Frank Olson
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over thirty universities and institutions were involved in an "extensive testing and experimentation" program which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens "at all social levels, high and low, native Americans and foreign." Several of these tests involved the administration of LSD to "unwitting subjects in social situations." At least one death, that of Dr. Olson, resulted from these activities. The Agency itself acknowledged that these tests made little scientific sense. The agents doing the monitoring were not qualified scientific observers." -- 1977, Senator Ted Kennedy |
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Frank Olson (July 17, 1910 – November 28, 1953) was a U.S. Army scientist who appears to have taken his own life after being given LSD, without his knowledge, by the US Army.
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Biography
Frank Olson was a chemist at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland.
His specific research in the Army is unknown, but he was involved in biological weapons research and experimented with mind control drugs.
In 1953, as Deputy Acting Head of Special Operations for the CIA, Olson associated with William Sargant, investigating the use of psychoactive drugs at Britain's Biological Warfare Centre at Porton Down.
According to the government's version of events, as part of the MKULTRA mind control experiments, Olson was dosed with LSD without his knowledge, subsequently suffering severe paranoia and a nervous breakdown. The CIA sent him to New York to see one of their psychiatrists, who recommended that Olson be placed into a mental institution for recovery.
On his last night in Manhattan, Olson purposely threw himself out of his tenth-floor hotel room window at the Hotel Pennsylvania, dying on impact.
Legacy
His family had no knowledge of the details of the accident until the Rockefeller Commission started uncovering some of the CIA's MKULTRA activities. In 1975, the government admitted that Olson had been dosed with LSD without his knowledge. The government offered his family an out of court settlement of $750,000, which they accepted.
In 1994, Eric Olson had his father's body exhumed. The forensic scientist in charge of the examination, George Washington University professor James E. Starrs, determined that Olson had suffered some form of blunt force trauma to the temple/forehead prior to falling out of the broken window, but contrarily had no visible laceration indicating that he fell through a broken window. The evidence was called "rankly and starkly suggestive of homicide." Based on his findings, in 1996 the Manhattan District Attorney opened a homicide investigation into Olson's death, but was unable to find enough evidence to bring charges.
References in popular culture
- In the May 2, 2007 episode of the show Bones, titled "Spaceman in a Crater," the Frank Olson case was mentioned along with Project Paperclip and Project ARTICHOKE as examples of situations where the US government has caused the death of individuals. The reference is made by the character "Hodgins" who is noted for being a conspiracy buff.
- In the feature film Oktober, the protagonist says he "has what Frank Olson had."
- Contemporary American poet David Clewell has a book of poetry entitled Conspiracy Quartet which includes a piece about Olson and the LSD experiments.
- A similar event is referred to in the feature film The Good Shepherd.
- There was a segment on the show Unsolved Mysteries exploring the theories and rumors behind Frank Olson's death.
- An opera concerning the conspiracy theories behind Olson's death, Man: Biology of a Fall composed by Evan Hause on a libretto by Gary Heidt, premiered in Brooklyn, New York at Kumble Theater on October 4, 2007.
- The English alternative band Hope of the States (known for their references to U.S. mental healthcare issues) released a song called "the Ballard of Frank Olson" on their first known official demo release entitled Hope of the States 8 Track Demo Hope of the States#Discography
See also
