Psychotronics (conspiracy theory)

There is a number of conspiracy theories about the alleged psychotronic influence on people.

In Russia, a group called "Victims of Psychotronic Experimentation" attempted to recover damages from the Federal Security Service during the mid-1990s for alleged infringement of their civil liberties including "beaming rays" at them, putting chemicals in the water, and using magnets to alter their minds. These fears may have been inspired by revelations of secret research into psychological warfare during the early 1990s, with Lopatkin, a State Duma committee member in 1995, surmising "Something that was secret for so many years is the perfect breeding ground for conspiracy theories."[1]

In the US, there are websites that document the claims of people who hear voices in their heads and claim the government is using "psychotronic torture" against them, and who campaign to stop the use of alleged psychotronic and other mind control weapons.[2][3] These campaigns have received some support from government representatives including Dennis Kucinich[2] and Jim Guest.[3] Yale psychiatry professor Ralph Hoffman notes that people often ascribe voices in their heads to external sources such as government harassment, God, and dead relatives, and it can be difficult to persuade them that their belief in an external influence is delusional.[2] Other experts compare these stories with accounts of alien abductions.[3]

The campaign groups use news stories, military journals and declassified national security documents to support their allegations that governments are developing weapons intended to send voices into people's heads.[2] For example, psychotronic weapons were reportedly being studied by the Russian Federation during the 1990s[4][5] with military analyst Lieutenant Colonel Timothy L. Thomas saying in 1998 that there was a strong belief in Russia that weapons for attacking the mind of a soldier were a possibility, although no working devices were reported.[5]

In 1987, a U.S. National Academy of Sciences report commissioned by the Army Research Institute noted psychotronics as one of the "colorful examples" of claims of psychic warfare that first surfaced in anecdotal descriptions, newspapers, and books during the 1980s. The report cited alleged psychotronic weapons such as a "hyperspatial nuclear howitzer" and beliefs that Russian psychotronic weapons were responsible for Legionnaire's disease and the sinking of the USS Thresher among claims that "range from incredible to the outrageously incredible". The committee observed that although reports and stories as well as imagined potential uses for such weapons by military decision makers exist, "Nothing approaching scientific literature supports the claims of psychotronic weaponry".[6]

In 2012, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin commented on plans to draft proposals for the development of psychotronic weapons.[7] NBC News Science Editor Alan Boyle dismissed notions that such weapons actually existed, saying, "there's nothing in the comments from Putin and Serdyukov to suggest that the Russians are anywhere close to having psychotronic weapons."[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Matthews, Owen (July 11, 1995). "Report: Soviets Used Top-Secret 'Psychotronic' Weapons". The Moscow Times. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Weinberger, Sharon (January 14, 2007). "Mind Games". Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  3. 1 2 3 Kershaw, Sarah (November 12, 2008). "Sharing Their Demons on the Web". New York Times.
  4. ↑ Leigh Armistead autofilled (2004). Information Operations. Potomac Books, Inc. pp. 197–. ISBN 978-1-59797-355-7. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  5. 1 2 The Mind Has No Firewall, Parameters, Spring 1998, pp. 84-92
  6. ↑ Kendrick Frazier. The Hundredth Monkey: And Other Paradigms of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books, Publishers. pp. 153–. ISBN 978-1-61592-401-1. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  7. 1 2 Boyle, Alan (April 2012). "Reality check on Russia's 'zombie ray gun' program". NBC News. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
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