Magic and Spies
Dec. 11th, 2008 04:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
robotnik2004IT IS THE END OF TERM and I continue to totally lazy-Web my own job. Still, there's an interesting anecdote in it for you about magic and spies.
A student of mine writes the following in an email. He irritatingly neglects to name the book he's talking about.
So, there are people on this f-list who know their CIA history, and their magic history, and lots of other things besides. Can I get a ruling on how for real any of this is? How about suggestions in general as to books on the CIA that are detailed and interesting without being written by kooks? (This latter question comes up a lot when my students are writing papers, actually.)
A student of mine writes the following in an email. He irritatingly neglects to name the book he's talking about.
I came across a book about a magician named John Mulholland, who was editor (but not the orginator -- he took over the magazine after an earlier editor died) of the first sort of "big time" magic magazine, called the Sphinx. He grew up in New York, near a sort of local hub of magic enthusiasts -- Harry Houdini lived only a few blocks away, as did the two Dr./magicians whose impressive collections were donated to the NY Public Library (one of them grew up not far from here in St. Thomas).
With that exposure, Mulholland developed an appreciation for magic's history and had was able to learn how to collect on a big scale from those who had the greatest magic collections/libraries of their day. Mulholland's collection grew into the premier collection.
Mulholland also had experience as a teacher, and his performances were more like lectures, where the presentation taught about something. He apparently wrote Houdini's lecture on debunking Spiritualists, and helped orchestrate Houdini's Spiritualism racket. He wrote a number of books about magic and took on Houdini's crusade after Houdini's death.
His success with writing worked well in the popular market beyond his books. His office for the Sphinx was a few doors from the New York Times office, and he frequently ran over press releases when something noteworthy about magic occured (a comment for an obituary, for instace). By the 1950s, he was basically regarded as a voice of magic -- he could be counted on for blurbs for such articles or for encyclopedias and dictionaries.
When the CIA gets going, things get weird. The guy who's behind MK-ULTRA supposedly contacts Mulholland via a pseudonym and from some sort of fictitious company as a front. A deal was struck for Mulholland to use his magic know-how in an effort to create covert delivery systems for the crazy projects going on through MK-ULTRA. He was also contracted to write manuals for agents on how to use magic techniques to accomplish covert tasks during operations -- basically manuals on deception. Just how far all this goes is unclear. The book I read is amateurly written, and as soon as MK-ULTRA enters the discussion, a lot of it sounds like conspiracy hype.
The sources this author used were Mulholland's papers, which are in his possession. While there are endnotes, the sourcing is sporadic. It appears as though he never really looked into what might be available (if anything) from the CIA to support or refute his claims. Still, it's a pretty cool story.
The part about teaching agents deception seems likely -- there's quite a bit of evidence that Mulholland was associated with the CIA in this capacity, but I'm not sure as to the extent it went into CIA practice. Even the MK-ULTRA stuff looks plausible -- a lot sounds circumstantial, but definitely weird (the fake names, companies, cryptic notes). So, a magician was likely involved with the CIA, and it seems believable that the CIA might be interested in the possible application of deceptive practices as taught by a magician.
With that exposure, Mulholland developed an appreciation for magic's history and had was able to learn how to collect on a big scale from those who had the greatest magic collections/libraries of their day. Mulholland's collection grew into the premier collection.
Mulholland also had experience as a teacher, and his performances were more like lectures, where the presentation taught about something. He apparently wrote Houdini's lecture on debunking Spiritualists, and helped orchestrate Houdini's Spiritualism racket. He wrote a number of books about magic and took on Houdini's crusade after Houdini's death.
His success with writing worked well in the popular market beyond his books. His office for the Sphinx was a few doors from the New York Times office, and he frequently ran over press releases when something noteworthy about magic occured (a comment for an obituary, for instace). By the 1950s, he was basically regarded as a voice of magic -- he could be counted on for blurbs for such articles or for encyclopedias and dictionaries.
When the CIA gets going, things get weird. The guy who's behind MK-ULTRA supposedly contacts Mulholland via a pseudonym and from some sort of fictitious company as a front. A deal was struck for Mulholland to use his magic know-how in an effort to create covert delivery systems for the crazy projects going on through MK-ULTRA. He was also contracted to write manuals for agents on how to use magic techniques to accomplish covert tasks during operations -- basically manuals on deception. Just how far all this goes is unclear. The book I read is amateurly written, and as soon as MK-ULTRA enters the discussion, a lot of it sounds like conspiracy hype.
The sources this author used were Mulholland's papers, which are in his possession. While there are endnotes, the sourcing is sporadic. It appears as though he never really looked into what might be available (if anything) from the CIA to support or refute his claims. Still, it's a pretty cool story.
The part about teaching agents deception seems likely -- there's quite a bit of evidence that Mulholland was associated with the CIA in this capacity, but I'm not sure as to the extent it went into CIA practice. Even the MK-ULTRA stuff looks plausible -- a lot sounds circumstantial, but definitely weird (the fake names, companies, cryptic notes). So, a magician was likely involved with the CIA, and it seems believable that the CIA might be interested in the possible application of deceptive practices as taught by a magician.
So, there are people on this f-list who know their CIA history, and their magic history, and lots of other things besides. Can I get a ruling on how for real any of this is? How about suggestions in general as to books on the CIA that are detailed and interesting without being written by kooks? (This latter question comes up a lot when my students are writing papers, actually.)
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no subject
Date: 2008-12-11 09:59 pm (UTC)More background with a smattering of sourcing here. That all seems to be connected to the death of Frank Olson and also looks a touch kooky to me.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-11 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-11 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-11 10:39 pm (UTC)I can't be actually helpful because I only know about books written by kooks.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-11 10:03 pm (UTC)Is there a difference?
Date: 2008-12-12 03:15 pm (UTC)Re: Is there a difference?
Date: 2008-12-12 05:23 pm (UTC)Historians are scary people, I tell ya. Never piss one off. Especially when you're dead.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-12 01:06 am (UTC)Tim Weiner's has a section on MKUltra. But Weiner is very much on a mission to make the CIA look like a bunch of idiots and thus focuses on operations, which makes his point well. Still I recommend thisbook as a good touch point.
Richelson, by the way, is the writer of the beautiful The US Intelligence Community () which is the place to start when reading up on current US Intelligence agencies. This is one of my bibles.
On MKULTRA and all things mindcontrol I recommend Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control (http://www.amazon.com/Brainwash-Secret-History-Mind-Control/dp/031232572X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229043737&sr=1-2) by Dominic Streatfeild which is a good, non-kooky look at the subject. Likewise I also recommend Secrets and Lies: A History of CIA Mind Control and Germ Warfare (http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Lies-History-Control-Warfare/dp/1568526849/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2Z7ROSQM22ZW2&colid=2UR6UXR424B5A) by Gordon Thomas. (http://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Ashes-History-Tim-Weiner/dp/0307389006/ref=pd_sim_b_14)
no subject
Date: 2008-12-12 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-12 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-14 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-12 12:13 pm (UTC)