A chilling internal report from the CIA Inspector General’s office reveals disturbing details behind the 1953 death of Dr. Frank Olson, a U.S. Army scientist who fell from a New York hotel window after being unknowingly dosed with LSD by the CIA.
This classified investigation, long suppressed and only later declassified, exposes a secretive program, Project MK-ULTRA, designed to test mind-altering substances on unwitting subjects.
The report doesn’t just confirm Olson’s drugging. It also outlines how the CIA handled his breakdown, and raises serious questions about negligence, deception, and accountability.
"Dr. Olson was not made aware that he had been given LSD until after its effects were felt."
🧬 The MK-ULTRA Connection
Dr. Olson was a bacteriologist at Fort Detrick and part of a CIA-linked biological warfare program.
In November 1953, he attended a retreat with CIA officials and military researchers.
Without his consent, Olson’s drink was spiked with LSD as part of a covert behavioral experiment authorized by Sidney Gottlieb, the chemist heading CIA’s mind control efforts.
Olson experienced a rapid psychological collapse in the days that followed-confusion, paranoia, and emotional instability.
Instead of medical care, he was passed between CIA officers, psychiatrists under contract, and ultimately ended up at the Statler Hotel in Manhattan.
A few days later, he was dead.
🪟 A Fatal Fall and a Rising Cover-Up
In the early hours of November 28, 1953, Olson fell from the 13th floor window of Room 1018A at the Statler Hotel.
He had been sharing the room with CIA officer Robert Lashbrook, who reported that Olson had jumped after a quiet night.
But the Inspector General’s report casts doubt on the simplicity of that account:
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No security or medical personnel had been assigned to protect Olson
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His extreme mental distress was not reported up the chain of command
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The decision to place him in a hotel instead of a hospital was never justified
"The precautions taken for Dr. Olson’s protection were inadequate under the circumstances."
🕳️ Institutional Silence
What followed Olson’s death was not a public investigation-but decades of classified silence.
The CIA did not inform his family about the drugging for over 20 years.
His death certificate listed suicide, and the agency quietly provided misleading information to colleagues and the press.
The 1975 Church Committee investigation helped bring his story to light-but even then, many documents remained buried.
This IG report, unearthed later, is one of the most complete internal accounts ever disclosed. And it confirms what Olson’s family long suspected:
His death was the result of a classified experiment gone wrong-and covered up.
🧾 Acknowledgment Without Justice
The CIA ultimately paid a settlement to Olson’s family, but no agency personnel were disciplined.
Sidney Gottlieb retired without consequence.
To this day, many believe the circumstances of Olson’s death suggest foul play, not suicide-especially after a 1994 exhumation revealed injuries inconsistent with a fall.
The CIA has never formally accepted blame for Olson’s death.
Behind the redactions and clinical language is a simple fact.
A U.S. government scientist was drugged without his knowledge, lost his mind and died days later-while his employers quietly closed ranks around his memory.
