Project Monarch
Project Monarch, unfortunately, is many things to many people. At its most basic, it is one of the CIA's human experimentation projects, probably as part of MKULTRA. It has become something of a banner term for survivors and conspiracy theorists alike, which is to say that "Project Monarch" is sometimes used as a catch-all term for CIA experimentation in general (as, for that matter, is "MKULTRA" as well).
The severity of torture involved in a lot of the CIA's projects has lent Project Monarch something of an air of lunacy. Survivors of any kind are often not believed when they talk about their abuse, and this may be particularly true of survivors whose abuse included their government, specific political figures, the creation of many people inside their bodies, elaborate programming, and extreme and horrific physical, sexual, and mental abuse. On top of that, ritual abuse survivors - including governmental ritual abuse - are often set up to sound like their memories can't possibly be true, as we'll see a little later on. Here, we'll examine what Project Monarch may have been, some of the things that Project Monarch is said to have done, and exactly what evidence there is for all of that.
Disney, E.T., and the Wizard of Oz: What is involved?
The primary claims made about Project Monarch, from what I have read, are that it:
Some secondary claims (i.e. those made with less frequency or which are in my opinion less relevant to the question of what people have experienced) include (but are not limited to) claiming that it:
- includes "elite" government and Hollywood figures
- is connected to Freemasonry, the Vatican, Satanists, and/or various other religious groups
- is connected to Nazis or Nazism
Project Monarch: Content and Deliverance
Here we'll look at some of the most common elements attributed to Project Monarch and other government abuse, and look for any evidence of their truth.
CIA Plans
"I am a survivor of mind control experiments performed under the CIA's MK-ULTRA program. MK-ULTRA was established in 1953 to counter Soviet and Chinese advances in brainwashing and interrogation techniques and consisted of 149 subprojects contracted out to at least 80 institutions including hospitals and Universities. In 1977 Director of Intelligence Stansfield Turner said the program was initiated because the Agency was confronted with 'learning the state of the art of behavioral modification at a time when the U.S. Government was concerned about inexplicable behavior of persons behind the 'Iron Curtain' and American prisoners of war who had been subjected to so called brainwashing.'"4 -- Carol Rutz
As we've already seen, the MKULTRA subproject which attempted in part to create "multiple personality disorder" in children used (or at least the documents we have state their intention to use) nonconsensual electroshock, drugging, et cetera; all of these and more items discussed in this writeup tally perfectly with claims made by survivors.
Then there's Ewen Cameron, who conducted CIA-financed psychiatric experiments where he "would drug his victims to sleep for weeks on end, waking them daily only to administer violent electric shocks to the brain."15 (There's that pesky electric shock thing again!) According to author Anton Chaitkin, "Patients lost all or part of their memories, and some lost the ability to control their bodily functions and to speak. At least one patient was reduced almost to a vegetable; then Cameron had the cognitive centers of her brain surgically cut apart, while keeping her alive."15
Cameron's principal interest, at least according to a Wikipedia article on this subject, was in something called "psychic driving," which they explain as "his theory on correcting madness, which consisted of erasing existing memories and rebuilding the psyche completely."23 This dovetailed perfectly with the work being undertaken by the CIA.
The CIA was eventually brought to trial by the husband of one of his victims, in Orlikow v. U.S.; one of the prosecuting attorneys, James Turner, later wrote a report of the trial. The extensive testimony describing Cameron's work is graphic and horrifying.
Turner begins by sharing the documentation from the very beginning of Cameron's experiments:
"Early in 1957, Dr. D. Ewen Cameron, Director of the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal, submitted a formal grant application to the "Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology" a CIA front operating at the Cornell University Medical School in New York City. That application proposed to extend brainwashing experimentation which Cameron described as follows:
"i. The breaking down of ongoing patterns of the patient's behavior by means of particularly intensive electroshocks (depatterning).
"ii. The intensive repetition (16 hours a day for 6 or 7 days) of the prearranged verbal signal.
"iii. During this period of intensive repetition the patient is kept in partial sensory isolation.
"iv. Repression of the driving period is carried out by putting the patient, after the conclusion of the period, into continuous sleep for 7-10 days.
"Cameron also proposed to test drugs such as 'LSD 25 and other similar agents' in 'depatterning' his patients and to experiment with new methods of 'inactivating' the patient during the repetition of verbal signals with other drugs including curare, a drug used in surgery to temporarily paralyze a patient's involuntary muscles.
"Cameron's application for funds was dated January 21, 1957 and on February 26, 1957 Gottlieb and other CIA officials approved the application in a Memorandum that simply repeats, without reasoning or explanation, the application virtually in haec verba. Shortly thereafter, Gottlieb's deputy, Lashbrook, approved the first payment to Cameron."Q
Ewen Cameron, who was already serving as president of the American Psychiatric Association (beginning in 1953 and serving until his death in 1967), and who had helped to found the Canadian Psychiatric AssociationT and served as president (concurrently with his CIA work, in 1958-9S), subsequently helped found and served as the first president of the World Psychiatric Association (1961).
Then there's the case of "The Finders," whose Washington, D.C. headquarters held -- according to the U.S. Customs report on the matter -- evidence of
murder; child sexual abuse; photographs of naked children with adult "Finders;" high-tech money transfers; references to activities in Africa, the Bahamas, China, Germany, Hong Kong, London, Malaysia, Moscow, North Korea, and North Vietnam; "detailed instructions for obtaining children for unspecified purposes (which) included the impregnation of female members of the... Finders, purchasing children, trading, and kidnapping;" and "a series of photos of adults and children dressed in white sheets and participating in a 'blood ritual'... the photos portrayed the execution, disembowelment, skinning and dismemberment of the goats at the hands of the children. This included the removal of the testes of a male goat, the discovery of a female goat's `womb' and the `baby goats' inside the womb, and the presentation of a goat's head to one of the children."i
But wait, there's more. They also found a warehouse which "contained a large library, two kitchens, a sauna, hot-tub, and a 'video room.' The video room seemed to be set up as an indoctrination center.... There were what appeared to be training areas for children and what appeared to be an altar set up in a residential area of the warehouse. Many jars of urine and feces were located in this area." The report also noted "a systematic response to local newspaper advertisements for babysitters, tutors, etc. A member of the Finders would respond and gather as much information as possible about the habits, identity, occupation, etc., of the family. The use to which this information was to be put is still unknown."i
According to the U.S. News and World Report as well as the Customs agents themselves, when the agents sought to continue their investigation they were told that the entire investigation had been reclassified as a CIA internal matter, and that:
"The (Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department) report has been classified SECRET and was not available for review. I was advised that the FBI had withdrawn from the investigation several weeks prior and that the FBI Foreign Counter Intelligence Division had directed (the police) not to advise the FBI Washington Field Office of anything that had transpired."5
The CIA claimed that the only connection between themselves and the Finders was that a firm which provided CIA officers with computer training "also employed several members of the Finders." In his article on the subject, David McGowan states that
"It should probably be noted here that the firm that supplied the training didn't just employ several members of the Finders but appears to have in fact been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Finders organization. It should also be noted that the CIA does not, as a general rule-of-thumb, assign the training of its officers to outside contractors. If a 'private' firm is utilized in such a capacity, it is in all such cases a front group of the CIA itself."i
However, I do not have primary source documentation to illustrate this point, so I present it only as one possible aspect of the case.
Electroshock
One startlingly frequent element of government torture and ritual abuse is the use of electroshock in some capacity. As previously mentioned, we know that the CIA has conducted many experiments with electric shocks to (for example) find a way of erasing memories.V Electric shocks have also been used for a long time in aversion therapy and electroconvulsive therapy, and are frequently found even in non-governmental and non-ritual abuse survivors' stories.
Mark Phillips says about Project Monarch that
"There are 'strap on' head and foot devices that could deliver a mind altering shock of an exact duration according to the subject's brainwave activity and/or heartbeat. Other portable hand held stun gun type devices can deliver shock up to 200,000 volts for a variety of reasons, but primarily for instant control of the conscious mind."2
In a more general form, this is a frequently heard claim; several people speaking to the 1995 Senate Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments
made statements such as
"Between 1972 and 1976, (Dr. Green) and his assistants were sometimes careless and left the cage unlocked. Whenever physically possible, I snuck into his office and found files with
reports and memos addressed to CIA and military personnel. Included in these files were project, sub-project, subject and experiment names with some code numbers for radiation and mind-control experiments, which I have submitted in your written documentation. I was caught twice, and Dr. Green ruthlessly used electric shock, drugs, spun me on a table, put shots in my
stomach and my back, dislocated my joints, and hypnotic techniques to make me feel crazy and suicidal." (Christine DeNicola)
"Between the years of 1957 and 1974, I became a pawn in the government's game, whose ultimate goal was mind-control and to create the perfect spy, all through the use of chemicals, radiation, drugs, hypnosis, electric shock, isolation in tubs of water, sleep deprivation, brain-washing, verbal, physical, emotional and sexual abuse. I was exploited unwittingly for nearly three decades of my life, and the only explanations given to me were that 'the end justifies the means,' and 'I was serving my country in their bold effort to fight communism.'" (C. Mullen)
A cursory googling of "stun gun" and "200,000 volts" turns up stun guns that go this high and higher (running on only one or two 9-volt batteries) at sites like pepperspraymace.com.12
One of these, protectmefirst.com, explains the effects of stun guns on the human body:
"The stun gun is designed to key into the nervous system. It dumps its energy into the muscles at a high pulse frequency that makes the muscles work very rapidly, but not very efficiently. This rapid work cycle depletes blood sugar by converting it into lactic acid all in just seconds. The resulting energy loss makes it difficult to move and function. At the same time, the tiny neurological impulses that travel throughout the body to direct muscle movement are interrupted. This causes disorientation and loss of balance, leaving the attacker in a passive and confused condition for several minutes. Still there is no significant effect on the heart and other organs.
"As a general rule, a 1/4 second contact will repel and startle the attacker, giving intense pain and muscle contraction. One to two seconds will cause intense pain, muscle spasms and a dazed mental state, this may drop the attacker to the ground. Over three seconds will cause intense pain, loss of balance, loss of muscle control, mental confusion and disorientation. Generally any charge over three seconds will cause the aggressor to fall to the ground. The aggressor will be unable to recover for several minutes and effects may last for up to fifteen minutes."13
Creation of "Multiple Personalities" and/or "Sleeper Agents"
"If you think creating Multiple Personality
Disorder is too bizarre and strange to be real ... again, you just have to
look at the LSD, the brain implant research, some of the sensory deprivation, the Ames Leaf Room, using millions and millions of dollars to pay psychics to spy on other countries while lying on tables in the USA. Once you have that context, then creating Multiple Personality Disorder is kind of small ...the very fact that you can create it artificially, to me indicates that it can be created artificially or on purpose, and also that it's likely to happen naturally."
- Dr. Colin Ross, interviewed by Ryerson CKLN Radio producer Wayne Morris in Toronto.6
As someone who is multiple myself, I don't like to speak to the multiple issue. I'll only note here that the vast majority of the psychiatric community is absolutely convinced that "multiple personality disorder" or "dissociative identity disorder" only occurs in situations of abuse, and some of them insist it must be extremely violent and particularly traumatic abuse.
Whether the government was able to successfully program people, either within multiple systems or otherwise, who could act as assassins, drug mules, et cetera, is another question. Let's let the CIA themselves address that one. Most sources refer to this simply as a 1951 memo; one gives the "approximate date" as "January 1, 1952." It is labeled Bluebird. However, Projects Bluebird and Artichoke overlapped, in some cases both being engaged in the same activity, and both were engaged in studying various methods and effects relating to hypnotismC; Project MKULTRA, of which I believe Monarch was a part, began as an offshoot of Project Artichoke. Therefore, I believe that the following illustrate at least some of what the CIA was trying to do and had achieved around the beginning of Project MKULTRA; we already know it was their stated intention to develop these findings further in MKULTRA/Monarch.
"1. Can we "condition" by post-H (hypnotic) suggestion agency employees (or persons of interest to this agency) to prevent them from giving information to any unauthorized source or for committing any act on behalf of a foreign or domestic enemy?
"2. Can we in a matter of an hour, two hours, one day, etc., induce an H condition in an unwilling subject to such an extent that he will perform an act for our benefit? (Long range).
"3. Can we create by post-H control an action contrary to an individual's basic moral principles?
"4. Could we seize a subject and in the space of an hour or two by post-H control have him crash an airplane, wreck a train, etc.? (Short, immediate activity)
"5. Can we by SI and H techniques force a subject (unwilling or otherwise) to travel long distances, commit specified acts and return to us or bring documents or materials? Can a person acting under post-H control successfully travel long distances?
"6. Can we use SI and H to combat fatigue, produce extreme mental effort?
"7. Can we guarantee total amnesia under any and all conditions?
"8. Can we 'alter' a person's personality? How long will it hold?
"9. Can we design tests to determine whether or not an enemy agent has been conditioned by SI and H or any other method?
"10. Can we detect SI and H by use of SI and H (regression)?
"11. Can we make a 'conditioned' subject reveal by SI and H specifically how they were conditioned (drugs, torture, fatigue, hostage pressure, techniques)?
"12. Can we devise a system for making unwilling subjects into willing agents and then transfer that control to untrained agency agents in the field by use of codes or identifying signs or credentials?
"13. How long can we sustain a post-H suggestion-unaided-with reinforcement?
"14. What would be fastest way to induce SI and H conditions - with drugs - or without any mechanical aids?
"15. Can we devise a standard simple relatively fast technique for inducing SI and H conditions that can be used by untrained agents (with or without drugs)?
"16. Is it possible to find a gas that can be used to gain SI control from a gas pencil, odorless, colorless: one shot, etc.?
"17. What are full details on 'sleep-inducing machine'?
"18. How can sodium A or P or any other sleep inducing agent be best concealed in a normal or commonplace item, such as candy, cigarettes, liqueur, wines, coffee, tea, beer, gum, water, aspirin tablets, common medicines, coke, tooth paste?
"19. How effective can the 'carotid artery technique' be made? Can it be used while subject is unconscious? Is it faster than other techniques?
"20. Can we, while a subject is under SI and H control, show them a map and have them point out specific items, locations, etc., on the map? Can we also have them make detailed drawings, sketches, plans? Could any of the above be done under field conditions and in a very short space of time?
"21. Can we, while a subject is under SI and H control, show them a map and have them point out specific items, locations, etc., on the map? Can we also have them make detailed drawings, sketches, plans?
"Could any of the above be done under field conditions and in a very short space of time?"C and W
On January 7th, 1953, they reported that:
"These subjects have clearly demonstrated that they can pass from a fully awake state to a deep H (hypnotic) controlled state by telephone, by receiving written matter, or by the use of code, signal, or words, and that control of those hypnotized can be passed from one individual to another without great difficulty. It has also been shown by experimentation with these girls that they can act as unwilling couriers for information purposes."W
And in 1954:
"Miss (whited out) was instructed (having expressed a fear of firearms) that she would use every method at her disposal to awaken Miss (whited out) (now in a deep hypnotic sleep). Failing this, she would pick up a pistol nearby and fire it at Miss (whited out). She was instructed that her rage would be so great that she would not hesitate to 'kill' (whited out) for failing to awaken. Miss (whited out) carried out these suggestions to the letter including firing the (unloaded) gun at (whited out) and then proceeded to fall into a deep sleep. After proper suggestions were made, both were awakened. Miss (whited out) expressed absolute denial that the foregoing sequence had happened."W
Nazis
The claim of Nazi involvement in these atrocities usually seems to come not from survivors but from outsiders researching the issue and trying to explain how it all came about. For example, Ron Patton has written that
"After WWII, the U.S. Department of Defense secretly imported many of the top German Nazi and Italian Fascist scientists and spies into the United States via South America and the Vatican. The code name for this operation was Project PAPERCLIP. One of the more prominent finds for the U.S. was German General Reinhard Gehlen, Hitler's Chief of Intelligence against Russia. Upon arriving in Washington D.C. in 1945, Gehlen met extensively with President Truman, General William "Wild Bill" Donovan, Director of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Allen Dulles, who would later become the stalwart head of the CIA. The objective of their brain-storming sessions was to reorganize the nominal American intelligence operation, transforming it into a highly-efficient covert organization. The culmination of their efforts produced the Central Intelligence Group in 1946, renamed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1947."16
The clearest connection with the Nazis is through the above-mentioned Project Paperclip. As riverrun has written,
"....The Nazis had done some very "good" work in rocket science and psychological, chemical, and biological warfare. It seemed a pity to let that work disappear in a puff of petrol smoke in a ditch at Hitler's Wedding Reception.
"As early as the invasion of Normandy, in June of 1944, at least ten thousand American intelligence officers were charged with seizing Nazi experts in munitions, rocketry, and psychological, biological and chemical research. For good measure, French scientists who had collaborated with the Nazis were included as well.
....
"(This project was) like giving Osama Bin Laden's experts in suicide bombing an apartment in Alexandria and a Visa Card, so long as they promised to only suicide bomb for our side."
So, however "crazy conspiracy theorist" it may sound to link these activities to the Nazis, they do seem to follow a clear line back to Nazi medical experiments and related research.
Disney
My first exposure to the idea of Project Monarch came when I met people who had been ritually abused and were trying to explore and defuse their own programming. I found a lot of information describing supposed Project Monarch programming -- like Alice in Wonderland, color, gem, and spin programming -- which nevertheless is also found in a lot of people who were ritually abused outside of the government's grasp.
The two main kinds of programming can be described as operant conditioning and classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is the classic Pavlovian response. A dog salivates when it hears the can opener; a college student jumps at hearing the bell for recess; an abuse survivor has body memories of being unable to breathe at the sight of the exact shade of blue of the blanket in the bed where they were almost smothered. It's a disparate response which comes from extremely intense or repeated stimuli. As Tem42 observes, it is a stimulus-stimulus connection instead of stimulus-response: they are all reacting as if both stimuli were present (the can opener and food, the bell and recess, the bedclothes and the smothering) instead of only the one which is triggering them.
Operant conditioning is a connection between some stimulus and its normal response. We flip a switch and discover that the overhead light turns on, and soon operant conditioning makes this an automatic motion for us. It is what happens when a rat learns what button to press to get fed, or when we make our way through a new piece of software for the first time and watch for consistent responses from it to find out what different commands and buttons do.
Most of the stereotypical programming within ritual abuse is classical conditioning. Using triggers that have seemingly irrelevant effects is a handy way for people to mask the programming and hide what they are doing. Who would believe that an (apparent?) assassin like Sirhan Sirhan was externally controlled and put into a dissociative fugue state by the Smurfs theme song? (This is an entirely fictional example. I believe Sirhan Sirhan was too early for at least the American Smurfs.)
Programming like this can be very involved. One book, movie, or fairytale can be exploited for a huge number of triggers and progra |
