Annie Jacobsen

You know, the Oracle of Delphi in Greece exists for the, you know, pre, before the common era rulers to go and beg to learn from the powers that be what was going to happen, right? So all... ESP programs, I think, pull from that origin story, right? The leaders desire to know. And so I really found it amazing that many people think these systems, or rather these programs started in the 70s.

I learned they actually began right after World War II. And that was because, and here, you know, In my reporting, I find all things sort of always circle back to the Third Reich, to the Nazis. The Nazis had a massive occult program, an ESP program, psychokinesis program, astrology. Both Hitler and Himmler were... deeply interested in these occult concepts.

I learned they actually began right after World War II. And that was because, and here, you know, In my reporting, I find all things sort of always circle back to the Third Reich, to the Nazis. The Nazis had a massive occult program, an ESP program, psychokinesis program, astrology. Both Hitler and Himmler were... deeply interested in these occult concepts.

I learned they actually began right after World War II. And that was because, and here, you know, In my reporting, I find all things sort of always circle back to the Third Reich, to the Nazis. The Nazis had a massive occult program, an ESP program, psychokinesis program, astrology. Both Hitler and Himmler were... deeply interested in these occult concepts.

And after I learned from records at the National Archives that after the war, you know, half of everything went to the Soviet Union. And I'm talking about the trove of Nazi documents from which the superpowers were then going to learn to fight future wars. And half of them went to the United States. And so we got this idea trove of documents about all of this, and the Soviets got the other.

And after I learned from records at the National Archives that after the war, you know, half of everything went to the Soviet Union. And I'm talking about the trove of Nazi documents from which the superpowers were then going to learn to fight future wars. And half of them went to the United States. And so we got this idea trove of documents about all of this, and the Soviets got the other.

And after I learned from records at the National Archives that after the war, you know, half of everything went to the Soviet Union. And I'm talking about the trove of Nazi documents from which the superpowers were then going to learn to fight future wars. And half of them went to the United States. And so we got this idea trove of documents about all of this, and the Soviets got the other.

And so it set off a kind of psychic arms race, which in a weird way, paralleled the nuclear arms race, which we've been talking about, in as much that it led one side to constantly wonder what the other side had.

And so it set off a kind of psychic arms race, which in a weird way, paralleled the nuclear arms race, which we've been talking about, in as much that it led one side to constantly wonder what the other side had.

And so it set off a kind of psychic arms race, which in a weird way, paralleled the nuclear arms race, which we've been talking about, in as much that it led one side to constantly wonder what the other side had.

The CIA most definitely believed, from my reading of the documents, that there was something very legit, shall we say, about ESP. It was uncontrollable, it was unreliable, but nonetheless it existed. And being the intelligence agency that they are, they cared less about why it worked. They just wanted to know how they could use it. And then it got into all kinds of elements of placebo effect.

The CIA most definitely believed, from my reading of the documents, that there was something very legit, shall we say, about ESP. It was uncontrollable, it was unreliable, but nonetheless it existed. And being the intelligence agency that they are, they cared less about why it worked. They just wanted to know how they could use it. And then it got into all kinds of elements of placebo effect.

The CIA most definitely believed, from my reading of the documents, that there was something very legit, shall we say, about ESP. It was uncontrollable, it was unreliable, but nonetheless it existed. And being the intelligence agency that they are, they cared less about why it worked. They just wanted to know how they could use it. And then it got into all kinds of elements of placebo effect.

And, you know, when the military stepped in and got involved in the programs, that was a complete disaster, in my opinion, because the military needs to control everything in a mechanized, systematic way. And so they started, for example, teaching people to be psychic, which is a really, really, really bad idea. I mean...

And, you know, when the military stepped in and got involved in the programs, that was a complete disaster, in my opinion, because the military needs to control everything in a mechanized, systematic way. And so they started, for example, teaching people to be psychic, which is a really, really, really bad idea. I mean...

And, you know, when the military stepped in and got involved in the programs, that was a complete disaster, in my opinion, because the military needs to control everything in a mechanized, systematic way. And so they started, for example, teaching people to be psychic, which is a really, really, really bad idea. I mean...

And, you know, flash forward to where we are today, these programs still exist. There's a Navy program, which is working on, based on a lot of data that came back from the war on terror with certain soldiers knowing that. You know, wait, don't walk down that path. There is an IED there. And they call this the Spidey Sense. And they actually have a program that works from this.

And, you know, flash forward to where we are today, these programs still exist. There's a Navy program, which is working on, based on a lot of data that came back from the war on terror with certain soldiers knowing that. You know, wait, don't walk down that path. There is an IED there. And they call this the Spidey Sense. And they actually have a program that works from this.

And, you know, flash forward to where we are today, these programs still exist. There's a Navy program, which is working on, based on a lot of data that came back from the war on terror with certain soldiers knowing that. You know, wait, don't walk down that path. There is an IED there. And they call this the Spidey Sense. And they actually have a program that works from this.

So these things never go away. They kind of circle around in terms of, you know, being made fun of and then taken seriously and a little of this and of that. My biggest takeaway from writing that book was a quote that I referenced in the beginning, which is the Thomas theorem. And it says, if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. Yes.