the twenty-third letter of the Greek alphabet, ψ (pronounced sigh) and the initial letter of the Greek word ψυχή (pronounced psyche), which means both mind and soul.
6. on August 7, 1955: Puharich, Sacred Mushroom, 97–98. Huxley’s account is similar to Puharich’s.
7. Stump appeared not to remember: Ibid., 98; Stump’s posthumously published partial memoir, which chronicles his life starting in childhood, ends abruptly in August 1955 and does not mention Puharich, only Huxley (see Ferriss and Stump, Maine’s Psychic Sculptor).
8. concentration camp survivor:: Ibid., 55. Hurkos was at Vught, or Herzogenbusch, concentration camp (erroneously reported as Buchenwald). It’s interesting to consider that Hurkos and Stump shared similar wartime experiences; each had worked for a resistance group during the war, each had been captured and tortured by the Gestapo.
9. Hurkos had recently solved: “The Psychic Powers of Peter Hurkos,” Paris Match, June 14, 1952, 170.
10. Paris metro police: Browning, Hurkos, 74.
11. “Hurkos gave Harry [Stump] a confidence”: Hermans, Memories of a Maverick, 67–68; interview with Stephanie Hurkos.
12. “groundbreaking results”: LOC, Marcella du Pont Papers, Round Table Foundation, Progress Report, 1956, n.p.
13. “He felt the CIA was after his research”: Hermans, Memories of a Maverick, 70-71; author FOIA, CIA: Letter to Mr. Allen W. Dulles, Director, Central Intelligence Agency, from Mary O’ [illegible], Secretary to Mr. R. Gordon, Wasson, June 3, 1960. It seems that Wasson knew Moore worked for the Agency.
14. official CIA invoice: author FOIA, CIA: Memorandum for the Record, Subject MKULTRA, Subproject 58, Draft, March 21, 1956.
15. “He was like a landlubber at sea”: John Marks, The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate,” 123. Marks interviewed Moore.
16. “remain an Agency secret”: Ibid., 124.
17. drugs began to take hold: Hermans, Memories of a Maverick, 70-71. Hermans writes that Puharich’s investors disapproved of his relationship with her. “When Joyce Balokovic found out about Andrija’s and my ‘sordid love-affair,’ she booked passage for me on the S.S. Rijndam.” She was sent back to Europe for several months, then returned.
18. fixated on outer space: Ibid., citing Puharich’s journal.
19. Two Pentagon employees: Author FOIA, FBI: “Memorandum for the Record: Subject, Puharich, Henry K. Dr. Round Table Foundation, Glen Cove Maine,” from Special Operations Section, Federal Bureau of Investigation. (n.d.) Bureau File No. 63-4036.
20. “consultant on mushroom toxicology”: Author FOIA, CIA: “Henry (Andrija) Karl Puharich, Career Résumé,” n.p., n.d.
21. leapt to her death: “7-Floor Plunge Kills Mother,” Milwaukee Sentinel, January 25, 1959.
22. threatened to leave: Hermans, Memories of a Maverick, 76, 78. Hermans feared the money would run out and they would have nothing to live on. Instead, with the 1959 publication of The Sacred Mushroom, numerous research organizations wanted to hire him.
23. sponsored by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps: Author FOIA, CIA: Puharich, Henry, and Mitchell, Edgar D., Captain. “A Research Program Whose Goal is to Unambiguously Resolve the Question as to Whether or Not Direct Brain Perception and Direct Brain Action Exist,” n.d., partially paginated 54-page document.
24. fourteen-man scientific expedition: John Newland, “The Sacred Mushroom of the Shaman,” One Step Beyond, January 4, 1961.
25. officials from the Atomic Energy Commission: Author FOIA, AEC: “Memorandum from Dr. Paul S. Henshaw,” November 1, 1963.
26. “biologic memory involving information”: APS Records, Warren Sturgis McCulloch Papers. “Memorandum from Paul S. Henshaw, Medical Research Branch. Subject: Observations of the Work of Henry K. Puharich, M.D.” November 21, 1963, n.p.
27. secret government contracts: Author FOIA, CIA: “Henry (Andrija) Karl Puharich, Career Résumé,” n.p., n.d.; Puharich, Henry, “A Research Program Whos
e Goal is to Unambiguously Resolve the Question as to Whether or Not Direct Brain Perception and Direct Brain Action Exist,” 4.
28. quasi-science pursuits: A collection of Puharich’s films and audiotapes of Arigo are available online at the University of Minnesota Duluth website, in the Sociology-Anthropology, Culture and Personality archives.
29. “psychic healing on the battlefield”: Author FOIA, CIA: Puharich, Henry, “III. Research Proposal,” n.p., n.d.
30. colleagues from the Round Table Foundation: Author FOIA, CIA: Henry (Andrija) Karl Puharich File, “International Conference, Exploring the Energy Fields of Man, November 19–22, 1970,” program itinerary and overview, n.p., n.d.
31. Itzhak Bentov: Ibid. Bentov designed Israel’s first rocket, for the War of Independence, and the steerable cardiac catheter, which paved the way for many biomedical engineering inventions.
32. escalated to… CIA director Richard Helms: Interview with Christopher “Kit” Green.
Chapter Five: The Soviet Threat
1. out of the public eye: Bergier, Morning of the Magicians, French edition. Notably, the story of the Nautilus was censored from the U.S. edition of the book; see also Ioan Mamulas, D.S., “Para-psychological Espionage,” Geostrategic Pulse 45, January 5, 2009, International Institute for Strategic Studies, London.
2. condition of anonymity: Gérald Messadié, “The Secret of the Nautilus,” Science et Vie (February 1960), 509. There were no authors identified. In an interview Messadié said his information came from Bergier and “other sources.”
3. Navy’s response: In the September 8, 1963, issue of This Week, a nationally syndicated Sunday magazine supplement, U.S. Air Force Colonel William H. Bowers was quoted as saying, “The experiment in which I was alleged to have participated never took place.”
4. “Soviet parapsychology research”: Author FOIA: ST-CS-01-169-72, “Significance of Parapsychology in the USSR,” July 1972.
5. Vasilev told a group: Ibid. As a source for this information, the analyst cites Soviet Review 2, no. 6, June 1961.
6. mysterious faith healer from Siberia: Malia Martin, “The Holy Devil,” New York Review of Books, December 31, 1964.
7. “the energy underlying telepathic communication”: John D. LaMothe, Controlled Offensive Behavior—USSR (U). Medical Intelligence Office, Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army, Defense Intelligence Agency, July 1972, 62; Kernbach, “Unconventional Research in USSR and Russia,” International Journal of Unconventional Science, Cornell University (Fall 2013): n.p.
8. “telepathic impulses”: Author FOIA, CIA: ST-CS-01-169-72, “Significance of Parapsychology in the USSR,” July 1972.
9. “electromagnetic, emissions from humans”: Kernbach, “Unconventional Research in USSR and Russia,” n.p.
10. programs stemmed from Ahnenerbe research: Ibid., n.p.
11. Demichev, to establish a special commission: Ibid., n.p.
12. had their offices: Gates, From the Shadows, 97.
13. Moscow Unidentified Technical Signal: Barton Reppert, “Close-up: The Moscow Signal. Zapping an embassy: 35 years later,” Associated Press, May 22, 1988. Thirty-five years later, the real purpose behind the beams remains the subject of debate.
14. inside an anechoic chamber: Eugene V. Byron, “Project Pandora, Final Report,” Applied Physics Laboratory, Silver Spring, Maryland, November 1966.
15. Cesaro became convinced: Author FOIA, [D]ARPA: “Memorandum to Mr. R. S. Cesaro, ARPA, from IDA Review Panel, Subject: Flash Report of Pandora/Bizarre Briefing,” January 14, 1969; Minutes of Pandora Meeting of June 18, 1969;
16. produced Alzheimer’s disease: Author FOIA, [D]ARPA: Minutes of Pandora Meeting of August 12 and 13, 1969. See also, Becker, The Body Electric, Epilogue.
17. “The actual physical results”: Samuel Koslov, “Radiophobia, the Great American Syndrome,” Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest 2 (November 2, 1981): 102.
18. “athermal radiation on man”: Paul Brodeur, Currents of Death, 91–92.
19. Kulagina was filmed: The declassified films are available on YouTube.
20. frog’s beating heart: LaMothe, Controlled Offensive Behavior—USSR (U), 35.
21. wrote the Defense Department analyst: Paraphysics R&D—Warsaw Pact. U.S. Air Force, Air Force Systems Command, Foreign Technology Division, Defense Intelligence Agency, March 30, 1978, 8.
22. “After 5 minutes, [Dr.] Sergeyev”: Paraphysics R&D—Warsaw Pact. U.S. Air Force, Air Force Systems Command, Foreign Technology Division, Defense Intelligence Agency, March 30, 1978, 8.
23. “the most significant PK test”: LaMothe, Controlled Offensive Behavior—USSR (U), 35.
24. four categories of existential threat: Ibid., 40.
25. “I am really disturbed”: Ibid. Based on NARA records research, my read is that it’s likely that Caldwell was CIA.
Chapter Six: The Enigma of Uri Geller
1. home of Moshe Dayan: Much of this chapter comes from one of my numerous interviews with Uri Geller. As for Geller’s map-dowsing forays with Moshe Dayan, there is no way to verify that it happened. Dayan’s pilfering of antiquities is well documented, even in his own memoir, which includes photographs of the artifacts on display in his home as well as maps and photographs of his digging sites.
2. “remains of ancient settlement[s]”: Moshe Dayan, Living with the Bible, 131.
3. Dayan was badly injured: Yael Gruenpeter, “The Israeli Defense Minister Who Stole Antiquities,” Haaretz, December 19, 2015.
4. massive stone artifacts: Dayan, Living, 31; see also Getty Images website, where many photos of Dayan’s home show his antiquities collection.
5. “Dayan utilized my powers”: Interview with Geller; Dayan, Living, 131–133.
6. “the matter of water-witching”: Arthur J. Ellis, “The Divining Rod: A History of Water Witching,” U.S. Geological Survey, Water Supply Paper No. 416, 1917.
7. “Far from a harmless”: Gardner, Fads and Fallacies, 102, 113.
8. Financial Times of London reported: Margaret van Hatten, “A Cost-effective Account of the Spoons,” Financial Times, January 18, 1986. Van Hatten confirmed Geller’s £1M per job figure with Peter Sterling, chairman of the Australian mineral company Zanex.
9. homesteaders and farmers: “Dowsing,” U.S. Geological Survey, n.d.
10. U.S. forces in Vietnam: “Shades of Black Magic: Marines on Operation Divine for VC Tunnels,” Observer 5, no. 45, March 13, 1967.
11. “In this day of nuclear powered devices”: Ibid.
12. “Dowsing is human intelligence”: Interview with Louis Matacia; see also Bird, The Divining Hand, 200–205.
13. “The cause of an effect”: Bird, Divining, 213.
14. “legally questionable hobby”: Yael Gruenpeter, “The Israeli Defense Minister Who Stole Antiquities,” Haaretz, December 19, 2015.
15. Dayan discusses his illegally acquired collection: Dayan, Living, statement on jacket.
16. his mother told the BBC: Footage from Vikram Jayanti, “The Secret Life of Uri Geller, Psychic Spy,” BBC.
17. “He astonished friends”: Interview with Geller; Geller, My Story, 135–136.
18. Geller confided in Yoav Shacham: Interview with Geller; photographs from Geller’s collection; Jayanti, “The Secret Life of Uri Geller,” BBC.
19. Shacham had been killed: Maariv obituary: Yoav Shacham (Bernstein), born October 2, 1935, died November 13, 1966.
20. mesmerized by Geller’s abilities: Interview with Shipi Shtrang.
21. he tested Geller: Interview with Amnon Rubinstein in Jaffa, March 2016.
22. Gamal Abdel Nasser: Interview with Sarah Zilderman, former Israel Defense Forces intelligence analyst.
23. she was quoted: Meir’s exact quote was, “They say there’s a young man who can foresee exactly what will happen, I can’t.”
24. Geller said: Puharich, Uri, 63; interview with Shtrang.
25. it appears in the Bible: 1 Chronicles 29:29. The passage r
eads: “Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer.”
26. most nights: Interview with Gaby Berlin; interview with Sarah Zilderman.
27. “very state-of-the-art back then”: Interview with Geller; also noted in Puharich’s CIA file.
28. Puharich had informed the CIA: Author FOIA, CIA: Puharich, Henry, “A Research Program Whose Goal Is to Unambiguously Resolve the Question as to Whether or Not Direct Brain Perception and Direct Brain Action Exist,” n.d., 19; Andrija Puharich, M.D., “Program Alpha—Phase I. Preliminary Report on DBA Effects Demonstrated by Uri Geller,” August 17–25, 1971; September 20–29, 1971; November 17, 1971 to April 14, 1972.
29. Puharich as a potential liability: Author FOIA, CIA: “Memorandum for: Director of Central Intelligence, W. E. Colby; Subject: Office of Research and Development and Office of Technical Service Paranormal Perception Research Project,” November 23, 1973.
Chapter Seven: The Man on the Moon
1. gave Ed Mitchell an idea: Interview with Mitchell. In 1926, Wilkins was the first man to fly from North America to the polar regions of Europe, proving that there was no continent under the Arctic ice. He commanded multiple expeditions to the Arctic and to Antarctica.
2. “These were abstruse subjects”: Mitchell, The Way of the Explorer, 31; interview with Mitchell.
3. “I would lie awake at night”: Mitchell, Anthology of Psychic Research, 32.
4. “how to react intuitively”: Interview with Mitchell (discussion). Quote is from Alexander et al., The Warrior’s Edge, 121, citing Deikman, “Mystical Intuition,” New Realities, 1987.
5. “The mind has to convince the body”: Interview with Mitchell.
6. rushing sounds of liquid: Shepard, et al., Moon Shot, Chapter Twenty-Two: Apollo 14: All or Nothing.