CIA Hires Magician To Write Deception Manual
In 1953 the CIA approached John Mulholland to write a new manual for its agents. Mulholland, a celebrated magician, was to create a how-to guide to help teach US spies become slight-of -hand experts.
Mulholland quit his job of 23 years as Editor of The Sphinx – America’s preeminent magic publication. He went to work showing secret agents how to use magic to deceive their Cold War enemies.
It was thought that all copies of the manual were destroyed in 1973. But is 1997, through a Freedom of Information Act request, a declassified copy was unearthed.
The manual has been just been republished as The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception.
See some sketches of some of the techniques at The Boston Globe.
Tags: CIA, mind control
