• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

In the shadowy world of Cold War intelligence, few operations matched the ethical audacity and surreal methods of Operation Midnight Climax, a covert CIA experiment conducted in San Francisco between 1954 and 1963. As part of the broader and infamous MKULTRA program, this bizarre project aimed to explore how drugs and sex could be weaponised for interrogation, mind control, and information extraction from foreign adversaries.

The origins of Operation Midnight Climax lie in post-Korean War paranoia. After witnessing American POWs return home praising communism or confessing to war crimes, CIA officials feared the enemy had mastered mind control. Determined to unlock similar capabilities, the CIA launched MKULTRA in 1953, a massive and secretive research program exploring psychological manipulation, hypnosis, and chemical control through nearly 100 sub-projects.

Among these was Operation Midnight Climax, a project that stood out for its blend of espionage and vice. Overseen by CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb, the agency acquired large quantities of LSD, a newly discovered hallucinogenic drug, and began using it in experiments with unsuspecting civilians.

ALSO READ: Indian Man Receives 14-Year Sentence For Sexually Assaulting 11-Year-Old Girl In Singapore

Brothels Wired For Surveillance

To test how drugs and sex could be used to manipulate behaviour, the CIA set up a network of wired bordellos in San Francisco and later in New York. Sex workers, hired by the agency, were paid USD V100 per target to lure men into these safe houses. Once inside, the men were served cocktails laced with LSD, unbeknownst to them.

Behind one-way mirrors, CIA agents watched and recorded the sessions in real-time, studying the effects of LSD on behaviour, memory, and verbal responses. The prostitutes, coached by handlers, tested various lines of questioning to discover the most effective timing and tactics for extracting information. One finding revealed that men became more talkative if asked to stay after the sexual encounter was complete, indicating a vulnerable psychological window.

From Research To Revelry

Though designed as an interrogation simulation, the operation soon spiralled out of control. By the late 1950s, the bordello had turned into a hub of "CIA carnal operations", as one writer described it. Voyeurism, drug use, and personal indulgence by CIA operatives became common. The original purpose of intelligence gathering blurred into hedonism.

Reports indicate that the project lost its scientific rigour and contributed little to genuine mind control breakthroughs. By 1963, Operation Midnight Climax was effectively shut down, and the entire MKULTRA program was terminated in 1967 after public scrutiny and mounting ethical concerns.

ALSO READ: Amusement Ride Breaks In Half In Saudi Arabia; Viral Video Shows Seconds Before Catastrophic Fall Injures 23

Though Operation Midnight Climax ended more than six decades ago, its legacy continues to reverberate. The LSD the CIA imported under MKULTRA eventually seeped into the counterculture. Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, poet Allen Ginsburg, and author Ken Kesey (who later wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) all reportedly had their first encounters with LSD through CIA-related projects, without knowing it.