What would it take to fully break a person’s will-without them ever realizing it happened?
That was the question driving Project ARTICHOKE, a top-secret CIA research program detailed in a declassified 1952 memorandum.
Unlike earlier efforts, this was no vague proposal. It laid out a precise, coordinated plan for psychological domination using drugs, hypnosis, polygraphs, amnesia, and isolation-tested on living human subjects in a secure overseas facility.
The goal?
Determine just how far the human mind could be pushed, broken, and rewritten.
🌍 The Setup: A Remote CIA Safehouse Abroad
The operation was to be staged in one of the CIA’s more isolated “safe areas,” disguised as an employment screening program. It would involve:
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Up to 30 non-U.S. test subjects of varying age, gender, language, and intelligence
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At least 20 CIA personnel: hypnotists, chemists, doctors, and polygraph operators
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A custom facility outfitted with interrogation rooms, medical labs, and surveillance gear
Cover stories included vaccine testing and drug resistance trials.
💊 Step One: Chemical Confessions
Each subject underwent a chemical phase:
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“Truth serum” agents were tested to obtain hidden information
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Responses were recorded and analyzed for compliance and memory gaps
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All subjects were monitored with polygraphs and interrogated before and after dosing
The memo emphasized “new” drugs-some untested, many experimental.
🌀 Step Two: Hypnosis and Post-Hypnotic Control
Once drugs were introduced, hypnosis began. Subjects were put under trance to:
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Regress to earlier life stages
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Write, speak, or confess to assigned tasks
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Receive post-hypnotic commands, designed to activate later under controlled triggers
“Every effort will be made to fasten on a tighter hypnotic control and more certain post-hypnotic commands.”
- Project ARTICHOKE proposal
🧠 Step Three: Can They Be Made to Forget?
Amnesia wasn’t a side effect. It was the mission.
Each experiment measured how well a subject could be made to forget what had occurred. The document even stated:
“From the ARTICHOKE point of view, the greater the amnesia produced, the more effective and satisfactory the result.”
The team aimed for total blackout-no memory of confession, suggestion, or obedience.
🔍 Final Step: “What Will They Do Under Control?”
Subjects who proved highly suggestible were pushed further. The team explored:
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What they would say
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What they would write
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What they could be made to do
Straight hypnosis, chemical-assisted hypnosis, and post-hypnotic triggers were tested repeatedly-often in combination with polygraph monitoring to measure inner conflict.
“Determine exactly what that individual can be forced to do while acting under hypnosis.”
🎥 Every Detail Was Documented
Each subject’s breakdown was recorded:
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Audio tapes
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Written reports
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Still photography
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Motion picture footage of the sessions
All materials were to be submitted for cross-agency analysis.
🕳️ A Cold Blueprint for Psychological Warfare
The proposal ends not with caution, but with logistical coordination-conferences, passport cover stories, pre-op planning, and inter-agency cooperation.
This wasn’t theory.
It was ready to launch.
