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Dr. Mary's Monkey: How the Unsolved Murder of a Doctor, a Secret Laboratory in New Orleans and Cancer-Causing Monkey Viruses are Linked to Lee Harvey Oswald, the JFK Assassination and Emerging Global Epidemics
The 1964 murder of a nationally known cancer researcher sets the stage for this gripping exposé of medical professionals enmeshed in covert government operations over the course of three decades. Following a trail of police records, FBI files, cancer statistics, and medical journals, this revealing book presents evidence of a web of medical secret-keeping that began with the handling of evidence in the JFK assassination and continued apace, sweeping doctors into coverups of cancer outbreaks, contaminated polio vaccine, the arrival of the AIDS virus, and biological weapon research using infected monkeys.
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First published April 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 296 reviews
February 18, 2020
I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I enjoy reading different views on historical or current events. There are aspects of this book that are more horrifying than any suspense or thriller I’ve read. Polio, cancer, HIV, CIA, covert government operations, the mafia - this book covers them all and will make you think. What’s the truth? Absolutely loved it!
February 18, 2015
This one started out well, but became increasingly "out there" as it went on. One of the book strengths, the author's own experience, turned on itself as his own coincidences kept interesecting with the story. First, his father knew the "Dr. Mary" of the title (OK); Second, while in college, he just happened to date a girl who just happened to be renting an old apartment of David Ferrie's where the thousands of mice were kept (I was OK with that, New Orleans isn't that big a city); Three, early in his work career he was sent on a work gig that put him in contact with some far-right radio station, which itself was connected to a number of JFK assasination figures (OK); Fourth, late in the book the author just happened to be working in a Florida city that was the home town of a witness (and former Oswald lover) that could tie all the threads together (Oswald, cancer causing and Castro killing mice, Dr Mary Sherman, Polio vacine, David Ferrie, AIDS, and so on). To top it off, the author just happened to be working at a newspaper where he could verify this witness by going through the archives, so there will be no false newspaper plants (CIA stuff). Whatever, about that time the yellow light started flashing big-time. I can't disprove or knock down any of this, and Haslam does make a very strong case for Mary Sherman's death being staged, but beyond that you're left with an unending Hall of Mirrors.
November 6, 2012
Dr. Mary's Monkey: How the unsolved murder of a doctor, a secret laboratory in New Orleans and cancer-causing monkey viruses are linked to Lee Harvey Oswald, the JFK assassination and emerging global epidemics is one of the longest titles of a book not printed during the 19th Century.
To link together a murder in New Orleans, and polio vaccine laced with cancer-causing simian retro-viruses, (that early 20th Century science knew might be there, but couldn't filter out), Lee Harvey Oswald, the JFK assassination, and the world-wide epidemic of diseases never seen before, took some doing. But New Orleans native, author Edward T. Haslam has done a magnificent job in this inch and one-eighth thick, large-fonted, trade-size paperback peppered with black and white thumbnail-sized photos.
Don't let the self-published-look of Dr. Mary's Monkey put you off, for it is printed by Trine Day, a publisher of controversial subjects way too hot for the mainstream press.
Being an older sort, I found the larger font made it easy to read the precise sentences. There are numerous footnotes at the end of each chapter that greatly add to the reader's understanding.
I found author Haslam far from pedantic, or even always certain he, himself, was right, for when he could not verify a fact, or simply did not know, or discovered his source lying to him, he said so. All through the book he leaves any assumptions or suppositions entirely up to the reader, and not until the very last pages of the book does he actually reveal the conclusions he's come to over the past 20 years.
Having read a shelf-full of books on John F. Kennedy's life, his assassination, the C.I.A., and also knowing Texas and Louisiana governments to be both misogynistic and crookeder than a dog's hind leg, I found Dr. Mary's Monkey coming closest to explaining 3 questions I've never found the answers to:
1) Who killed John F. Kennedy. Why?
2) What caused cancer rates to explode in the second half of the 20th Century?
3) Why, all of a sudden, did uniquely simian-only viruses cross over into the general human population, when they had remained steadfastly outside the homo-sapien experience for the previous 5,000 years?
I've always found the answers just a little too simplistic:
1) "Oswald alone killed Kennedy"
2) "Everything but mom's apple pie causes cancer and it's going under the microscope next"
3) "Native Africans ate monkey meat and practice 'unsafe-sex' and that alone is what caused AIDS"
Broken into about 16 sections, Edward T. Haslam lays out his research of almost 20 years in an easy-to-read and logical fashion that, as the tired-of-being-lied-to reader gets madder and madder, answers the above trio of questions.
Do not be mistaken, or misled, Dr. Mary's Monkey is a serious book that answers serious questions by providing serious documentation, combined with author-interviews with many of those personally involved with Dr. Mary Sherman, Lee Harvey Oswald, Dr. Alton Ochsner, David William Ferrie, Judyth Vary Baker and other important players.
If you were alive during the November 1963 murder of JFK and have always had nagging doubts about the scenario that a single shooter, recently returned from self-exile in the communist (and Cold-War-Era) U.S.S.R., using the name of A.J.Hidell mail-ordered a 20-year-old, bolt-action, Italian made, World War II rifle and managed to (once again, alone) attain employment in a multi-storied building along the highly confidential (and only changed days before) parade route of the most powerful and greatly adored man on the face of the earth, you must read Dr. Mary's Monkey.
To link together a murder in New Orleans, and polio vaccine laced with cancer-causing simian retro-viruses, (that early 20th Century science knew might be there, but couldn't filter out), Lee Harvey Oswald, the JFK assassination, and the world-wide epidemic of diseases never seen before, took some doing. But New Orleans native, author Edward T. Haslam has done a magnificent job in this inch and one-eighth thick, large-fonted, trade-size paperback peppered with black and white thumbnail-sized photos.
Don't let the self-published-look of Dr. Mary's Monkey put you off, for it is printed by Trine Day, a publisher of controversial subjects way too hot for the mainstream press.
Being an older sort, I found the larger font made it easy to read the precise sentences. There are numerous footnotes at the end of each chapter that greatly add to the reader's understanding.
I found author Haslam far from pedantic, or even always certain he, himself, was right, for when he could not verify a fact, or simply did not know, or discovered his source lying to him, he said so. All through the book he leaves any assumptions or suppositions entirely up to the reader, and not until the very last pages of the book does he actually reveal the conclusions he's come to over the past 20 years.
Having read a shelf-full of books on John F. Kennedy's life, his assassination, the C.I.A., and also knowing Texas and Louisiana governments to be both misogynistic and crookeder than a dog's hind leg, I found Dr. Mary's Monkey coming closest to explaining 3 questions I've never found the answers to:
1) Who killed John F. Kennedy. Why?
2) What caused cancer rates to explode in the second half of the 20th Century?
3) Why, all of a sudden, did uniquely simian-only viruses cross over into the general human population, when they had remained steadfastly outside the homo-sapien experience for the previous 5,000 years?
I've always found the answers just a little too simplistic:
1) "Oswald alone killed Kennedy"
2) "Everything but mom's apple pie causes cancer and it's going under the microscope next"
3) "Native Africans ate monkey meat and practice 'unsafe-sex' and that alone is what caused AIDS"
Broken into about 16 sections, Edward T. Haslam lays out his research of almost 20 years in an easy-to-read and logical fashion that, as the tired-of-being-lied-to reader gets madder and madder, answers the above trio of questions.
Do not be mistaken, or misled, Dr. Mary's Monkey is a serious book that answers serious questions by providing serious documentation, combined with author-interviews with many of those personally involved with Dr. Mary Sherman, Lee Harvey Oswald, Dr. Alton Ochsner, David William Ferrie, Judyth Vary Baker and other important players.
If you were alive during the November 1963 murder of JFK and have always had nagging doubts about the scenario that a single shooter, recently returned from self-exile in the communist (and Cold-War-Era) U.S.S.R., using the name of A.J.Hidell mail-ordered a 20-year-old, bolt-action, Italian made, World War II rifle and managed to (once again, alone) attain employment in a multi-storied building along the highly confidential (and only changed days before) parade route of the most powerful and greatly adored man on the face of the earth, you must read Dr. Mary's Monkey.
October 12, 2009
Dr. Mary’s Monkey, Edward T. Haslam, 2007, ISBN 9780977795307
This book gives a very different view of recent American history.
In the 1950s, Jonas Salk developed a vaccine against polio, then ravaging America. It involved inoculating children with dead polio viruses, so their bodies would build up immunity. Just before the mass inoculation was to begin, a technician injected the vaccine into some monkeys. The supposedly dead viruses were not exactly dead, so thousands of children contracted polio. The safer Sabin vaccine was quickly developed, and rushed into production.
The bigger problem for the Salk vaccine was that it was impregnated with cancer-causing monkey viruses (imagine the panic if that became known). Consider today’s epidemic of soft tissue cancers. A secret program was rushed into existence to look for some sort of vaccine. Such a program involved lots of mice (thousands), and someone to do the day-to-day observing of the mice, someone like David Ferrie (later to be well-known in JFK assassination circles). A defrocked priest and former airline pilot, he was a long-time CIA asset. Also needed in such a project was a cancer expert to do the actual mutating of the viruses.
Mary Sherman was a world-renowned cancer researcher with a list of qualifications as long as your arm. It is unknown why she would get involved with a right-wing fanatic like David Ferrie. In 1964, her burned and naked body was found in her apartment. The press tried very hard to make it look like a lesbian burglar sex killing, even though there was no sign of forced entry. The bizarre thing is that her entire right arm and the right-hand part of her torso were gone, like they had been disintegrated. The small fire that was set on her bed, to cover up the crime, was nowhere near hot enough to do it.
Mutating viruses required huge amounts of power, on the order of several million volts. A linear particle accelerator was powerful enough, but they require very heavy-duty wiring. The author found evidence of such wiring at the US Public Health Service Hospital in New Orleans. The author theorizes that, one day, Sherman touched the wrong button, or there was sabotage, causing all that energy to ravage her body. It was quickly decided to bring her back to her apartment, stab her in the exact right place in her heart (she may have still been alive at that moment), and cover up her death. This whole arrangement also required a courier to travel from Sherman to Ferrie and back again. His name was Lee Harvey Oswald. He was killed after the JFK death to silence him; having him on a witness stand would have publicized things that powerful people did not want publicized.
This is a wonderful piece of writing. It is a huge eye-opener, and will make the reader look at cancer in a whole new way. It is extremely highly recommended.
This book gives a very different view of recent American history.
In the 1950s, Jonas Salk developed a vaccine against polio, then ravaging America. It involved inoculating children with dead polio viruses, so their bodies would build up immunity. Just before the mass inoculation was to begin, a technician injected the vaccine into some monkeys. The supposedly dead viruses were not exactly dead, so thousands of children contracted polio. The safer Sabin vaccine was quickly developed, and rushed into production.
The bigger problem for the Salk vaccine was that it was impregnated with cancer-causing monkey viruses (imagine the panic if that became known). Consider today’s epidemic of soft tissue cancers. A secret program was rushed into existence to look for some sort of vaccine. Such a program involved lots of mice (thousands), and someone to do the day-to-day observing of the mice, someone like David Ferrie (later to be well-known in JFK assassination circles). A defrocked priest and former airline pilot, he was a long-time CIA asset. Also needed in such a project was a cancer expert to do the actual mutating of the viruses.
Mary Sherman was a world-renowned cancer researcher with a list of qualifications as long as your arm. It is unknown why she would get involved with a right-wing fanatic like David Ferrie. In 1964, her burned and naked body was found in her apartment. The press tried very hard to make it look like a lesbian burglar sex killing, even though there was no sign of forced entry. The bizarre thing is that her entire right arm and the right-hand part of her torso were gone, like they had been disintegrated. The small fire that was set on her bed, to cover up the crime, was nowhere near hot enough to do it.
Mutating viruses required huge amounts of power, on the order of several million volts. A linear particle accelerator was powerful enough, but they require very heavy-duty wiring. The author found evidence of such wiring at the US Public Health Service Hospital in New Orleans. The author theorizes that, one day, Sherman touched the wrong button, or there was sabotage, causing all that energy to ravage her body. It was quickly decided to bring her back to her apartment, stab her in the exact right place in her heart (she may have still been alive at that moment), and cover up her death. This whole arrangement also required a courier to travel from Sherman to Ferrie and back again. His name was Lee Harvey Oswald. He was killed after the JFK death to silence him; having him on a witness stand would have publicized things that powerful people did not want publicized.
This is a wonderful piece of writing. It is a huge eye-opener, and will make the reader look at cancer in a whole new way. It is extremely highly recommended.
July 15, 2012
I don't even know what to say other than my mind was sufficiently blown by everything I read in this book. I feel as though I am questioning everything I know that is real and sane about New Orleans involvement in biological warfare, JFK's assassination and Dr. Oschner's connection to it all.... Read it, you need to read it.
August 23, 2014
I can't believe I paid for that e-book. I was interested in the true crime aspect of the book. There is just about nothing about the crime. It's a poorly written Kennedy conspiracy book. It was full of typos. The author knew everyone or had been everywhere in the book. His nickname should be "Forrest Gump." And he was disingenuous. "I'm not writing a Kennedy assassination conspiracy book." His sources were either dead or he gave them pseudonyms. Also there was no proof at all of any connections he makes in the book. All of the principles are dead and can't challenge him. Judyth Vary Baker isn't credible. She has no proof whatsoever that she ever had a relationship with Oswald. The reason conspiracy theories exist is because you can't prove a negative.
June 3, 2016
The amount of random circumstances helping author with his research on this book make this nonfiction if not unbelievable to at least questionable. If it was all true, the entire generation of Americans born in 1940-1950 would've died after receiving polio vaccine contaminated with cancer virus. Then there is a plot to kill Kennedy by CIA; the unsolved mystery of murdered (lesbian?) doctor with her arm chopped off; using atom splitting laser to eradicate cancer infested mice in 1950s!. This book doesn't reads like a work of a scholar but more as a far fetched propaganda.
August 25, 2009
Edward T. Haslam's true-life story is a chilling book about murder, cancer-causing viruses in your polio vaccine, the Kennedy assassination, and government cover-ups. A page-turner you can't put down, it's linked to Lee Harvey Oswald and why he was shot only two days after he was arrested for shooting Kennedy (yes, he was innocent -- see why he had to die). This book links with Lee & Me, a new book available on Amazon.com.
January 1, 2018
An essential volume for any conspiracy library, Dr. Mary’s Monkey is a secret history connecting the polio vaccine, an epidemic of soft-tissue cancer, the rise of HIV, and the JFK assassination. Haslam is the son of a U.S. navy surgeon who was a friend of the woman at the dark heart of this book: murder victim Dr. Mary Sherman.
It’s a documented fact that certain types of monkey viruses cause cancer. Haslam’s thesis is that because vaccine manufacturers grew the polio vaccine in the kidneys of monkeys, an entire generation was inoculated with cancer-causing simian viruses. A doctor named Bernice Eddy made this discovery in the early 1960s and warned the National Institutes of Health about the coming catastrophe. Haslam claims the U.S. government began secret work on a vaccine to combat viral cancer and prevent the epidemic. Renowned surgeon Alton Ochsner established a clandestine laboratory in New Orleans with the help of a certain U.S. intelligence agency—which is where Lee Harvey Oswald and David Ferrie come in.
Super-weirdo Ferrie is a well-known shadow figure of the JFK assassination. Hairless, Ferrie wore grease-paint eyebrows and a hideous orange wig allegedly made from monkey hair. He was a raging anti-communist, an ex-pilot, and flying instructor. He was also a probable agent of the good ol’ See Eye Eh. Ferrie’s hobbies included hypnotism and the molestation of young boys. Oswald was a former student of Ferrie’s in the Civil Air Patrol (mind control, anyone?).
New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison’s probe into the murder of JFK revealed some other unusual facts about Ferrie. Such as the strange laboratory he kept in his apartment, complete with caged mice and an anonymous treatise on the viral theory of cancer. Ferrie claimed he was researching a cancer cure.
Dr. Ochsner placed Mary Sherman in charge of the cancer vaccine project, which soon took on a dark secondary purpose—developing a biological weapon, ostensibly to be used in killing Castro. As Lee Harvey Oswald’s lover Judyth Vary Baker attests, Ferrie and Oswald were assigned to the project. Sherman inoculated cancer in mice, took extracts from the strongest tumors, and blasted those extracts with radiation from a linear particle accelerator. Lab monkeys were then inoculated with the cancer. Haslam claims the radiation caused the virus to mutate—resulting in the creation of HIV.
Dr. Mary Sherman was discovered murdered in her New Orleans apartment in 1964. She’d been stabbed directly in the heart and her body bore strange, intense burns. The murder has never been officially solved.
Whether you believe Haslam’s story or not, Dr. Mary’s Monkey is a compelling read. For skeptics, it should at least be entertaining. For those with a more cynical view of U.S. intelligence agencies and their past activities, however, it’s a disturbing revelation of America’s darkest secrets.
It’s a documented fact that certain types of monkey viruses cause cancer. Haslam’s thesis is that because vaccine manufacturers grew the polio vaccine in the kidneys of monkeys, an entire generation was inoculated with cancer-causing simian viruses. A doctor named Bernice Eddy made this discovery in the early 1960s and warned the National Institutes of Health about the coming catastrophe. Haslam claims the U.S. government began secret work on a vaccine to combat viral cancer and prevent the epidemic. Renowned surgeon Alton Ochsner established a clandestine laboratory in New Orleans with the help of a certain U.S. intelligence agency—which is where Lee Harvey Oswald and David Ferrie come in.
Super-weirdo Ferrie is a well-known shadow figure of the JFK assassination. Hairless, Ferrie wore grease-paint eyebrows and a hideous orange wig allegedly made from monkey hair. He was a raging anti-communist, an ex-pilot, and flying instructor. He was also a probable agent of the good ol’ See Eye Eh. Ferrie’s hobbies included hypnotism and the molestation of young boys. Oswald was a former student of Ferrie’s in the Civil Air Patrol (mind control, anyone?).
New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison’s probe into the murder of JFK revealed some other unusual facts about Ferrie. Such as the strange laboratory he kept in his apartment, complete with caged mice and an anonymous treatise on the viral theory of cancer. Ferrie claimed he was researching a cancer cure.
Dr. Ochsner placed Mary Sherman in charge of the cancer vaccine project, which soon took on a dark secondary purpose—developing a biological weapon, ostensibly to be used in killing Castro. As Lee Harvey Oswald’s lover Judyth Vary Baker attests, Ferrie and Oswald were assigned to the project. Sherman inoculated cancer in mice, took extracts from the strongest tumors, and blasted those extracts with radiation from a linear particle accelerator. Lab monkeys were then inoculated with the cancer. Haslam claims the radiation caused the virus to mutate—resulting in the creation of HIV.
Dr. Mary Sherman was discovered murdered in her New Orleans apartment in 1964. She’d been stabbed directly in the heart and her body bore strange, intense burns. The murder has never been officially solved.
Whether you believe Haslam’s story or not, Dr. Mary’s Monkey is a compelling read. For skeptics, it should at least be entertaining. For those with a more cynical view of U.S. intelligence agencies and their past activities, however, it’s a disturbing revelation of America’s darkest secrets.
October 7, 2020
WOW, WHAT A BOOK. I was going to say it was maybe the best book I have read in quite a while and I have read some really good books of late. The reason for this comment is that I am almost finished reading a book related to this one entitled Me and Lee written by a character in Dr. Mary's Monkey named Judyth Vary Baker.
Dr. Mary's Monkey is about the 50's and 60s in America. During that time Polio was a serious concern. In clandestine labs in the New Orleans area, array of characters from world famous doctors to people like Lee Harvey Oswald were conducting cancer research on mice and monkeys. During this same time the U. S. Government created over 200,000,000 doses of polio vaccine, initially as injections and then as sugar cubes. Over 100,000,000 were dispensed when it was discovered that the vaccines included live monkey cancer viruses. The government, knowing this, still distributed the remaining doses also knowing that a certain percentage of Americans would probably develop cancer later in their lives which they did. Cancer cases spike about 30 years later and this was believed to be a result of the vaccines. But this book is about creating a cancer virus that would CAUSE cancer and then be used as a bioweapon. This was all being done with government approval in hopes it would be used to take out Fidel Casto. This is a most interesting book that you need to read. Then read Me and Lee and I guarantee you that you will come away with a very much different opinion of Lee Harvey Oswald to the point you may even believe he had nothing to do with the JFK murder. Seriously.
Dr. Mary's Monkey is about the 50's and 60s in America. During that time Polio was a serious concern. In clandestine labs in the New Orleans area, array of characters from world famous doctors to people like Lee Harvey Oswald were conducting cancer research on mice and monkeys. During this same time the U. S. Government created over 200,000,000 doses of polio vaccine, initially as injections and then as sugar cubes. Over 100,000,000 were dispensed when it was discovered that the vaccines included live monkey cancer viruses. The government, knowing this, still distributed the remaining doses also knowing that a certain percentage of Americans would probably develop cancer later in their lives which they did. Cancer cases spike about 30 years later and this was believed to be a result of the vaccines. But this book is about creating a cancer virus that would CAUSE cancer and then be used as a bioweapon. This was all being done with government approval in hopes it would be used to take out Fidel Casto. This is a most interesting book that you need to read. Then read Me and Lee and I guarantee you that you will come away with a very much different opinion of Lee Harvey Oswald to the point you may even believe he had nothing to do with the JFK murder. Seriously.
September 19, 2011
I would love to recommend this book to everyone. It's a can't put down mystery that just happens to be true. There is something here for everyone. And it's an important read if you're at all interested in history, politics, one of our most colorful cities, or the health industry.
Fascinating, engaging and one of those books I didn't want to have end.
August 21, 2014
While I whole heartedly enjoyed the discussion of how certain monkey viruses can, and have, caused cancers in humans, I found the connections between the murder and the JFK assassination weak at best.
It is possible, however, I found everything rather circumstantial. I also did not like how the author conveniently had ties to nearly all of these people and somehow was in the right place at the right time so many times. It just was a little much on the coincidence scale.
But, the biology of it all...the cancer causing polio vaccines, the government cover up into the research being done in New Orleans, and what Dr Mary was doing when she died were all intriguing. This part of the book is seemed well researched and well thought out.
It is possible, however, I found everything rather circumstantial. I also did not like how the author conveniently had ties to nearly all of these people and somehow was in the right place at the right time so many times. It just was a little much on the coincidence scale.
But, the biology of it all...the cancer causing polio vaccines, the government cover up into the research being done in New Orleans, and what Dr Mary was doing when she died were all intriguing. This part of the book is seemed well researched and well thought out.
December 4, 2023
.......
.......
Researcher Ed Haslam authored a remarkable book entitled Mary, Ferrie and the Monkey Virus: The Story of an Underground Medical Laboratory (1995)
In this penetrating work, Haslam develops fascinating connections between the milieu apparently involved with the assassination of President Kennedy and medical research that may have been connected to a soft-tissue cancer epidemic that is sweeping the United States
The central figure in the book is Dr. Mary Sherman, one of the most important, and sadly neglected, figures in post-World War II American medicine.
Prior to her murder in 1964, Sherman was involved in a clandestine medical laboratory in New Orleans, that also employed right-wing political extremist and U.S. intelligence operative David Ferrie - the central figure in New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison’s investigation of the Kennedy assassination.
The central focus of the work performed in this laboratory was cancer research—specifically, the injecting of mice with monkey viruses to determine if the viruses cause cancer.
Haslam skillfully develops connections between Ferrie, the laboratory, Mary Sherman, the Guy Bannister detective agency (an apparent intelligence front that is widely believed to have figured in President Kennedy’s assassination) and Dr. Alton Ochsner, a very powerful figure in American medicine and politics.
Ochsner was the head of a right-wing propaganda outfit and possible intelligence front called, The Information Council for the Americas, or INCA, that recorded interviews with Lee Harvey Oswald, in which Oswald proclaims his Marxist sympathies.
This interview received much publicity in the wake of President Kennedy’s assassination and convinced many Americans that communists were responsible for the assassination.
Many researchers believe that this perception contributed to the official cover-up of the assassination, because individuals who knew what had actually happened covered up the truth out of fear that that the situation could have led to a Third World War.
Haslam presents his thesis that Sherman was probably involved in this underground medical laboratory in order to research the contamination of the polio vaccine with SV40, a monkey virus that causes cancer in humans.
Haslam feels that Sherman was involved with using a linear accelerator to create genetic mutations in the SV40.
This was being done as an effort to create harmless strains of the virus for use in a vaccine to guard against a cancer epidemic.
This viral contamination of the polio vaccine may very well be the cause of a soft-tissue cancer epidemic currently sweeping the United States, as well as the deliberate or accidental creation of AIDS.
Haslam discusses the possibility that Oswald may have been spying on this clandestine research and that this work may have been centrally involved in the cover-up of Kennedy’s assassination.
.......
.......
June 10, 2018
The premise of odd duck David William Ferrie and Dr. Mary Sherman working under armed guard at a US Public Health Service facility with a linear particle accelerator crafting super-cancer to kill Castro only to have Ferrie's twisted hate direct it to a genocidal attack that unleashes AIDS is a but much to swallow. On top of that, Lee Harvey Oswald working under Dr. Alton Ochsner at this task with Judyth Vary Baker author of Me & Lee: How I Came to Know, Love and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald is all a bit "conspiracy a go-go". Still, Haslam puts together some interesting facts:
1] The linear particle accelerator sure seems to fit Dr. Mary Sherman's death scene and supported by a realistic look at cremation
2] We are coming around to the reality of cancer viruses
3] It makes as much sense as Stone did of Clay Shaw, Guy Bannister, Jim Garrison, and the mafia-seasoned Crescent City milieu.
Interesting for me, this book has a side show in the sniper incident I plan on reading of soon in A Terrible Thunder: The Story of the New Orleans Sniper.
Of course, this far-out tale could be part of the asteroid belt of bunk that surrounds the JFK assassination. Also, "linear particle accelerator" may be some other radioactive medical research device described as such by someone not clear on what they saw.
1] The linear particle accelerator sure seems to fit Dr. Mary Sherman's death scene and supported by a realistic look at cremation
2] We are coming around to the reality of cancer viruses
3] It makes as much sense as Stone did of Clay Shaw, Guy Bannister, Jim Garrison, and the mafia-seasoned Crescent City milieu.
Interesting for me, this book has a side show in the sniper incident I plan on reading of soon in A Terrible Thunder: The Story of the New Orleans Sniper.
Of course, this far-out tale could be part of the asteroid belt of bunk that surrounds the JFK assassination. Also, "linear particle accelerator" may be some other radioactive medical research device described as such by someone not clear on what they saw.
August 20, 2012
So bad it was funny (rather like the movie The Producers).
The "author" makes a claim assumes it is fact than leaps to conclusions that are at best ridiculous. His theory that Dr. Mary was in a radiation accident that liquefied a large portion of her body, than stabbed by a co-worker, to allow other workers to transport her from the Public Health Hospital to her apartment is absurd. His claim that the Public Health Hospital an open facility to the public was somehow manned by armed Marines carrying machine guns is ridiculous. That Judith Varney with less than one year of college was brought to NO based upon her skills in HS biology to do secret lab work with Ferrie on cancer is peculiar at best. Her admission to Medical school with less than one year of college is also absurd. He frets about the ownership of two properties on Louisiana Ave Pkwy and tries to connect the ownership, but doesn't bother to check the public record to see who owns them.
This confederacy of dunces riding around New Orleans on NOPSI buses with mice tumors, working at Royal Castle, rolling down monkey hill and living in a brothel, rooming with a stripper is more humor than John Kennedy Toole could create. To be fair it does do a good job of making New Orleans interesting, but should have been marketed as fiction.
I could say it was poorly researched and needs a fact checker, but that would defeat the purpose of the book.
The "author" makes a claim assumes it is fact than leaps to conclusions that are at best ridiculous. His theory that Dr. Mary was in a radiation accident that liquefied a large portion of her body, than stabbed by a co-worker, to allow other workers to transport her from the Public Health Hospital to her apartment is absurd. His claim that the Public Health Hospital an open facility to the public was somehow manned by armed Marines carrying machine guns is ridiculous. That Judith Varney with less than one year of college was brought to NO based upon her skills in HS biology to do secret lab work with Ferrie on cancer is peculiar at best. Her admission to Medical school with less than one year of college is also absurd. He frets about the ownership of two properties on Louisiana Ave Pkwy and tries to connect the ownership, but doesn't bother to check the public record to see who owns them.
This confederacy of dunces riding around New Orleans on NOPSI buses with mice tumors, working at Royal Castle, rolling down monkey hill and living in a brothel, rooming with a stripper is more humor than John Kennedy Toole could create. To be fair it does do a good job of making New Orleans interesting, but should have been marketed as fiction.
I could say it was poorly researched and needs a fact checker, but that would defeat the purpose of the book.
November 30, 2011
this book was recommended to me by the manager of communications at the tulane national primate research center, which i just happened to visit last week (they're a client). i'm not sure WHY he loaned this to me, as it does not shine a happy light on the facility's past.
having been there, i can tell you it's scary. i mean, the campus is very nice and clean and shaded, but they've got some scary viruses and some sick animals hanging out in there. thankfully, none of that was a part of the tour. ha.
i almost quit reading the book after the first chapter because of all of the talk (and pictures) about experimenting on monkeys – i know it's for the good of mankind, but that doesn't mean i want details. but once i got past that and into the JFK assassination conspiracy stuff, it became pretty interesting. why WAS dr. mary murdered? and by whom? what were they trying to cover up? and what was lee harvey oswald doing there?
it's a pretty thought-provoking book, especially for those who live in or have lived in new orleans or are interested in covert laboratories and JFK conspiracies.
having been there, i can tell you it's scary. i mean, the campus is very nice and clean and shaded, but they've got some scary viruses and some sick animals hanging out in there. thankfully, none of that was a part of the tour. ha.
i almost quit reading the book after the first chapter because of all of the talk (and pictures) about experimenting on monkeys – i know it's for the good of mankind, but that doesn't mean i want details. but once i got past that and into the JFK assassination conspiracy stuff, it became pretty interesting. why WAS dr. mary murdered? and by whom? what were they trying to cover up? and what was lee harvey oswald doing there?
it's a pretty thought-provoking book, especially for those who live in or have lived in new orleans or are interested in covert laboratories and JFK conspiracies.
October 7, 2014
I found this book on my husband's Kindle, which is how I ended up reading it. I was mainly interested in the subject of medical experiments that had been conducted on monkeys, and how they related to viruses and vaccines. However, you have to wade through an awful lot of JFK-related discussion, with detailed profiles on various characters as he tries to set up the connections he believed existed between them. Since I am not very interested in JFK assassination theories, I ultimately skipped a couple of chapters. A lot of the book consists of his personal narrative, as he describes the conversations, events and encounters that led him to ask the questions and reach the conclusions that he has. While this narrative has a certain charm about it, as you become aware of the growing mystery as he does, it also means you have to end up taking his word for a lot of things.
He does provide extensive footnotes, with evidence to back up portions of the story, as much as he is able to. I think he ends up making a fairly good case for his theories, but they are very much theories. Sometimes he makes large leaps of logic, not asserting, necessarily, but posing a series of questions-- What if this? Supposing that? -- that are meant to lead the reader past the lack of evidence straight to the implications.
All that said, he does provide a lot of chilling information, some of it truly well substantiated, and even some of his leaps seem more probable as he unveils various pieces of corroborating evidence he was able to eventually uncover (if you believe he's telling the truth). It's perfectly true that the 50s and 60s was a time of wild experimentation in the medical field, as they embraced the beginning of the technological era with methods which would be considered appallingly unethical today. A great deal of evil (not only in the scientific field) was justified in the name of science, of progress, of defeating diseases or defeating communism. It is only in remembering this historical backdrop that the events described in this book become slightly less fantastic more horrifyingly possible.
He does provide extensive footnotes, with evidence to back up portions of the story, as much as he is able to. I think he ends up making a fairly good case for his theories, but they are very much theories. Sometimes he makes large leaps of logic, not asserting, necessarily, but posing a series of questions-- What if this? Supposing that? -- that are meant to lead the reader past the lack of evidence straight to the implications.
All that said, he does provide a lot of chilling information, some of it truly well substantiated, and even some of his leaps seem more probable as he unveils various pieces of corroborating evidence he was able to eventually uncover (if you believe he's telling the truth). It's perfectly true that the 50s and 60s was a time of wild experimentation in the medical field, as they embraced the beginning of the technological era with methods which would be considered appallingly unethical today. A great deal of evil (not only in the scientific field) was justified in the name of science, of progress, of defeating diseases or defeating communism. It is only in remembering this historical backdrop that the events described in this book become slightly less fantastic more horrifyingly possible.
December 15, 2013
This book does one thing very well. It gives a glimpse inside multiple government conspiracies and show a person just how many people can be involved in such conspiracies for varying personal and "national" objectives. It also shows how all the parties involved share a common interest in not being exposed in their crimes and how they go about covering up for themselves or others and protecting each other in whatever difficult circumstance they might find themselves in. It shows how people in power think that they must keep truth hidden and do unbelievable things in the name of the public's "best interest" to engage in their works of darkness. It shows the types and volume of clandestine activities criminal elements in our government engage in and how easy it is to incorporate the brightest minds, the most powerful and influential people and how lines can be blurred between criminality and legality.
Though I am convinced that in this life we may never know the full truth about the inner workings of some of the most high profile conspiracies that have ever occurred, and though I know that one day the truth shall prevail, we fortunately don't have to wait until the afterlife to know and discern certain truths such as: Oswald was not some lone nut who killed Kennedy with a magic bullet or plagues like the cancer epidemic and HIV are not completely natural occurrences and they now exist because men and women in powerful positions unleash them on the world for various reasons... reasons that some many not really want to know about and that the author doesn't actually reveal in his book. This book was great food for thought and shows how hard big secrets are to keep as long as there are good people who can think critically and have a desire to uncover the hidden things of darkness so that we may know them in order to eradicate secret combinations.
Though I am convinced that in this life we may never know the full truth about the inner workings of some of the most high profile conspiracies that have ever occurred, and though I know that one day the truth shall prevail, we fortunately don't have to wait until the afterlife to know and discern certain truths such as: Oswald was not some lone nut who killed Kennedy with a magic bullet or plagues like the cancer epidemic and HIV are not completely natural occurrences and they now exist because men and women in powerful positions unleash them on the world for various reasons... reasons that some many not really want to know about and that the author doesn't actually reveal in his book. This book was great food for thought and shows how hard big secrets are to keep as long as there are good people who can think critically and have a desire to uncover the hidden things of darkness so that we may know them in order to eradicate secret combinations.
March 12, 2013
It's hard to keep your head on straight reading this. The sub-title is enough to cause many prospective readers to screw their faces up and give this one a miss. I certainly will not attempt to explain the plot of 'Dr.Mary's Monkey' in this review.
In my pursuit of 'lone nut' investigations there have been many multivious lines to follow. The JFK assassination is certainly the most complex. Any serious historical researcher must become knowledgeable in a multiplicity of subjects and personalities that are often profound and seem quite unfathomable.
Ed Haslam first published 'Mary, Ferrie & the Monkey Virus' in 1995. Here is the follow up, that was published in 2007. 'Dr.Mary's Monkey' when linked with Judyth Vary Baker's 'Me and Lee' which was published in 2010, provide two of the most thought provoking books in the genre. Yet this is not a book concerned with any murder in Dallas. The action is in New Orleans. Mr.Oswald, far from the lone nut, is presented here with links to the murdered Dr.Mary Sherman, the bizarre David Ferrie, ex-FBI and right wing investigator Guy Banister, world famous Dr. Alton Ochsner, the patsy killer Jack Ruby, a certain Clay Shaw and Mafia man Carlos Marcello to name just the main characters.
The story of his investigation is very well told by Haslam. The text is accompanied by corroborative notes. The questions posed by this evidence should be faced up to, when all said and done, we all breath the same air and we are all mortal.
In my pursuit of 'lone nut' investigations there have been many multivious lines to follow. The JFK assassination is certainly the most complex. Any serious historical researcher must become knowledgeable in a multiplicity of subjects and personalities that are often profound and seem quite unfathomable.
Ed Haslam first published 'Mary, Ferrie & the Monkey Virus' in 1995. Here is the follow up, that was published in 2007. 'Dr.Mary's Monkey' when linked with Judyth Vary Baker's 'Me and Lee' which was published in 2010, provide two of the most thought provoking books in the genre. Yet this is not a book concerned with any murder in Dallas. The action is in New Orleans. Mr.Oswald, far from the lone nut, is presented here with links to the murdered Dr.Mary Sherman, the bizarre David Ferrie, ex-FBI and right wing investigator Guy Banister, world famous Dr. Alton Ochsner, the patsy killer Jack Ruby, a certain Clay Shaw and Mafia man Carlos Marcello to name just the main characters.
The story of his investigation is very well told by Haslam. The text is accompanied by corroborative notes. The questions posed by this evidence should be faced up to, when all said and done, we all breath the same air and we are all mortal.
August 3, 2011
If you know anything about viral research, then you can easily believe how it can be perverted by powerful people with political agendas if the "product" of the research gets out of the scientist's control. The scariest element in this book is that scientists may have intentionally produced a dangerous "biological viral warfare weapon" justifying their actions with patriotic beliefs. Once involved, the scientists were stuck in the situation, silenced, destroyed or killed. Garrison was destroyed to stop him from digging up far more than the Kennedy killers.
April 26, 2014
Very enlightening first-hand account of very important and often-overlooked incidents in American history that surround JKF's death and vaccines (two very strange things to connect, I know.).
March 4, 2019
This is a really interesting look into the cancer epidemic in the United States started by an extremely famous local New Orleans doctor in an effort to eliminate communism. Oh, and by the way, also directly connected to the JFK assassination.
What you believe about LH Oswald, Alton Ochsner and our government will change after this book.
Highly recommend.
What you believe about LH Oswald, Alton Ochsner and our government will change after this book.
Highly recommend.
May 10, 2020
This was definitely a WILD ride.
August 21, 2014
Wow, what a story!!
Dr Mary Sherman was a cancer researcher in New Orleans in the early 1960's. She was working in a secret lab and at a lab at the Public Health Service facility in NO. In 1964, she was found dead in her apartment apparently from a fire smoldering in her bedroom. However, no fire strong enough could have burnt off her right arm & rib cage (including bones). Who killed her? What was she working on? Was she linked to the JFK assassination?
This book is the compilation of research by the author who lived and grew up in New Orleans at the time. The CIA, FBI, and mafia are all involved. This would make a great move. Oh, yeah, it's been done - look at Oliver Stone's JFK. However, this book goes one step further by looking at Dr Mary's death.
Interesting facts and innuendos (could be facts but I'm not sold on the veracity):
1. Dr Salk's polio vaccine was rushed to production without all the proper safety precautions. It was then noted that the vaccine contained the SV-40 carcinogenic virus which can kill. Is this the reason why 30 years later there was a spike in some cancer rates? If the SV-40 was mutated, could it have been the beginning of the HIV epidemic?
2. Was Lee Harvey Oswald really a "defector"? (I'm using quotation marks because the author did). Or, was he a secret agent to infiltrate the Soviet Union? And, who in the US Government authorized his return to the US? One theory is that US Attorney General Bobby Kennedy approved his return with the proviso that he spy on the mafia and/or FBI. This would explain (to some, at least) why Oswald, once arrested, looked into the cameras and asked for legal representation; he was asking for Bobby Kennedy's help.
3. I always thought that the mafia was centered in Chicago & NYC. However, Carlos Marcello's base of operations was New Orleans. Jack Ruby worked for him. Oswald worked for him. Oswald's mother asked for his assistance when her son was stuck in the Soviet Union.
4. Oswald's lover, Judyth Vary, was a lab technician at the secret lab in New Orleans. Oswald also assisted by transporting mice & tumors. She is the one witness to Dr Mary Sherman's death. She also believed Oswald was a patsy.
5. What was Dr Sherman working on? She was working on a possible vaccine for the cancer caused by the polio vaccine. What about the secret lab? Was this used as a lab to create a biologic weapon to kill Castro? Yes, Oswald was also connected to the anti-Castro league.
Although this book is about Dr Sherman's death, it's also about the JFK assassination. The two are intertwined. During parts of the book, I was reading about the JFK assassination and wondered how it was part of the Sherman death.
Thought provoking book about the secrets that governments are willing to hide. Conspiracy galore.
Dr Mary Sherman was a cancer researcher in New Orleans in the early 1960's. She was working in a secret lab and at a lab at the Public Health Service facility in NO. In 1964, she was found dead in her apartment apparently from a fire smoldering in her bedroom. However, no fire strong enough could have burnt off her right arm & rib cage (including bones). Who killed her? What was she working on? Was she linked to the JFK assassination?
This book is the compilation of research by the author who lived and grew up in New Orleans at the time. The CIA, FBI, and mafia are all involved. This would make a great move. Oh, yeah, it's been done - look at Oliver Stone's JFK. However, this book goes one step further by looking at Dr Mary's death.
Interesting facts and innuendos (could be facts but I'm not sold on the veracity):
1. Dr Salk's polio vaccine was rushed to production without all the proper safety precautions. It was then noted that the vaccine contained the SV-40 carcinogenic virus which can kill. Is this the reason why 30 years later there was a spike in some cancer rates? If the SV-40 was mutated, could it have been the beginning of the HIV epidemic?
2. Was Lee Harvey Oswald really a "defector"? (I'm using quotation marks because the author did). Or, was he a secret agent to infiltrate the Soviet Union? And, who in the US Government authorized his return to the US? One theory is that US Attorney General Bobby Kennedy approved his return with the proviso that he spy on the mafia and/or FBI. This would explain (to some, at least) why Oswald, once arrested, looked into the cameras and asked for legal representation; he was asking for Bobby Kennedy's help.
3. I always thought that the mafia was centered in Chicago & NYC. However, Carlos Marcello's base of operations was New Orleans. Jack Ruby worked for him. Oswald worked for him. Oswald's mother asked for his assistance when her son was stuck in the Soviet Union.
4. Oswald's lover, Judyth Vary, was a lab technician at the secret lab in New Orleans. Oswald also assisted by transporting mice & tumors. She is the one witness to Dr Mary Sherman's death. She also believed Oswald was a patsy.
5. What was Dr Sherman working on? She was working on a possible vaccine for the cancer caused by the polio vaccine. What about the secret lab? Was this used as a lab to create a biologic weapon to kill Castro? Yes, Oswald was also connected to the anti-Castro league.
Although this book is about Dr Sherman's death, it's also about the JFK assassination. The two are intertwined. During parts of the book, I was reading about the JFK assassination and wondered how it was part of the Sherman death.
Thought provoking book about the secrets that governments are willing to hide. Conspiracy galore.
July 17, 2013
It's interesting to read a book that chronicles how during the early 1960's those connected to the Kennedy assassination were working on a bio-weapon to kill Castro, but instead killed millions and millions more to come including, I suspect, someone very close to me who had polio at the time, was inoculated with the polio vaccination, cured of it, and died at the age of 73 of the very cancer as depicted in this book, Non Hodgkins Lymphoma and previously had survived colon cancer another SV40 related cancer that was put into the polio vaccination. Did these scientists also create the HIV-1 virus as well along with the massive explosion in other cancers such as breast and prostate cancers with their experimentation of devising a cure for cancer, a bio-weapon to kill Castro with their infecting of Asian and African monkeys and rats with cancer in the hope of finding a cure that may have "accidentally" found its way into the human population through vaccinations that we take today? Was Lee Harvey Oswald deliberately set up as a patsy to take the fall for the Kennedy assassination and was later killed by Jack Ruby as a way to cover up his connections to these scientists and thereby covering up one of the most horrific medical scandals in history because should his testimony regarding the Kennedy assassination come to light, the whole vaccination coverup and those involved would have been unveiled as well? This book, along with another book Don't Vaccinate! Before You Educate by Mayer Eisenstein MD, JD, MPH, really opened up my mind about cancer and autism and its possible causes. Perhaps we should be looking at the vaccination ingredients, along with GMO foods, fluoridated water, BPA laden cans and drink box liners and global aerosol spraying of our atmosphere as a cause of cancer and autism and to stop running for the cure when perhaps it is being done deliberately as a means of population control? Our stopping of these practices may be just the cure. The people of the book are the same names to those depicted in the Oliver Stone movie: JFK and it really makes me want to see the movie again to see his ideas regarding this through the real person of Jim Garrison who is also named in this book. A lot of the people in this book were subsequently "killed off" right after the Kennedy assassination as I recall when I watched the JFK movie many years ago. This book gives a probable explanation as to why they were.
July 22, 2015
There’s been a lot of hubbub about this book locally. When the author gave a reading at my local library, there were lines out the front door to attend. I was definitely intrigued and also pleased because I generally think that anything that gets people into a library is a good thing.
In this instance, however, I think the excitement is misplaced. It is extremely rare for me to not finish a book, but I could only get through half of this book before giving up. Based on the public enthusiasm and the title, I expected a well-woven story – a ripped-from-the-headlines (from yesteryear) true-crime story that told the tale of a medical researcher and the mystery surrounding her death. The fact that there was a JFK connection would only add to the intrigue.
What I got was a first-person account of the author’s odd experiences and seemingly near connections to the murder of Mary Sherman. It’s not told like a story at all. The number of “near connections” is bizarre, even in a city where there are way fewer than six degrees of separation. For instance, in college, he dates a girl who he believes lives in David Ferrie’s former lab. He bases this on the fact that David Ferrie lived just down the street and the apartment had an odd smell and had been left empty for a while. There’s also some connection with a Hispanic neighbor that I never quite got. He also bases a lot of his ideas on something a classmate shared in high school at the close of Jim Garrison’s case.
Later, the author just happens to work for an ad agency that sends him on a mysterious job having to do with a “radio station,” a bunch of videos related to the anti-Cuban movement. It was soon after this that I gave up. The author is trying so hard to make all these things fit. I’m not saying they aren’t related, but his main proof that he puts forth that they are related is that “it’s obvious.” It’s obvious if you want it to be, but it’s not built on a solid foundation of facts. Most of his footnotes go on to explore his own thoughts and experiences, rather than actually footnoting primary sources.
The author supposedly has a journalism background, but the writing is fair at best. Lots of grammar errors and no real flow to the writing at all. Maybe there’s an interesting, thought-provoking story that adds to the JFK assassination body of knowledge, but you can’t find it in this particular book.
In this instance, however, I think the excitement is misplaced. It is extremely rare for me to not finish a book, but I could only get through half of this book before giving up. Based on the public enthusiasm and the title, I expected a well-woven story – a ripped-from-the-headlines (from yesteryear) true-crime story that told the tale of a medical researcher and the mystery surrounding her death. The fact that there was a JFK connection would only add to the intrigue.
What I got was a first-person account of the author’s odd experiences and seemingly near connections to the murder of Mary Sherman. It’s not told like a story at all. The number of “near connections” is bizarre, even in a city where there are way fewer than six degrees of separation. For instance, in college, he dates a girl who he believes lives in David Ferrie’s former lab. He bases this on the fact that David Ferrie lived just down the street and the apartment had an odd smell and had been left empty for a while. There’s also some connection with a Hispanic neighbor that I never quite got. He also bases a lot of his ideas on something a classmate shared in high school at the close of Jim Garrison’s case.
Later, the author just happens to work for an ad agency that sends him on a mysterious job having to do with a “radio station,” a bunch of videos related to the anti-Cuban movement. It was soon after this that I gave up. The author is trying so hard to make all these things fit. I’m not saying they aren’t related, but his main proof that he puts forth that they are related is that “it’s obvious.” It’s obvious if you want it to be, but it’s not built on a solid foundation of facts. Most of his footnotes go on to explore his own thoughts and experiences, rather than actually footnoting primary sources.
The author supposedly has a journalism background, but the writing is fair at best. Lots of grammar errors and no real flow to the writing at all. Maybe there’s an interesting, thought-provoking story that adds to the JFK assassination body of knowledge, but you can’t find it in this particular book.
July 29, 2016
Okay, this book was recommended by a friend and I was intrigued by seeing all of the five-star reviews on Amazon, so I checked it out. The foreword made me suspect that I was in for a wild ride to Crazytown, and it proved to be quite accurate foreshadowing.
Haslam assembles a web of anecdotal evidence (mostly his personal recollections or tales that his father or his professors told him) and just-so stories to create a narrative that people attempting to cover up and simultaneously fix a "coming plague" of cancers inadvertently created HIV and, as a sidebar, were wrapped up in the conspiracy by anti-communist forces to kill Kennedy and blame it on the perfect fall-guy, Lee Harvey Oswald. Can I prove that some of his allegations aren't true? No. I also can't prove that aliens didn't seed life on this planet a la Chariots of the Gods, but there's no real evidence to suggest that they did and therefore no compelling reason to believe that that did happen. I am quite confident that polio vaccines are not responsible for cancer and equally confident that a man with no medical training and a specialist in bone pathology didn't accidentally create HIV in a secret lab in New Orleans.
The book does have some interesting insights regarding the author's upbringing in the 1960s in New Orleans and the city's and state's political climate at the time, but like pretty much everything else in the book, even this has to be taken with a pebble-sized grain of salt.
Frankly, I gave up on it at Chaper 12, as the author ventured further and further from anything recognizable as reality.
Haslam assembles a web of anecdotal evidence (mostly his personal recollections or tales that his father or his professors told him) and just-so stories to create a narrative that people attempting to cover up and simultaneously fix a "coming plague" of cancers inadvertently created HIV and, as a sidebar, were wrapped up in the conspiracy by anti-communist forces to kill Kennedy and blame it on the perfect fall-guy, Lee Harvey Oswald. Can I prove that some of his allegations aren't true? No. I also can't prove that aliens didn't seed life on this planet a la Chariots of the Gods, but there's no real evidence to suggest that they did and therefore no compelling reason to believe that that did happen. I am quite confident that polio vaccines are not responsible for cancer and equally confident that a man with no medical training and a specialist in bone pathology didn't accidentally create HIV in a secret lab in New Orleans.
The book does have some interesting insights regarding the author's upbringing in the 1960s in New Orleans and the city's and state's political climate at the time, but like pretty much everything else in the book, even this has to be taken with a pebble-sized grain of salt.
Frankly, I gave up on it at Chaper 12, as the author ventured further and further from anything recognizable as reality.
July 27, 2012
This documentary tries to tie together the frightening events surrounding the assasination of JFK, the Mafia, and the medical politic of the 60's. I was shocked to learn of the warfare on the virus that contaminated the polio vaccine that we guinea pigs took on sugar cubes as children. The book is sensational and speculative. I could not put it down. Page after page brought me to the streets and names that I have known in my native city, New Orleans. If you read this book you will want to know more about Lee Harvey Osward and Dr. Alton Oschner and how these two characters could possibly have anything to do with each other. You will wonder why we don't all have cancer. You will wonder how this could all happen in secret while we were all going to sorority parties in the same neighborhood.
The Kindle edition is chocked full of grammatical and spelling errors. There are some awkward sentences and quite a few loose ends. Some parts are hard to follow because the task of reporting the events involves decades of activity with numerous people. It is somewhat disorganized and you need to read some parts two or three times.
The collection of maps and photographs enhances the read. I will get the hard copy because I could not see them well enough on the Kindle.
The Kindle edition is chocked full of grammatical and spelling errors. There are some awkward sentences and quite a few loose ends. Some parts are hard to follow because the task of reporting the events involves decades of activity with numerous people. It is somewhat disorganized and you need to read some parts two or three times.
The collection of maps and photographs enhances the read. I will get the hard copy because I could not see them well enough on the Kindle.
December 6, 2014
This is an absolute must-read, one of the most amazing true-life murders in American history with ties to Lee Harvey Oswald, David Ferrie, Jim Garrison, JFK of course, the Polio vaccine, and New Orleans and Tulane. I can't wait to watch "JFK" again, with a whole new perspective on why New Orleans, why Jim Garrison, Ferrie, Banister, CIA, FBI, etc.
The story is chronicled by the son of a surgeon and teacher at Tulane who knew Dr. Mary Sherman whose mysterious death in her New Orleans apartment remains officially unsolved. The author's writing style is excellent, exciting, and unlike so-called "journalists" of today, he does not take a biased position into which he fits the facts for his own benefit. He looks at evidence, thinks out loud with questions, some are answered later in the book which adds to the suspense and foreshadowing you don't often find in non-fiction books.
And the explanation of the Polio vaccine, Dr. Salt, the particle accelerators that were being used in the 1960s with their connection the the US government, cancer, and a strange cast of colorful characters, it all makes for an amazing read. Can't recommend this enough!!
The story is chronicled by the son of a surgeon and teacher at Tulane who knew Dr. Mary Sherman whose mysterious death in her New Orleans apartment remains officially unsolved. The author's writing style is excellent, exciting, and unlike so-called "journalists" of today, he does not take a biased position into which he fits the facts for his own benefit. He looks at evidence, thinks out loud with questions, some are answered later in the book which adds to the suspense and foreshadowing you don't often find in non-fiction books.
And the explanation of the Polio vaccine, Dr. Salt, the particle accelerators that were being used in the 1960s with their connection the the US government, cancer, and a strange cast of colorful characters, it all makes for an amazing read. Can't recommend this enough!!
May 18, 2023
If you enjoy going down rabbit holes , you’ll enjoy this. It gets a lil Dave McGowen PTK ish “what if” stuff near the end with the Judith Vary Baker stuff, so be prepared . Plenty of plausible, probable could’ve beens in this book. I learned a lot about particle accelerators & polio vaccine, SV-40 Monkey virus & Cancer. Although the author stated at the end he wasn’t writing about the JFK assassination, he added an Afterword about LHO with very imaginative alternative scenarios .
This is an example of what happens when the government withholds information, and the ones who believe the government begin to ridicule people who don’t believe the government & ask questions. Questions leads to more questions , Rumsfeldian unknown unknowns. Judging from the past 3 years, 2020-23, I wouldn’t put it past the government/pharmaceutical industry/ medical industry, to pull something off as he described in this book. This is what happens when government lies to its citizens. They become skeptical of almost anything & everything.
This is an example of what happens when the government withholds information, and the ones who believe the government begin to ridicule people who don’t believe the government & ask questions. Questions leads to more questions , Rumsfeldian unknown unknowns. Judging from the past 3 years, 2020-23, I wouldn’t put it past the government/pharmaceutical industry/ medical industry, to pull something off as he described in this book. This is what happens when government lies to its citizens. They become skeptical of almost anything & everything.
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